How To Figure Out Strumming Patterns

Why There’s No Perfect Strum

In most popular songs, a lot is going on. Sometimes there’s no guitar part at all, and other times several guitars and other instruments create the rhythm together. So your job is to find the essence of the groove and translate it to your guitar.

How close you get depends partly on taste and partly on your own skill with strumming and changing chords. If you come up with a pattern that works for the song, it’s a good pattern.

My Three-Step Process

Step 1: Find the Beat

First, figure out whether the song has three or four beats per bar. In my experience, about 80 percent of popular music has four. Tap your foot or your knee, or clap along, and count: 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4.

Listen for where the bass notes fall and where the chords change; a new bar starts on the 1. If counting to four doesn’t line up with the changes, try counting to three. I often go back and forth between the two a few times before it settles into the pocket.

Step 2: Strum Straight Down

Now pick up the guitar. Strum straight down on each beat, with the strings muted at first, just to get the rhythm. Then add the chords. You don’t need the whole song; a verse or a chorus is enough to get the groove going with the chord changes.

Step 3: Match a Pattern You Know

Finally, add some upstrokes. I try to match the groove with one of the simple patterns I already know. That gives me a good foundation, and I can build on it later. You can watch me go through this at 4:06 in the video.

These steps are a rough guide, not a strict order. Sometimes I find a pattern that fits before I’ve worked out the beat, and I usually go back and forth a few times before I get it right.

Tips That Help

• Learn a handful of basic strumming patterns, some in four and some in three, so you have patterns to match.
• Go for the simplest pattern that works. Once you’re used to the song, you can add more to it.
• Start with simpler songs, then listen to a variety of songs and practice picking out the beat.
• If you can find the sheet music, check the time signature, even if you don’t read music.
• Learn how to read strumming notation, but take the up and down arrows with a grain of salt. They don’t capture everything, like how hard you hit the strings or which strings you hit, so use your ears too.

Give It Time

Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get it right away. This is a skill that develops over time, and some songs are much harder to figure out than others.

Which song’s strumming pattern has you stumped? Let me know in the comments.