Guitar Strumming Patterns
Choose a pattern, hear it strummed over real chords, and play along. Every stroke is shown as you count it, so you can see exactly where the hand should be.
The folk / campfire strum
Down, down-up, up-down-up. Probably the most-used acoustic strum there is. The missed down on beat 3 is what gives it the lilt — the hand still goes down, it just skips the strings.
↓ down-strum · ↑ up-strum · ✕ muted chuck · dot = hand keeps moving, misses the strings. Space bar starts and stops.
How to Use the Strumming Trainer
- Pick a pattern. Each loads at a tempo suited to it. The grid shows one bar: ↓ is a down-strum, ↑ an up-strum, ✕ a muted chuck, and a dot is a stroke where the hand moves but misses the strings.
- Pick a chord progression, or Just G to focus on your strumming hand alone.
- Press Play along (or the space bar). The current stroke lights up and the count underneath shows where you are in the bar. Listen for a few bars, then join in.
- Use Change every 2 bars while chord changes are still slow, and the tempo slider to slow it down until it is clean.
The One Rule: Keep the Hand Moving
Almost every strumming problem comes from the same habit: the strumming hand stops and starts. Good rhythm players keep the hand moving like a pendulum: down on every beat, up on every "and", whether or not it touches the strings. A pattern is just a choice of which of those strokes connect.
That is why the grid shows the missed strokes. In the folk strum, beat 3 is a dot: your hand still travels down past the strings, it just does not hit them, so it is in position to catch the up-strum that follows. If you stop your hand instead, the up-strum lands early or late, and the pattern falls apart as soon as you change chords. Every pattern here follows the rule. Downs fall on the beats and on the eighth- or sixteenth-note downbeats, ups on the offbeats.
All Twelve Patterns
| Pattern | Strokes | Level |
|---|---|---|
| Four downs | ↓ · ↓ · ↓ · ↓ · | Beginner |
| Eighth-note downs | ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ | Beginner |
| Straight down-ups | ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ | Beginner |
| The folk / campfire strum | ↓ · ↓ ↑ · ↑ ↓ ↑ | Beginner |
| Two downs, then down-ups | ↓ · ↓ · ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ | Beginner |
| Syncopated push | ↓ · · ↑ · ↑ ↓ ↑ | Intermediate |
| Muted backbeat (chuck) | ↓ · ✕ ↑ · ↑ ✕ ↑ | Intermediate |
| Offbeat (ska / reggae) | · ↑ · ↑ · ↑ · ↑ | Intermediate |
| Waltz (3/4) | ↓ · ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ | Intermediate |
| Gallop | ↓ · ↓ ↑ ↓ · ↓ ↑ ↓ · ↓ ↑ ↓ · ↓ ↑ | Advanced |
| Sixteenth down-ups | ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ ↑ | Advanced |
| Sixteenth funk | ↓ · ↓ ↑ ✕ · ↓ ↑ · ↑ ↓ ↑ ✕ · ↓ ↑ | Advanced |
A Learning Order That Works
Start with four downs, one strum per beat, and use it to practise chord changes. At this stage the hard part is the fretting hand, and a simple strum takes the pressure off. When you can change chords without the beat stopping, move to straight down-ups to train the pendulum motion.
Next is the folk strum. The first time the hand has to miss on purpose, it will feel awkward. Play it slowly over Just G until you no longer have to think about it, then add chord changes. Two downs, then down-ups is a good stepping stone if the folk strum keeps tripping you up.
The intermediate patterns each add one idea. The syncopated push puts accents on the offbeats. The chuck adds percussion. The offbeat pattern removes the beat entirely, and the waltz changes the meter to three. The advanced patterns move to a sixteenth-note grid: the hand moves twice as fast and the wrist does most of the work.
Counting Out Loud
The count under the grid is not decoration. Saying "one and two and three and four and" out loud while you strum feels silly for about a day, and then it becomes the most reliable way to keep your place. For sixteenths, the count is "one e and a, two e and a". If you lose the pattern, keep counting and keep the hand moving, and you will find it again on the next "one".
Changing Chords Without Losing the Beat
Most strumming trouble is really chord-change trouble. Two tricks help. First, let the last up-strum before a change ring on open strings. Lift your fretting fingers early and start moving to the next shape, and nobody will hear the open strings at normal speed. Second, practise the change itself away from the strumming. One-minute changes, part of the daily practice routine, are the quickest way to speed it up.
Once a pattern is comfortable over the preset progressions, build your own in the progression builder, or look up the shapes in the chord library. And tune before you start with the tuner, because strumming exposes an out-of-tune string more than anything else.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common guitar strumming pattern?
Down, down-up, up-down-up, the one this page calls the folk or campfire strum. It works for a huge range of acoustic songs in 4/4 at moderate tempos, which is why it is usually the first pattern taught after straight down-strums.
Why does my strumming sound uneven?
Usually because the hand stops between strokes. Keep it moving down and up in a steady rhythm all the time, eighth notes or sixteenths, and make the pattern by choosing which strokes hit the strings. The dots in the pattern grid are where the hand moves but misses. Practising slowly with the click on is the fix.
Should I strum with a pick or my fingers?
Either works. A thin pick (around 0.5 to 0.7 mm) is the easiest way to get even down and up strokes on an acoustic. Strumming with the nail of the index finger gives a softer sound. Use whichever you are more comfortable with; the patterns are the same.
What does the X stroke mean?
A muted strum, often called a chuck or a slap. You strum normally while the fretting hand relaxes its pressure, or the side of the strumming hand lands on the strings, so you hear a percussive click instead of a chord. It works like a snare drum on beats 2 and 4.
How fast should I practise?
Start at a tempo where you can play the pattern and change chords without a gap, even if that is 60 BPM. Raise the tempo by about 5 BPM only after several clean repetitions. Each pattern loads with a sensible starting tempo; lower it if you need to.