Lesson ID: A0060
Ever wondered what makes a strumming pattern sound country? In this lesson video I’ll show you! We’ll go over several common country strumming patterns and I’ll teach you some awesome techniques to spice up your country rhythm guitar playing. These techniques will work with just about every country song you hear on the radio! If you like this lesson, you might also like our Classic Country Strumming Course.
So helpful thanks a lot!
Well explained and high quality video. I just found my new guitar teacher!
My goal this week is to perfect this! Thanks so much!
Best lesson on strumming I’ve found by far
very good lesson, great sounding guitar!
Great lessons , best online teacher I have seen. Keep of the good work
I just want to say thank you so much for this lesson! This is really helping my strumming
I just found your website and wanted to say thanks for a great lesson! You really have a knack for breaking down the mechanics of playing. Looking forward to watching more of your videos.
Wow, man that’s amazing video. You really broke it down to the basics.
What a great job!! I learned more from you than I have with others. Great job of taking your time on the pointers of for us. I hope that other guitar instructors watch this. Thanks a million.
Your breakdown makes a lot of sense thanks i learned a lot from this. Joined! Looking forward to more lessons
Really helpful thanks a lot
very nice lesson
Wow amazing lesson I learned so much from this thanks a lot man!
Hi Devin,
I’m Canadian. I ordered the BlueChip STP 50 Pick. Thank you, thank you for this tip!! It improved my playing immediately!! I forwarded your video to them.
Nice I’m glad you like it! I felt the same way when I tried them out for the first time. I’ve strummed with several of their picks and they’re all amazing…the STP 50 is still my favorite for country and bluegrass stuff. Thanks for sending them my video : )
Thankyou loved the lesson, has really helped me.
Such a great lesson
So awesome!! Thank you so much. Very helpful lesson.
What kind of guitar is that? Sounds really good
Thanks! It’s a 1999 Martin D-15. Martin made them with all mahogany back then…I like the D-15s that Martin makes today with sapele wood, but there’s something about that solid mahogany tone.
You just have to get the D-15M for solid genuine mahogany now. I have the 000-15M. It’s great!
Cool, thanks for the info. I’d definitely recommend the D-15M in that case if they’re making them with mahogany again. I’ve played the sapele wood D-15 and it just sounded and felt cheaper than mahogany, but it’s still not a bad guitar at all.
very interesting Devin , that pick looks like the one I suggested (cool pick phat cat) and you mentioned Brad Davis! Wow the same Brad Davis I remember from years ago trying to get his up down down up speed picking! 🙂 anyway like the grip too , Stephane Lucarelli holds his pick pretty much like that too even when he hybrid picks!, i sometimes do but yeah probable best now to keep that in mind so the pick don’t spin as much!
Nice, yeah I checked out that phat cat pick and it looks pretty similar. I might give that one a try also. Never can have too many picks. All have a slightly different tone. That’s cool you know about Brad Davis. Man that guy can shred! I was living in Dallas a while back and I saw him doing a demo at a guitar convention…eventually took a guitar lesson from him at his studio there in Commerce, TX. Pretty cool setup he has at the studio. I never did perfect his double down up pattern but he can tear it… Read more »
yes , I remember saving his youtube interview and short tutorial tried also but man Brad Davis owns that!, that is dizzy fast shredding,, he explained how he acquired his double down up technique from his brother a banjo player,, looks like economy picking to me but man that is crazy shredding indeed…Yes the cool picks have that bevel too and grip texture, harden nylon last long time easy 6 months ,fit perfect and think a buck each. Anyway, must say i appreciate your easy to follow tutorials . Enjoy!
this was an awesome video, i really appreciate you man ive wanted to learn a country style rhythm for awhile and every video i came across was pretty much garbage, but today i stumbled apon this and was blown away with it. your awesome man. ill be canceling all my subrciptions to tab pros and all that because ive learned more from your video in 13 minutes then all of them combined
Thanks Brandon!
Good lesson. I liked the tip to concentrate strumming on the top 4 strings and not the whole chord. But on the C chord, why not use the “old school” C of C/G and not bother with moving your ring finger around?
Thanks! Yeah, for sure, you can use the C/G as well instead of shifting your ring finger. Either way works just fine.
Thank you very much! Impressive….
That was very, very helpful. Thanks so much!!
Terrific instructor! Thanks so much – great pacing for the lesson, and excellent approach.
Great lesson thanks!
Thanks! Loving the hat by the way
It’s easy to to show a strum but nobody shows how to play a song on the strum?
Yessir! Plenty of lessons showing how to use these strumming patterns in songs here at Country Guitar Online. Go ahead and check out my Country Strumming Course for starters if you missed that the first time around 😉 And there are a ton of lessons outside that course showing just what you’re looking for https://countryguitaronline.com/classic-country-and-bluegrass-strumming-patterns-course-outline/
See you in the Gold Pick member area soon I hope! – Devin
Yes William Taylor, Devin does a great job showing how to use strumming patterns in songs. His strumming course is excellent! I recommend you spend the $1 and try it for yourself!
Playing rock for quite awhile, I pretty much forgot the different country strumming patterns. Great job in bringing it back!
i agree Glenn , so helpful to get different rhytmn … essential to make it less boring…
really calm and well explained
Looking for an opinion. In this lesson (A0060) — strumming patterns, you mentioned (P D P P D U) as your favorite pattern. This is six attacks for a 4/4 measure and eight counts. Would it be too boring if one were to use (P P D U P P D U). This gives 1& 2& 3& 4& and aligns counts with attacks (down and up). Not sure if I am clear here. If not pass on by.
Yep, you’re thinking about this type of strumming correctly because you can make little adjustments like that in a lot of ways. I think it would sound great to play PPDU PPDU. Most times, I won’t play PPDU PPDU over an entire song because it could sound too busy. I like to use several patterns throughout a song to make my rhythm fit over the music and also to make it sound more interesting. Great way to make it sound more interesting is to build longer strumming patterns over more than one measure. For example, when I’m playing a longer… Read more »
Thanks for the good feedback. I will work this.
Devin, is there a pdf sheet we can follow?