Lesson 5 – Strumming Patterns & Basic Rhythm

In this lesson you'll add your first real strumming patterns to the open chords you learned in Lessons 3 and 4. We'll keep the chords simple – E minor, A major and D major – and focus on keeping your strumming hand moving in a relaxed, steady rhythm.

How to Use This Lesson

Strumming is where many beginners get stuck. The goal here is not to play fast or complicated patterns – it's to keep a comfortable, steady motion in your strumming hand while your chords change slowly on top.

We'll use six short sections. First, you'll practice three patterns on muted strings so you don't have to think about chords at all. Then we'll take those same three patterns and play them on E minor, A major and D major. Move at your own speed and don't worry if your changes don't land exactly on time at first.

Section 1 – All Downstrokes (Muted Strings)

Start by lightly resting your fretting hand over the strings so they are muted. This lets you hear only the rhythm of your strum, without worrying about how the chord sounds.

Your first pattern is simply:

All downstrokes:
Strum down once on each beat: 1 2 3 4.

Keep your wrist loose and your arm relaxed. Focus on keeping the downstrokes even and steady, like a simple, slow pulse.

Section 2 – Straight Down–Up (Muted Strings)

Next, we add upstrokes and build the classic "pendulum" motion in your strumming hand.

The pattern is: D U D U D U D U. If we counted it out, it would match 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &, but for now you can just feel it as a smooth down–up, down–up motion.

Keep the motion small and light. Don't worry about speed – slow and relaxed will help you the most at this stage.

Section 3 – Main Beginner Pattern: DDUUDUDU (Muted Strings)

Now we'll learn our main beginner pattern. It has eight strokes and flows in a repeating loop:

D D U U D U D U
or, spoken: Down, down, up, up, down, up, down, up.

Play it slowly on muted strings: D… D… U… U… D… U… D… U…

There's no tricky counting here – just follow the sequence and keep your hand moving smoothly. Once this feels comfortable on muted strings, you're ready to add the chords.

Section 4 – All Downstrokes on E minor, A major, D major

Now we bring in the chords from Lessons 3 and 4: E minor, A major and D major.

Start with the simplest pattern – the one from Section 1: all downstrokes.

4 downstrokes on E minor
4 downstrokes on A major
4 downstrokes on D major

Take your time changing between chords. If your chord change is late, that's okay – the most important thing is that your strumming hand keeps a steady beat.

Section 5 – Straight Down–Up on E minor, A major, D major

Next, use the down–up motion from Section 2 on the same three chords.

Strum: D U D U D U D U on E minor, then the same on A major, then on D major.

Go as slowly as you need to. Let your strumming hand move in a calm, pendulum-like motion, even while your fingers move to the next chord. Small mistakes and buzzes are fine – don't stop the strumming just to fix them.

Section 6 – DDUUDUDU on E minor, A major, D major

Finally, we'll use our main beginner pattern, D D U U D U D U, on the same chord progression.

Play the pattern slowly on:

E minor – one full DDUUDUDU pattern
A major – one full DDUUDUDU pattern
D major – one full DDUUDUDU pattern

Repeat this cycle as many times as you like. If your chord change doesn't land exactly when you want, let it be a little late – keep your strumming hand moving and let your fretting hand catch up.

Need a Chord Reminder?

If you forget how E minor, A major or D major are built, you can:

Revisit Lesson 3 – First Open Chords for a slow walkthrough.
Check the Chord Library for LLGS and traditional diagrams.

Practice Ideas

Here are some simple ways to practice this lesson:

Clap or tap along with a slow count of 4 until it feels automatic.
Practice Section 1 (all downstrokes on muted strings) for 1–2 minutes.
Practice Section 2 (D U D U D U D U on muted strings) slowly and evenly.
Practice Section 3 (DDUUDUDU on muted strings) until the motion feels natural.
Play E minor → A major → D major with all downstrokes (Section 4).
Then try the same chords with straight D U D U (Section 5).
When that feels comfortable, use DDUUDUDU on the same chords (Section 6).
Keep sessions short – 5 to 10 minutes of focused practice is enough.

Next Steps

When you feel comfortable keeping a steady strum and changing chords at a slow tempo, you're ready to start learning some simple riffs and easy songs in the next lesson.

← Back to Lesson 4 – Changing Between Chords Smoothly | Lesson 6 – First Riffs & Easy Songs (coming soon) | Back to Lesson Library