Strumming question

harrylime

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I am an old guy and a complete novice. (my first post) I am loving practicing the chords and as I have some limited guitar experience years ago I seem to be learning the shapes okay. My problem is the right hand" I am putting my index finger and thumb together and using the index finger nail to strum but I constantly get caught in an individual string and find it hard to stroke accross the whole of the strings. Is there a technique that will help me to strum more cleanly or is it all just practice practice? Thanks for any advice.:confused:
 
Hi Harrylime

There are lots of ways of strumming. The one you mention is one I've seen often among guitar players. It seems less common among uke players, but I've seen it used to good effect. So if you're comfortable with it, and want to stick with it, it should come good with practice.

The reason a lot of guitar players like it is that it mimics the pick grip to some extent, and forms a very strong structure when strumming (relatively) high-tension steel strings. For the uke, with lower tension strings, it's not really necessary to back up the finger with the thumb. With this grip the movement has to come from the forearm - either up and down or rotating. If you leave the finger unsupported you can use the finger movement itself, which can be quicker.

My advice - keep this technique if you like it, but experiment with others to see if they might work better for the uke.
 
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One simple method actually used by some pros (I use it a lot but that doesn't mean much) is to use the forefinger on down (nail) and up (flesh) strokes and the thumb (nail) on down strokes only. I suggest practicing down with nail of forefinger, immediately followed by thumb (flesh) down, then the forefinger (flesh) up. Might take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_CmQEnSHpQ



Tom
 
I was having trouble with finger strumming and started using a home-made pick out of a milk bottle and some sticky back felt.....

After much practise with my fingers, I found that using my index finger or my thumb just wasn't working for me.... However, I am now strumming with my middle finger which I find much easier, so I think I'm just going to stick with that.....

Just keep experimenting, and see what works best for you......
 
Welcome to UU and to the world's greatest instrument.

There are many picking techniques. When using the thumb and index finger pressed together like a pick I find it works best to "roll" your finger and thumbtip against each other slightly on each strum so going down you have the index fingernail a little "longer" than the thumbnail and coming back up the situation is reversed. This way, the "leading" nail is always the one that is angled properly to glide over the string instead of catching it.

Also, you can strum with just the index finger and turn it ninety degrees to the strings so your fingernail is gliding across the top of the strings.

John
 
One of the Aunties who teach FREE ukulele lessons at the Royal Hawaiian Center (Tues thru Fri, 10-11
at the Food Court) suggests 'cupping' your strumming hand and strumming with all 4 fingers up and down.

Do it lightly, just brushing the strings in both directions.

Often, for new strummers, the tendency is to play/strum too hard. Begin with a light touch and once
you get the 'feel' of it, you can add more intensity and speed to get varied effects. :)

I generally strum with my index fingernail DOWN and my thumb nail UP... but that's just me :)

keep uke'in',
 
Uncle Rod is onto something here. When I teach beginners, they are usually using too much pressure on the strings (on both strumming hand and fretting hand) and they are much too tense. What I mean about the tense part is that they don't have their strumming hand relaxed....loose muscles in the wrist and fingers. I think relaxing the strumming hand helps a lot with not catching strings.

Like others say, there is no correct way, just what works for you. I strum mostly with my index finger, and don't get my thumb involved much as I feel more control with my index finger.....but that is was works for me.

I suggest you try not putting your thumb and first finger together as if you had a pick in your hand. I think that creates a bunch of tension between the fingers just pressing them together. Again, as others said.....do what works best for you!
 
Well thankyou all

For all the advice I am very grateful. I will certainly try the different methods. Seems once I decide the one that suits it's a case of PRACTICE but I WILL get there. Cheers, Harry;)
 
Uncle Rod is onto something here. When I teach beginners, they are usually using too much pressure on the strings (on both strumming hand and fretting hand) and they are much too tense. What I mean about the tense part is that they don't have their strumming hand relaxed....loose muscles in the wrist and fingers. I think relaxing the strumming hand helps a lot with not catching strings.

Like others say, there is no correct way, just what works for you. I strum mostly with my index finger, and don't get my thumb involved much as I feel more control with my index finger.....but that is was works for me.

I suggest you try not putting your thumb and first finger together as if you had a pick in your hand. I think that creates a bunch of tension between the fingers just pressing them together. Again, as others said.....do what works best for you!
Seems my reply coincided with this post but I have just tried the more relaxed and 'gentle' method and yes, I think I have been too tense so hey, it's all good fun and I'll keep at it!
 
One simple method actually used by some pros (I use it a lot but that doesn't mean much) is to use the forefinger on down (nail) and up (flesh) strokes and the thumb (nail) on down strokes only. I suggest practicing down with nail of forefinger, immediately followed by thumb (flesh) down, then the forefinger (flesh) up. Might take a look at this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_CmQEnSHpQ



Tom

That's a really fantastic tutorial with a really great instructor. THANKS!
 
That is a great video link above. Mahalo! :)
 
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