The Basics of Strumming

DISCLAIMER : I know this is not traditionally at the top, but to save time for experienced guitarists or those who detest people who don't use technical jargon in their posts... I must admit I have no theoretical knowledge of the guitar. Most of it has been conjured up by me, and I do not claim its technical correctness. All I know is that maybe this new way of looking at things might help you out.

Hello all. I thought maybe I could add something from my side which may make life easier for those learning strumming patterns. The first song I ever learnt was Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance) -- Greenday. It is an excellent beginner's song and features two strumming patterns. (Actually, upto the first verse the guitar is doing a chord arpeggio and strumming starts at the end of the first verse, but the strumming pattern I have provided is another alternative) The arpeggio (or plucking, as some of friends call it) is a bit bothersome for beginners, so I will describe an appropriate strumming for that part.

One thing which really annoyed me when starting out was the fact that everybody just wrote patterns down like -- DDUUD. How are we supposed to figure out what the rhythm of strumming is? The secret lies in finding out the beat of the song. Time Of Your Life is an 4-beat song (4/4). The thing about strumming soft acoustic numbers (esp. pop numbers) is that your hand must have a continuous down and up motion (that is without actually playing DUDUDUDU for an 8 beat song, your hand must be doing this motion).

Try this for practice first : Hold a chord and do a DUDUDUDU for the 4 beat duration. Keep on going with this till the time you get a sense of the beat. Motion must exist at the wrist level, and not at the elbow or arm. Now coming back to the song... Let's divide a typical 4 beat song into 8 parts. It would help beginners to speak it aloud, makes you more oriented to the rhythm.

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &

Try to count and see, which syllables of the first line land on which beat counts specified above. (I tried to include this under the beat counts but it became pretty messy). Eg : An-o-ther starts on the 2nd (An-), -o- starts on the 2.5 (the & after the 2) and is sung till the 3rd, and -ther starts on 3.5 (the & after 3). This may be boring / annoying / pointless for most, but give it a shot, it may help you figure out the remaining part of this post. Now to come to the strumming : remember, the strumming hand (rather the wrist) should have a continuous down up down up motion. Therefore, this is what your strumming hand should be doing.

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U || D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U

This is the motion based on which you'll get your strumming pattern. Now, for the strumming pattern, having the same motion of the strumming hand, just make contact with the strings where it has been denoted in bold below:

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U || D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U

This strumming pattern is often called DDU-UDU pattern (I've seen some other authors describing it this way). If you choose to, you can always skip the 8th upstroke, whatever suits you. The pattern will then become DDU-UD. This is the strumming for the first part of this song. The second strumming is slightly different but follows the same 4/4 beat. There are two ways of playing it : the actual way (bit complex), and a simplified way (which I saw on another site) This part starts at the end of the first verse ie. I hope you had the time of your life... This is the actual one, and singing along with this pattern may not be all that easy (DD-DUDU,UD-DUD):

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U || D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U

Note that the strumming pattern extends for 8 beats unlike the first one which repeated after 4 beats. This is the simplified pattern so that singing while playing becomes easier, but isn't the exact one used in the song (DD-DUDU):

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U || D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U

That's all there is to the strumming for this song. Let me give you the 2 patterns once again with the strokes not being played denoted as dots. Pattern 1 :

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | . | D | U | . | U | D | U || D | . | D | U | . | U | D | U

Pattern 2 : Actual --

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | . | D | . | D | U | D | U || . | U | D | . | D | U | D | .

Simplified --

1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & || 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | &
D | . | D | . | D | U | D | U || D | . | D | . | D | U | D | U

Please note that I have elaborated all of the above for the sole sake of emphasizing that strumming patterns are beat related and the strumming hand must go along with the beat. The final strum depends on when you choose to make contact with the strings. The same can be applied to many songs. I just chose Time Of Your Life cause it has 2 strumming patterns and is a well-known song.

Otherwise, this is the basic skeleton of the song.
Intro/Bridge:
G G C9 D
G G C9 D

Verse:
G G C9 D
G G C9 D
Em D C G
Em D C G
Em G Em G Em D (Bridge)

Strings Solo:
G G C9 D
G G C9 D
G G C9 D
G G C9 D
Em D C G
Em D C G

In case of any queries, or examples from other songs, do contact me. If you found this helpful, post a comment!

Listen to the song to get a better idea..