Yikes! Looks overwhelming, doesn't it? You're welcome to try the above - hold down a G major chord, and give it a shot. Listen to the mp3 clip of the strum, and see if that doesn't help. Chances are, at first this pattern will probably be too overwhelming to play. The key is breaking the strum down, and examining smaller segments of the pattern, then putting them together.

Breaking the Strum Down

By concentrating only on part of the initial strumming pattern, we'll make learning the whole strum much simpler. Listen to the mp3 clip of the incomplete strum, then try imitating it. Be sure to keep your arm moving in a constant down-up motion, even when not actually strumming the strings. The pattern starts with down, down, down, down up. Get comfortable playing this much of the pattern before continuing. Now, add the final two strums (up down) of the incomplete pattern - down, down, down, down up, up down. This will probably take some practice, but stick with it.

Almost there! Now, we need to simply tack on a down up down up to the end of the incomplete pattern, and our strum is complete. Once you're able to play the strum once through, try repeating many times. The strum ends with an upstroke, and begins again immediately with a downstroke, so if there is a pause between repetitions of the pattern, you're not playing it correctly.

Tips

Once you've got the strumming pattern down, you'll need to work on switching chords without breaking the pattern. This can be tricky, since the strum ends with an upstroke, and would begin again immediately on the new chord with a downstroke. As this doesn't give much time for switching chords, it's very common to hear guitarists leave the last upstroke of the strum off, when moving to another chord.