Syncopated sixteenths is an intermediate 4/4 strumming pattern in sixteenth notes. Written in arrows it is DDU DUDDU DU.
The player above plays it at 78 BPM over the chords C – G – Am – F. 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.
Syncopated sixteenths is an intermediate 4/4 strumming pattern in sixteenth notes. Written in arrows it is DDU DUDDU DU.
The player above plays it at 78 BPM over the chords C – G – Am – F. 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 | ↓ | · | ↓ | ↑ | · | · | ↓ | ↑ | ↓ | · | ↓ | ↑ | · | · | ↓ | ↑ |
| 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 DUDDU DU uses ten of the sixteen sixteenth-note slots in the bar: six down and four up, with the hand swinging past the strings six times. Two strokes fall on the beat and eight between beats. Beats 2 and 4 have no down strum; the up just before one of them rings across it, the syncopation that makes the pattern lift. 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.
Beat 2 and beat 4 begin with silence: the hand swings down and up past the strings and comes back in on the “&”. Practise at half speed until those gaps feel natural rather than empty.
On the “e” of 1, beat 2, the “e” of 2, the “e” of 3, beat 4 and the “e” of 4 the hand moves without touching the strings. Keep it moving there, in the same down-up rhythm.
On every “a”, brush the top three or four strings, a little softer than the downs.
At 78 BPM a bar lasts 3.08 seconds and you play 195 strokes a minute. Slow motion at ×0.5 brings that down to 98.
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.
Change it in the pattern builder
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 the “&” of 2, up on the “a” of 2, down on beat 3, down on the “&” of 3 and up on the “a” of 3, and so on.
78 BPM here, 195 strokes a minute. Learn it near 46 BPM; songs with this feel usually sit between 80 and 125 BPM.
It is intermediate: the hard part is the up 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 46 BPM.
Any chords. Try C – G – Am – F, or Am – F – C – G, or G – Em – C – D, or type your own in Advanced.