Strumming is the most important part of playing the guitar!

You can read about it and talk about it all you like,

 but it wont make any difference

as you need to "Feel and Hear it"

So download this video file

(see if you can spot the "deliberate" mistake with the strings for the Gadd5 chord on the video, OOps!)

or scroll down

and listen to some of the MP3 demos further down the page,

that should be all you need.

However if you like reading then carry on !

"Put enough monkeys in a room and they will,

 eventually, play the chords to Stairway to Heaven"

However......it won't sound to good as They wont be able to strum,

because they have no sense of timing!!

With 3 chords and a good variety of strumming patterns you can play thousands of songs!

Strum with the edge of your thumb or with a Light Plectrum

or whatever you are comfortable with.

The up and down strokes lightly brush against the strings

and the up strum only really plays the first two/three strings.

I write strumming patterns in the easiest format I can think of,

D = Down U = Up

So DDUUD = down down up up down

sometimes I put in a " / "(slash)  or a " - "(hyphen) to indicate a slight pause

as in D/DUUD or DUD-DUD-DUDU

If "English" is not your first language

the D = Down and U = Up may work better for you

if you translate  them into your own language

(as long as they are words of 1 syllable)

Musically we write "Timing" as in Beats to the bar as in

4/4 that is 4 beats to the bar

or 3/4 8/4 that is; 3 or 8 beats to the bar

As Guitarists often we get confused by all that "Proper Music stuff"

so it may be better for you to just think of it as a strumming pattern

As strumming is so difficult to convey in writing,

I have recorded myself strumming various patterns.

These are available for you to listen to as MP3 files

This is probably the most important thing you can do

 especially if you are a total beginner

The idea is not to stop or interrupt the strumming pattern

 while changing the chord,

regardless of the sometimes horrible noise of "dead" strings.

I always tell my students

 to just "Plonk" your fingers on the chord and keep going,

there will be a point where it will click

and you will be able change smoothly.

"So be a Plonker!"

If "English" is not your first language you may not recognise

 "Plonk" and "Plonker" which are not real words but mean (in my context)

to just put your fingers on the strings in the approximate position (Plonk)

 and the person that does it! (Plonker)

The secret is to keep the strumming going and you perfect the chord later

This may happen straight away, (be able change smoothly)

or in a few minutes, but can take longer.

The easiest chord change while keeping the strumming going is;

Gadd5 to Cadd9 and vice versa.

This is because you only move the index and the second finger,

which you use for lots of other things,

so your brain is already aware of how to move them!

Once you start to get control of your fingers

you can then move on to other chords

but it is not necessary (or advisable)

to learn lots of chords  when you start

as you can play lots of songs with the same 3 or 4 chords

in different orders and with different strumming patterns

Follow these links to hear some strumming patterns

Some have been converted from older files

 and the audio quality is not so good others are the newer recorded MP3 files

TUNE UP!

Show me a Chordsheet I'm ready!

New strumming video

Listen to these MP3s of Strumming Patterns

DDUUD good starting point (MP3new) This works over anything with a count of 4 !

DDUUD as in "Sweet Child O' Mine" (count of 4)

DDU/UD as in "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (count of 4)

DD/UDUDD & DUDU as in Cannonball Damien Rice (count of 4 then 2 )

DD/UUD as in Rollercoaster or Breakdown (using Am G)(count of 4)

D/DUDU as in Iris Goo Goo Dolls (count of 3 ie 3/4)

D/D/UDUDD as in Stop Crying your heart out (count of 4)

DDD/UDUDD as in Wise men James Blunt(count of 4) & Faster for Oasis Slide Away! also for the verse of Avrils' My Happy Ending(all on one chord)and perhaps for Blue October's Hate Me (twice)

D/DUUD as in Wonderful Tonight (count of 4)

DD/DUDU/UUUUDU as in "Back to you" (count of 8 ie 8/4)

DDD/UDD/UD as in "The Masterplan" and "Champagne Supernova" (count of 4)

DDD/UDD/UD as in "Hang" (count of 4)

D/DUDU as in "Dont look back in anger" and "Every Rose has it's thorn"( some bits!)

also, slowly for "Hey Jude" (count of 2 ie 2/4)

D/UD/D/UD/DUD as in Breakfast at Tiffany's (count of 4)

D/DUDU as in "Easy" (count of 2)

DD/UDU  as in "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)(count of 2)

DDU/UD as in "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)" (count of 4)

DD/DUDU/UD as in "Every Rose has it's Thorn" (count of 4)

D/DUDU as in "Runaway" (count of 3 ie 3/4)

D/DUDU as in Nothing else matters (count of 3 ie 3/4) or "Knights in white Satin" (Em-D)!

DDD/UDD/UD as in Talk Tonight (count of 4)

DUDUD/D/UUDUD   as in "Torn" (count of 4)

Requested Strumming Patterns

Updated May 29th  2008

Drifter December radio D/D/UDUDD

My heroes are all cowboys DDD Waltz 3/4 Country strumming

DUD-DUD-DUDU  For "Bob" ('cos she's my favourite! :-)

Jumper Third Eye Blind DD/UDUDD

Stop & Stare One Republic DDD/UDUDD/U

Breakdown Jack Johnson DUDU/UDU

Ruby Baby Dion Duclickuduclick!

Flowering spade Sean Hayes DD/UDU

Gloria Van Morrison DUDU

Skyline Yui D/UD/D/UD/DUDU

 Good Bye Days Yui DD/UDUDD

Feel My Soul Yui DDDU

 I Remember You  Yui DDD/UDUDD

Boondocks Little Big Town DUDDUDDUD

Magic carpet ride Steppenwolf DDUUDDD

Dream lover Bobby Darin  DDU/UDU

 Heal The Pain George Michael D/UD/DUD

Waiting for the day George Michael DDD/UUD/DUDU

Freefalling (Tom Petty) D/UD/D/UD/DUD/D/D/D/UD/DUD  !

Teardrops on my guitar Taylor Swift DUD/UUDU

Cupid Jack Johnson   DUclickUUclick !

Take away my pain Dream Theatre D/UD/D/UD/DUD

Radios in heaven Plain White Ts D/DUDU

D/D/UDUD/UUD as in  Tomorrow Avril Lavigne

Root note and pick up as Crazy Girls by Bethany Joy Lenz

DDD/UDD/UD & DDD/UDUDD as in Roobaroo

D/DUDU D/DUDU 6/8 as in Cinnamon The Long Winters