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How loose should my arm be? How do I strum the right number of strings every time? What’s a strumming pattern? So if you are a beginner to intermediate guitarist, here’s a mini-course on guitar strumming techniques for you.
- The 4-Beat Downstrokes
- Add Two Upstrokes
- Add Three Upstrokes
- Downstroke on Downbeat, Upstroke on Upbeat
- Skip One Downstroke
- Skip An Upstroke & Downstroke
- The Pattern with A Long Pause
- Ultimate Strum Pattern
- Indie Rock Strum Pattern
- Modern Strumming
Difficulty Level:Easy This is a really simple strumming part that is great for beginners. Since it’s so easy, it’s perfect for building your sense of timing and gaining confidence to move onto more complex strumming styles later. How To Play:As you can see on the chart up there, you will be playing a downstroke (move your strumming hand down the st...
Difficulty Level:Intermediate Once you get the hang of the 4-beat downstroke, let’s add some upstrokes to the mix, shall we? This one is slightly trickier to play compared to the first strumming style. But, if you pay attention to the chart, you’ll be fine. This pattern is widely used by alternative rock bands, so this style will be quite useful if...
Difficulty Level:Intermediate Once you’ve mastered adding two upstrokes into your pattern, let’s add another up to make it a total of three upstrokes into this strumming style! This 3 – upstroke strumming style is quite a versatile strumming style that can be used to play a variety of songs. Depending on how fast or slow you play this strumming pat...
Difficulty Level:Easy By now, you may have figured out that we are playing all the downstrokes on what we can call the ‘downbeat’ – on the 1,2,3, and 4. Meanwhile, the upstrokes are being played on what we call ‘the and’, or the ‘upbeat’ – in the space between 1,2,3, and 4 – always on the ‘and’. This particular strumming pattern is pretty easy to p...
Difficulty Level:Medium to Advanced If you practice the strumming patterns we’ve shared so far, you’ll get a great command over playing upstrokes and downstrokes continuously. Now, to round up your basic strumming technique and make it rock solid, let’s teach you something slightly tricky. The patterns we shared so far have not required you to play...
Difficulty Level:Medium to Advanced This pattern has the same challenge as the previous one, with an added twist. We are not only skipping a downstroke, but also an upstroke. So this one might be slightly more challenging than the previous one, but you’ll be happy you learned it! It’s quite versatile and can be used to play a wide variety of songs ...
Difficulty Level:Advanced Let’s take your strumming prowess one step further with this pattern. So far, all our patterns have required you to only skip one count or eighth note. But with this pattern, you’ll be skipping a whole quarter note – or two eighth notes. Such a strumming rhythm might not seem intuitive in the beginning. But don’t worry, we...
Difficulty Level:Medium to Advanced There is a good reason why this pattern is nicknamed the ‘ultimate strum pattern’. It’s because it can practically be played with any chord progression, and is interesting enough to add a nice dimension to the track. How To Play:As you can see from the chart above, this pattern requires you to skip one upstroke a...
Difficulty Level:Advanced This is a classic strumming pattern that’s widely used by indie rock bands for their tracks – such as ‘Save Tonight’ by Eagle Eye Cherry and ‘D’You Know What I Mean?’ By Oasis. This strumming pattern is where you need to use your knowledge of 16th notes, so we have broken each stroke and pause down to 16 notes now. You’ll ...
Difficulty Level:Advanced So we are at the very end of our list, and we’re finishing up the list with the most advanced and trickiest strumming pattern to play out of all the rhythms shared here! Just like in the indie rock strum pattern, this guitar pattern also requires you to have a rock-solid knowledge of how to play quarter, eighth and sixteen...
- Strum Pattern #1 Downstrum on every beat. When strumming a guitar, you’ll use both downstrums (i.e. where your strumming hand moves down) and upstrums (where your strumming hand moves back up).
- Strum Pattern #2 Adding two upstrums. Now that you’ve gotten a basic feel for this strumming thing, the next step is to start adding some upstrums. Here’s a pattern that's similar to the first pattern we saw, but with two upstrums added in.
- Strum Pattern #3 Adding three upstrums. This next pattern is similar to the last one. We'll add in just one more upstrum. See if you can hear it in this song.
- Strum Pattern #4 Downstrum on the downbeat, Upstrum on the upbeat. You might have noticed a certain logic in when we’re playing downstrums and when we’re playing upstrums: all the downstrums are on what we call ’the downbeat’: on the 1, 2, 3 or 4.
Jun 2, 2022 · Below is a quick summary of strumming patterns. Strumming patterns are represented through symbols, arrows, or letters (U or D), either independently on the beat or alongside guitar chords in tab. In tabs, remember that strings are depicted from lowest to highest; for instance, an upward arrow signifies a downstroke.
May 1, 2024 · When you’re starting out, the focus is quite rightly on learning chords. Once you’re comfortable playing a few, it’s time to check out a strum pattern or two. In this article, you’ll learn how to play some essential strumming patterns for beginners that sound great on an electric or acoustic guitar.
Aug 6, 2019 · Before we figure out how to strum a guitar, let’s look at what exactly we mean by strumming and why it’s so important. Strumming involves a sweeping action with your fingers or a pick over multiple strings of a guitar, which makes the sound that we all know and love.
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May 19, 2022 · If aren’t confident with a strumming technique, your guitar could sound bad. Whether you play an electric guitar or an acoustic — with or without a pick — you’re going to face some challenges. Luckily, I’ll cover all of this and more, so you can learn how to strum a guitar with proficiency.
