18 Strumming Patterns You Can Do RIGHT NOW

One of the most common guitar questions I get asked is:

How can I make my strumming better?

Or..

What are some good strumming patterns?

The easiest way to explain strumming patterns is to see and hear them in action.

Here are 18 strumming patterns.

To demonstrate how different strumming patterns can change the sound of your chords, I used the same chord progression for every pattern: G D Em C

Here are the strumming patterns in order (from the video):

1. Four Down Strums
2. Eight Down Strums
3. Accent the Third Beat
4. Just Strum the Bottom Strings
5. Just Strum the Middle Strings
6. Just Strum the Top Strings
7. Mute the Top Strings
8. Strum Slap
9. Down, Down, Down, Down/Up
10. Down, Down, Down/Up, Down/Up
11. Down/Up, Down/Up, Down/Up, Down/Up
12. Down, Down, /Up, Down/Up
13. Down, Down, MUTE/UP, Down/Up
14. Down, Down, Down, Down/UP, /Up, Down, Down/Up, Down/Up
15. Down, Down, Down, Down/UP, /Up, Down, Down/Up, Down/Up (with mute)
16. Pick through the Strings
17. Randomly Pick through the Strings
18. Fingerpick

This isn’t really meant to be an instructional video, rather it’s a way to give you some ideas about different strumming patterns to try out.

HOWEVER!

If you want some instruction or clarification – just ask me.