Lots of Guitar Strumming Patterns for Practice – Part 1

Strumming Patterns – Part 1
I had been receiving a lot of comments and requests for various strumming patterns to practice apart from chords. Many people find it difficult to grasp the strumming pattern just by listening to the song. For them this list will be quite useful.
I got it from my guitar teacher long time back and it helped me practice strumming a lot even though I don’t remember most of them!
While practicing, keep a few things in mind:
- Your right hand movement should be from the elbow only in a cyclic manner and it should be identical for every strumming pattern. Whether you are playing the simple March or stylish Rock, to a viewer, your hand must move up and down in a symmetrical way in each case.
- Tap your foot to keep count of the bars as the pattern becomes complicated.
- Practice each strumming pattern four times.
- You need not remember each pattern in the list given below. It is for your practice!
- Enjoy!
How to read Strumming Pattern?
^ – Down Stroke
v – Up Stroke
Simple Duple (2/4) – 2 beats to a bar.
Simple Triple (3/4) – 3 beats to a bar.
Simple Quadraple (4/4) – 4 beats to a bar.
The comma (,) is used here to differentiate between the separate beats contained in the bar of the pattern.
MARCH
(2/4) | ^ , v ||
FOX-TROT
(2/4) | ^ , ^v ||
TANGO
(2/4) | ^^-v , ^^ ||
POLKA
(2/4) | ^-^v , ^^ ||
WALTZ
(3/4) | ^ , ^ , ^ || OR | ^ , v , v ||
FANDANGO
(3/4) | ^ , ^v , ^ ||
SARRABANDE
(3/4) | ^ , ^ , -v | ^ , ^ , – ||
SOUL
(4/4) | ^ , ^-^v , ^v , ^v ||
BOLERO
(4/4) | ^v , ^ , ^v , ^ ||
RHYMBA
(4/4) | ^^ , -^ , ^v , ^v ||
SWING
(4/4) | ^v , ^v , ^ , v ||
ROCK
(4/4) | ^–v , ^–v , ^–v , ^–v ||
If you know more strumming patterns, do let me know in the comments and I will add it here. Keep watching for the concluding part 2 of the series!
Update: Lots of Guitar Strumming Patterns for Practice – Part 2
If u can please provide the mp3 samples as well so we can time these strumming patterns.
please also check the up and down notation i think u have written otherwise
That’s a good suggestion. I will look into it Prashant. By the way, the notations are right. They seem vice-versa but I have followed the standard notation.
Abhinav rocks!!
Hi,
d=down
u=up
m=miss
c=chop
ddu,uc
dd,uu,c
dumumuc
Regards
hi dat was nice but u no wat listenin to strummin patterns along wid readin will help a lot to begnners like me
i no the chords for tum ho toh(thnks again 4 dat)
but wats d strumming pattern is it amongst the Lots of Guitar Strumming Patterns for Practice – Part 1n2?????
plz do reply
thank u……
Great strumming patterns is syncopation missing a down stroke?
please also check the up and down notation i think u have written otherwise
I ll do the same then 🙂
Hello Abhinav,
Good to see your site. But I failed to find content for a very naive user. Some of them are as below:
1> What each cord called as?
2> How to practice each cord?
3> How to hold plectrum?
If you can please arrange the contents in more organized manner, it’d be very much helpful for the naive guitarists like me.
Thank you,
– sameer oak.
hi abhinav. i m a beginner in guitar, i liked ur previous posts very much..but can u pls tell me about simple duple etc. i cant understand it. can u give me a tutorial video…….
hey can u explain this 2/4, 3/4 , 4/4.. beat what basically this r
hiii frnd thanx for these chords…..
dear frnd in my city there is not good guitar’s tutar they dont know about many rithems of guitar its better if u write rithem name also after chords plzzz
and send some rythem pattern plz so i can play guitar i know only 4 or 5 pattern plz send thanx..
gh
I cannot understand what you telling bars…
i know the bar system to play chords linke Fmajor. but i cannot understand what you telling about bar count.
plz tell me…
Hi Abhinav, Thanks for all your upload. It would be great if you can add some example MP3 or WMV files to all strumming pattern. So that we can relate time signature and bits to the strumming pattern.
Have a great day…!
what do u mean by 2 beats to a bar?
Can you tell me on shifting chords..
hi, my name is Donna, and i would like to know if you can practice strumming for your guitar
on the days that you do not have enought time to pull out the guitar? also i real like your guitar
chords information page on strumming. thanks , Donna from north little rock arkansas.
To practice strumming (to and fro motion of the right hand), you will have to have a guitar with you. But to understand the rhythm of any song, guitar is not required. Focusing on the base part (drums, congo, tabla etc…) of the song helps. Try to listen to the song with single-minded focus on the beats only.
I have a lot more to say on this. Probably should write a post on this topic.
That is a nice share of strumming patterns.This will help a lot.Practicing Strumming is very important.
thanks alot for ur help???? but i need this strumming pattern for hindi songs and how to use them? would u help me??
i dont know…
wt is tha CHOP & MISS plzzzzzzzzzz tell me.
Here’s a strumming pattern in 7/4 –
^ – Downstroke
* – Upstroke
X – Mute Strings
R – Rest
C – Chord
[^ *^^ *^^* ^ *]
[C XXC XXCC C X]
Can somebody please post the chords for the song “Rangrez” from Tanu weds Manu
please post audio also
……………..
thnx frnd but i want more ..sturking
hi abhinav… nice to see this site but i want to know about this 2/4, 3/4 and all system and also want to know about bar. please tell me this all i am new to this and don’t know about this. so please help me to learn guitar batter. thanx……
This is probably a silly question, but just to be sure, are the dashes rests, or some other… thing… like muting (which is strumming while muting the strings, yes?). Obviously, I don’t know much about terms, yet. lol Thanks for the help and the awesome post!
Dashes are rests, not muting. The strumming hand should continue to move but not hit any string.
Hi,
Thank you so much for the new strumming pattrens. I’m new bie to guittar. I know few strumming patterns. The above mentioned patterns are new to me. Can you please explain in detail, I’m not able to understand.
ex:
SARRABANDE
(3/4) | ^ , ^ , -v | ^ , ^ , – ||
What does 3/4 means, – and || (I got the up and down storke symbol meaning)??
Regards,
Akasmika
hi,
saw your site buddy…but i feel you should do a couple of videos of any of the popular song with following steps
1. playing the song
2. dismantling it into beats..2/2 or 4/4 etc
3. showing how to catch hold of it
4. finding the chords
5. strumming patterns and
6 finally fixing all with the kind it can be played..
I am looking forward to it…can you do this for Hoto ko chu lo tum of Jagjit singh’s gazal
thanks
here is one beat that is common in lots off songs… it is sambha beat…. the pattern of playing sambha beat is DDUUUD….
one other is arabian beat. and pattern is D-UUD-UUD…..
Can u pls post the tabs for telugu mv songs
Dear Abhi,
I am having a lot of trouble strumming …
Your Lessons are a awesome… But i am facing difficulty
understanding the following..
would you please explain what does this DASH (-) mean in
|| ^^-v , ^^ || &
|| ^-^v , ^^ ||
could You please provide me the Following Strumming in
DUD and 1&2&3 Forms….
MARCH
(2/4) | ^ , v ||
FOX-TROT
(2/4) | ^ , ^v ||
TANGO
(2/4) | ^^-v , ^^ ||
POLKA
(2/4) | ^-^v , ^^ ||
Thank you in Advance ..
You are really helping 1000s of people ..
Hats off to u man..!
Zakaria
Hey Abhinav,
What is the meaning of that sign ” -” , u use in the bar
Hi Sourav, ‘-‘ means no stroke. The hand continues to move UP & DOWN as usual but without hitting any strings.