strumming patterns?

You can make a passable version of a song with just about any strumming pattern as long as you have the right chords and change at the right time. However, if you want to make it sound more like the original then you need to work on the pattern. There are some songs like Father and Son or Heart of Gold that will never even pass if you are not using close to the right pattern.

strumming patterns do matter; alot.

just as you do not speak in a montone,playing a song using the same strumming pattern is bascially a monotone.

emphasis of words in speaking heightens the meaning and interest.
same with your right hand.

give Pete Townsend a listen. he was a great influence on my rythm patterns.

definatley mix up your habits.

It is good to have an arsenal of different patterns but I strongly dissagree with the premise that you have to play any song like the original.
It is much better IMO to make the song your own and play it with YOUR style of playing.
Chord changes on time do much more for a song than strumming patterns do.

Having a variety of strumming patterns at your disposal is always good. An interesting strumming pattern can really breathe life into a tired progression. This is also true of a good picking pattern. Good luck!

this may sound a bit daft but how important are the strumming paterns? i was playing through all the song i can now play, and i realised i use pretty much the same strumming patern for each song, just change of tempo. is it important to try and copy the original artists pattern or not? i have been playing mainly damien rice, james blunt, tom mcrae, bob dylan stuff. can anyone help? thanx.
I am not sure where you are with your skill level but if you are interested there on some basic strumming patterns, chord progressions and sound clips on my web site linked below.

strummin patterns are very important. Of course if you've got the right chord changes and play at the right speed, there is a chanche that the song will be recognizable, but as our "teacher" Nils said, not always. As an excellent book by a French guitarist explained me, what is really important to do is to understand the proper beat resolution of a song and play a pattern based on that kind of resolution.

I mean most rock/pop songs are based on three different kind of resolution:

a) eight resolution which means no more than two notes per beat
b) triplets resolution, like in the blues (the triplets could not actually be played but also felt like in the shuffle when you play the 1st and third note of each triplet)
c) sixtheen resolution which means no more than four notes per beat

Take "Hotel california" which is based upon sixtheen notes: it could be played with EVERY pattern that includes sixtheen notes like

bb ddu bb ddu

d du ud dudu

or whatever pattern you like

and will still be perceived by your listeners as "Hotel california"

Or if you take "losing my religion" is based on eight notes so you could play it with ANY pattern based on eight notes like

d du u du

but also

d du du du

of course the more similar the pattern is to the original one, the better the result. You could not play a blues number if you play it with straight eight notes but you could play a song based on sixtheen with a pattern based on eight notes (at least if you play alone!!!).

i.e. "Hotel california" could also be played with the classic d/du/udu sync pattern and will still be recognizable by every listener, only it would be slower than the original

So at the end of the day my advice is to learn a few pattern for every kind of resolution and then heartily use them with your favourite song: the more you try, you will better choose a proper pattern

Matteo