Blues Shuffle Strumming Pattern

161 strumming patterns from beginner to funk and Bollywood, played with real chords, with slow motion and a moving strum hand.

Down-ups with a swing: the long-short “shuffle” rhythm of blues and rock and roll. Written in arrows it is DU DU DU DU, swung at 55%.

The player above plays it at 100 BPM over the chords A – D – E. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.

How to count Shuffle

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.

DU DU DU DU fills all eight eighth-note slots in the bar: four down and four up. Four strokes fall on the beat and four between beats. The bar ends with an up strum on the “&” of 4: many players let go of the chord there and change while the open strings ring.

Playing it

Swing makes every down strum long and every up strum short. Say “DUM-da DUM-da” and match it; then set swing to 0% for a moment to hear how stiff straight eighths sound.

Up strums

On every “&”, brush the top three or four strings, a little softer than the downs.

Swing

At 55% swing every second eighth arrives late. At 100 BPM a straight eighth lasts 300 ms; swung, the on-beat one lasts about 409 ms and the off-beat one 191 ms.

Practise it step by step

Rhythm only: mute the strings with your fretting hand and play it while saying “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &”.
Hold A, set slow motion to ×0.5 (50 BPM) and play along until four bars in a row are even.
Loop the trickiest moment on its own: the end of the bar, from the “&” of 4 into the next bar, where the chord changes.
Straight first: swing at 0% and 60 BPM, then bring the swing back up to 55%.
Chord changes: A – D – E, one a bar (or every 2 bars until the changes are clean).
Up 4 BPM at a time to 100 BPM, then toward 140 BPM for faster songs.

At 100 BPM a bar lasts 2.40 seconds and you play 200 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 100.

Chords to try

A – D – E G – C – D E – A – B7 (blues in E)

Blues lives on the triplet. A shuffle swings its eighth notes long-short, and slow blues spells out all three eighth notes of every beat in 12/8. Play them over the twelve-bar blues: four bars of the I chord, two of IV, two of I, then V, IV, I and V.

One step away

Leave out the up on the “&” of 1 and you have D DU DU DU.
Leave out the up on the “&” of 3 and you have DUDU D DU (DU DU D DU).
Leave out the up on the “&” of 4 and you have DUDUDU D (DU DU DU D).
Leave out the up on the “&” of 1, and leave out the up on the “&” of 3 and you have D DU D DU.
Leave out the up on the “&” of 1, and leave out the down on beat 3 and you have D DU UDU.

Change it in the pattern builder

Common questions

How do you count the Shuffle strumming pattern?

Count “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” and play down on beat 1, up on the “&” of 1, down on beat 2, up on the “&” of 2, down on beat 3, up on the “&” of 3, down on beat 4 and up on the “&” of 4.

What tempo is Shuffle played at?

100 BPM here, 200 strokes a minute. Learn it near 60 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 80 and 140 BPM.

Is Shuffle good for beginners?

Yes, once four downs and chord changes feel easy. The one moment to watch is the end of the bar, from the “&” of 4 into the next bar, where the chord changes; start it at ×0.5, 50 BPM.

Which chords go with Shuffle?

Any chords. Try A – D – E, or G – C – D, or E – A – B7 (blues in E), or type your own in Advanced.

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