Art of Strumming

There are few points to remember.
While learning strumming, you have to be conscious of your hand movement to match the counts etc. here you will find your hand moving more like a mechanical robot. But the art of strumming begins with having your right hand low down and up in a smooth natural movement.
Strumming is an art based on a simple DOWN-UP movement of your hand. So your hand should always move down and up, and based on the pattern that you are playing you either choose to HIT or MISS the strings while going down or HIT or MISS it while coming up. This is very important as many people tend to overlook it.
First divide the basic counts into a pattern like this: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Move your hand down on ONE and UP on the AND (&) and keep this going on continuously.
Wherever in the examples there is an X mark, you DO NOT stop your hand movement, but you simply DON’T play on that X

Example 1:Hitting all the counts:
1–&–2–&–3–&–4–& 1–&–2–&–3–&–4–&
D–U–D–U–D–U–D–U D–U–D–U–D–U–D–U

Example 2:Hitting on 1-2&3-4&
1–&–2–&–3–&–4–& 1–&–2–&–3–&–4–&
D–X–D–U–D–X–D–U D–X–D–U–D–X–D–U

Example 3:Hitting on 1-2&-&4&This pattern if played at a moderate speed can be used for Papa Kehte Hain type of songs:
1–&–2–&–3–&–4–& 1–&–2–&–3–&–4–&
D–X–D–U–X–U–D–U D–X–D–U–X–U–D–U

Example 4:Hitting on 1&-&-&4&
1–&–2–&–3–&–4–& 1–&–2–&–3–&–4–&
D–U–X–U–X–U–D–U D–U–X–U–X–U–D–U