Learn FUN Percussive Strumming - Maggie May Guitar Lesson

Wake up, Maggie. I think I got something to say to you.

It's late September and I really should be back at school.

In this guitar lesson, we're going to be doing Rod Stewart's Maggie May, which has some really cool percussive rhythm styles that I'm going to be showing you step by step. Let's get into it.

Before we get into the strumming, first things first, let's go over the chords you're going to need to know for this song. We have an A major chord, we have a G chord, we have a D chord, we have an E minor chord. And I'm sad and sorry to say. We do have this F sharp minor that comes in can show you an easier way to play that. But for this song, I really do think it sounds really nice with that full bar chord, if you can manage it. And I looked at the gorge art and There's a surprise ASUS 4 chord that comes in every once in a while. It's really not that bad. If you can play an A chord and you put the pinky down in front of that third finger, you got ASUS 4. Or if you're someone who plays your A chord as a bar, you could always put the third finger down. It's a very nice, open sounding sus chord. If you can't manage that, don't worry, you can just play the A major chord. It's fine. Fine. But it may not sound exactly like the song. So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Lauren Bateman and I help guitar make sense so that you guys can have more fun playing the songs that you know and love. And that's what we're going to do right here on this song. We're going to break down this strumming pattern step by step. We're using a percussive rhythm pattern, which means we're going to have to be hitting our guitar a little bit. But don't worry, this is more of a subtle percussion than a really aggressive percussion where I would have you, like, really hit the guitar. We're going to be using a subtle progression here. So the strumming pattern without any percussive elements will be this. It's going to be 1 and 2.

And, and 4 and 1 and 2 and, and 4and.

So that's going to be down, up.

Down, up, up, down, up.

So two ups in a row.

One and two and, and four.

And here it is. We'll do it on a G chord. Ready? 1, 2, 2, 3, 4.

So what are we going to do now? We're going to add in this percussive rhythm. We're going to be taking out the down strum on the second beat and the fourth beat. And we're going to be hitting the guitar on the strings. So now I always tell people I recommend doing this, this subtle percussion over the sound hole because back here.

You'Re going to get more of a thud versus here, here. As I get over the sound hole, you get more of that spring of the strings. So that's what we're going for. And all I'm doing is I'm just hitting the strings with this palm section of my hand. All right, if I go back.

So you see, I'm taking the down on the two and I'm just, I'm just karate chopping my strings a little bit.

Okay, so it's 1 and 2 and, and 4 and. Okay, again, 1 and 2 and, and 4and.

Foreign.

If you get a little aggressive, your pinky knuckle might knock the guitar. And that's okay. That's okay. Sometimes that happens. But that is the essential rhythm we're going for. And it is peppy, so it does have some speed to it. So you might want to start slow and then pick up the pace. So that's the strumming pattern we're going to be using over most of the chords. Now there's a couple points in the song where we do have a chord that plays twice in a row. We have a double D chord in the beginning of the verses. For those D chords, we're going to be playing a two measure pattern. That means the first D chord. We're going to be doing the rhythm I already showed you. And the second measure, we're going to do something just a little bit different. So the first measure is the same.

1 and 2 and, and 4 and.

Okay. And then for the second measure, we're not going to strum on the down on the one.

We're gonna go and two and, and four and.

Ooh, let's try that again. All right, from the first measure, so.

We got 1 and 2 and, and 4 and, and 2 and, and 4.

And so if we took out the percussion, because I know it's sometimes easier without the percussion to be down, up.

Down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up, up, down, up.

So let me play through the first measure of this song so that you guys can hear how it sounds and why I like to play it this way. So here's the first measure.

Wake up, Maggie. I think I got Something say to you.

It'S late September and.

Be back at school.

So now that you've heard that percussive rhythm through an entire chord progression, you can see why I like to switch it up on that D chord. I think it adds a little extra depth. Now, if you just did the first strumming pattern over and over again, would it be wrong? Absolutely not. I just wanted to show you guys how I like to do it live. Now, when we hit the second half of the verse, we're going to change our strumming. The whole song is going to open up. We're going to get away from being percussive, and we're just going to go to a regular strumming pattern that happens when we hit the E minor chord, okay? And it's going to be a down.

Down, up, up, down, up, down, down, up, up, down, up.

Okay, so we have an E minor chord followed by an F sharp minor, which is the bar chord. If you guys cannot do that bar chord. You also heard mine was not the greatest when I just played it before I fixed it. You can play an A chord on the bottom three strings.

Won't sound the best, but it will work. The full barre chord definitely sounds better, but if you need an easy fix, there it is. So what's this gonna sound like? So we just came from this percussive strumming of. I know I keep you amused.

I gotta feel I'm being used. Oh, Maggie, I shouldn't have tried anymore.

Here comes the ace of score.

You led me away from home.

To save you from being al.

You stole my heart and that's what really hurts.

Okay, so you can see there's a few things going on rhythmically here. So let's talk about it. The most in the strumming pattern is going to be that down, down, up, up, down, up. Now, the very last line of this verse, there's a split measure. G and A are only two beats, and I like to just do two down strums per chord.

So that's what really hurts.

And it's great because I think it really lines up with the lyrics really well. And then once you finish that, that's what really hurts. You're right back into that percussive strumming pattern. So let me try playing through a couple verses here for you guys. If you need to pause the video and work on that strumming pattern, that's fine. Go ahead, pause the video. Or you can always use the settings cog down there to slow me down so that you guys can play along with me.

One, two, ready and Wake up Maggie.

I think I got something to say to you.

It'S late September and I really should be back at school.

I.

Know I keep you amused and I feel I'm being used here's the change Maggie couldn't have tried anymore.

You learned me away from home.

To save me from being alone you st my heart and that's what really hurts.

The morning sun when it's in a place face it shows your age.

But that don't worry me none in my eyes you're everything.

I laughed at all of your jokes my love you didn't need a c oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore.

You led me away from home to save me from being alone to stole my household and okay, I can do it now.

If you guys really enjoyed playing percussive rhythms over a song, then you're really going to enjoy learning Stuck in the Middle by Steelers Wheel over there I go through it step by step I'll see you guys in that lesson.