Play Complex Strumming Patterns

Have you ever wondered how to play a long, complex strumming pattern or even compose one yourself? Well, I had a viewer comment on another video asking me how to work on complex strumming patterns. He specifically asked for a pattern that was 16 beats long, but I think what I’m going to show you can apply to any length of time.

What I think he was getting at is: How do you keep your head around playing something that spans mul-tiple measures—let’s say, four measures of four beats each—without messing it up? The key is breaking it down into smaller parts.

So, what do I mean by that? Well, let’s say, for example, you have eight beats that you want to create one long, complex strumming pattern. You would simply break it up into two parts. Take the first four beats, come up with a strumming pattern for that, then take the second four beats, come up with a different strumming pattern for that, and finally, join them together.

The tricky part is remembering the strumming patterns consecutively, which will take some practice. But the idea is: don’t try to compose one big, long strumming pattern all at once. Instead, you compose smaller, individual patterns and then just connect them. It’s an easier way to approach playing a long, complex strumming pattern. You can make it as complex as you want! The key is that you can either compose something that sounds really complicated, but when you break it down, it’s actually pretty simple.

If you’re learning someone else’s strumming pattern, it’s important to break it down into smaller chunks. Looking at it as one big, complex pattern can be overwhelming—it might be difficult to remember or even comprehend. But I’m telling you, most of the time, guitar players don’t have that complex of a rhythm in their strumming patterns. When you break it down into smaller sections, it’s easier to practice, and it’s also easier to understand what exactly they’re doing.

You may even start to recognize patterns as you break them down, or it might just be that there are four simple patterns all put together, making it sound more complicated than it actually is.

Remember: always have fun with your guitar, and I’ll see you next time!

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About Mark Turko: Mark Turko is a professional guitar player and instructor with over 30 years of experience and teaches guitar lessons online.