8th Note Strumming Pattern

Now that you know how to strum all the 8th notes with both down and upstrokes, let's find a cool way to make it sound more like a strumming pattern.

In the previous lesson we played the all the 8th notes in the bar. While you do hear this used in songs, most of the time it sounds less monotonous and more musical if we break up the constant stream of subdivisions a little bit.

So let's try and just play '1 and 2 and'. That's down/up/down/up.

Then for the rest of the bar we'll just play beats 3 and 4. That's just two down strokes. So it's down/up/down/up, down, down.

If you have trouble remembering rhythms like this, it can sometimes help to make up some silly lyrics. For example, 'Strumming in a new way, strumming in a new way' or something completely absurd like, 'Turkey in a hot tub, turkey in a hot tub', or whatever you can come up with that can help you remember the rhythm.

Here's another tip that's going to save you a lot of time: The best way to learn something like this is to practice playing it correctly once, and then stopping. Don't try to loop it right away, because you'll most likely just get confused!

Whenever you can do it once pretty comfortably like that, try doing it twice and then stopping. Still resist the urge to loop it!

Do that until you're comfortable playing it twice.

If it's a really hard thing you're trying to learn, then you can do it three times and then stop. But at this point you're probably ready to try looping it. When you mess up after a while, just stop and start again. And then eventually it'll feel like second nature.

Often we go straight to trying to loop something and although it feels like we're pushing things along we're really slowing down the process because we just end up messing it up and confusing ourselves.

This applies to so many hard things you're going to learn from hereon out, and it'll save you so much time and frustration if you keep this approach in mind.

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
8th Notes & Upstrokes
Styles:
Any Style
Difficulty:
8th Note Strumming Pattern song notation

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Questions & Answers

7 months ago
Hi, love the lessons thank you! How do you avoid hitting or strumming the 6th or E string when strumming A minor? got the strumming down, but struggle hitting right strings. thank you Bob
Mike Olekshy 7 months ago

Hi Bob - thanks for your question! Try wrapping your thumb around the top of the fretboard and just lightly touching the tip of it onto the low E string. That will mute the string so that it doesn't ring out with your strumming. If that is too uncomfortable, then the only way to avoid it is to watch your strumming hand and make sure you are strumming from the A string upwards, and not strumming the low E. Turn this into a practice exercise where you are focussed on strumming slowly and not hitting the low E string. Eventually, muscle memory will take over, and you won't have to look as much - or at all!

8 months ago
Hi Anders in the video shows E minor and the notation is showing A minor, is it just me being thick?
Mike Olekshy 7 months ago

Hi Alixy! Thanks for the heads up! Anders does end up switching to A minor around 3:25 into the lesson. But yes, you are correct he's playing Em while the bottom of the screen is showing the notation for Am for the entire lesson leading up to then. I've forwarded the issue to our transcription team. Thanks again!

8 months ago
Something that has helped me struggling with this concept was solved by my UK guitar teacher is to think strum pattern in words. I use a 1-syllable word to represent DOWN ( Pear) and 2 syllables to represent DOWN-UP.( Ap-ple) I learnt the example by using “pear” and “apple,” you’d take this: And you would still end up with the exact same strumming pattern! Each of those will fit on a single beat. For the Am example, you could go: Beat 1 - Down-up say "Ap- ple" Beat 2 - Down-up say "Ap-ple" Beat 3 - Down say" Pear" Beat 4 - Down say "Pear " ...and you’d end up with: Note that even though a downstroke is a single stroke and a down-up is two, they still each take up the same amount of beats (1 each). Beat 1 - Apple ( Down/Up ) Beat 2 - Apple ( Down/Up ) Beat 3 - Pear (Down) Beat 4 - Pear (Down ) Hope this makes sense.
Mike Olekshy 7 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your suggestion! Yes this can be an effective way to increase your strumming skills. I think many students will find this helpful. Thanks again!

8 months ago
i have a q i went to guitar class like a year ago, and i could play some songs. but i thought (and think actually!) that it is better to see the fundamentals first. it gets sometimes boring for me and want to ask you is it good that i'm doing this or i should do other things?
Mike Olekshy 7 months ago

Thanks for your question! I think it's okay to skim through some of the lessons you already have a handle on. Once you reach material that looks new or that you know you need to work on, then slow down and only proceed to the next lesson once you completely understand the material and can play through the examples comfortably.