Learn How to Create Strum Patterns for Guitar - Easy Guitar Strum Patterns That Sound Great

 

Learning to play great sounding strum patterns for guitar involves being able to maintain a steady rhythm (locking into the “groove”) and a simple understanding of some basic rhythms and how to count them.

 

Today we are going to create two easy guitar strum patterns that sound good and will give you an understanding of how basic rhythms work and how you can use them to create your own great sounding strumming patterns.

 

Let’s look at a basic rhythm, learn to count it out and use it to create an easy guitar strum pattern.  Our rhythm will be based on four “counts.”

 

Set your metronome to 60 BPM and count out loud with the following rhythm.  The “clicks” are on the 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the “&” is evenly spaced in between the 3 and 4.

 

Say:     “One                Two                 Three   and     Four”

 

We can also show it like this:

 

Count: 1   2   3 & 4   1   2   3 & 4

 

When you are comfortable counting the rhythm out loud, pick up your guitar and finger a G chord.

 

Strum downstrokes (D) on the numbered beats and an upstroke (U) on the “&.”  It looks like this:

 

Count: 1   2   3 & 4   1   2   3 & 4
Strum: D   D   D U D   D   D   D U D

 

You want to stay “locked in” with the metronome clicks on your downstrums.  If you are having trouble keeping your strum rhythm together, go back and make sure that you that you are able to count the rhythm out loud with the metronome.  You must be able to count it out loud—if you are able to count it this means that your brain understands completely what it needs to have your strumming hand do when playing these strum patterns for guitar.  You can also tap the rhythm out on your leg or a table top.  It is very important that you are able to count the rhythm out loud or you will have difficulty creating a steady strumming rhythm.

 

We can create different sounding and feeling strum patterns for guitar by changing the position of the “&” in our four count rhythm.  Let’s put it in between the 1 and 2 to get a strum pattern like this:

 

Say:     “One    and      Two                 Three               Four”

 

Once again, strum downstrokes (D) on the numbered beats and an upstroke (U) on the “&.”  It looks like this:

 

 Count:  1 & 2   3   4   1 & 2   3   4
 Strum:  D U D   D   D   D U D   D   D

 

You can create many variations on easy guitar strum patterns by simply using downstrokes on the numbered beats and upstrokes on any of the “&”’s in between the main beats.  You can put the upstroke “&” wherever you want it within the guitar strum pattern rhythm.

 

We can also create easy guitar strum patterns by using a steady down and up strum rhythm throughout the entire strum pattern:

 

Count: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Strum: D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U

 

When playing this type of strum pattern for guitar, all up and downstrokes will be evenly spaced and steady.

 

Experiment with these easy guitar strum patterns and also make sure to start listening for these types of strum patterns for guitar when listening to your favorite music.  Try to count along to the rhythm and beats of the songs with the 1 2 3 4 beats.  This is a great way to exercise your mind and practice without even having your guitar in hand—you can do it anywhere that you can listen to music.  Remember, becoming a great guitarist and musician means learning to listen and training your brain as much as your hands. 

 

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