Four Downs Strumming Pattern

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

A down strum on every beat: the foundation of steady rhythm playing. Written in arrows it is D D D D.

The player above plays it at 80 BPM over the chords C – G – Am – F. Press Start to hear it, or slow it down to see each stroke.

How to count Four downs

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 D uses four of the eight eighth-note slots in the bar: all of them down strokes, with the hand swinging past the strings four times. Every stroke lands on a beat, so it is as steady as rhythm gets. The bar ends with a silent swing on the “&” of 4, a free moment to move your fretting hand to the next chord.

Playing it

Use this pattern to learn every new chord change. Strum beat 4 a little lighter and start moving your fretting fingers while it rings, so the next chord is ready for beat 1.

Silent swings

On every “&” the hand moves without touching the strings. Keep it moving there, in the same down-up rhythm.

All down strokes

Lift the hand just clear of the strings between strokes. Keep that return small: at 80 BPM each eighth note lasts 375 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 C, set slow motion to ×0.5 (40 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.
Normal speed at 48 BPM, with the click on if you want the beat under you.
Chord changes: C – G – Am – F, one a bar (or every 2 bars until the changes are clean).
Up 4 BPM at a time to 80 BPM, then toward 130 BPM for faster songs.

At 80 BPM a bar lasts 3.00 seconds and you play 80 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 40.

Chords to try

C – G – Am – F Em – C – G – D G – C – D

The essential patterns use only plain down and up strums in eighth notes. The strumming hand swings down on every beat and up on every “&”, and each pattern is just a choice of which of those eight swings touch the strings. Two or three of them, played well, will carry most pop, folk and film songs.