Beckoned down by the mirage of an Oasis

One of the main reasons for me starting to learn guitar was because I fancied being able to play Roll With It by Oasis, particularly the intro. While I'm still some way off being able to play that, I have been able to dabble with a few other Oasis songs.

Er, different oasis...

I'd previously mentioned that I'd done some playing of Songbird which, while an Oasis song, is hardly one that springs to mind when you're asked to name one of their tunes. It's a bit like someone telling you they met one of Manchester United's famous Class of '92 only to then reveal it was someone like Ben Thornley or Keith Gillespie.

One of the Class of '92. Apparently.

However, in the last fortnight I have moved on to some proper Oasis - tracks that they are easily associated with and most people who have heard of them will know.

One of them is Live Forever from Definitely Maybe, and now I can definitely maybe play it. It's rare for me in that it's a song that doesn't require a capo and the chords seem fairly straightforward. It's not the fancy lead guitar stuff but the rhythm is there and you can just about spot the song in amongst it all.

One thing I found interesting is while a strumming pattern was recommended on the Justin Guitar website, there seems to be a bit of freedom. If you follow the suggested one there's nothing to stop you adding in a few up or downstrokes of your own for good measure and it still sounds fine. If I was writing my last blog - about my top five favourite songs to play along to - today, it would almost certainly feature in it somewhere. That's how much I like playing it.

Different Strokes always make things interesting

While Live Forever has an interesting strumming pattern (along with a funky F chord to try to change to) the same can't be said for Stand By Me. For the most parts it uses what's called "power eights" - strumming down eight beats a bar. And it's all one chord per bar, so it's not too much to write home about and doesn't sound much like the song.

However, perhaps the fact it's so straightforward is a good thing as it's part of a section on a new chord. The B7 is pretty complex and involves using four fingers. On its own it's not too bad but changing is a bit fiddly. The song is a good way to get used to that as it's involved a fair bit in the verses. There's also some nice bits in the chorus that involve a single strum of three chords in between all the monotonous stuff, however it's hard to see it ever reaching my favourite songs in its current form.

Last, but by no means least, comes easily the most complicated song so far - but as a result it sounds incredibly like it. Wonderwall - and I don't mean the Mike Flowers Pops version I liked when I was younger just to annoy my brother.

On paper, it's fairly straight forward as the verse involves four chords, two beats at a time. The chords may be tricky however you keep two of your fingers in exactly the same place for the entire song and just move the other two about.

But while songs may be written on paper, they aren't played on it. The strumming pattern is rather difficult, which is what gives the song it's unique, instantly recognisable sound. Actually, for three of the chords it's not too bad once you get the hang of it - especially as for two of them it's the same. The problem is the final chord in each sequence - a slightly fancy A - is different, involves lots of upstrokes and even bits where you deliberately take two of your fingers off. It's incredibly difficult - and just when I thought I was mastering it I discovered I'd been tackling it totally wrong. Oops!

That's been more than enough to keep me occupied so my attempts to tackle the chorus have been pretty unexciting. I'm not quite sure of the strumming pattern - it sounds similar to the verse but it's also ever so slightly different, just to annoy me. Thanks for that.

Seems this chap has heard my efforts to play his songs.

So I can muddle through not one but four Oasis songs - not bad given I've only been at this for little more than four months. It's certainly enough to keep me occupied before I move onto the dreaded barre chords.