BS-104 • Walk Of Life - Dire Straits

[m_c]

In a nutshell, yes, you need to know a bit about the song to play it.
Personally I like to think of the songbooks as an aide memoire, with some hints thrown in. Generally when learning a song, the strumming pattern is the easy bit to remember, so once you know that, the book provides a nice compact reference for chords/lyrics.

Guitar is a bit problematic to physically write music for, as the same note could be played in several different places.
TAB shows exact note position, but no timing details.
Traditional music score shows exact timing and notes, but not where that note is played.

Even official TAB books use a mix. I've seen a mix of the TAB covering just the lead guitar and relying on the notation for timing with chord boxes shown along with a rhythm shown above the TAB/notation, the TAB just covering the rhythm and switching to the lead only when needed, and a mix of TAB with it's own rhythm shown, and the notation just covering the vocal line.

[m_c]

There is a bit of inconsistency with the vertical lines.

For intros (or any section with no lyrics), the vertical lines depict one bar, however during lyrics, each chord is assumed to be a full bar, and only where there is a vertical line, does that indicate there is more than one chord to each bar.
I'll admit it can be one of the most confusing parts of the book.

I've just had a look at some TAB, and the sheet music for Walk of Life, and Justin has simplified it by halving the bar count. I.e. for every bar in the book, the sheet music has two bars.
So sticking with the book, for the Pre-chorus, you play each chord 4 times per bar, then when you get to the Chorus, there are two chords per bar, and you only play each chord twice.

For information, if you want to look at the sheet music, musicroom.com sells it digitally, but they let you preview the first page. So if you search the song, it gives you various options. The first option showing only Melody Line, Lyrics, and chords, shows the most of the song (actually, it shows the entire song!), however Justin has written the book with a capo on the 7th, meaning EA&B on the sheet music, become AD&E shapes played with a capo on the 7th, so as to avoid having to play a B (which you would normally play as an A shape barre, making it not very beginner friendly!)

[m_c]

12 Bar blues is covered in a later stage lesson, and having just done a quick check it's stage 8.

A basic 12 bar blues progression uses the I, IV, and V chords, and unsurprisingly covers 12 bars.
If you flip the songbook back a page to Hound Dog, you'll see a classic basic 12 bar blues. A is the I (one) chord, D the IV (four) chord, and E the V (five) chord.
The other good example in the book, is Before You Accuse me. In that your I,IV, V are E,A,B7 (you can swap any major chord for a 7, to give a bit suspense in a 12bar blues).
Knowing your I,IV, and V rely on learning a bit about scale theory, which isn't recommended until after the beginners course, but can be learnt at any time, as it does help with understanding why certain things are the way they are. The reason it's not recommended until later, is to avoid overloading beginners with information, as you don't really need to know any theory to play an instrument, as long as you play what you're supposed to.

[Holensum]

Thanks very much for the replies.

At this stage I'm just trying to put some kind of logic to how I see things in an attempt to assist my learning.
Thanks again

I'm a year into learning the guitar, and still struggle with intros and strumming. Just keep listening and trying to match and it will start coming.

Gets real when the time is 3/4 or 6/8 for a song you are wanting to learn, because the beginners song are 4/4.

Also, the strumming patterns so far in the beginners lessons are all on 4/4 time, e.g.; D D D D; DuD DuDu; D DuD Du, etc.

[batwoman]

A part of me wishes Justin wouldn't keep throwing these distractions In to beginners stages as I for one find it a little confusing and almost a temptation to jump the gun a little. 
Cheers

Oh yeah I hear ya Currymonster, wanting to fly before you can crawl    You'll most probably find these 'distractions' give you another level of learning, skill and undertanding if you go back over the course at a later stage. It's also a great way of seeing how much you've progressed. I've worked my way through BC three times and every time I find gems that I didn't see or understand or have enough skill to be able to use. These books are fantastic value and give you a chance to go beyond Beginner.

Best wishes with your learning 

[Laila]

Well, I don't know if this is your question, and I'm not really well-versed on this, but I don't think a song "has" an absolute strumming pattern in the same way that it has a melody, or uses certain chords. There are different strumming patterns you can use, but it's still the same song. A certain version will have a certain strumming pattern however, so if you intend to play exactly like a specific recording, you will have to listen closely. But Justin in general teaches simplified versions, where he suggests a pattern that won't be too difficult. He often suggests another pattern to use once you have more experience, which will sound a bit better and more like the well-known versions. But it's still the same song :-)

When you're learning a song in the BSB you might start with strumming a chord only once per bar, to get the hang of where the chords change. Then strum four downstrums per bar, then any kind of strumming pattern Justin suggests or any extra flourishes that you think sound cool. I would still say that as long as you're changing to the right chords at the right moment while singing the melody, you are "playing the song".

[close2u]

I notice in the video Justin throws in a shuffle as he plays the chords and goes on to mention this will be shown later
Although I am not at that stage yet nevertheless he has now intrigued  me enough to want to see how this is done

Check out the blues rhythm lessons ... this is a classic rock n roll (where the chunka chunka is played with straight eighths rhythm) and blues (where it is played with a shuffle feel)

[sk]

Hi everyone - I've just started learning the guitar and am trying to play the walk of life as part of stage 1. I've got an electric guitar - anyone got any tips for playing this on electric rather than acoustic? Justin's video seems to cater only for acoustic players! Thanks in advance.

[DavidP]

SK, I'm also a beginner and only playing acoustic.  But from all I know of Stage 1 and the little I know of electrics, you should play it exactly the same way i.e. 4 down strums per bar. 

You will want a clean sound on your electric.  So on your amp the gain should be turned down and use the master volume to get a decent sound level.  You may also turn the volume down on the guitar a little as well.  The reason being if the gain is right up, you will get lots more sustain, even some distortion on the sound and that could end up sounding like one continuous muddy mess.

That is not ultimately the way to get a great tone from the electric but at stage 1 that is not what it's all about.

[Peakoverload]

At the risk of resurrecting a topic that's over a year old. I'm really struggling with this and indeed many of the Stage 1 songs.

It's not the chord changes, I can do those no problem (well most of the time) it's knowing when to change.
I mean I get that for the verse and pre-chorus it's just 4 strums of each chord but when it gets to Chorus 1 the bar starts 3 words in and without a backing track I can't tell when to change. If I play the original I find that it's played so much faster than in Justin's video and I end up strumming at double time.

If I try and read the lyrics then I'm concentrating so much on that, that I miss the chord changes. It's like my brain will only let me do one thing at a time. I can either strum chords 4 beats to the bar, read lyrics, or make up my own rhythm but I can't do any two of them together.

Any tips for breaking through this barrier or should I have kept the receipt for my guitar 

[stitch101]

Go to youtube and find a backing track or karaoke version and slow it down.
In the youtube settings you can slow down the video .75  ,5 or ,25 speed
without changing the pitch. You can also get software that slows down
as well.

[tobyjenner]

Better still get a free copy of Riffstation https://www.techradar.com/news/fenders-riffstation-pro-is-now-free-get-the-chords-for-any-song-on-your-desktop or buy for around £25.

It not only can slow down tracks without effecting pitch but is very accurate in identifying chords. So you play the track, it shows you the chord progression, the chord being played and the next chord in the progression. And for those awkward songs that throw up chord shapes that ain't open, you have a capo setting, so you can move the virtual capo up the neck and find those BC Open chords you know and love, simples. 

[jump]

                               hi when u wacth justins video on the walk of life song
              In the chorus there are two strums for each chord but
               how do you fit the words to the song in the two strums
                           thank u