A bass note on 1 and 3 with short chord stabs in between, the easy sway of bossa nova. Written in arrows it is BD DBD D.
The player above plays it at 120 BPM over the chords Am – Dm – E. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.
161 strumming patterns from beginner to funk and Bollywood, played with real chords, with slow motion and a moving strum hand.
A bass note on 1 and 3 with short chord stabs in between, the easy sway of bossa nova. Written in arrows it is BD DBD D.
The player above plays it at 120 BPM over the chords Am – Dm – E. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.
| Count | 1 | e | & | a | 2 | e | & | a | 3 | e | & | a | 4 | e | & | a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strum | B | · | · | ↓ | · | · | ↓ | · | b | · | · | ↓ | · | · | ↓ | · |
| Hand | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↑ |
Say the count out loud and strum only on the bold words: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
↓ 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.
BD DBD D uses six of the sixteen sixteenth-note slots in the bar: all of them down strokes, with the hand swinging past the strings ten times. Two strokes fall on the beat and four between beats. Beats 2 and 4 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 “a” of 4, a free moment to move your fretting hand to the next chord.
Bossa nova is usually played with the thumb on the bass and the fingers plucking the chord, but a pick gets close: bass notes on 1 and 3, short soft chord stabs in between.
On the “e” of 1, the “&” of 1, beat 2, the “e” of 2, and so on 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 120 BPM each sixteenth note lasts 125 ms.
On beat 1, pick only the chord’s root on its lowest string: the 6th string for G, the 5th for C, the 4th for D. On beat 3, pick another bass note of the same chord, a string or two higher.
At 120 BPM a bar lasts 2.00 seconds and you play 180 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 90.
Latin rhythms grow from the clave, a short pattern of five strokes over two halves that the whole band follows. Guitar parts lock to it with bass notes and short chord stabs, often played softly with the fingers.
Change it in the pattern builder
Count “1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a” and play bass note on beat 1, down on the “a” of 1, down on the “&” of 2, second bass note on beat 3, down on the “a” of 3 and down on the “&” of 4.
120 BPM here, 180 strokes a minute. Learn it near 72 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 90 and 130 BPM.
It is intermediate: the hard part is the down on the “a” of 1 and the silent beat after it. Get D DU D DU and D DU UDU steady first, then take this one from 72 BPM.
The chord’s root on its lowest string (6th string for G, 5th for C and A, 4th for D), then another bass note of the same chord for the alternating bass.