Is there a name for the type of driving rhythm found in “Nadine” (after the first four seconds) and “Don’t You Just Know It”?
Any tips for playing it on a guitar (acoustic), for a guy who so far just strums chords?
It’s a straight-up backbeat rock n’ roll rhythm, with slightly different accents on the beats vs. other Chuck Berry songs like Johnny B. Goode.
A Chuck Berry rock n roll rhythm is something you should be able to find millions of videos on YouTube to show you how to play. The trick is not playing chords where you use all your fingers the way you normally do.
So if you play an A chord by using three fingers to fret the D G and B strings at the 2nd fret, instead use your index finger only, laid down a bit more flat, on the D and G strings - don’t worry about the B. While playing the A, D and G strings with downstrokes to make that A chord sound, you use your ring finger to hammer on to the D string 4th fret. Bopping up and down on that is what gives the rhythm its groove.
I know - text doesn’t do it justice. Look up YouTube for how to play Johnny B. Goode a far more popular song than Nadine. Once you get that fingering down you can adjust how you accent the rhythm to get Nadine’s groove.
Thank you. I’m sure that will be helpful but I’m not sure it gets to the essence of what I’m asking. I’ll try to clarify my question. I guess it’s beyond purely the rhythm and involves the sequence of notes.
To my ear, there’s just a world of difference between the rhythm/groove/whatever-it-is-I’m-getting at in “Johnny B. Goode,” “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Rock and Roll Music” etc. and what’s in the two songs above. The note sequence: b♭- b♭- b♭- a♭- f - f - a♭- b ,repeated, illustrates what I’m talking about in “Nadine”, and the sequence: e♭- e♭- e♭- • - b♭- b♭- b♭- • , again repeated, is in “Don’t You Just Know It”.
It appears this is using the 1 and 5 tones from the underlying chord (embellished with a 7-♭7 walkup in “Nadine”), as in a simple bass line. However, the feel of it, as well as the speed, is not what I usually hear a bass playing. I want to say it has a driving/pumping/pulsing aspect to it, that’s different from what’s in the three Chuck Berry songs I first mentioned in this post, and that’s what I’d like to portray if I’m capable.
Does that make sense?
Bump for the weekend.
I’d call it a straight-eight (or nearly straight eight) boogie woogie.
I mean, it’s basically like a boogie woogie shuffle that’s been straightened out–that’s essentially what rock and roll was founded on. Much of it took these types of backing patterns and evened out the swung notes into a flurry of eighth notes. There’s probably a better name for it, but I just think of it as a basic early rock rhythm.
Yeah, I just hear slightly swung eighths in the second example, and totally straight ones in the first, with various accents. I’m a keyboardist, not a guitarist, but I would think you’d be able to pull it off with basic down-up. If you want to vary it, it could be down (let it ring) down up (mute) up down up.
Well, it sounds good to me, at least. I’m sure pros would not like it. But I figure it might be helpful since you say you’re coming in from just strumming.