Ukulele Strumming for Dummies
October 22, 2008
I get quite a few emails asking me about strumming, so I thought I’d put together a ‘How to Strum a Ukulele’ post. This is how I strum – any resemblance to good technique is pure coincidental.
UPDATE: For a more comprehensive coverage of the subject check out my ebook on ukulele strumming.
Strumming Hand Position
1. Make your strumming hand into a loose fist.
2. Hold it infront of the centre of your chest.
3. Point towards your left boob (or right boob if you’re left handed).
4. I like to have my thumb steadying my strumming finger. It gives it extra strumming support.
Where to Strum
If you strum your ukulele too close to the bridge it sounds very tinny (which might be an effect you want sometimes) and the strings have very little give there. The ’sweet spot’ on the soprano and concert ukes are around the point where the neck hits the body. The sweet spot for tenors is a little closer to the bridge than this.
Strumming Technique
As any teenage boy will tell you, moving your arm rapidly up and down gets tiring very quickly. When you strum, use your wrist rather than your whole arm.
When you strum down, you should be hitting the strings with your nail. When you’re strumming up, with the fleshy tip of your finger.
Swing/Shuffle Strums
Lots of forums of music popular on the uke use swing time – such as Hawaiian, jazz and blues. In swing time the down strum lasts twice as long (ish) as the up strum like this. This makes a simple up, down strum sound much more interesting.
Simple Strumming Patterns
You can create some more interesting strumming patterns by keeping the same up, down motion but not hitting the strings on certain strums. In this clip the actual strums are down, down, up, up, down. But I’m doing a constant up, down motion (I strum down, miss the strings on the up strum, strum down and up, miss the down strum, strum up and down, miss the up strum).
Chnking
You can funk up the strumming a little with a few ‘chnks’. With a chnk you strum down and hit the strings with the underside of your hand, so you get a percussive sound from the strum. In this clip I strum down, up, then a chnk followed by an up.
Dead Strums
Dead strums are another way of creating a percussive click from strumming, but this time you’re creating it with your fretting hand. To create them, you stop the strings ringing by laying your fingers across all the strings like this.
Advanced Ukulele Strums
Once you’ve got the basics down, you can start checking out the advanced stuff.
Steven Sproat’s Fan Stroke tutorial
Matthew J Richards’ tutorial on George Formby’s Split Stroke
Cool Hand Uke strumming PDF
COVEYWOOD’s favourite ukuleles strums
Ukulelezaza’s Ukulele Strums Revealed
Thanks Woodshed.
I’m chnking right along, now.
Nice one WS
Informative as ever
Jack33
Al,
Good review of the basic strum stuff. When I do a lot of strumming I have the problem of wearng down the side of my nail on forefinger. Is this a common problem with others?
Hi Al:
Sorry, I blanked out on putting this together for us. As always you come through. I will link to your article on my blog. We just had a mini performance by Tomas Kubinek. Take a look at my latest blog entry. J
Lonna & Jack: Thanks guys.
Art: I did have that problem when I played guitar. I haven’t had it with the uke – but I’m guessing some people do.
Jeff: Just seen it. Hilarious. I’ll be mentioning tomorrow.
This is great, thank you so much! Strumming seems always the most difficult part, this helps a lot a lot.
Thanks, Al! I myself am struggling with strumming in 6/8 time while also trying to remember to sing.
Whoopee-ti-yi-oh!
Anne: You’re welcome. Glad you found it useful.
Emily: I’m the worst person in the world to ask about strumming and singing at the same time. Or singing full stop.
went to print this and I have to print 8 pages of info I don’t need
Wow, pete, you could at least express some gratitude for the great information you’ve acquired before you complain.
Anyway, Woodshed, thank you — this site is so sweet. I just started playing uke last month and have gained so much from your work. Re: strumming, I was inclined when I started, in ignorance, to use my thumb rather than my index finger, and I feel like I have seen at least one of the artists in the youtube vids you highlight doing this. Since reading this post I’ve tried using the finger, but it doesn’t work so well for me. Anyone else out there use the thumb, or is this a terrible idea?
A second beginner question if I may: Is it typical for the open A string (say in a 2220 D chord or 2010 F chord) to sound really bright & ‘ping’-y? It can sort of overwhelm the chord. Is this just because I have a cheap uke (Kala w/aquila stings)? I’ve noticed something similar with my mandolin as well, though, which is better quality though not amazing (low-end all-solid). Thanks for any help!
Andrew: Some people do use their thumb, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s really hard to get a steady rhythm using your thumb exclusively.
I’m not sure what could create the problem with the A string. I wouldn’t have thought the Kala and Aquila combination would cause any problems. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful on that.
Thank you. I’ll keep at it.