Strumming · Technique · Guitar Trip

Strumming means playing several strings in one gesture, with a pick or your fingers. It's the most common way to accompany. The secret isn't in the fretting hand but in an arm that keeps moving, like a pendulum, in time with the music.

1. Listen

A chord strummed down, from the 6th string to the 1st. Notice the strings don't sound exactly together but in a very fast sweep:

2. See it

These are good chords to start with:

A basic pattern in one bar of 4/4, counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and":

Step 1 of 5 · Pendulum

Your arm moves down on every number and up on every "and", always, whether you hit the strings or not. That constant motion is your clock.

3. Try it

Set the metronome to eighths and keep the pendulum going even if you miss a chord. Once the pattern runs on its own, change chord every bar:

Metronome in eighths at 70 BPM Rhythm & accompanimentStrumming patternsKeep your arm moving steadily while following a pattern and changing chords. Rhythm & accompanimentChord changesChange chords on time, without pauses, inside the pulse.

4. How it's used

Loose wrist: the motion comes from the forearm and wrist, not the fingers. Hold the pick firmly but without squeezing; a thin pick is more forgiving at first.
You don't have to hit all six strings every time. On downstrums favour the bass; on upstrums the top three or four are enough.
Chord changes are prepared on the last upstrum of the bar: you can let go of the chord a moment early and let open strings ring.
Volume matters: softer strums in a verse and stronger ones in a chorus give a song its shape.

5. Go deeper

Applied Accents and muted strums

Hit beats 2 and 4 harder for a rock or pop feel. For a muted strum, release the fretting-hand pressure without letting go of the strings: the strum becomes a pitchless percussive hit. Placed on 2 and 4, it imitates a snare drum.

Advanced Sixteenths, 6/8 and swing

With sixteenths the pendulum doubles: down on every odd sixteenth and up on every even one. Skipping strokes inside that grid creates syncopated patterns. In 6/8 the arm can mark two big beats of three eighths each. In swing, the upstroke is delayed: it's shorter than the downstroke, like a triplet split two plus one. Switch the metronome to triplet subdivision to feel it.

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2. See it

These are good chords to start with:

A basic pattern in one bar of 4/4, counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and":

Step 1 of 5 · Pendulum

Your arm moves down on every number and up on every "and", always, whether you hit the strings or not. That constant motion is your clock.

3. Try it

Set the metronome to eighths and keep the pendulum going even if you miss a chord. Once the pattern runs on its own, change chord every bar:

Metronome in eighths at 70 BPM

Rhythm & accompanimentStrumming patternsKeep your arm moving steadily while following a pattern and changing chords.

Rhythm & accompanimentChord changesChange chords on time, without pauses, inside the pulse.

4. How it's used

Loose wrist: the motion comes from the forearm and wrist, not the fingers. Hold the pick firmly but without squeezing; a thin pick is more forgiving at first.

You don't have to hit all six strings every time. On downstrums favour the bass; on upstrums the top three or four are enough.

Chord changes are prepared on the last upstrum of the bar: you can let go of the chord a moment early and let open strings ring.

Volume matters: softer strums in a verse and stronger ones in a chorus give a song its shape.

5. Go deeper

Applied Accents and muted strums

Advanced Sixteenths, 6/8 and swing

1. Listen

2. See it

3. Try it

4. How it's used

5. Go deeper

Related concepts

1. Listen

2. See it

3. Try it

4. How it's used

5. Go deeper