Down-up strumming in eighth notes

Down on every beat, up on every 'and' in between, through A, D and E, the three chords of a thousand folk and rock songs. The hand never stops moving: down, up, down, up, like a pendulum, which is the motion every other strumming pattern is built on. Even upstrokes, as loud and as well timed as the downs, are what make a strum sound smooth instead of choppy.

Down-up eighth notes: 4 bars of 4/4 in E standard, written at 90 bpm.

Bars 1, 2, 3

Bar 4

The strums: an arrow down or up for each strum, a cross for a muted one, a dot for a single note, and a faint arrow where the hand keeps moving without touching the strings.

Practise it at 54 bpm

Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 90 bpm. No account or microphone needed.

Goal tempo: 90 bpm
Starts at: 54 bpm
Length: 4 bars, looped
Tuning: E standard
Time: 4/4
Level: Beginner
Plays with: Drums

How to play it

Keep the arm swinging down and up all the time; the upstroke only needs the top three or four strings.

Count '1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and'. The hand strums down on the numbers and up on every 'and', moving like a pendulum, down, up, down, up, without pausing between. The downstrokes catch the strings of the chord; the upstrokes only need the top three or four.

A, D and A each fill a bar, then E, which ends with a downstroke on beat 4 held for the whole beat, leading back to A. The A is three fingers side by side on the 2nd fret; the D sits on the top three strings, so start its downstrokes from the open D string.

Mistakes to watch for

Upstrokes quieter or later than the downs, so the strum limps. Record a loop and listen for an even pulse.
The hand stopping at the bottom of each downstroke before it comes back up.
Swinging the upstroke right through the low strings. Let the hand travel back up only as far as the strings it needs.
Rushing when the chord changes. The strum keeps time; the fretting hand catches up with it.

A speed plan

The player starts at 60 % of the goal and plays each tempo twice before stepping up:

That's 16 loops and about 4 minutes before you're playing at 90 bpm. If it stops being clean on the way, stop the ramp there and loop that tempo until it is. With a microphone or an audio interface you can record while you play instead: Demiurg checks every loop and steps up only after two clean ones in a row, and back down after a poor one. Strums are checked for when they land, not for which strings rang.

Questions

How fast should I play Down-up eighth notes?

The goal is 90 bpm in eighth notes, which is 3 strums a second. Start wherever every strum is clean: the player begins at 54 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.

Should upstrokes hit all six strings?

No. An upstroke naturally catches the top three or four strings, which is what makes it lighter than a downstroke. That difference is part of the sound of a strum.

How do I keep the strum even?

Keep the hand moving all the time, the same distance down and up, and count out loud. With the drums playing, listen for your downstrokes landing with the kick and the side stick.

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