Easy Guitar Strumming Patterns For Beginners

Strumming patterns tell you when to strike the strings as well as which direction to move. The three exercises below use four quarter-note beats per bar, called 4/4 time. Begin on one comfortable chord and add chord changes after you can keep the count.

Read the count and the stroke symbols

Count evenly: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Each number is a beat. Each “and”, written & in the grids, falls halfway between two numbered beats. There are eight equal eighth-note positions in each bar. The final “and” comes halfway between beat 4 and beat 1 of the next bar.

• D means a downstroke, towards the floor across the strings in your playing position.
• U means an upstroke in the opposite direction.
• - means let that hand movement pass without striking the strings.

For these exercises, move down on the numbers and return up on the “ands”. Keep the movements small and comfortable. On a skipped strike, move just clear of the strings. The chord can keep ringing: the dash does not ask you to mute it.

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

If those directions are unfamiliar, review guitar pick strokes. This alternating motion is a useful way to learn these patterns; other rhythms and techniques can use different movements.

For rhythms that need silence, try counting rests and ties on one guitar string. A rest asks you to stop the sound; a skipped strike in these strumming grids can leave the chord ringing.

Set a steady pulse

Before playing, say the count for a bar or two. If you use the online metronome, select four beats per bar. Let each click mark a number, with the “and” evenly between clicks. The clicks do not mark all eight positions.

Try 60 beats per minute, then adjust to a pace you can follow comfortably. Keep counting at the same rate when a strum is skipped. You can first practise the movement just clear of the strings, then try it on the chord.

Pattern 1: four downstrokes

Strum down on beats 1, 2, 3 and 4. Return upwards between beats without touching the strings.

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

Repeat on one chord. After the final silent up movement, the next downstroke lands on beat 1 of the next bar. Keep the space between beats 4 and 1 equal to the space between the other numbered beats.

Pattern 2: down-down-down-down-up

Keep the four downstrokes and add an upstroke on the “and” after beat 4, often written 4 & or “4-and”. That is the fifth strike in the bar.

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

The strikes land on 1, 2, 3, 4, 4-and. The final upstroke comes half a beat after the downstroke on 4. When you repeat, leave another half beat before the downstroke on the next 1.

Pattern 3: down-down-up-up-down-up

This version leaves out the strike on beat 3 while the hand keeps moving down and up.

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

The six strikes are down on 1, down on 2, up on 2-and, up on 3-and, down on 4 and up on 4-and. The two upstrokes in the name have a silent downward movement between them on beat 3. There is also a silent upward return on 1-and.

Start by counting and moving through one bar slowly. If you accidentally strike on 3, practise the movement just clear of the strings, then bring back the intended strikes. You can let the chord from 2-and ring through beat 3.

Try one full bar per chord

Here is a two-chord exercise in standard tuning, E A D G B E from the lowest-pitched string to the highest. String 6 is low E; string 1 is high E.

Check each chord’s intended strings separately before adding the rhythm. If a note is unclear, use the checks in getting the hang of new chords. Stop if playing hurts, and take breaks.

1. Choose pattern 1. Count one full bar aloud before you start.
2. Play Em for all four beats of the first bar.
3. Change to Am for beat 1 of the second bar and play it for all four beats.
4. Return to Em on beat 1 of the third bar and repeat the two-bar sequence.

Once you can follow that sequence, try pattern 2 or 3 with the same one-bar chord lengths. Aim to sound the new chord on the next 1; do not add an extra beat for the change. If the change needs more time, pause and practise it separately before retrying the exercise more slowly, or return to one chord for the rhythm work.

For these first attempts, let an upstroke brush the thinner strings of the chord; it does not need to catch every string. Keep low E out of the Am strums. The easy chord progressions lesson offers other chord sequences once you want to vary the exercise.

If the pattern keeps slipping

Listen for the numbered beats first. If you lose your place, stop, count a full bar and restart on 1. Reduce the tempo or return to pattern 1 if you cannot yet place the upstrokes evenly.

If the pick catches, try a smaller movement and check for excessive squeezing. A relaxed hand still needs enough control to strike the intended strings. If a chord change repeatedly interrupts the count, work on the change and the rhythm separately for a while.

These are practice patterns, so they do not establish the rhythm of a particular song. When learning a song, check its beat grouping, chord-change timing and strumming instructions instead of fitting every song into these four-beat bars.

For a three-beat bar, try strumming in 3/4 time. The two Em exercises place three downstrums or six alternating strums across the same three quarter-note beats.

For two main beats divided into threes, try strumming in 6/8 time. Count 1 la li 2 la li and practise two held downstrums or six ordinary eighth-note strums.

To divide each quarter-note beat into four, try sixteenth-note strumming. Compare eight and sixteen Em attacks in the same four-beat bar, and check why the upstrum on “&” becomes a downstrum.

Source notes

Fender’s eighth-note lesson supports dividing four quarter-note beats into down and up movements. Andy Guitar’s DDDDU lesson notes describe the four-downstroke pattern with a final upstroke. The grids and counted two-chord exercise here are written for this page. The chord positions follow Fender’s written Em lesson and the fingering list in its Am lesson.