Yes, there are a lot of different strumming patterns you can play on the guitar. But in this guitar lesson I’m going to show you the most common guitar strum pattern ever. Once you hear me play it in the video guitar lesson below, you are going to recognize the sound of it right away. I know you have heard it in all kinds of different songs.
If you want to build your vocabulary of guitar strumming patterns, but sure and check out at my Rhythm Guitar Mastery Course. It’s a complete step-by-step guide to playing guitar chords, rhythms, and strumming.
Common Strumming Pattern For Guitar
(Video Guitar Lesson)
Here is the strum pattern written out. And while I’m not going to go into the details about how to read the notation in this lesson. You don’t need them to be able to play it. The symbols that you see above indicated the down and up strums. And if the strum direction symbol is in parentheses, then “miss” the strings in that direction rather than playing them.
When playing guitar strumming patterns like this, one big idea that’s going to help you switch between chords more easily is this. On the last strum before switching to a new chord, lift up your left hand fingers and strum the strings open….as you are moving your left hand towards the next chord. This is sometimes called a transition strum.
Don’t strum it too loud. The idea is that you hear a rhythm, but it gives you more of a chance to get to the next chord in time. Especially as you are playing faster. The open strings don’t sound out of place in this situation because all of the chords in this chord progression already have at least one open string already.
For chords that don’t have any open strings, there are some other transition strum techniques to explore, but for this one…use the open string transition strum. So the last “up strum” before switching to C, D and back to G will be open strings.
Try this transition strum even when playing slow at first. But out in the real world if you were playing slow, the transition strum would not be necessary.
Try practicing this strum pattern with other chord progressions as well. And if you are ever stuck and don’t know what strumming pattern to play in a song. Try this one out. It fits in a lot of situations.
This is just one of the many strum patterns that I cover in my Rhythm Guitar Mastery Phase 1 Course.