George Formby strums

I have been practicing the George Formby split stroke, triple, and fan strokes for a while but didn't know where to apply them. Then I found the words and chords to Bless Em All on Betty Lous's site and that gave me the oppurtunity to use the split and fan strokes. You play the song with the split stroke except for one lick where I use two fan strokes. I didn't use the tapping technique because I can't instinctly use it yet. I liked the result and may record it and put it on you tube soon.

Has anyone out there in Ukeland used these strokes and if so how? GF made a fortune off of singing and playing the uke but he played the banjo uke a lot. I have one and love it.

Joe T

Hi Joe,

I've dabbled a bit with Formby techniques, but I'm rubbish at them so far. I'm going to keep practicing.

I don't know how much you've seen/heard of George in the USA, but over here he was huge in his time. At one point I believe he was the highest paid entertainer in Britain.

The songs are fun: kind of evolved from the music hall tradition. The Window Cleaner is probably the one I like playing most, as it's the one most people seem to know.

That fan stroke is the one I really need to work on. It does my head in a bit.

am trying to do the split stroke at the min but cant get the hang of it.ive palyed drums for 20years so my rigth hand is pretty fast, but just cant get to grips with this strum.ive found this site http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/dennis.taylor/Page_015_intermediate_tuition.htm and its pretty good.but i guess as in all music there is different styles of music.as in drumming i found latin hard to play so i guess this stroke is my latin :/

I keep watching my hand as I'm practicing the fan stroke and just thinking, "At any moment it's going to become a blur". It never does. Just keeps plodding around at normal speed. But I live in hope...

If you don't know Roy Smeck, look him up. We make a lot of Jake and these young hotshots, as we should, but the first big wave of ukulele had some SERIOUS players.

Formby Strums

Wininboy has a clip on YouTube discussing the triple stroke. He says that he got it down while studying for school and just repeating it as percussion until the muscle memory was set. I am just starting, so like any other strum/picking pattern it is still an unnatural act..... Ukulelezaza has a couple good demos of Formby strums too.....

Some of Cliff Edwards work is interesting too - walking bass lines (counterintuitive on an ukulele) and tasteful chord change-ups, and his signature steady strum with frails between.

I think at one point, George Formby was the highest paid entertainer in Britain. Anyone that takes a seemingly simple instrument and pulls complex music from it is a star in my book. Jake admits that the ukulele is often underestimated and folks often have low expectations - until of course he starts playing.....