In today’s lesson I’ll guide you through strumming in 6/8 time — and teach eight different strumming patterns to help you out in that time signature. For context, most popular songs have four beats per measure — which we call 4/4 or common time. The most common exception to this, especially in rock/country/folk/pop music, is 6/8 time — where there six counts per measure. In this lesson, and the video examples further below on the page, I’ll guide you through the most simple patterns — and show a few ways to add complexity should your skill allow. Let’s get into it!
Here’s practice track I made to help you work on the strumming patterns I teach in this lesson. This track repeats a 4 measure sequence, going from G to Em to C to D. Each measure has 6 beats — with drum track and bass added to help you hear how things are moving along. I count in two complete measures before the drums and bass kick in — use this to get familiar with the tempo and timing.
If you want a drum-only practice track, try this one. The bass drum happens on the 1 count, and the snare drum happens on the 4 count. These are the strong beats I mention in my video tutorial. This mimics the drum pattern you typically hear for songs played in this time signature. Again, you can use any strumming pattern I teach in this lesson to play along!
Here’s an inventory of the 10 patterns I teach in this lesson, starting with the most simple. For each pattern, I have a separate video linked — which shows me playing that pattern over the progression G-Em-C-D (one measure for each chord). After playing that progression twice, I then add another minute or two of guidance per the strumming pattern in question.
Videos of each strumming pattern below require membership to Song Notes Premium.
The simplest way to strum in 6/8 time is with a single down-strum on the 1 count of each measure. I suggest counting all six beats out loud, at a steady tempo — with a confident down-strum the first beat. Watch video »
Another beginner-friendly approach is adding a down-strum on the fourth count of each six-count measure. The 1 and 4 counts are the strong beats in 6/8 time, which are almost always accented & emphasized. Again, I suggest counting out loud while getting used to this pattern — as it helps you stay grounded & oriented within the six-beat measure. Watch video »
Once we have the strong beats established, we can start to add some filler strums! The most obvious first step here is adding light down-strums on all other counts in the measure. On one hand, this gives us an all-down-strums approach which is quite easy to get the hang of. However, the tricky part is accenting (emphasizing) the strums on the 1 and 4 counts – and keeping all other down-strums a bit lighter. Watch video »
Once you have the previous strum under your belt, you can start to add some filler up-strums to the mix as well. One approach (shown here) is adding an up-strum just before each strong beat (i.e. the 1 and 4 counts). Remember, you’ll be moving your pick upward anyway – to get it ready for the next down-strum. With this in mind, you simply need to move it slightly closer to the strings – so you capture some sound with the up-strum motion. Watch video »
Alternatively, we can add the up-strum in between the two lighter down-strums. I like this one because it gives you a slight bit of extra time after each cluster of lighter down-up-down strums — enabling you to get ready for the next strong-beat down-strum. Watch video »
Finally, we can combine the previous two strums and get something a bit more full — as shown here. Notice how this almost gives us a steady, continuous flow of down-up strums for the entire measure. It’s only the off-beat just after each 1 and 4 count where we rest… and after that, add the lighter down-up-down-up cluster of strums to lead you in to the next strong-beat down-strum. Watch video »
Let’s back away from filler strums for a moment, and look at a few ways to put our primary emphasis on the 4 count — which is the back-beat in 6/8 time. This is typically where the snare drum is played in this time signature, giving us that distinctive crack! sound.
A nice way to start emulating this on the guitar is playing a light down-strum on the 1 count, before doing a full strum of all strings on the 4 count. For the first strum, I like to use a bass-note strum which favors the thickest 1-2 strings of the current chord. This establishes our rhythmic presence, but in a very low-key way… setting us up to make the full impact on the 4 count. Watch video »
And from there, we can build on things by adding a few different types of strumming dynamics. First, let’s use a palm mute on our bass-note strums that occur during first three beats. Then, just after the full strum on the 4 count, immediately silence all the strings.
You can silence the strings with your strumming hand (by laying your palm across the strings) or fretting hand (by releasing pressure against the fretboard). When you put all this together, it gives us a nice and spacious strum which sounds great. Watch video »
Ready to put these strumming patterns to use in actual songs? Check out the lessons below – all of these songs are played in 6/8 time! Each song tutorial below will assuredly include strumming instructions specific to that song, but just the same — you could, in theory, use any pattern I teach above to play any of these songs.
Next Lesson: Reggae Strumming & Rhythm →
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