Gallop 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 on the beat and a quick down-up on the last two sixteenths: the galloping rhythm of many pop and rock songs. Written in arrows it is DDU DDU DDU DDU.

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

How to count Gallop

Count	1	e	&	a	2	e	&	a	3	e	&	a	4	e	&	a
Strum	↓	·	↓	↑	↓	·	↓	↑	↓	·	↓	↑	↓	·	↓	↑
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.

DDU DDU DDU DDU uses twelve of the sixteen sixteenth-note slots in the bar: eight down and four up, with the hand swinging past the strings four times. Four strokes fall on the beat and eight between beats. The bar ends with an up strum on the “a” of 4: many players let go of the chord there and change while the open strings ring.

Playing it

Say “gal-lo-ping” on every beat: a long down strum, then a quick down-up squeezed into the second half of the beat. The two fast strokes should be exactly as long as each other.

Silent swings

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

Up strums

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

Practise it step by step

Rhythm only: mute the strings with your fretting hand and play it while saying “1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a”.
Hold Am, 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 “a” of 4 into the next bar, where the chord changes.
Normal speed at 48 BPM, counting “1 e & a” with the hand moving on every sixteenth.
Chord changes: Am – F – C – G, one a bar (or every 2 bars until the changes are clean).
Up 4 BPM at a time to 80 BPM, then toward 125 BPM for faster songs.

At 80 BPM a bar lasts 3.00 seconds and you play 240 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 120.

Chords to try

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

Acoustic pop strumming copies the drum kit. The chuck stands in for the snare on beats 2 and 4, and sixteenth-note patterns copy the busy hi-hat, so one guitar can sound like a whole rhythm section in a cover or a singer-songwriter set.

One step away

Leave out the down on beat 2, and leave out the down on beat 4 and you have Syncopated sixteenths (DDU DUDDU DU).
Make the down on beat 2 a chuck, and make the down on beat 4 a chuck and you have Sixteenths with chucks on 2 and 4 (DDU XDU DDU XDU).

Change it in the pattern builder

Common questions

How do you count the Gallop strumming pattern?

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

What tempo is Gallop played at?

80 BPM here, 240 strokes a minute. Learn it near 48 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 80 and 125 BPM.

Is Gallop good for beginners?

It is intermediate: the hard part is the end of the bar, from the “a” of 4 into the next bar, where the chord changes. Get D DU D DU and D DU UDU steady first, then take this one from 48 BPM.

Which chords go with Gallop?

Any chords. Try Am – F – C – G, or G – Em – C – D, or C – G – Am – F, or type your own in Advanced.

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