Hey Rock Stars,
Hope you’re doing great.
So far in the course, you have learned how to hold a guitar, how to tune it, how to play your first notes on the guitar and how to hold your first basic chords on guitar.
In this lesson, you will learn how to play the easiest strumming pattern on guitar. Yes. The strumming pattern that I am going to teach you in this lesson is, perhaps, the easiest strumming pattern on guitar, and guess what, it sound great.
Why Strumming Pattern is important?
But before that, you must understand why strumming is important. Music is a combination of rhythm, harmony and melody. When you sing a song with guitar, the melody is sung by your voice, the harmony is produced by the chords you play (basics of which we have already learned), and the rhythm is given by the strumming pattern that you play on the guitar with your right hand (if you are a right handed guitarist).
So what strumming pattern you will play in a song will be based upon what is the rhythm of that song.
The basic strumming that you will learn in this lesson has been used in various popular songs both in bollywood and in the western music. The popular “Jingle Bells” has this rhythm. So we can call this rhythm “The Jingle Bells Rhythm”. Songs like “Hai Apna Dil Toh Aawara”, “Yeh Chand Sa Roshan Chehra”, etc also used this very basic rhythm. I’m sure you’ll have a great time learning and playing the Jingle Bells rhythm.
The Jingle Bells Rhythm
The Jingle Bells Rhythm has only two strokes per beat and both are played downwards. This is how you will play this rhythm:
- Hold your plectrum in a comfortable position in your right hand (right handers; in your left for lefties)
- Strike the strings of the guitar in downward direction (on top strings)
- Strike the strings of the guitar in downward direction again (on bottom strings)
- Repeat 3 & 4
Note: Try to play the first down stroke on top 3 strings, i.e. E, A & D, and the second Down stroke on the bottom 3 strings, i.e. G, B, E. Don’t try to be precise. Just go with the flow. Keep on humming One Two, One Two, One Two, One Two, as you strike the strings twice downwards. This has to be done in the beginning as it helps you to keep track of your strokes.
So, here is how the Jingle Bells rhythm looks on paper:
Down down | Down down
Or
D d | D d
Here’s a demonstration of how you can play this rhythm:
Now, you know the most basic strumming pattern on guitar. It is time to practice it now. Hold any of the chords you learned in the previous lesson and start playing the Jingle Bells Rhythm on it. Practice it till you are comfortable enough to move on to other chords.
Most Used Strumming Patterns
Other most used strumming patterns include the following:
- D – d d | D – d d
There are three stroked in this strumming, all played downwards. First stroke is played on the top strings, then there is a little pause and the next two strokes are played on the bottom strings.
2. D D d D | D D d D
If you see, there are four strokes in this strumming, all played downwards. First two strokes are played on the top strings, the third on the bottom strings and fourth on the top strings.
3. D d uu Du | D d uu Du
This is perhaps the most used strumming pattern and most of the songs shall have its variations. There are six strokes played in this strumming. The first stroke is played downwards on top strings, the second also downwards but on the bottom strings, the third and fourth strokes are played upwards on the bottom strings, the fifth is played downwards on the top strings and the sixth is played upwards on the bottom strings.
