So… strumming. I know, it seems like a super basic thing, but I do field a lot of questions about it. So many that I decided it would be easier to just write up a lesson on it. In this lesson I will cover the basic technique, some rudimentary stuff about rhythm and counting, a few common strum patterns, and a simple method for figuring out a nice rhythm to strum when you’re reading those chord charts you find on Ultimate-Guitar and other sites.
Strumming is very simple. All you do is move your pick (or fingers) straight across the strings. The movement is primarily in the wrist. A lot of people strum by locking their wrist and then bending their arm at the elbow. I’ve got two problems with this method. A) You get tired quickly, and B) It doesn’t sound as good. When you strum like that, you end up hitting the higher strings a lot closer to the bridge than the lower strings. Try picking a single string right over the sound hole (or about where it would be if electric guitars had sound holes). It produces a very full and pleasant tone. Now hit that same string really close to the bridge. It doesn’t sound as nice, does it? It’s kind of thin and weak, even a little bit harsh. It can be a very useful sound in certain circumstances, but it just doesn’t sound that good when you’re strumming. Take your time and practice strumming straight across the strings, as illustrated below.
As I said earlier, it’s all in the wrist. It may feel a little awkward at first, but it won’t take long before this motion comes naturally. Trust me on this one. Not only will you get a better sound, but you won’t tire your arm out either.
Now it’s time to start learning some rhythm! I’m not going to get into too much detail about rhythm and rhythmic notation here, just some basic stuff about counting. Most popular music is in 4/4 time. What that means is that the music is divided up into groups of 4 beats, and each quarter note lasts for one beat. You don’t need to know what a quarter note is, just know that we are going to be working with 4 beat rhythms. Grab your metronome (if you don’t have one, go get one, or just use this online one) set it to a nice slow tempo. Something around 70 beats per minute (bpm) should be fine. Now strum downstrokes across the strings each time the metronome clicks. Count “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4…” as you strum, one number per click.
Once you’ve got that down, start adding an upstroke between the downstrokes. Say the word “And” whenever you do an upstroke, so your counting will go “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 &…” Try to stick those upstrokes right in the middle of the two downstrokes. If you are having trouble keeping the rhythm steady, start alternating down and upstrokes for each click of the metronome.
So we’ve already got two really simple strum patterns down. We have ↓ – ↓ – ↓ – ↓ – and ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑. We’re just going to start dropping out some random notes from that second one. I’m just going to list a whole bunch of patterns to try. Remember to do these with a metronome and count aloud as you play.
- ↓ – ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ :: counted 1 – 2 & 3 & 4 &
- ↓ – ↓ – ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ :: counted 1 – 2 – 3 & 4 &
- ↓ ↑ ↓ – ↑ ↓ ↑ :: counted 1 & 2 & – & 4 &
- ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ – ↑ – ↑ :: counted 1 & 2 & – & – &
- ↓ – ↓ ↑ – ↑ ↓ ↑ :: counted 1 – 2 & – & 4 &
- ↓ – – ↑ ↓ – ↓ :: counted 1 – – & 3 – 4 –
That second to last one is VERY common. It also tends to be a bit of a challenge for beginners. Once you get that one down, you’re probably ready to start tackling some songs, however I want you to take a look at that last one first.
That last one isn’t a really common rhythm, but it’s very good for developing your own rhythmic sensibilities. The trick here is to always keep your hand moving up and down with the beat. Do not stop and wait for the upstroke on 2&. If you stop and wait, then your timing won’t be as tight and the rhythm won’t flow properly. It will sound awkward and disjointed. Watch the video to see exactly what I mean. This sort of thing can be very challenging at first, but it IS the better way to do it. If you don’t do it right now, then you are going to have poor rhythm forever (or at least until you stop doing it wrong and fix your technique, which will be much more difficult than just doing it correctly in the first place).
Now we’re all set to play some songs, and I’m sure you’re wondering how to figure out the strum patterns for all those chord charts you’re pulling up on Chordie.com or wherever you like to go. Well, I hate to break it to you, but it usually doesn’t work that way. Strum patterns are primarily a teaching tool. They are designed to help you develop your sense of rhythm and timing; they aren’t a compositional tool. People don’t write songs thinking “Okay, I’m going to use this strum pattern for this part, then this strum pattern for this part…” No, that’s ridiculous. The song is all about the melody, the chords are just there to dress it up. They are like the backdrop in a portrait. Throwing a different rhythm under there won’t prevent somebody from recognizing the song; it will just give it a different feel.
So here is a simple little process you can go through to get the feel for a song, and hopefully figure out your own rhythms to strum those chords to. Start off by simply singing the song and playing the chords wherever you think they are supposed to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re a good singer or not, just sing and play. This will get you familiar with how the chords change throughout the song, and hopefully give you some idea about how they relate to the melody. The next step is to just play quarter notes (our ↓ – ↓ – ↓ – ↓ – rhythm). Keep singing and count the number of strums each chord gets (it will usually be 2, 4, or 8). This will help you spot any chords that change in odd places, like on the upbeats.
Once you’ve done that, you should have a pretty good feel for the song. You shouldn’t have any problem just playing what comes naturally while you sing now. Whether these rhythms are consistent patterns or change around a bit shouldn’t matter, you will be more in touch with the song and it will FEEL better. You can also try mixing things up a little bit and playing the song in a different style than the original performer! Check out the video and watch how I do this with “A Little Help From My Friends”.