115 guitar strumming patterns in 10 levels, ordered so that each one adds or removes a stroke or two from a pattern you already know, each with the songs it is heard in and a click track to play along with.
Your strumming hand swings like a pendulum, down and up, in time with the count. In eighth-note patterns it goes down on every number and up on every +. In sixteenth-note patterns it goes down on the number and the +, up on the e and the a. A pattern is nothing more than a choice of which swings touch the strings and which pass by in the air.
The box holds the count for one bar; an arrow above a count means strum there. Greyed-out counts are missed: the hand still swings past, but touches no strings. Say every count out loud, the grey ones too.
Listen to a rung. Press ▶ beside a rung's title to hear it as a looping click track, at the tempo set in the bar at the top (92 to start with). The tempo counts quarter notes, and an eighth note lasts the same in every rung: so in 6/8 and 12/8, where a beat is three eighths, the beats come at two thirds of the number shown (about 61 a minute at 92). Two bars of stick clicks count you in first: ‘1, 3’ and then ‘1, 2, 3, 4’ in 4/4 (in 6/8, ‘1, 4’ and then all six; in 3/4, ‘1’ and then ‘1, 2, 3’), and the pattern starts on the next bar. Untick ‘count-in’ to start straight away. A bell that rings on marks count 1 of every bar. A downstroke is a low, round ‘tock’ and an upstroke a short, bright ‘tick’ two octaves higher; an accent is louder; a muted strum is a short ‘chk’ of noise, a palm mute a dull thud, a staccato strum a clipped click and a bass note a low thump. Missed counts are silent unless you turn on ‘tick every beat’, which ticks softly on a beat with no strum and a little louder on a beat that is played. The sounds are made in the browser; there are no audio files.
One strum per beat. The job here is a steady hand and clean chord changes - nothing else.
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When We Were Young – Adele (intro) • Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond (intro) • Sign of the Times – Harry Styles (chorus) • Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran (verse)
One strum on beat 1, one on beat 3, and let each ring for two beats. Count all four beats out loud. Slow ballads often start like this before the full strum comes in.
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One Call Away – Charlie Puth (intro) • Supermarket Flowers – Ed Sheeran (verse, first two of four bars)
The easiest two-bar pattern: two strums in the first bar, one in the second that rings for all four beats. Keep counting through the long strum.
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Let It Go – Idina Menzel (from Frozen; verse, slow)
Two strums per bar, with one extra strum on beat 4 of the second bar to lead back to the start.
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Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash • Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd • Knockin' on Heaven's Door (verse) – Bob Dylan • Say Something – A Great Big World • Jar of Hearts – Christina Perri (chorus)
All downstrokes, one per beat. Let the hand rise silently on each '+' - that silent lift is the upstroke you will add later.
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Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd • High and Dry – Radiohead • Come and Get Your Love – Redbone • Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison
Your first upstroke: a light flick on the '+' of 4 that pushes into the next bar. Later, try hitting just the bass string on beat 2.
Two slots per beat: '1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +'. Downstrokes land on the numbers, upstrokes on the '+'. The level starts with every slot played and then takes upstrokes away; the all-downstroke and bass-note patterns come after. Nothing is skipped on the beat yet.
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Zombie – The Cranberries • Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd • White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes • Songbird – Oasis • Cheerleader – OMI • Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry • Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
The hand's natural motion with nothing left out: down on every number, up on every '+'. Every other pattern in this level is this one with strokes removed. Accent beats 2 and 4 slightly so it grooves instead of sounding like a machine.
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Happier – Ed Sheeran
A full bar of down-up, then a bar of three slow strums on beats 1, 2 and 4. The hand keeps the same motion in both bars; in the second it mostly misses.
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Hey, Soul Sister – Train • Love Story – Taylor Swift • Last Christmas – Wham! • In My Life – The Beatles • The Man Who Can't Be Moved – The Script
Constant down-up with one stroke removed: the hand misses the strings on the '+' of 1. The long first beat makes the bar breathe.
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Let It Be – The Beatles • Stand By Me – Ben E. King (easy version) • American Pie – Don McLean • Over My Head (Cable Car) – The Fray • She's Not There – The Zombies
A two-beat cell (down, down-up) played twice. Works on almost any slow song.
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The Sound of Silence – Simon & Garfunkel • Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton • Grenade – Bruno Mars (verse)
Many songs repeat a strum every two bars, not every bar. This one is the previous rung followed by rung 8. The second bar fills the gap after beat 3, which gives the pair a sense of question and answer.
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Straight and Narrow – Teenage Fanclub • Patience – Guns N' Roses • California Stars – Wilco • Lost in My Mind – The Head and the Heart
Now the '+' of 1 and the '+' of 2 are both missed: quarter notes in the first half of the bar, eighths in the second half.
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Misery Business – Paramore
Rung 4, then the previous rung: a bar of four downstrokes, then a bar that breaks into down-ups at the end. The contrast between the two bars is the hook.
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Vampire – Olivia Rodrigo (first chorus)
Rung 5, then rung 8. The single upstroke at the end of bar 1 announces the busier bar.
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Crazy – Gnarls Barkley • Sweet Child O' Mine – Guns N' Roses (acoustic arrangement)
Four downstrokes with a single upstroke after beat 2. A good test of control: the hand must miss the strings on three of its four upswings.
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Have You Ever Seen the Rain – Creedence Clearwater Revival • Free Fallin' – Tom Petty • Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol • Get Back – The Beatles • Yellow – Coldplay • Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival • Times Like These – Foo Fighters • Walk on the Wild Side – Lou Reed
Eight downstrokes. This breaks the down/up rule on purpose: the hand has to come back up without touching the strings twice as often, which gives the pumping rock sound. Keep the wrist loose.
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I Love Rock 'n' Roll – Joan Jett • Highway to Hell – AC/DC
All downstrokes again, but leave the '+' of 2 and the '+' of 4 empty. The gaps are what make the riff punch - classic power-chord rock.
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Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's • I Hear Them All – Old Crow Medicine Show
B = pick only the bass string of the chord (the lowest note you would strum). Bass on 1 and 3, a downstroke on the higher strings on 2 and 4. The simplest country and folk accompaniment.
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Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash • Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash • Friend of the Devil – Grateful Dead • I Will Follow You Into the Dark – Death Cab for Cutie • New Slang – The Shins
The boom-chick with an upstroke added after each strum. This is rung 9 with a bass note in place of the first strum - the country and folk sound.
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Me and Bobby McGee – Kris Kristofferson • Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) – Eurythmics
Boom-chicka in the first half of the bar; in the second half the bass note is followed by three strums, up-down-up.
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Take Me Home, Country Roads – John Denver • Blowin' in the Wind – Bob Dylan • Should I Stay or Should I Go – The Clash • Closer to Fine – Indigo Girls • It's the End of the World as We Know It – R.E.M.
One bass note on beat 1, a strum on 2, then straight down-up eighths through beats 3 and 4. A campfire favourite: it sounds full but leaves the first half of the bar open for the singer.
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Fix You – Coldplay • The First Cut Is the Deepest – Sheryl Crow • Savin' Me – Nickelback
The bass note moves to beat 2, between two full strums. Gentle and spacious, with one upstroke at the end to lead into the next bar.
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Imagine – John Lennon • Beautiful – Christina Aguilera • Sunshine (Go Away Today) – Jonathan Edwards
Downstroke on every beat, bass note on every '+'. It imitates a piano: chord in the right hand, single notes in the left.
A change of count, not of difficulty. Until now every beat split into two; in 6/8 it splits into three, and in 3/4 the bar has three beats. The strumming is even and unsyncopated, so nothing here is harder than level 2 - it only needs a new way of counting.
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House of the Rising Sun – The Animals • Everybody Hurts – R.E.M. • Until I Found You – Stephen Sanchez (chorus) • The Night We Met – Lord Huron
Compound time: two beats per bar, each made of three. Six downstrokes, leaning on 1 and 4. Count 'ONE two three FOUR five six'.
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Perfect – Ed Sheeran (chorus) • Until I Found You – Stephen Sanchez (verse)
Leave out counts 2 and 5. Each half of the bar becomes long-short: the lilting ballad feel.
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Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley • All I Want – Kodaline
The hand alternates down-up on the six counts. Miss count 2, play everything else. The most common strummed 6/8 pattern.
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Norwegian Wood – The Beatles • Annie's Song – John Denver • Iris – Goo Goo Dolls • Nothingman – Pearl Jam
Three beats per bar, each split in two - simple time, not compound, but it sits here because the bar counts in three. Down on 1, then down-up, down-up.
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Riverwide – Sheryl Crow
The only two-bar pattern in three found in the song data, and harder than the rest of this level: bar 1 strums beat 1 and then only the '+' of 2 and of 3, so beats 2 and 3 are skipped. Bar 2 is the plain waltz strum. Come back to it after level 4 if the skipped beats throw you.
Syncopation starts when you skip a downstroke ON a beat: the hand still goes down, but misses the strings. An upstroke with no downstroke after it is the sound of syncopation.
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This Mess We're In – PJ Harvey feat. Thom Yorke
Constant down-up, but the hand ghosts past the strings on beat 3. Say '3' out loud while you miss it.
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(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding – Elvis Costello
The same idea one beat earlier: the upstroke after beat 1 hangs over beat 2. It feels like the bar trips forward at the start.
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Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison • Stand By Me – Ben E. King • How to Save a Life – The Fray • Hey Ya! – OutKast • Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd • Patience – Guns N' Roses • I'm Yours – Jason Mraz • Layla (Unplugged) – Eric Clapton • Wonderwall – Oasis (simplified; see rung 110)
The most used strum in pop and rock - if you learn one pattern from this booklet, make it this one. Layla (Unplugged) uses it with a swing feel.
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As It Was – Harry Styles
A plain bar from level 2, then Old Faithful. Only the second bar skips beat 3, so the plain bar gives you time to recover.
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Peaceful Easy Feeling – Eagles
The same idea with rung 11 as the plain bar.
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Warning Sign – Coldplay • Desire – U2 • All of Me – John Legend (chorus)
Old Faithful without its last upstroke. Ending on the downstroke of beat 4 leaves a breath before the next bar - useful when the chord changes on beat 1.
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Shallow – Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper • Losing My Religion – R.E.M. (intro) • She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5 (intro and verse)
Straight through beat 3, then the upstroke after 3 hangs over beat 4 and the last upstroke pulls you into the next bar.
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Riptide – Vance Joy (intro and verses) • Lay Down Sally – Eric Clapton • Radioactive – Imagine Dragons • Little Talks – Of Monsters and Men (chorus) • The A Team – Ed Sheeran (intro) • First Day of My Life – Bright Eyes
Two beats of space, then a quick up-down-up. In country and folk, play only the bass note on beat 1 (the 'train beat').
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Sweet Child O' Mine – Guns N' Roses (acoustic arrangement) • Don't Stop Believin' – Journey (chorus)
Just two strums: down on 1, then an upstroke on the '+' of 2 that rings across beats 3 and 4. Keep the hand swinging through the silence so the next bar starts in time.
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Is She Really Going Out with Him? – Joe Jackson
The push from the previous rung, answered by a down-up on beat 4. The strums fall in a 3 + 3 + 2 grouping - the tresillo again (next rung), this time made with gaps.
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Clocks – Coldplay • Glycerine – Bush • Downtown Train – Tom Waits
Eight even downstrokes, but lean hard on 1, the '+' of 2, and 4. The accents group the eighths 3 + 3 + 2 - the tresillo, a rhythm that came into pop from Cuban music. The hand plays straight; only the accents are syncopated.
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Stitches – Shawn Mendes (intro and verse) • Amsterdam – Guster
Beat 1 is the only beat you hit. After it, every strum is an upstroke on a '+'. Tap your foot hard on 2, 3 and 4 - they are silent in the hand.
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Friday I'm in Love – The Cure • My Sweet Lord – George Harrison • Welcome to Paradise – Green Day • Lovesong – The Cure
A push across the bar line, the one thing a single bar cannot show. Bar 1 is rung 11; its last upstroke rings over beat 1 of bar 2, which you skip. Count '1' out loud anyway and come back in on the '+' of 1. The most common two-bar strum in the song data.
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Patience – Guns N' Roses
The same push as the previous rung, starting from rung 9: the last upstroke of bar 1 rings over beat 1 of bar 2, which you skip. This is syncopation stretched over two bars.
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Island in the Sun – Weezer
As the previous rung, but bar 2 also skips beat 2: two upstrokes in a row before the downstroke on 3.
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Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton (variation) • Ain't No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye
Bar 2 is bar 1 with its first downstroke missing and an upstroke on the '+' of 1 and of 2.
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Times Like These – Foo Fighters (verses) • Journey to the End of the East Bay – Rancid
Old Faithful in both bars, but the second starts on the '+' of 1: beat 3 is skipped in each bar and so is the downbeat of bar 2.
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Just Like Heaven – The Cure • Minsan – Eraserheads
Bar 1 of 'Two upstrokes, tied over' with bar 2 of the previous rung.
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California Stars – Billy Bragg and Wilco
Rung 35 with its first downstroke missing in the second bar. The up-down-up at the end of bar 1 leads straight into the '+' of 1.
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Losing My Religion – R.E.M. (intro)
Bar 1 skips beat 4; its last upstroke carries across the bar line, and bar 2 skips beats 1 and 2. The famous mandolin-like drive of the intro below.
Three even strums per beat: count '1 + a 2 + a 3 + a 4 + a'. The rungs start with every count played, first all downstrokes and then alternating, and take strums away one at a time. Then the middle count of every beat is left out. That gap is the shuffle, or swing: the long-short feel of blues, rock and roll and a great deal of folk. The shuffle rungs thin out the same way, one upstroke at a time. Every beat is still played, so nothing here is syncopated yet.
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You Are the Reason – Calum Scott (intro and verse) • The Night We Met – Lord Huron
Start here: twelve even downstrokes, leaning on the first of each three. Only practical at slow tempos, which is exactly where it is used: slow ballads.
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We Belong Together – Ritchie Valens
The same downstrokes with the '+' of beats 1 and 3 left out, so those two beats get a longer first strum. Keep counting the missing '+'.
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Put Your Head on My Shoulder – Paul Anka (chorus) • Panalangin – APO Hiking Society
A full triplet on beats 1 and 3, one strum on beats 2 and 4 that rings for the rest of the beat. The doo-wop ballad strum.
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Perfect – Ed Sheeran (pre-chorus)
The triplet is now left only on beat 4: one strum on beats 1, 2 and 3, then all three counts of beat 4 to push into the next bar. This is the 12/8 slow-dance feel. Count every '+' and 'a' out loud even where you do not strum.
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All My Loving – The Beatles
Strict down-up alternation through all twelve counts. Because three is odd, beats 2 and 4 start on an upstroke - that is the whole difficulty, so stay on this rung until it is comfortable. The next four rungs take one strum away at a time. Accent the first of each three whichever direction it falls.
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Practice rung – the first step from full triplets towards the patterns with gaps
The alternating triplets with a single strum missing: the '+' of beat 1. The hand still makes the upward move there, it just misses the strings.
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Before You Go – Lewis Capaldi • O Come to the Altar – Elevation Worship • Hallelujah – Jeff Buckley
Now the '+' of beat 3 goes too, so both halves of the bar are the same: down, (miss), down, up-down-up.
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Practice rung – one strum away from the next rung
The 'a' of beat 1 goes as well: beat 1 is one long strum, and beat 2 comes in on an upstroke after two silent counts. Beat 3 stays as in the previous rung.
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Heather – Conan Gray • Reckless Love – Cory Asbury
A held strum on beats 1 and 3, a full triplet on beats 2 and 4. The last strum to go is the 'a' of beat 3. The triplets still start with an upstroke; the hand keeps swinging through the gaps.
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Tush – ZZ Top • La Grange – ZZ Top • Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin • Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash • Pride and Joy – Stevie Ray Vaughan • Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen • You've Got a Friend in Me – Randy Newman
A triplet with the middle count left out: down on the beat, up on the 'a'. The hand is back to plain down-up, but long-short instead of even. From here on the diagrams keep the triplet count so you can see the gap.
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Ring of Fire – Johnny Cash • Don't Be Cruel – Elvis Presley • Big Iron – Marty Robbins • Lucky – Jason Mraz (chorus)
The shuffle with one upstroke left out, the 'a' of beat 1. Everything else is the same.
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What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong (verse) • Happier Than Ever – Billie Eilish (verse) • Back to Black – Amy Winehouse • With a Little Help from My Friends – The Beatles
The previous rung with the 'a' of beat 3 left out as well: a long strum, then a shuffled down-up, twice per bar. The most common gentle swing accompaniment.
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With a Little Help from My Friends – The Beatles • Holiday – Green Day
Rung 10 with a shuffle feel: the previous rung, then rung 58.
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Back to Black – Amy Winehouse (pattern 1)
The swung 'down, down-up' bar, then a bar that runs through beat 3 and stops, leaving beat 4 silent.
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Holiday – Green Day • Happy Together – The Turtles • Wagon Wheel – Old Crow Medicine Show • Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood
The shuffle with the 'a' of beats 1 and 2 left out: one strum on beats 1 and 2, shuffled down-ups on beats 3 and 4. The swung version of 'Two upstrokes' from level 2.
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Count on Me – Bruno Mars • God Only Knows – The Beach Boys (intro) • All I Want for Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
Four strums on the beats and a single swung upstroke on the last 'a' to lead into the next bar.
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The Weight – The Band (verse, line 1)
The previous rung, then rung 62: the second bar adds one more swung upstroke.
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Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival (intro and verse, part 2)
Rung 62, then its mirror image: the swung down-up comes first and the plain strums last.
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A Horse with No Name – America • I'm Yours – Jason Mraz • Sweet Virginia – The Rolling Stones
Bass note on 1 and 3, strums everywhere else, all shuffled. Lean on beats 2 and 4.
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The Cape – Guy Clark • Rhubarb Pie – John Fogerty • Shame – The Avett Brothers
The previous rung without the upstroke after each bass note: bass, down-up, bass, down-up, all swung.
The syncopated-eighth patterns of level 4, played with the triplet feel. A beat is skipped and the upstroke before it - now on the late 'a' of the triplet - hangs over the gap. If level 4 is solid, the hand already knows these; only the timing is new. The first rung alternates a plain shuffle bar with a bar that misses beat 3, and each rung after it takes one more strum away.
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Practice rung – one missing strum, with a plain bar to recover in
One bar of the plain shuffle, then the same bar with the downstroke on beat 3 left out. The hand still moves down on beat 3; it only misses the strings. Loop the two bars until the gap stops pulling you off the beat.
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Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen • Layla – Eric Clapton (verse variation)
The second bar of the previous rung on its own: a full shuffle with only beat 3 left out. Rockabilly rhythm guitar lives here.
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With a Little Help from My Friends – The Beatles • You Were Meant for Me – Jewel • Happy Together – The Turtles • Wagon Wheel – Darius Rucker • Grow Old with You – Adam Sandler
The previous rung with the 'a' of beat 1 left out as well, which makes it rung 30 with a swing feel.
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Love Me Do – The Beatles
Four plain strums, then Old Faithful swung. The plain bar resets the beat before each syncopated one.
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The Weight – The Band (verse, line 2)
The previous rung with a swung upstroke at the end of the plain bar.
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Skinny Love – Bon Iver • Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood (instrumental and bridge)
Old Faithful swung without the 'a' of beat 2: two strums, a long gap across beat 3, then a shuffled up-down-up to finish the bar.
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Harvest Moon – Neil Young • Ripple – Grateful Dead
Old Faithful swung, with only the bass string on beat 1. The gentle country-folk lope.
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Death Bed Coffee for Your Head – Powfu
Rung 44 with a swing feel: the downbeat of bar 2 is skipped and the last upstroke of bar 1 hangs over it.
Silence and 'chk' sounds are part of the rhythm. The left (fretting) hand mutes by letting go; the right (strumming) hand mutes by touching the strings. Same eighth-note motion as before - only the sound changes.
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Practice rung – the basis of every percussive strum that follows
Left hand. Play two beats ringing, then release the pressure of the chord without lifting off - fingers stay touching, slightly flattened - and strum two beats of dead 'chk'. No pitch should sound. Squeeze again on beat 1.
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Photograph – Def Leppard • Panama – Van Halen
Left hand. One beat of chord, one beat of scratch. The fretting hand pumps: squeeze, release, squeeze, release. Keep the strumming hand moving evenly; only the fretting hand changes the sound.
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Practice rung – the same cut is used on the off-beats in the next rung
Staccato means short. Strum, then kill the chord straight away so each strum is a clipped 'chop' with silence after it. With fretted chords, relax the left hand right after the strum (as in rung 76, but after the chord has sounded). With open chords, drop the side of the right hand onto the strings instead.
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No Woman, No Cry – Bob Marley • Stir It Up – Bob Marley • Three Little Birds – Bob Marley • Stuck in the Middle with You – Stealers Wheel
The reggae and ska 'skank': every beat is skipped and only the '+'s sound, each one cut short. Tap your foot on the beats or you will drift onto them.
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Enter Sandman – Metallica • You Really Got Me – The Kinks / Van Halen
Right hand. Rest the edge of the palm on the strings exactly where they leave the bridge and play all downstrokes. You should still hear the notes, but tight and thuddy. Too far from the bridge and the note dies. Lift the palm for the chorus to open the sound up.
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I'm Yours – Jason Mraz • Riptide – Vance Joy
Right hand. Rung 30 again, but on beats 2 and 4 the palm lands on the strings at the same instant as the downstroke, giving a snare-drum 'chk'. The upstroke after it rings normally.
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What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
Bar 1 is 'down, chuck-up' twice, with every beat played; bar 2 is the previous rung, which skips beat 3.
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Mr. Jones – Counting Crows
Rung 11 in both bars, with a chuck on beat 4 of the first bar only.
Four slots per beat: '1 e + a'. The hand now moves twice as fast: down on the number and the '+', up on 'e' and 'a'. The level starts with all sixteen strokes and takes them away a few at a time, first the 'e's, then the 'a's, then the '+'s. Start at 60 bpm.
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Creep – Radiohead (second half of the chorus) • Lego House – Ed Sheeran
An exercise more than a song pattern: sixteen even strokes, accent on each number. Every pattern from here on is this motion with strokes left out.
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Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd (verse)
The engine with two strokes left out: the 'e' of beats 1 and 3. The hand still moves up there and misses the strings.
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Can't You See – The Marshall Tucker Band
The 'e' of beat 2 goes as well, so beats 1 to 3 are 'down, down-up' and only beat 4 is still a full four.
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Second Hand News – Fleetwood Mac • Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
Now every 'e' is gone. 'Down, down-up' on every beat: count '1 + a 2 + a'. Accent the number and it sounds like a galloping horse.
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Save Tonight – Eagle-Eye Cherry • D'You Know What I Mean? – Oasis • Dani California – Red Hot Chili Peppers (acoustic versions) • Let It Be – The Beatles • Knockin' on Heaven's Door – Bob Dylan • Ziggy Stardust – David Bowie • Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day • Take Me to Church – Hozier
The gallop without the upstroke on beats 1 and 3: eighth-note downstrokes with a quick upstroke on the 'a' of 2 and of 4. The hand keeps the sixteenth motion throughout.
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Hey Jude – The Beatles • Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles • Beautiful – Christina Aguilera • Walk Away – Kelly Clarkson
Eight downstrokes on the numbers and '+'s, with one quick upstroke on the last 'a' of the bar. The indie-rock strum with only the last upstroke kept.
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Father and Son – Cat Stevens • Don't Look Back in Anger – Oasis • Angel from Montgomery – John Prine • Boulevard of Broken Dreams – Green Day (verses)
The indie-rock strum without the '+' of beats 1 and 3: one strum on beats 1 and 3, then 'down, down-up' on beats 2 and 4. The long strum lets the chord ring; the flick on the 'a' keeps it moving. A ballad staple.
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Can You Feel the Love Tonight – Elton John • Angels – Robbie Williams • Alright – Pilate
One strum per beat, and 'down, down-up' only on beat 4. The sparsest pattern that still needs the sixteenth-note hand.
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Free Fallin' – Tom Petty • Teardrops on My Guitar – Taylor Swift
The gallop, but beats 2 and 3 alternate with plain eighths so the bar breathes. Watch the '+' of 2: it is a downstroke with no upstroke after it, and beat 3 brings back the upstroke on the 'e'.
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Starman – David Bowie (intro)
Rung 88 twice, leaving out the final upstroke of the second bar so the pair comes to rest.
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No Surprises – Radiohead
Rung 88, with a run of sixteenths through beat 3 of the second bar.
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Where Is My Mind? – Pixies (intro and verse)
As the previous rung, but the run of sixteenths fills all of beats 3 and 4 of the second bar.
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Fake Plastic Trees – Radiohead
Rung 90; the second bar adds a down-up on beat 3.
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For What It's Worth – Buffalo Springfield (chorus)
Rung 90, then a bar that switches to steady eighth-note downstrokes from beat 2, with one flick at the end.
The same trick as the syncopated eighths, one size smaller: skip the downstroke on a beat or on an '+' while the hand keeps its sixteenth-note motion.
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Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day • Riptide – Vance Joy (chorus) • Someone Like You – Adele (chorus)
Rung 30 squeezed into two beats and played twice per bar. Beats 2 and 4 are skipped; you come back in on the 'e'. Good Riddance adds a swing feel and bass-note picking.
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Riptide – Vance Joy (intro and verse) • Don't Think Twice, It's All Right – Bob Dylan
The long-pause strum from the syncopated eighths, played twice per bar. Beats 2 and 4 are silent, and so is the '+' before them.
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Three Little Birds – Bob Marley • One – U2 • Travelin' Soldier – The Chicks • Time to Pretend – MGMT
A long strum on 1, 'down, down-up' on 2, then the upstroke on the 'a' of 2 hangs over beat 3. Only one beat is skipped, which makes this the gentlest syncopated sixteenth strum.
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TV – Billie Eilish
Rung 90 from level 8, then the previous rung. The two bars differ only on beat 3: played in bar 1, skipped in bar 2.
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Knockin' on Heaven's Door – Bob Dylan • Price Tag – Jessie J • Fireflies – Owl City • I Will Remember You – Sarah McLachlan • Sunny Came Home – Shawn Colvin
The indie-rock strum with beat 3 missed. The 'a' of 2 pushes across the middle of the bar and you land again on the 'e' of 3.
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Starman – David Bowie (verse)
Bar 1 plays down-up-down through beat 3; bar 2 is the previous rung, with the downstroke on beat 3 left out.
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Fast Car – Tracy Chapman (strummed arrangement) • Into the Mystic – Van Morrison • A Million Dreams – The Greatest Showman
As the previous rung, but beat 4 fills up: 'down, down-up-down-up'. The run at the end drives into the next bar.
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Zombie – The Cranberries (intro)
Both bars skip beat 3. The first ends 'up-down-up' after a gap, the second is the previous rung.
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Purple Rain – Prince • Scar Tissue – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Long strum on 1, skip beat 3, run of four on beat 4. Lots of space early in the bar, lots of motion late.
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Bo Diddley – Bo Diddley • Not Fade Away – Buddy Holly • I Want Candy – The Strangeloves • Magic Bus – The Who • (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame – Elvis Presley
Keep all sixteen strokes going lightly and hit five of them hard: 1, the 'a' of 1, the '+' of 2, the '+' of 3, and 4. Say 'bomp, ba-bomp-bomp ... bomp, bomp'. Many players mute the light strokes with the fretting hand so only the accents ring.
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Live Forever – Oasis (acoustic version) • Next step: Wonderwall – Oasis (the last rung of this level)
The Britpop acoustic sound. The 'a' of 2 ties into beat 3 - learn beats 2-3 on their own first. Wonderwall is built from the same vocabulary; one two-bar reading of it is rung 110.
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Play That Funky Music – Wild Cherry • Le Freak – Chic • Let's Dance – David Bowie • We Are Family – Sister Sledge • I'm Coming Out – Diana Ross
A typical funk figure, not a transcription - every funk song has its own. All sixteen strokes are played: the dark ones are the chord, the blue ones are left-hand mutes (rung 76). Use small chord shapes on the top strings and let the fretting hand do the rhythm.
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Wonderwall – Oasis
Rung 102 for bar 1; in bar 2 the downbeat is skipped as well, so the pattern is pushed across both the middle of the bar and the bar line. This is one teacher's reading of Wonderwall; other transcriptions differ in detail.
The same long-short feel, one size smaller: every pair of sixteenths is swung. These are the sixteenth-note patterns of levels 8 and 9 with a bounce, so they come last.
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7 Years – Lukas Graham
Rung 87 with each 'down-up' pair played long-short. Start slowly: the bounce disappears if you rush.
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Hey, Soul Sister – Train
Down on the beat, then a run of swung sixteenths. The hand keeps the straight-sixteenth motion; only the timing bends.
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Bubbly – Colbie Caillat • Wasting Time – Jack Johnson
Two bass notes, then 'down, down-up' with the last pair swung. Relaxed acoustic pop.
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Hey, Soul Sister – Train (simplified) • Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) – Green Day
Rung 98 with a swing feel: beats 2 and 4 are skipped and the sixteenths bounce.
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I'm Yours – Jason Mraz
Every beat starts with a muted down-up and ends with a ringing one, all swung. The hand never stops and the fretting hand squeezes and releases once per beat.
A strumming pattern is a teacher's reading of a recording, not a fixed fact: players vary the strum from bar to bar, sections differ, and lessons often simplify. The song pairings come from guitar-lesson and tab sites and were not checked against the recordings. Treat each song as a place where the pattern fits and can be heard, then let your ear refine it.