Strumming Patterns and Rhythm

I feel ya man. I've been playing for longer than you and I tend to do the same thing. Now I cheat because my teacher usually writes out the pattern for me, but once I listen to the song I can usually hear the difference between the down/upstrokes.

You can almost always tell if they are downing all downstrokes as that has a fairly distinctive sound, but I think you had it right, use your ear in the end that will get you the farthest.

After 40-odd years of listening to music, I can recognise strumming patterns easily enough. I find myself humming them, but when it comes to translating them to guitar via my fingers, there seems to be a blind spot somewhere! Then again, I never had the benefit of a teacher, or easily available lessons via the internet, so I HAD to work out rhythms and strumming patterns for myself from the early days of playing guitar. It's something that comes fairly naturally, but whereas most people tend to strum very rhythmically.....

D U D U D U D U etc..... and miss the strings if (for example) the upstroke's not needed, I'll strum in what seems to be a random pattern compared to anyone else, but play the same pattern.....weird, eh? It's just that I had to develop that method for myself and over the years I've settled into that routine/rut.....

Seems to work for me, though. Your ears are probably the best bet to rely on - try listening to lots of different songs, as an exercise, and working the strumming patterns out. You'll soon find the groove - most people do, eventually.

:D :D :D

Vic

Vic,

I think I understand what you are saying and I still do that to some degree. I don't always keep my pick hand moving up and down (or if I do I don't realize it) when I am strumming and just not hit certain strings. I try but I am not always good at that.

Like if there was a one beat pause, instead of letting my picking hand move up and down I may just hold it until the next beat if you understand what I mean. But I don't think this is a good habit and I am trying to break myself of that.

Go to this page and scroll to the bottom:

http://www.grouptherapy.guernsey.net/strumming.html

I still regularly revist this page to work on things and maybe see if there are new songs I can try.

Best wishes.

Most tabs will not give you the strumming pattern. The assumption is that you are already familiar with the song and should have a good idea of the rhythm. The tabs are meant to provide you with the chord structure or notes for a song. the majority of the tabs that you will find on the internet wil not give you a sense of rhythm and may not be as complete as you would like. There are some well written tabs that you can find in books. These will provide you with notation on the rhythm. Other than that, you will need to learn how to read music to get the best sense of rhythm and timing.

Learning how to develop an ear for rhythm (the up and downstrokes) is where you want to be. It will take some time no doubt but it is something that every guitarist needs to develop. Assuming you are not taking lessons, I would suggest that you look for songs that can teach you how to pick out the stroke patterns. One song that immediately comes to mind is “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPcjjOrKmJw

This song provides a good distinction between the up/downstrokes and therefore can assist you in developing an ear for them.

Learn the ability to swing your wrist. You can play any pattern then.

Go to this page and scroll to the bottom:

http://www.grouptherapy.guernsey.net/strumming.html

I still regularly revisit this page to work on things and maybe see if there are new songs I can try.

Best wishes.
Holy cow, thanks for posting this. I devoured the site reading it before I could get to my guitar, and I sat there learning some of the beginner stuff last night until the fingers on my left hand really hurt for the first time in many weeks. This was a great site for a guy like me who's only been learning for a few months. I really like the way he sets these things out, giving both the chord progression and the strumming pattern, even though I'd love to see some more of it written down instead of merely sound files. But beggars and choosers, right?

On top of it all, I can strum Wonderwall now, one of my wife's favorite songs from our college days, and that earns some points.

Thanks for posting it!

Realized that I wanted to add - As far as internet sources, the one in this post was the second great resource I've found, right alongside Guitar Noise. I can't recall ever saying a big thank you for this site, and I love it! It's added significantly to my playing!

read all your replies and they have really helped me. i am a beginner and have been playing for a couple of months, but at the moment i am learning jack johnson's times like these and the only strumming that i can put together is dxddx does anyone out there know the actual strumming pattern he uses and if so what is it???!!!! :(

Jack Johnson is one artist who puts all (or almost all) of his music out in books, so it's truly easy to see how he does his rhythm since it's all written out in notation. Most of his rhythms aren't easy, but they are a lot easier when you can see them in this format.

One of my students currently has my book with "Times Like These" in it, but if you're able to wait, I can probably get you a copy of the song in about a week. PM me and let me know.

Peace