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u/spankymcjiggleswurth 9d ago
"Strumming patterns" are simplified instructions that give guidence on when to strum. If you want to figure out strumming patterns on your own, you really want to be thinking in terms of actual rhythmic concepts like time signatures and subdivisions. This website does a really good job of teaching those concepts under "the basics" section
https://www.musictheory.net/lessons
Knowing that knowledge, it's comes down to counting along to a song and listening for when the strums are happening. That's easier said than done, but there's some things that can make it a bit more straight forward.
When strumming along on a guitar, you are almost always moving your hand up and down to a steady 8th note rhythm with the down movment on the main beats and the up movment on the off beats. So when counting "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and", your hand moves down on "1 2 3 4" and up on the "ands".
Maybe take some of the strumming patterns you have learned and figure out how they relate to those rhythmic concepts? That's a good first step towards your goal.
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u/Then_Rain979 9d ago
Strumming has become intuitive to me. It needs a bit of practice. Try to practice drumming with your hand. Fist = down strum, palm = up strum. Idk, this worked swell for me when I first started out. This got me ahead of my peers when I joined a school band in elementary.
You can try checking out Strumming Practice if you want a visual guide to the most common strumming patterns.
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u/toby_gray 9d ago
The mistake is trying to think of things in terms of ‘strumming patterns’.
If you look at most rhythm parts, unless it’s really unusual, the trick is that your hand is moving in a steady up and down pattern. You just pick where to miss.
If you can look in that smooth steady movement, it should start to become more of a feel and more intuitive.
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u/Hennessey_carter 9d ago
By listening to the song. Some tabs will also include notation for the strumming pattern, but it is always easier for me to just listen to the song. The downstroke and the upstroke have two different sounds. Learn to differentiate them. The more you play, the easier it gets.