Strumming high on neck tips. :)

Irish Uke Tom

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Hi All,

Still hooked on the uke but haven't been on UU in a while - forgot how good it was for advice - shame on me!

So do you guys change your strum technique when strumming high on the neck? I want my high chords to sounds just as good as my first and 2nd position chords and I'm not sure I'm quite getting it at the mo. The chord i'm focusing on is 15-11-10-0 (the 0 being the high g string :D)

Really interested to hear what people have to say on this.

Thanks for any and all help!

Tom
 
I'm interested to hear what people say as well. I believe that the sounds is not as loud because you have less vibration length down the strings. Other than strumming "harder", I have no clue how to make the chords resonate more.
 
I suggest indicating the chords on the fretboard in the reverse order you are using, as you are doing it in a way that I believe is backwards. So the chord you're referring to would be 0-10-11-15, which seems to be a Cmin7 (or Eb6).

It might help some to play it a little less high -- 12-12-11-13 sounds good to me (g string = 12 / c string = 12 / e string = 11 / a string = 13).

As for technique, you could try some thumb-strumming. I find that I have more control over dynamics when using my thumb. But I can't strum as fast with my thumb, so if I want it fast I do one hard and even thumb-strum, then somewhat less-loud finger-strums. Sometimes I let the thumb-strum sustain, and then add the finger strums. (I hope that this makes sense.)

I also find it harder to fret that high up the neck, due to the smaller spacing. Sometimes I skip the last strum beat before I go that high, giving me time to make my way to the less hospitable up-the-neck neighborhood -- assuming you aren't spending all your time that high up the neck, that is.
 
I have a feeling that you should aim to be half way between fret & bridge for best sound, as each half of the string length will vibrate for an equal amount of time, but then, I'm not really a strummer. :)
 
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