HOW TO determine the strumming pattern for songs (Part 1)

In this post, we will talk about how to determine the strumming pattern for songs that you hear. The simplest answer I can give is to listen to the song itself, at least that is how I do it. However, this is not a simple thing to do as it requires you to be able to listen well.

Not to worry, in my 12 over years of playing the guitar, I have come up with a list of strumming patterns that can be used for songs. In particular, I will be focusing on songs that are 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8

4/4 Songs ("D" represents a downstroke, "U" represents an upstroke)
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            1 2 3 4
Pattern 1 : D,D,D,D,DU

            1 2     3 4
Pattern 2 : D,D,DU  D,D,DU

            1 2  3   4
Pattern 3 : D,D,UDU,DD,DU

            1  2  3   4
Pattern 4 : D,UDUD,UDUD,DU

            1 2 3 4
Pattern 5 : D,DU,UDU

3/4 Songs
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           1 2 3
Pattern 1: D,D,D,DU

6 /8 Songs
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           12 3 45 6
Pattern 1: D,UDUD,UDU

If you notice, I have 5 different patterns for 4/4 songs, and only 1 pattern each for 3/4 and 6/8 songs. The good news is, most songs that you hear on the radio are in 4/4.

In the end, choosing which strumming pattern (or even coming up with a new one) to use for a song is really up to you. My general rule is that you can use any strumming pattern you want as long as it sounds good to you. But of course, if you want to use the same one that the song you listen to uses, then it would require you to listen carefully to the song.

I realise that just showing you these "D"s and "U"s will be of little/no use to you if you don't know when to play it in relation to the beats. So, for the next post, I'll be posting up a video of audio examples on these different strumming patterns that I have mentioned above. Stay tuned for it. I just hope I have enough time to get down to making the video.