If you have ever felt confused as to where to start when learning to strum on the guitar then you are not alone. Learning to strum on the guitar can take a long time if you are not given the right guidance, and many players quit as a result of not grasping strumming. To help out all you players who want to learn the most common strumming patterns, I have made a video for you below on the 7 most common patterns.

I have aimed to include a mix of patterns used in recent chart toppers, and some classic patterns found in countless hits since the days of The Beatles.

The main points to take away are that strumming is about keeping time and expressing a feel that suits the music you want to play. As you listen to more music with some knowledge of strumming, you will find yourself listening out for the strumming patterns used. The 7 different patterns used in the video are ones which you will likely keep hearing in the songs that you love.

When you are learning any of the patterns in the video I want you to mute the strings with your left hand and focus on the strumming hand’s movement. Get the sound in your head from my video and then begin to say the pattern of downs and ups out loud as you attempt to follow me. Once you feel that you have got the strumming down, I would like you to hold the first chord and strum the strokes which are played on that chord. Then try to move between the first and second chord with the strumming and eventually incorporate all the chords I use for that pattern.

If you learn all 7 of the strumming patterns then you will have the ability to play a lot of music if you begin to understand common chord progressions. My ebooks are designed to help fast-track you to playing thousands of songs on the guitar without years of practice.

Check out this post if you are interested in understanding the 8 chord shapes you need to learn to get by on the guitar. Make sure to collect your free copy of the ebook ‘Learn How to Play Easy Guitar Songs’ by putting your name and email address in the form at the top of the page.