Strumming pattern
The fixed right-hand sequence of downstrokes and upstrokes used to play a chord rhythm.
A strumming pattern is defined by which strokes actually sound and which are silent, and the trick to learning one is to keep the hand moving in steady eighths or sixteenths the whole time, lifting the pick off the strings where no strum is wanted. Reading patterns as down-up arrows is common in beginners material, but the underlying skill is an uninterrupted right-hand motion against which the sounding strokes are placed. Most popular songs are built from a handful of these patterns.
Example: The common down, down-up, up-down-up figure that carries countless folk and pop songs is a strumming pattern.
See also
Related
- PageUpstroke
- PageDownstroke
- PageSixteenth-note strumming
- PageAccent
- PageAction height
- PageAlternate picking
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley