STRUMMING 101A primer on basic pick-hand patterns for the ukulele BY FRED SOKOLOW

UkuleleMag.com

UkuleleMag.com

One of the main reasons the ukulele is so popular is that you can use it for

practically any type of song. All you need to do is get a good rhythm going on “that little lamb chop,” as Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Ed-wards used to call his Martin Style 3. To some players, strumming comes naturally; they don’t even have to think about it. This lesson is for anyone who doesn’t fit into that category and could use some solid tips for common rhythmic grooves.

A Matter of PreferenceOld instructional books tend to agree that the ukulele is properly strummed with a felt pick. But these days, most of us use our fingers. While I strum down with my index finger and up with my thumb, many players use their index to strum both up and down, and others use their thumb ex-clusively. I ’m in favor of whatever works—whatever feels comfortable for you, as long as you get a good rhythmic groove.

Play It StraightAs a general rule, you can get a groove going by strumming down on the down-beats and up on the upbeats, or the “ands.” If you divide one measure of 4/4 time (four quarter notes per bar) into eight equal parts (eighth notes), depicted in Ex. 1, the numbers are downstrokes and the “ands” are upstrokes.

Rock music often involves steady eighth-note strums, played straight (evenly), as heard on classics from “Johnny B. Goode” to “Proud Mary.” Check out Track 1 (on UkuleleMagazine.com), on which I play this straight-eighths feel two different ways—with downstrokes and up-strokes and then with all downstrokes.

You can easily create syncopation—a deliberate emphasis on the weaker beats—to the basic eighth-note pattern by using “ghost strums,” in which your pick hand makes strumming motions, but you inten-tionally miss the strings. In Ex. 2, avoid contact with the strings on the “and” of beat 1; Ex. 3, a slower variation, adds a ghost strum on beat 3. You can hear Exam-ples 2 and 3 on Track 2.

LESSONS BASICS

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Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Strum with your pointer

finger and thumb.

Or a felt pick.

Click herefor audio

Shuffle ItThe shuffle beat is heard in everything from jazz to R&B to bluegrass. Its main fea-ture is a swing feel, in which downstrokes are given more emphasis than upstrokes—they’re louder and they last longer.

Track 3 demonstrates strummed eighth notes, played in a shuffle beat at both mod-erate and faster tempos. (Note that in general, the faster the tempo, the less pro-nounced the swing feel.)

Just like the rock strum, the shuffle beat can be easily varied with ghost strums—lis-ten to Track 4, which is a swing version of Ex. 4, played at two different tempos, per-fect for playing rock songs like “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” and Tin Pan Alley tunes such as “All of Me.” For a bluegrass or clas-sic-country sound, try Ex. 5 (Track 5).

Sweet 16thsSixteenth notes come into play for the strumming patterns on classic-rock ballads like “Hey Jude” and “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” The insistent down-up strumming pattern is similar to the previous patterns, but the beat is divided into 16ths instead of eighths. In Ex. 6 (Track 6), note the ghosted upstroke on the “ee” of beats 1 and 3, extended to beat 2 in Ex. 7 (Track 7).

UkuleleMag.com

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Example 5

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Example 7

Example 8

Uke Waltz In waltz, or 3/4 time, you’ve got three quar-ter notes to the bar, as opposed to four. From “Blue Moon of Kentucky” to “Norwe-gian Wood,” there are many great waltzes in country, pop, and beyond.

A typical waltz strum, as shown in Ex. 8 (Track 8), has a ghosted strum on the “and” of beat 1. When you strum a waltz, add a little emphasis to beat 1.

Practice the waltz and this lesson’s other rhythms until everything becomes second nature—and you can consistently get a good strum going on that little lamb chop.

Fred Sokolow, author of the Fingerstyle Ukulele instruction book, is a performer, recording artist, and clinician. For more fingerpicking uke instruction, visit sokolowmusic.com.

LESSONS

Now you can strum along to these classic songs!

‘Shake, Rattle, and Roll’ ‘Knocking on Heaven's Door’‘Norwegian Wood’

BASICS