Beginner Strumming Help

[ferreira.adrian]

Hello,

I am trying to learn guitar on my own. A song I’m trying to learn has this strumming pattern, but I don’t really understand it yet. The 1,3,5 is what is mainly throwing me off. Can anyone explain/help?

If it help, this is the song: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...chords-2322763

[jacot23]

I’m pretty much a novice too, but seems to me that’s 6/8 timing and you just play.

Down Down Down
Up Down Up
Down Up Down

[Charlie Bernstein]

I'd cheat: play along with the song and imitate it. That would be a good way to find out what the diagram means, too.

[JonPR]

Originally Posted by ferreira.adrian

Hello,

I am trying to learn guitar on my own. A song I’m trying to learn has this strumming pattern, but I don’t really understand it yet. The 1,3,5 is what is mainly throwing me off. Can anyone explain/help?

If it help, this is the song: https://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/tab...chords-2322763

That makes no sense at all. Just ignore that pattern, it has nothing to do with that song. (If it is supposed to, then the person that wrote it is an idiot.)

The song is in normal 4/4, at a fairly slow tempo of around 74 bpm (not 120!). At that speed, you'd normally play 2 downstrokes per beat (on all the 8ths "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &").
So, you have more emphasis on the 4 beats, stronger strokes, with just a little extra down between the beats, like your hand is just bouncing up from the beat and falling back down.
And once you've got that, you can stress beats 2 and 4 a little more than 1 and 3.
Forget about upstrokes. Just keep the downs regular, and if the pick happens to hit the strings on the way back up (the 16ths between the 8ths) just let it.

Watch the acoustic player here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w98ZjBMM94. Copy what he is doing. Notice he is playing quite short strokes, but keeping his hand moving all the time. There is some fancy rhythmic accents in the intro - an accented upstroke, with the following down missed (0:18, 0:31) - but notice he keeps the hand moving (it just doesn't hit the strings on the silent downstroke).
But that's a detail you can leave until you're really confident just keeping time at that speed. Strum patterns don't matter nearly as much as keeping time does.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by JonPR

That makes no sense at all. Just ignore that pattern, it has nothing to do with that song. (If it is supposed to, then the person that wrote it is an idiot.)

I was biting my tongue, but I did look up the song on YouTube, and there's no relationship whatsoever. And the diagram makes no sense.

So I'll repeat myself: JonPR, just play along with the song. You'll pick it up.

[ferreira.adrian]

Originally Posted by JonPR

That makes no sense at all. Just ignore that pattern, it has nothing to do with that song. (If it is supposed to, then the person that wrote it is an idiot.)

The song is in normal 4/4, at a fairly slow tempo of around 74 bpm (not 120!). At that speed, you'd normally play 2 downstrokes per beat (on all the 8ths "1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &").
So, you have more emphasis on the 4 beats, stronger strokes, with just a little extra down between the beats, like your hand is just bouncing up from the beat and falling back down.
And once you've got that, you can stress beats 2 and 4 a little more than 1 and 3.
Forget about upstrokes. Just keep the downs regular, and if the pick happens to hit the strings on the way back up (the 16ths between the 8ths) just let it.

Watch the acoustic player here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w98ZjBMM94. Copy what he is doing. Notice he is playing quite short strokes, but keeping his hand moving all the time. There is some fancy rhythmic accents in the intro - an accented upstroke, with the following down missed (0:18, 0:31) - but notice he keeps the hand moving (it just doesn't hit the strings on the silent downstroke).
But that's a detail you can leave until you're really confident just keeping time at that speed. Strum patterns don't matter nearly as much as keeping time does.

This was very helpful! Thank you