chunking

NukeDOC

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is there an easier way to do it? ive tried two ways so far.

the first way was to just rest my fingertips on the strings with my left hand while my strumming hand strummed the deadened strings. that didnt work all the time because of the play on my ukes is so low and the lack of feeling in my fingertips. i always ended up lightly pressing the string down and notes would ring out.

the other way, and the one i have been using more often, is to just leave my left hand alone, and basically a split second before strumming, the heel of my right palm touches the strings, deadening them. this has worked the best for me, but it is neither consistent nor clean enough for my taste.

basically im thinking there has to be a better way. what's the secret? how do you do a chunk?
 
ha.
there are may ways...

in a reggae-style i use the way, that i just press the stings down when i want a tone; on the other beats i just let them rest on the strings.
i think thats an easy way.

the other one i saw from aldrine is, that you can use the imr-fingers for chordpressing and your pinky for muting the strings; so your last finger mute the strings when u want a chunk-beat.
this is a very clear method i think; but takes practice to bring this rebellious pinky doing what YOU want...

the last i know and the easiest for using (for me):
use the left border of your right thumb and the fleshy muscle under it on a down-stroke with your indexfinger(i think that also the method what you said). this is good for the most song;

find your right chunk for every song...
 

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Duke's way works good for a normal attack for faster tempos (double strums) and chords where you cover all four strings. (more like Kapena or the Ka'au Crater Boys)

If you want a quicker attack, like say a reggae skank, you can try using the heel of your right hand immediately after strumming the strings down fairly hard using your nail like a pick (for a brighter tone). (more like Ooklah the Moc or Humble Soul).

I wish I had a better explanation.
 
is chunking also called scratching? by your explanations i believe so.

what i do is depended on the song but most of the time i use my left hand to do so. when i want the chords sound i press down when i want the muted i'll let up on it a bit. and i just realized i do this in a lot of the songs i play. mostly fast passed songs like "Whatever Makes You Happy" and "Island Women". You dont always have to hit the muted strings you can just leave that little pause.

i also however use my right hand to scratch or chunk whatever you would like to call it. i use the part of my hand underneath my thumb(if you move your thumb you can see it move) to hit the strings and mute them right after i come down with my pointer (the finger i use to strum). i come down faster then i do with a normal strum and its all one motion. These i find in slower sonngs like "Two Years to Eternity" and "One Night Stand".

im not saying that all slow songs i use my right hand and all fast paced songs i use my left hand, there are exceptions.

i also use my pinky to mute strings too but only for chords that have a open note in it such as F, A, Dm etc. and sometimees i use the same part of my right hand to mute the top string in some chords like G or the version of E that i play when im playing "Im Yours".
 
is chunking also called scratching? by your explanations i believe so.

ya i learned it as scratching through other people that i knew. basically same thing, just different name.
 
I actually never heard the term chunking. I always heard it called "skank".. depends who you hang out with I guess.
 
Wow I didn't know there were so many ways to skank, chunk and scratch. I've always just lifted up my left fingers to mute the strings, so anything else feels very strange. Biggest problem is when there is an open string...using the pinky is useful, but so far its still an unreliable way to chuck for me.
 
UU is actually where I heard "chunking" I've always learned it as scratching. To me lifting your fingers a little to hide the sound is like muting to me but I wouldn't know, it's different to me. For me to scratch I finish a strum and immedietly after I finish all the way to the A string I plant my right palm on the strings to stop the noise and then the chunk noise comes out.

Yeah kinda hard for me to explain, scratching this is the hardest part to teach someone on the uke for me x[
*Edit*
i also however use my right hand to scratch or chunk whatever you would like to call it. i use the part of my hand underneath my thumb(if you move your thumb you can see it move) to hit the strings and mute them right after i come down with my pointer (the finger i use to strum)

I think I skipped this post while read the rest :X

Yeah my way is almost like that except I use my whole palm, I ought to try your way some time.
 
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i think these all diffrent techniques (chuck, skank, and scratch) are diffrent techniques.

the way i am interpreting your posts, and my prior knowledge is:
scratch- lifting up the left hand fingers so that the strings a muted.
chuck- strumming downwards then quickly covering them. ie

Skank- what you hear in ska, where their is a strum then you cover the string on the next beat.

the diffrence between the skank and chuck is that chuck is within one beat, while skank is a two beat thing.
 
i find that simultaneously muting the strum with the palm of my right hand works best. but to get a better result, on the scratch/chunk/wutever strum, i use 2 fingers (index and middle) to strike the strings + muting with my palm. by using 2 fingers, it sounds more profound.

hope that helps a lil
 
really? I usually simultaneusly strike the strings and mute with my thumb... hmmm...
 
^^ muwahahahaha! the first time i had pho, was this place called pho king palace. say it out loud...
 
I use the way that you do it.

Right after, (I mean split seconds!) I strum I hit my palm down on the strings.

It works all the time for me you just have to practice it.
 
so is "chuNking"different than "chuCking"???


cause i just "corrected" someone on a commment on youtube cause they used chunking instead of chucking for the term.

so now i may be feeling the idiot, but thats okay cause thats how we learn sometimes.
 
I wonder if there's actually a correct term for this effect aside from the onomatopoetic words we're all using here.

I do it with my left hand, push lift push lift

chunka chunk ka chunk chunka hey ho, lets go, hey ho, lets go....They're forming in a straight line, they're going through a tight wind, the kids are losing their minds!
 
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