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Guitar Strum Patterns

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A typical issue that beginner guitar players come up against is the lack of guitar strum patterns in sheet music and tab. It sure would be nice if all tablature and sheet music had the guitar strum patterns included. It sounds logical, doesn’t it? You get the notes, the chords and the lyrics, but not strumming patterns.

You could even imagine a range of alternative strumming patterns included in written music. For example, you could have the pattern used by the artist on the record or a simplified version that would suit a beginner guitarist. You can tell from the sheet music where to change chords in a song, but for a beginner it would be much less of a chore if a strumming pattern was given.

This point of view seems to be purely that of a newbie guitar player. More experienced guitarists seem to hold the view that fooling around with guitar strum patterns is a natural part of the guitar player’s training. The key is to start with your own “near enough” idea of the song’s strumming just to give you enough practice to get the chord changes right. This process will give your muscles and your mind the kind of practice you need to make up your own strum patterns.

You can start the process of making up your own guitar strum patterns by listening to the song and getting the hang of the rhythm used by the guitarist. You should be able to come up with something that will at least fit in with the song. And remember to bear in mind the time signature of the song and to keep your metronome handy.

The final aim of learning to play songs on the guitar is to play YOUR way. Sure, many guitar players take pride in reproducing the sound of the original artist, but that’s already been done. You can come up with your own totally original arrangement of the song. Start with a basic pattern that fits the song’s rhythm. For a song in 4/4 time, as most popular songs are, a Down Down-Up Up-Down pattern works well. If you look on the internet for guitar strum patterns, you will see that the way of writing strum patterns is simply to use the initials like this: D DU UD.

Your search for guitar strum patterns will benefit greatly by a little visit to YouTube or a similar video host. Watching experienced guitar players play their versions of your favorite songs will be extremely helpful.

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Comments

3 Responses to “Guitar Strum Patterns”

  1. Joe
    December 14th, 2010 @ 1:07 pm

    Great material. I love it.
    Keep up the great work.

  2. Here’s a handy article on muscle memory | MalcolmStuckeysMusicPlace.com
    May 6th, 2011 @ 10:37 am

    [...] Guitar Strum Patterns A typical issue that beginner guitar players come up against… [...]

  3. Here’s a handy article on muscle memory
    May 12th, 2011 @ 8:50 am

    [...] Guitar Strum Patterns A typical issue that beginner guitar players come up against… [...]

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