Will I ever be able to strum?

Tailgate

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 22, 2012
Messages
453
Reaction score
0
Location
Texas
I can't dance, can't sing and apparently can't strum. Every strum kinda sounds the same. I'm not able to 'hear' or 'feel' the rhythm in my head and wind up doing the same strum over and over. It sounds good and very cool, but it's frustrating that I can't switch from C&W to R&B to whatever..just don't have a rhythm gene.. I have a metronome but haven't really used it.. would that help?

My questions are: can I work through this disability or am I doomed to be a one strum wonder?

and.. do I just need to spend more time with YouTube songs and try to get in the groove?
 
A metronome should help and you could also try clapping or tapping along to the rhythm. Keep practicing and you will get strumming down soon enough.
 
I can't dance, can't sing and apparently can't strum. Every strum kinda sounds the same. I'm not able to 'hear' or 'feel' the rhythm in my head and wind up doing the same strum over and over. It sounds good and very cool, but it's frustrating that I can't switch from C&W to R&B to whatever..just don't have a rhythm gene.. I have a metronome but haven't really used it.. would that help?

My questions are: can I work through this disability or am I doomed to be a one strum wonder?

and.. do I just need to spend more time with YouTube songs and try to get in the groove?
I have been playing over 4 years. My teacher says I need a lot of work on my strumming hand. It gets better. You are not doomed at all.
 
Ur letting your uke create what it should be eliminating, STRESS. Don't worry about your strum, just play and have fun.
 
Ur letting your uke create what it should be eliminating, STRESS. Don't worry about your strum, just play and have fun.

+1.....don't sweat it. Just keep picking it up and noodling away. Don't talk yourself into getting discouraged. Everybody (including some of the really great players on this forum) have been in the same boat at some point. It eventually clicked for them and it will for you too as long as you keep chipping away at it.
 
The way I'm trying to work on it is by learning a strumming pattern, playing it until I've got it under my belt, and then trying a new one. One really good way to learn new strumming patterns (for me, anyway), is to watch some of Aldrine's song tutorials for a song you like, and apply it to other songs. Don't worry if it fits the song or not - it's just for the practice.

That way, when you have a go at a song and can't improv the pattern easily (which is 99% of the time for me :/), you can fall back on one that you know. Works for me, it might work for you, too :)
 
Try to learn/play a song where you have to change chords quickly. Then you'll develop a short strum pattern. Then learn/play a song where you strum a long time before you change chords. Then you'll have a second strum. Then do a medium. Beyond that it really doesn't matter but you'll pick more up along the way.
 
You are definitely not doomed, and yes, watching and working through youtube videos can help. You can start with this video. Switching from one strum pattern to another as demonstrated at the end of this video was crazy hard for me when I first started.

If you are currently using the same strumming pattern for every song, I'd suggest that you try to work up a couple more. If you always use the same strumming pattern, it can become a habit that is hard to break.
 
You are definitely not doomed, and yes, watching and working through youtube videos can help. You can start with this video. Switching from one strum pattern to another as demonstrated at the end of this video was crazy hard for me when I first started.

If you are currently using the same strumming pattern for every song, I'd suggest that you try to work up a couple more. If you always use the same strumming pattern, it can become a habit that is hard to break.

I think you nailed my issue... just developing a bad habit with the one strum.. Mike's site is great and his youtube channel has lots of good lessons/examples.. thanks!
 
That's an excellent video to show some different patterns on a very basic level. Your comment about it becoming a habit is oh so true. Thanks!

Stan
 
My recommendation - stop working with your left hand at all for a while. Simply damp the strings with your left hand so you are getting a "scrubbing" sound - then listen to a variety of music while "scrubbing" in time with your strumming hand.

Music basically has three components - melody, harmony, and rhythm. While related, each is actually a separate skill (there are people, for example, who can sing melody beautifully but can't harmonize to save their lives).

Most people who can't seem to get the rhythm (strum) down are subconsciously getting hung up on the melody or harmony. They're dividing their attention between the fretting and strumming hands at a time when they think they're concentrating on the strumming hand.

This is why many music teachers assign "clapping exercises" and the like. "Scrubbing" muted strings accomplishes the same thing as clapping exercises, with the added advantage that you are developing the right wrist action at the same time that you're developing a "rhythm sense."

Here's a youtube video from "Uncle Raggy" that, while not specifically about developing right-hand technique, kind of illustrates what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ1hZcQScKc

In this case Uncle Raggy's friend obviously probably already has a good sense of rhythm but it shows how Raggy is helping him "play to his strengths" by providing an instrument that lets him bang away rhythmically without having to learn a bunch of difficult chords.

John
 
Last edited:
My recommendation - stop working with your left hand at all for a while. Simply damp the strings with your left hand so you are getting a "scrubbing" sound - then listen to a variety of music while "scrubbing" in time with your strumming hand.

Music basically has three components - melody, harmony, and rhythm. While related, each is actually a separate skill (there are people, for example, who can sing melody beautifully but can't harmonize to save their lives).

Most people who can't seem to get the rhythm (strum) down are subconsciously getting hung up on the melody or harmony. They're dividing their attention between the fretting and strumming hands at a time when they think they're concentrating on the strumming hand.

This is why many music teachers assign "clapping exercises" and the like. "Scrubbing" muted strings accomplishes the same thing as clapping exercises, with the added advantage that you are developing the right wrist action at the same time that you're developing a "rhythm sense."

[...]

John

Awesome! I'm going to try this ... often!
I'm also rhythmically challenged - mainly because I've never put in a lot of effort on it.
 
I used to practice strumming on a tennis racket whilst watching TV.
 
Personally, I have a certain chord progression I use to try out different strums, different pattern picking patterns, stuff like that. It sounds good whatever you do, short strums, long strums, easy patterns, hard patterns. Twelve bar blues in C. (that is 4 bars of C, 2 of F, 2 of C, 1 of G7, 1 of F, two of C, repeat.)
 
I keep reading these threads hoping by some miracle ill break out of the -white guy, no rhythm - syndrome , lol
Hang in there
 
My recommendation - stop working with your left hand at all for a while. Simply damp the strings with your left hand so you are getting a "scrubbing" sound - then listen to a variety of music while "scrubbing" in time with your strumming hand.

Music basically has three components - melody, harmony, and rhythm. While related, each is actually a separate skill (there are people, for example, who can sing melody beautifully but can't harmonize to save their lives).

Most people who can't seem to get the rhythm (strum) down are subconsciously getting hung up on the melody or harmony. They're dividing their attention between the fretting and strumming hands at a time when they think they're concentrating on the strumming hand.

This is why many music teachers assign "clapping exercises" and the like. "Scrubbing" muted strings accomplishes the same thing as clapping exercises, with the added advantage that you are developing the right wrist action at the same time that you're developing a "rhythm sense."

Here's a youtube video from "Uncle Raggy" that, while not specifically about developing right-hand technique, kind of illustrates what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ1hZcQScKc

In this case Uncle Raggy's friend obviously probably already has a good sense of rhythm but it shows how Raggy is helping him "play to his strengths" by providing an instrument that lets him bang away rhythmically without having to learn a bunch of difficult chords.

John

I call that "dead strings" because I am choking them at the neck! Just sit and watch tv and keep plugging away at it.
 
Practice and time comes with strumming..one day it will come naturally...when you feel the music....enjoy the journey till then and keep on strumming them strings..
singing helps keep the tempo and rhythm....
 
Top Bottom