16th-note strumming: the busy pop strum

The D-DU-UDU pattern twice as fast, in 16ths, so it fits into two beats and comes round twice a bar, through Am, Fmaj7, C and G. The hand now swings down and up four times a beat, and the pattern's skipped strokes fall between the beats, which gives modern pop and acoustic covers their busy, pushing groove. A light hand and a loose wrist matter more than strength here.

16th-note pop strum: 4 bars of 4/4 in E standard, written at 80 bpm.

The strum: 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 48 bpm

Opens in the player looped and counted in, with drums playing along, and speeds up 5 % every 2 loops to 80 bpm. No account or microphone needed.

Goal tempo: 80 bpm
Starts at: 48 bpm
Length: 4 bars, looped
Tuning: E standard
Time: 4/4
Level: Intermediate
Plays with: Drums

How to play it

Swing the hand in 16ths all the time, four strokes a beat; the strings are only hit where the arrows say.

Count '1 e and a, 2 e and a'. The hand now swings down on every number and 'and' and up on every 'e' and 'a', four strokes a beat, and over each two beats it hits the D-DU-UDU pattern: down on 1, down on its 'and', up on its 'a', a missed down on 2, then up on 2's 'e', down on its 'and' and up on its 'a'.

With the strokes this close together they have to be small: a flick of the wrist across the top four or five strings rather than a full sweep. Fmaj7 is F without the barre, its 1st string left open, so the change from Am is a short move with the 1st finger staying on the B string.

The hi-hat plays 16ths, exactly the hand's motion, so swing along with it.

Mistakes to watch for

Big strokes that can't keep up at speed. As the tempo rises, make the motion smaller rather than faster.
Losing the beat after the missed down on 2: the up on its 'e' comes very soon after.
Hitting all six strings on every stroke, which turns the groove into a wash. Lighter strokes on fewer strings sound tighter.

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 80 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 16th-note pop strum?

The goal is 80 bpm in 16th notes, which is 5.3 strums a second. Start wherever every strum is clean: the player begins at 48 bpm. Signed in, you can set a goal of your own, slower or faster, on the Exercises page.

Is this harder than strumming in eighths?

It's the same pattern at twice the speed, so the challenge is the small, quick motion rather than the pattern itself. If you can play D-DU-UDU in eighths, start this one at the player's slowest tempo and let the ramp bring it up.

What is Fmaj7, and why use it instead of F?

Fmaj7 is F with an E on top: the 1st string is left open instead of barred. It sounds softer than F and is much easier to change to from Am, so it's common in acoustic pop.

More acoustic exercises

All 20 acoustic exercises · Strumming patterns · Fretboard notes trainer · All 107 exercises