161 strumming patterns from beginner to funk and Bollywood, played with real chords, with slow motion and a moving strum hand.
Three accented strums on 1, the “and” of 2 and beat 4: the 3+3+2 push behind rock, pop and Latin music. Written in arrows it is D D D.
The player above plays it at 110 BPM over the chords Em – C – G – D. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.
| Count | 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strum | ↓ | · | · | ↓ | · | · | ↓ | · |
| Hand | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↑ |
Say the count out loud and strum only on the bold words: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
↓ down · ↑ up · ✕ chuck (muted) · B bass note · b second bass note · bold: accent · dashed: palm-muted · underlined: short. The last row is the strumming hand, which keeps moving even where nothing sounds.
D D D uses three of the eight eighth-note slots in the bar: all of them down strokes, with the hand swinging past the strings five times. Two strokes fall on the beat and one between beats. Beats 2 and 3 have no down strum; the down just before one of them rings across it, the syncopation that makes the pattern lift. The bar ends with a silent swing on the “&” of 4, a free moment to move your fretting hand to the next chord.
Count the eight eighth notes as “1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2” and strum on every “1”. The three strums split the bar unevenly, and that unevenness is what makes it lean forward.
On the “&” of 1, beat 2, beat 3, the “&” of 3 and the “&” of 4 the hand moves without touching the strings. Keep it moving there, in the same down-up rhythm.
Lift the hand just clear of the strings between strokes. Keep that return small: at 110 BPM each eighth note lasts 273 ms.
Hit beat 1, the “&” of 2 and beat 4 harder (the bold arrows), with a bigger swing rather than a tighter grip.
At 110 BPM a bar lasts 2.18 seconds and you play 83 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 42.
Rock rhythm guitar is mostly down strokes: driving eighths, palm-muted chugs and accented stabs, usually on power chords or open chords with an electric or a hard-strummed acoustic. The energy comes from evenness and from contrast between muted and open strums.
Change it in the pattern builder
Count “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” and play accented down on beat 1, accented down on the “&” of 2 and accented down on beat 4.
110 BPM here, 83 strokes a minute. Learn it near 66 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 100 and 170 BPM.
Yes, once four downs and chord changes feel easy. The one moment to watch is the down on the “&” of 2 and the silent beat after it; start it at ×0.5, 55 BPM.
Any chords. Try Em – C – G – D, or A – D – E, or E – A – B7, or type your own in Advanced.