7 Tips for Reading Strumming Patterns

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In this lesson I'll show you 7 tips for reading & writing strumming patterns as part of your ongoing guitar play & practice. Whether you're following along with another lesson, learning a song by ear, or writing songs for yourself – there's many situations where this is a vital skill to have as a guitarist. No reading music, no dissecting tabs... this one is all about simple, practical ways to write down those ups & down strums in ways you can easily read later. I'll cover the basics, and then get into some slightly more advanced grounds in looking at things like accents, rests, slap strumming, and bass notes.

Timestamps for this video:

- 0:00 Lesson overview
- 1:02 Tip 1 - Ups & down strums
- 2:32 Tip 2 - Counting & rhythm
- 4:25 Tip 3 - Combining timing w/ strum directions
- 6:02 Tip 4 - Rests & Silence
- 7:51 Tip 5 - Accented Strums
- 10:25 Tip 6 - Bass Note Strumming
- 13:04 Tip 7 - Slap Strumming
- 14:05 Farewell

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[davemeyer]

I wish you would do lesson on how to figure out the strumming pattern. As a beginner it’s tough to take a song and figure out how the strumming pattern goes even when I know the cords. Most of the times when you find a song it will have the cords used but not the strumming pattern. Thanks

[layla]

i’ve been having a much harder time learning how strumming patterns work than how chords work. not sure why it’s throwing my brain through this much of a loop.

[humairahmed]

One of the best video tutorial for having wider perspective to strumming, can be applied to other patterns too.
Much appreciated 🙏
Thank you sir.

[akwamaryna]

I'm a total beginner, your tips are very easy to understand! Thanks!

[TheChicagoTodd]

Really great lesson! Nice job and thank you!

[valeriamikkonen]

This was such a helpful video for a beginner, thanks! I'm still trying to figure out how the chords and the rhythm goes together but little by little :)

[EveseveE]

Question: when you are strumming how do you when to switch chords? On the sheet music I use it gives you the strumming pattern for each part of the song at the top, then the lyrics with the chords beside it at the bottom. I’m having trouble figuring out like how much of this pattern should I play with this chord before switching to another chord 😅 (Basically how can I pay attention to the strumming pattern and chord changes at the same time) I’m new and self-taught with guitar and I’d appreciate if anyone has any tips

[pawsattack]

Thanks so much for posting helped me understand reading strumming patterns

[Platipus]

This was exactly what I was looking for and then some, thank you! Subscribed!

[melodiousvwake]

Thankyou for the great tutorial buddy ..i cleared my doubt from your this video

[gracegrace]

Fantastic tutorial! Thank you very much!!

[sadiewadie]

Thanks this was really helpful and the pdf if perfect:)

[pablomilanese]

Excellent ! Thank you ! it is a very enlightening video :)

[micahperry]

Great video bro, super helpful. Bless you

[RealPartySongs]

Can't wait to read your info. Thanks a lot.

[Tstra]

What an amazing tutorial, my strumming has always been terrible, this has helped heaps, thank you for the effort you have put into this

[markforktus]

How do you know which beat to come in on during the strum pattern? Seems you don't always start from the beginning .

[gredalynchannel]

May alam ako sa pag gigitara piro lahat ay hinde kopa kabisado salamat sa pagtuturo mo po

[michaelgriffin]

i can’t find a resource that really helps with strumming patterns, i search for these types of videos and they never really help. it’s just ups and downs that never actually translate into a sound that’s of any use. Unfortunately this never clicks and i just give up again! i can write all of this stuff down no problem but get on the guitar and i can’t strum or follow a pattern of any sort...saying up, down, up, down is of no use at all as i can’t play a song

[lostunicorn]

"Divorce that notion-"
*Wearing a wedding ring*
🤨😬