Driving Eighths with Backbeat Accents

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

Driving eighths is an easy 4/4 strumming pattern in eighth notes. Written in arrows it is DD DD DD DD.

The player above plays it at 130 BPM over the chords A – D – E. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.

How to count Driving eighths

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.

DD DD DD DD fills all eight eighth-note slots in the bar: all of them down strokes. Four strokes fall on the beat and four between beats. The bar ends with a down strum on the “&” of 4: change chord straight after it.

Playing it

Hit beats 2 and 4 harder, like the snare drum, and keep every other strum at the same medium level. That contrast is what turns straight eighths into a rock part instead of an exercise.

All down strokes

Lift the hand just clear of the strings between strokes. Keep that return small: at 130 BPM each eighth note lasts 231 ms.

Accents

Hit beat 2 and beat 4 harder (the bold arrows), with a bigger swing rather than a tighter grip.

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 (65 BPM) and play along until four bars in a row are even.
Loop the trickiest moment on its own: the accents on beat 2 and beat 4, landing them without speeding up.
Normal speed at 78 BPM, with the click on if you want the beat under you.
Chord changes: A – D – E, one a bar (or every 2 bars until the changes are clean).
Up 4 BPM at a time to 130 BPM, then toward 170 BPM for faster songs.

At 130 BPM a bar lasts 1.85 seconds and you play 260 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 130.

Chords to try

A – D – E E – A – B7 Em – C – G – D

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.

One step away

Play the down on beat 2 without its accent, and play the down on beat 4 without its accent and you have Eighth-note downs (DD DD DD DD).
Make the accented down on beat 2 an accented chuck, and make the accented down on beat 4 an accented chuck and you have Eighth-note downs, chucks on 2 and 4 (DD XD DD XD).

Change it in the pattern builder

Common questions

How do you count the Driving eighths strumming pattern?

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

What tempo is Driving eighths played at?

130 BPM here, 260 strokes a minute. Learn it near 78 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 100 and 170 BPM.

Is Driving eighths good for beginners?

Yes, once four downs and chord changes feel easy. The one moment to watch is the accents on beat 2 and beat 4, landing them without speeding up; start it at ×0.5, 65 BPM.

Which chords go with Driving eighths?

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

Learn this with a teacher

Live one-to-one guitar classes online, with a free trial.

Find a teacher