How to learn strumming patterns by listening?

I am trying to learn various songs by some of the bands I listen to. Whenever I look at tabs, the instructions say, "listen to song to learn the pattern". Now, I have attempted this, either I don't have an ear for it or I am doing it wrong. Can someone explain how I can get better at this, or maybe recommend a video? Thanks!

I try to pick up the strum pattern on my leg. Then while muting the strings. To me it's more then a feel then a sound.

Originally Posted by: breakingjoshthe instructions say, "listen to song to learn the pattern". Now, I have attempted this, either I don't have an ear for it or I am doing it wrong. Can someone explain how I can get better at this, or maybe recommend a video? Thanks!

What that means is this: just looking at the tab alone gives you all the notes in the correct order, but it doesn't really specify how much time is in between each note/chord. So if you listen to it, you can count each strum and know from the tab which note/chord goes to which part of the song. I hope that made sense.

Also, if it's any help, the first few times I tried learning songs from tab I was convinced the tab had to be wrong. But really, I just wasn't used to using this method. Just play through enough of the chords until it starts to make sense.