Originally Posted by: meharbrar12

how do you go about choosing the right strumming pattern for a song your writing?[/quote][p]It depends on a number of factors.

1. What is the time signature?

2. Straight rhythm or swing rhythm?

3. Is there an existing chord progression?

4. Is there an existing melody? Bass line? Guitar part?

5. What is the theme of your song?

And in a lot of cases this comes down to the limits of your ability. For example . . .

Originally Posted by: meharbrar12Like in my case I have lyrics, melody etc, I know a handful of strum patterns

And you can only use what you know. So it's a great idea to always be learning & working on new rhythmic ideas. With that in mind are you working on the acoustic course? Or the blues or country course? Those have many different ways of playing rhythm guitar.

[quote=meharbrar12]but what sort elements should I be looking for when choosing one or even writing one to compliment the rhythm of the melody if that makes sense. Is there any connection in the melody and the strumming pattern I should be looking for

The above list is a good starting point. But in many cases you could use more than one particular strumming pattern for any given song. Often it just is an artistic choice as to whether or not you think the pattern you are using is appropriate.

In many cases the melody & lyrics that people write already has a specific rhythm & it's driven or created by the strumming patterns they already know. So understandably, they are creating to their wheelhouse. After all you can only use what you know.

Hope this helps!