Let’s work out the most common strumming pattern of all time, so you nail missing down strums. The full lesson is here!
Curious observation with the strumming pattern:
D DU U D (1 2+ + 4)
Justin calls this the most common of all time and labels it “Old Faithful”.
On multiple occasions, and again just now, watching others teach rhythm, they say this is the most common:
D DU U DU (1 2+ + 4+)
So one last up strum.
It seems a small thing really, and the best answer is to just practice and learn both, but I can’t help wondering why Justin seems to be in the minority with this common strumming pattern?
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The key element of the old faithful pattern us missing the downstrum on beat 3.
The last upstrum is completely optional. Personally I leave it out when I want a more laid back feel. If I want more energy, then I add it in. Or I mix it up however I feel it.
My guess would be that Justin leaves out the last upstrum in the beginner stages so you have more time to change to a new chord? In practice you would just strum the open strings anyway if you don’t want to sound like a robot.
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Good question @PatFlicker
Any time a strumming pattern includes the & after 4 it reduces the amount of time you have to make the chord change and land on the count of 1 in the next bar.
For beginners those fractions of seconds are crucial.
Hence there is no final Upstrum in Old Faithful.
There are plenty of Upstrums in real life settings of recordings and live performances though.
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So I thought I had these totally nailed… until I tried using the ‘Bar Breaks’ feature in Justin’s TimeTrainer metronome app. Wow! 2 bars with the metronome then 1 bar without, amazing how often I’m just slightly out when the beat starts back up again.