I've never played the guitar before and I just started the uke a few days ago. When you're using a pick, are you supposed to just shake your right hand continuously up and down, hitting and missing the strings depending on the rhythm you want? and what do you call that? strumming? stroking?
total beginner strumming
- Thread starter doyuke
- Start date
Ken Middleton
Well-known member
When you are learning to strum, keep it simple at first and learn the basics. Don't try to do fancy strums until you have mastered the simple ones.
Try to strum the strings evenly and accurately.
Don't move your arm much at all. Even your hand should not move up and down very much. It is more of a rotation of the hand.
Try to strum the strings evenly and accurately.
Don't move your arm much at all. Even your hand should not move up and down very much. It is more of a rotation of the hand.
Lanark
Well-known member
I agree with Ken, you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. The idea is first and foremost to get a smooth strum up and down. The motion should be mostly in your wrist. (You're already likely to be using your arm to hold the uke up anyway.) It's going to be mostly a matter of muscle memory and learning to coordinate your hands.
I'd also suggest since you just started and haven't locked yourself into anything yet to experiment a little bit with using your fingers and nails. I come from a guitar background, but I've found that the ukulele seems to lend itself much easier to fingers than a pick. Strum down with the back of your index. Up with the thumb. Watch the videos. Soak in as much as you can.
It will be kind of awkward at first, much more so than a pick, but will eventually open up greater possibilities later on as you master the instrument and have all those fingers to play with.
I'd also suggest since you just started and haven't locked yourself into anything yet to experiment a little bit with using your fingers and nails. I come from a guitar background, but I've found that the ukulele seems to lend itself much easier to fingers than a pick. Strum down with the back of your index. Up with the thumb. Watch the videos. Soak in as much as you can.
It will be kind of awkward at first, much more so than a pick, but will eventually open up greater possibilities later on as you master the instrument and have all those fingers to play with.
Toucan Mango
Well-known member
You can also search YouTube for basic or beginner ukulele strum patterns as well if you have not already done so. I believe there is a video lesson here on UU to.
I think hitting and missing strings is probably for much more advanced players. I know I don't even think about that at this point! Rhythm is much more based on the strum itself, what order you're going up and down. I'm pretty happy with the basic down-down-up-up-down for a lot of things, and you get more of a sense for rhythm as you practice.
Harold O.
Well-known member
Hit all the strings every time. Soooooo much simpler than a guitar.
On shaking the hand, it only looks that way. Most of the hand is only along for the ride while the index finger (down) and thumb (up) are making contact. There certainly are more complex techniques, but those will come later.
I just started playing November. My biggest adventure was getting the strings to ring out over the blup-blup-blup sound generated by hitting the strings too hard. Next I had to get past whacking the top of the instrument.
down-down-down-down gets tiresome. But steady rhythm cannot be over rated.
On shaking the hand, it only looks that way. Most of the hand is only along for the ride while the index finger (down) and thumb (up) are making contact. There certainly are more complex techniques, but those will come later.
I just started playing November. My biggest adventure was getting the strings to ring out over the blup-blup-blup sound generated by hitting the strings too hard. Next I had to get past whacking the top of the instrument.
down-down-down-down gets tiresome. But steady rhythm cannot be over rated.
upskydowncloud
Well-known member
Hey there, I HIGHLY recommend Aldrine's first uke lesson from Iamhawaii.com, it starts from the very beginning and tells you exactly how to strum. You can access it from the following thread:
http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?p=79338#post79338
P.S On a personal note I see a lot of people doing this completely incorrectly (in my opinion), including very popular people like Julia Nunes who strum the ukulele like a small guitar and use big strokes. Whereas if you watch someone like Jake or Aldrine strum their ukes they rotate their wrists (no arm moving up and down wildly) which makes a lot of sense as there are only 4 strings and the uke is a pretty small instrument. It's worth getting it right from the beginning as it prevents you from getting tired apart from anything else, it also means your hand is closer to the strings when you learn more advanced techniques that use picking of a single string in between chords etc.
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cpatch
Well-known member
Strumming from the wrist also makes it a lot easier to hold the uke, since your right arm isn't sliding back and forth against it. It's also easier to do more intricate strumming patterns.
grappler
Well-known member
yeah i agree with Ken. Start getting into the rythm first then... just try D, U, D,U, D U...
then once you can perfect that without looking then start chunking. =]
then once you can perfect that without looking then start chunking. =]
Nuke-ulele
Well-known member
I barely even move my wrist at all when I strum, it almost all comes from the knuckle where my forefinger and middle finger meet my hand..sort of clasical guitar style (like a flick..imagine flicking a bug, and then just strolling back up the strings with the pad of the finger, you can strum super fast this way). My teacher always said a minimum of movement was the best...economical, no wasted effort and you always know where your hands are around the instrument, rather than wild flailing!
