One progression, three patterns

How it works

Just one progression: G, D, Em, C, one bar per chord. You play it four times in a row, changing strumming pattern each time through:

1. the march, calm, one strum per beat;
2. the pendulum, fuller;
3. the pop strum, which moves forward;
4. the accented pop strum, which grooves.

Each change of pattern happens on the “1” of the new round, with no gap.

Each round on its own

Listen to each pattern over the progression, then play it. Keep the same tempo for all four.

All four rounds in a row

Start the metronome at 60, count “1, 2, 3, 4” once, and play the four rounds back to back. The hardest part is going from the march to the pendulum: your strumming hand suddenly doubles its speed. Get ready for it by thinking “and” during the last bar of the march.

If you stop, don’t go back to the beginning: pick up again at the round where you stopped.

Ear exercise

Start one of the four patterns above without looking at its name, for example by scrolling the page with your eyes closed and clicking at random. Listen for two bars and say which one it is:

• one strum per beat, nothing in between: the march;
• eight even strums, down and up: the pendulum;
• gaps on the “and” of 1 and on beat 3: the pop strum.

Then flip it around: pick a pattern in your head, play it, and ask someone to guess.

You’ve got it when…

• You play all four rounds in a row at 60 without stopping
• You change patterns right on the 1
• You can recognize the march, the pendulum and the pop strum by ear