161 strumming patterns from beginner to funk and Bollywood, played with real chords, with slow motion and a moving strum hand.
Follows the six-matra dadra taal: strong on sam, a chuck on khali (the empty beat). Written in arrows it is DU XU, in 6/8.
The player above plays it at 70 BPM over the chords Am – F – C – G. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.
| Count | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strum | ↓ | · | ↑ | ✕ | · | ↑ |
| Hand | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | ↓ | ↑ |
Say the count out loud and strum only on the bold words: 1 2 3 4 5 6
↓ 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 XU uses four of the six eighth-note slots in the bar: two down and two up, with the hand swinging past the strings twice. Two strokes fall on the group starts and two between them. The bar ends with an up strum on eighth note 6: many players let go of the chord there and change while the open strings ring.
Dadra’s six matras are “dha dhi na, dha ti na”. The strong strum falls on sam, the first dha, and the chuck on khali, the fourth matra, where the tabla’s bass drops out.
On eighth note 2 of every group the hand moves without touching the strings. Keep it moving there, in the same down-down-up rhythm.
On eighth note 3 of every group, brush the top three or four strings, a little softer than the downs.
Hit both big beats harder (the bold arrows), with a bigger swing rather than a tighter grip.
On eighth note 4, strum with the strings muted for a dry “chk” instead of a chord.
At 70 BPM a bar lasts 1.71 seconds and you play 140 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 70.
Film and folk songs from India borrow their strumming from the tabla and dhol. Keherwa (eight matras) sits in 4/4, dadra (six matras) in 6/8, and the strum follows the drum: strong on sam, the first beat of the cycle, and light or muted on khali, the empty beat.
Change it in the pattern builder
Count “1 2 3 4 5 6”, or in dotted beats “1 la li 2 la li”, and play accented down on eighth note 1, up on eighth note 3, accented chuck on eighth note 4 and up on eighth note 6.
70 BPM here, 140 strokes a minute. Learn it near 42 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 70 and 120 BPM (counting the dotted beat).
Yes, once four downs and chord changes feel easy. The one moment to watch is the silent swing on eighth note 2 into the up strum on eighth note 3; start it at ×0.5, 35 BPM.
Lift your fretting fingers just enough that the strings stop sounding, or let your strumming palm land on them as you strum. It should sound like a snare drum.