# Learn Guitar — Strumming

> Interactive page: [`strumming.html`](strumming.html)

Right hand first: even downstrokes, then a library of common patterns, then a light mute. Use the metronome in the practice bar. Hold one easy chord — **Em** or **G** — so the left hand stays out of the way.

On the HTML page one **practice chord** selector at the top feeds every player: the Feel buttons, the downstroke drill, and the pattern library.

## Pick and fingers

This page is **strum and pick**. Named-finger *pima* lives on [Classical drills](drills-classical.md).

- **Pick**: hold it loosely between thumb and index. Downstrokes toward the floor; upstrokes toward the ceiling.
- **Fingers**: thumb brushes down across the strings; fingers can brush up. Same motions, no pick.

**Sources:** Hal Leonard Book 1 (downstrokes, then alternating) · Berklee guitar lab practice of locking the right hand to a click before adding changes.

## Time signatures

Western meter is written as a fraction. The **top** number is how many beats sit in a bar. The **bottom** number is which note value gets one beat — 4 means a quarter note, 8 an eighth. Same idea as a **taal** cycle, but Western music names the *fraction*. Named taals live on [Tabla](/tabla/) and [Madal](/madal/). Piano twin: [Time signatures](/piano/time-signatures.html).

On the HTML page, **Feel it** sits on each simple-meter row and next to 6/8. It sets the metronome and strums the pattern; the same button becomes Stop. Beat 1 is the downbeat — the same job as **sam**.

### Simple meters

| Meter | Count | Feel | On guitar |
|------|-------|------|-----------|
| **4/4** | 1 2 3 4 | Common time (the **C** symbol). Pop, rock, most film songs. | Even downs, or D-DU-UDU below. |
| **3/4** | 1 2 3 | Waltz. Strong–weak–weak. | Bass on 1, light strum on 2 and 3. |
| **2/4** | 1 2 | March. Two-step, polka, some folk. | Two downs per bar. |

### Compound — 6/8

Six eighths, felt as **two** pulses of three: **1** & a **2** & a. That is compound duple — a jig, ballad, and a lot of slow rock. Down on 1 and 4, up on the rest.

Cut time (**2/2**, alla breve) uses two half-note beats in a bar that still looks like 4/4 — feel it in two, not four. Odd meters (5/4, 7/8) group the beats (2+3, 2+2+3); pick them in the Beats menu when you are ready.

How those beats are written as notes: [Note values](note-values.md).

**Sources (two-check):** Open Music Theory — simple vs compound meter · musictheory.net time signatures · Hal Leonard Book 1 (4/4 downstrokes, waltz as 3/4).

## Downstrokes on the click

Start the metronome, then play downs. Each click is one downstrum. Keep the arm moving even if you miss a string.

## Strum patterns

Each pattern is one bar, looped against the click. **D** = down, **U** = up, **—** = no strum, **X** = muted chunk. On the HTML page, picking a pattern starts it and the **Play pattern** button becomes Stop. Picking another pattern, or pressing the same one again, stops the old one. The metronome’s Beats menu matches the meter.

### Eighth notes in 4/4

Count **1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &**. Downs land on the numbers, ups on the “and”. Work down the list — each pattern adds one strum or takes one away. Up-strokes only need to brush the thin strings; the downs carry the bass.

| Pattern | 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & | Where you hear it |
|---------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-------------------|
| **Even downs** | D | — | D | — | D | — | D | — | Marches, hymns, week one. One down per click. |
| **D-DU-D-DU** | D | — | D | U | D | — | D | U | Mid-tempo pop and campfire. The first up-strum, in the easiest place. |
| **D-D-DU-DU** | D | — | D | — | D | U | D | U | Open first half, busy second half — the lift into a chorus. |
| **D-DU-UDU** | D | — | D | U | — | U | D | U | The workhorse rock / campfire loop. Beat 3 is silent; the arm still swings down through it. |
| **D-DU-(space)-DU** | D | — | D | U | — | — | D | U | Beat 3 left empty on purpose. Ballads fill that hole with space, not more strums. |
| **All eighths** | D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U | Driving up-tempo rock and folk. Keep the ups light. |
| **Chunk on 2 and 4** | D | — | X | — | D | — | X | — | Percussive. **X** is a dead palm-muted chunk where a drummer hits the snare. |

### Sixteenth feel

Count **1 e & a**. The arm swings twice as fast and most of those swings miss the strings on purpose. Harder — come back once the eighth-note patterns run without thinking.

**D-DU-UDU + a** — the workhorse pattern with one extra sixteenth up just before beat 1:

| 1 | e | & | a | 2 | e | & | a | 3 | e | & | a | 4 | e | & | a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | — | — | — | D | — | U | — | — | — | U | — | D | — | U | U |

### Other meters

These set the Beats menu so the metronome dots match the bar (see [Time signatures](#time-signatures)).

| Pattern | Meter | Grid | Where you hear it |
|---------|-------|------|-------------------|
| **Waltz** | 3/4 | bass(1) D(2) D(3) | Bass note on 1, light strum on 2 and 3. Strong–weak–weak; folk, hymns, older Nepali songs. |
| **Rolling** | 6/8 | D(1) U(&) U(a) D(2) U(&) U(a) | Two pulses of three: down on 1 and 4, ups between. Jigs, ballads, slow rock. |

### How to practice

- **Two minutes per pattern.** Loop it until the count fades and the hand keeps it on its own.
- **Arm keeps moving.** Down on every number, up on every “and”, whether or not that slot has a strum. A rest is a miss, not a stop.
- **Up-strums are light.** Brush the top two or three strings only. If the up is as loud as the down, the pattern loses its shape.
- **Slow first.** Drop the BPM until it is clean, then add 4–5 BPM at a time.
- **Then add the left hand.** Only after the right hand is locked, change chord on beat 1 — Em to G to C.

### Three tracks

- **Beginner** — even downs, then D-DU-D-DU, then D-DU-UDU. One easy chord. Arm keeps moving through silent beat 3.
- **Intermediate** — all eighths, chunk on 2 and 4, waltz, 6/8 rolling. Change Em–G–C on beat 1 without dropping the pattern.
- **Advanced** — sixteenth-feel D-DU-UDU + a. Dynamics: verse light, chorus full. Start and stop the pattern on a bar line.

**Sources (two-check):** Hal Leonard Guitar Method Book 1 (downstrokes first, then alternating down-and-up) · Berklee-style practice of locking the right hand to a click before adding chord changes. These are conventional pop/rock/folk shapes, not a transcription of any one song.

## Mute

Rest the side of the right palm lightly on the strings near the bridge, or lay unused left-hand fingers on the strings. The click stays; the ring dies. Use it for space between strums, not as a new style yet.

The **Chunk on 2 and 4** pattern above is this mute turned into a backbeat — a short dead **X** where a drummer would hit the snare.

Continue: [Play along](songs.md)