Guide to Acoustic Strumming & Rhythms
20 MUST KNOW GROOVES
Go from stiff to fluid with twenty of the most recognizable strumming patterns from the past four decades. From the contagious groove of Bo Diddley, to the classic Oasis-style grooves of the 1990s, these patterns are sure to challenge your rhythm sense and reward your efforts.
Some players are able to groove with the best of them while they manage to make strumming look effortless. The key, as always, is practice. Learning a variety of patterns will transform your static strumming into a more dynamic, "in the pocket" groove and feel. Download and enjoy 20 grooves equipped with audio tracks and notation in Guitar Pro and PDF formats.
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
This 25 page guide will both challenge and inspire any player to master famed strumming patterns from the past 40 years.
These patterns are essential building-blocks for overcoming some of the most finicky right hand patterns, and can liberate you
from that "stiff" feeling when playing songs.
Some players are able to groove with the best of them while they manage to make strumming look effortless. For others, it is a constant struggle to even keep up with a song.
Many inexperienced players go on a quest to fix this by learning more strum patterns only to feel more stiff and more unnatural than before. Learning new strum patterns is cool...
Heck, the reason you have read this far is that you are looking forward to learning some new grooves.
You are going to learn some great new patterns. You are going to learn some of the most recognizable strumming sounds that have been present in many great songs over the past
decades. But before you dive in, I want you have the right perspective and approach so that you don’t stiffen up, get frustrated and give up.
I want you strum freely! It should feel. It should not hurt your shoulder, make your jaw tense up and drain your energy. So what’s the key to great strumming?
Some say it is: “Just don’t over think things. Let it flow”.
That is partially right, but there is more to it.
I call it “The Human Metronome Concept”. Ready to get going and get more out of that right hand? Download this guide now, 100% free.
The 20 Strumming Patterns
1 Oasis Style 90s Alternative
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
There was an Oasis album in the 90s that made this kind of strumming feel and sound sooo cool. If you were a music fan back then, you’ll enjoy being taken back. Maybe you’ll want to talk on a landline telephone for a few minutes too.
2 Bo Diddley
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
This groove is in an uncountable number of songs across pretty much any genre. It’s not an easy one to play, but it is really fun once you start grooving with it. Note the scratches and muting needed to get the desired effect. It’s a lot easier to master if you’re using barre chords when you’re first learning it because it makes string muting a bit more efficient.
3 Free Feelin' 16th Note Groove
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
If you have your human metronome concept going in the back of your mind, you will grasp the simplicity of this classic strumming groove. You play on every 16th note. Keep that arm moving: Down up down up down up down up! If you keep your arm going and accent where you see on the transcription you’ll be golden. Just don’t stop that arm! Oh yeah, and go listen to some Tom Petty.
4 Accents with String Muting
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Employing a subtle bit of string deadening, this groove sounds confident and authoritative. It’s great for working between chords that share a lot of similar notes as the audio example demonstrates. This is great at any tempo, but really lays back nicely at around 80 beats per minute.
5 Waltz Feel
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
It is bouncy, light and the complete opposite of the driving, confident feel. Pay particular attention to how the bass notes move within the strum pattern. You can really hit a homerun with this feel if you incorporate a loose alternating bass like the audio example suggests.
6 Driving in 6/8
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Well, you can hear a small hint of Waltz in here right? That’s only because they both embrace that triple rhythm core. This one however is more aggressive and powerful. Keep that arm moving and let the accents flow. Don’t force anything here (or with any of them for that matter, but I’m extra reminded of that need when playing faster, more demanding grooves).
7 Train Beat Strum
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Lots of older acoustic Country and Bluegrass come to mind when strumming this groove. This is another one that works really well with an alternating bass feel. It gets its unique sound by accenting consistently on the “ands” rather than on conventional downbeats. The key is that you keep strumming “down up down up down up” through the whole pattern!
8 Bar Blues Groove
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
We have all heard this one. The beauty of getting this groove down is that there is so much you can do with it in the context of the Blues. The audio example presents it in the most bare-bones context, but embrace this strum along with the 12 Bar form and the possibilities are vast!
9 Percussive Riffing
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
This upbeat pattern blurs the lines between just playing chords and incorporating a simple single note riff while maintaining that strumming. It’s challenging if you haven’t done it before, but quite rewarding when you realize that you can move the fretting hand a lot while you're strumming and it can sound kinda cool if you do it right. Pay special attention to the muting that happens!
10 Simple Setup Strums
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
No, we didn’t run out of ideas! This pattern doesn’t so much need to be practiced as it needs to be acknowledged and studied. Each strum presents a subtle technique and way to approach the beat. Notice that the strum begins BEFORE the actual beat and finishes on the beat. This type of strum, when properly placed, can really fit into any strum pattern. Practice making it musical here.
11 Drive Down 8ths
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Straight and simple. This feel has been played over and over again and sounds great when you focus your strumming energy on the lower strings. Oh yeah, and use some power chords too… Maybe a little drive. Play these 8th note strums as all downstrokes and watch that your “down up down up” action still look like 16th. This is a perfect application of the human metronome concept.
12 Ska-Like Ups
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Mute on the downs, strum loud on the ups! Focus your energy on the higher strings and you’ll want to hire some smelly, poorly dressed horn players to jam with you. It’s a great and fun feel and works well with the acoustic and the electric guitar.
13 Scratch Scratch, Play Play
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
It’s kinda like the last one, but for some reason, it is a lot harder to play. You are jumping back and forth between muted strings and fully sustained strums quickly and trying to be rhythmically accurate at the same time. If there is a strum pattern that will really make you tense up in this batch, this one is it! Don’t let it! Keep loose and it’ll be a lot of fun!
14 Good Ol' Swing Feel
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Playing a good swing feel takes some practice, and this pattern is a great place to start. There’s not a lot of busyness here. Relax, stay loose and try to truly internalize the difference between this swing feel and the traditional straight feel we’ve been living in.
15 Covering the Low End
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
When played with chord voicings that emphasize the low end of the guitar, this pattern creates a drudgy and somber mood. While the recommended tempo is 95 beats per minute, it sounds really cool played super slow too. Experiment with this one and you might find your own sweet spot.
16 Palm Muted 8th with Outburts
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
The contrasts present in this pattern provide opportunity to blend nicely with a music bed and then strike every so often. Dynamics are key in mastering this pattern and will help you capitalize on the on the eighth note/sixteenth note contrast.
17 The Gallup!
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Metal players love this feel, and it works great without really long hair and a stack of speakers behind you as well. Like pattern 16, there’s a large dynamic range here and paying special attention to the contrasts will help you stay in the groove. There is also opportunity to focus more on single notes and then dig into some chords in the same groove.
18 Palm Muted 16ths
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Ok... so it is not technically strumming here, but you get a chance to practice your picking accuracy and consistency with 16th notes. Plus, it sounds really cool and will build technique that you can use with other patterns as well.
19 Laid Back in Church
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
Incorporating palm muting, string targeting, this is one of those rhythm patterns you’d hear in that layered contemporary church music sound. Maybe this pattern would be played on a verse and then you’d open up to a more driving sixteenth feel during the chorus.
20 Anticipation Makes the Groove
- Tab Included (PDF, GPX)
- MP3 Sample Included
When you play the subdivision right before the downbeat as loud as the downbeat is normally played and then greatly minimize the actual downbeat, it creates a really cool anticipated feel. This is used all over the place and this pattern exposes this concept without getting to crazy.
We hope you enjoy this publication.
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