Katz-in-Boots
Well-known member
How do you strum triplets? Eg "Blueberry Hill", the accompaniment on the piano is usually in triplets. Do you do DUD UDU etc, or keep it as DUD DUD etc? Either way, It'd take some concentration I imagine.
Strumming Triplets
- Thread starter Katz-in-Boots
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OldePhart
Well-known member
I'm not by any means particularly good at triplets - but I struggled with them for a long time before I came across a video by Kimo Hussey that kind of changed my world in that respect. He was talking about triplets and he said something like, "this is your index finger, it strums down and up. This is your thumb, it strums only down." He then proceeded to demonstrate a simple down (index finger), down (thumb), up (index finger) triplet at slow speed.
Now, there are may ways of doing triplets and other similar effects, but I think that one is probably the easiest - it was for me anyway - and ended a lot of frustration for me.
John
Now, there are may ways of doing triplets and other similar effects, but I think that one is probably the easiest - it was for me anyway - and ended a lot of frustration for me.
John
TheOnlyUkeThatMatters
Well-known member
What John said... I play "dah dah dah" by strumming finger down, thumb down, finger up. Here's that Kimo Hussey video:
It took me weeks practicing very slowly and softly to get my triplet to sound vaguely smooth. Stick with it, and you'll be a swingin', jazzy strummer in no time.
It took me weeks practicing very slowly and softly to get my triplet to sound vaguely smooth. Stick with it, and you'll be a swingin', jazzy strummer in no time.
Uncle Rod Higuchi
Well-known member
Yes, triplet strumming takes a bit of work... digital coordination, don't you know!
It's worth it!
Another song that I play with a lot of triplets is 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon'.
have fun, and be patient and persistent
it will be difficult in the beginning...
but you'll make progress... after a while. Try not to get too frustrated. If you feel
too anxious... STOP, do something else, then go back when you're calmer... maybe
even the next day. It's called spaced repetition. Don't get bent out of shape. It
will take a lot of finger dexterity, but you can do it. It just takes time and practice
keep uke'in',
It's worth it!
Another song that I play with a lot of triplets is 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon'.
have fun, and be patient and persistent
it will be difficult in the beginning...but you'll make progress... after a while. Try not to get too frustrated. If you feel
too anxious... STOP, do something else, then go back when you're calmer... maybe
even the next day. It's called spaced repetition. Don't get bent out of shape. It
will take a lot of finger dexterity, but you can do it. It just takes time and practice
keep uke'in',
UKEonomics
Well-known member
Triplets are a lot of fun...once you get the hang of it. I go index finger down, thumb down, index finger up. When I'm just strumming the down beats, I use the index finger.
A lot of videos I've seen tell you to strum down with your thumb or to keep your index and thumb together on the down strums (and separate them for the triplets). Neither of these techniques every worked for me, so I just strum down beats with the index and then triplet like I mentioned above.
Another thing that helped me to get the feeling for it was practicing strumming them like this - "1, 2, 3, tri-pul-let".....over and over and over until it started clicking with my brain.
All that being said, I'm still not very good at it.
A lot of videos I've seen tell you to strum down with your thumb or to keep your index and thumb together on the down strums (and separate them for the triplets). Neither of these techniques every worked for me, so I just strum down beats with the index and then triplet like I mentioned above.
Another thing that helped me to get the feeling for it was practicing strumming them like this - "1, 2, 3, tri-pul-let".....over and over and over until it started clicking with my brain.
All that being said, I'm still not very good at it.
OldePhart
Well-known member
Thanks Ralf! We need to get that video stickied somehow as I can never seem to find it when I want to refer to it (I was sure I'd bookmarked it the last time but I guess that was before I replaced my computer). Anyway, watching it was the most productive 6 minutes I've had in a long time!
John
Katz-in-Boots
Well-known member
That was a brilliant video, thanks for posting it. Yep, that sure does change how I think about strumming triplets, and I can't wait to try it out.
coolkayaker1
Well-known member
It's a great Kimo video, except he does it upside down. I think Jake does it opposite of Kimo (think), and I know Aaron from HMS does ( since he says it on one of his vids, and mentions Kimo). More natural for me is the opposite of Kimo.
I'm sorry, but Kimo is doing it wrong.
I'm sorry, but Kimo is doing it wrong.
OldePhart
Well-known member
It's a great Kimo video, except he does it upside down. I think Jake does it opposite of Kimo (think), and I know Aaron from HMS does ( since he says it on one of his vids, and mentions Kimo). More natural for me is the opposite of Kimo.
I'm sorry, but Kimo is doing it wrong.
Heh, heh. Careful, Steve...you'll start a schism amongst the beginners.
Seriously, there are several ways of doing it of course, and some folks don't use the thumb at all. Also, as Ken Middleton once pointed out to me when I was lamenting how poor my triplets were after watching one of his videos (and before seeing the Kimo video) - you don't really necessarily have to catch all four strings in all of the three strums of the triplet. It's really a rhythmic device so sometimes just flicking a couple of the strings in the middle "strum" of the trio is almost indistinguishable from three full strums.
I find that is handy if I'm playing something that is already fast and I want to throw in a triplet - it gets my clumsy ole' thumb out of the way more quickly.
John
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coolkayaker1
Well-known member
I hear you, John. John knows I;m kidding about Kimo. He does it one way (just not the right way). Just kidding again. He's the king of the strum, kimo is. He's a down thumber.
Jake, conversely, is an up thumber. AAron at HMS is an up thumber. I'm an up thumber--not matter how hard i try, Kimo's thumb down is unnatural to me.
Right, John, that there are many ways to skin a cat. Do what comes naturally. John is right on that.
One can learn much from John. I know I have.
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OldePhart
Well-known member
That's another good vid. I'd seen it and actually tried it before I saw Kimo's vid. For some reason it just didn't work really well for me. I can actually sort of do it - but not very fluidly and I have to think about it too much up front. Oddly, I will sometimes deliberately strum up with the thumb when I'm doing broken rhythms, but it just doesn't seem to work for me for triplets.
That's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it. LOL
Seriously, it's a case of different strokes for different folks (nice play on words, eh?).
Oh, I also do my fan strokes completely different from anything I've seen in a vid...of course, my fan strokes suck so maybe I should keep that to myself! :biglaugh:
John
That's my story anyway and I'm sticking to it. LOL
Seriously, it's a case of different strokes for different folks (nice play on words, eh?).
Oh, I also do my fan strokes completely different from anything I've seen in a vid...of course, my fan strokes suck so maybe I should keep that to myself! :biglaugh:
John
I've been working on this strum for over a month now many hours. I strum down with index and up with my thumb and then index. I'm getting it but it's taking a long time it seems. Something else I notice is I thought you were supposed to do the wrist movement only up and down with as little movement of the arm and elbow which I've been doing but Kimos video he seems to have a lot of arm movement. What's up with that. I started doing mine from the Jake strumming lesson on you tube. So which is right? The arm and wrist both moving or just the wrist or are both right?
Now I'm confused.
Now I'm confused.
OldePhart
Well-known member
There are a lot of different styles, and even some very good players use "bad" technique. I showed a couple of Tommy Emmanuel videos to a classically trained guitarist, once. He said something like, "He's obviously self-taught, he's got terrible technique, but, man, that dude can play!"
Also, of course, keep in mind that Kimo is illustrating something to a class in that video and it is very common to exaggerate movements when doing so, otherwise the class can't pick up on what's going on.
I used to use a lot of arm motion and it was fine if I was strumming pretty simple stuff. I still find myself doing so, especially on guitar, if I'm basically just banging out three chord "energetic" songs. But, I did finally realize that the arm swing was the main reason I'd never been able to transition well at all between strumming and picking. I started working on minimizing arm, and even sometimes hand, motion and now I am getting much better at those transitions.
When all is said and done a musician has to do what feels good and works for him. I doubt very much that Jake's "chair dancing" would be approved by classical players of any stripe - it's all wasted motion, after all - but it works for him and he wouldn't be Jake if he didn't do it.
John
Thanks for the reply John. I'll just keep at it the way I have been and eventually I'll be able to build up speed. I do plan on learning Kimo's way with the thumb on the downstrum also. I guess it couldn't hurt to be able to do it both ways.
Katz-in-Boots
Well-known member
It's a great Kimo video, except he does it upside down. I think Jake does it opposite of Kimo (think), and I know Aaron from HMS does ( since he says it on one of his vids, and mentions Kimo). More natural for me is the opposite of Kimo.
I'm sorry, but Kimo is doing it wrong.
Funny. And the Jake video is great too! I've tried Kimo's way, now I'll try Jake's way to see which works best for me. And who knows which way our group's teacher will want me to do it, so I'm happy to work on both ways.Katz-in-Boots
Well-known member
Hmmm, I seem to get confused either way - my thumb starts taking over the initial down strokes. Also, I'm getting more of a waltz rhythm than triplets.
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?
arpie
Well-known member
....Hmmm, I seem to get confused either way - my thumb starts taking over the initial down strokes. Also, I'm getting more of a waltz rhythm than triplets.
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?....
I'm with OldePhart on this one - I feel much more 'natural' doing the forefinger/thumb down & the forefinger back up again to complete the triplet.
Sounds like you are a natural 'thumb down' strummer! Stick with it!!
I find that if you actually 'cock' your thumb once you decide to throw a triplet in - ie like doing a finger gun shape - it will flow straight after your forefinger & hit the strings 'naturally' without extra wrist action, then you just bring your forefinger back up again to complete the stroke.
The 'up thumb/forefinger' seems to need more wrist action - I just think it is more efficient to do the forefinger/thumb down as you need to get the thumb down there 'early' in the 'thumb/forefinger up style' in order to then use it as part of the up stroke? Seems weird to me!
It DOES seem like a waltz stroke (when you are practising it slowly) so that is correct!
Try them both - and do which ever comes naturally to you! Usually you will find one easier & more natural to do than the other!
cheers
Roberta
Do you think it'd be okay to use my thumb for the down, then 1st & 2nd fingers for the ups?....
I'm with OldePhart on this one - I feel much more 'natural' doing the forefinger/thumb down & the forefinger back up again to complete the triplet.
Sounds like you are a natural 'thumb down' strummer!
Stick with it!!I find that if you actually 'cock' your thumb once you decide to throw a triplet in - ie like doing a finger gun shape - it will flow straight after your forefinger & hit the strings 'naturally' without extra wrist action, then you just bring your forefinger back up again to complete the stroke.
The 'up thumb/forefinger' seems to need more wrist action - I just think it is more efficient to do the forefinger/thumb down as you need to get the thumb down there 'early' in the 'thumb/forefinger up style' in order to then use it as part of the up stroke? Seems weird to me!
It DOES seem like a waltz stroke (when you are practising it slowly) so that is correct!
Try them both - and do which ever comes naturally to you! Usually you will find one easier & more natural to do than the other!
cheers
Roberta
barefootgypsy
Well-known member
I learned to do triplets from one of the Formby-style strummers' videos - unfortunately I can't remember which one. But the "triple" as they call it is used extensively in Formby strumming. It's usually a "diddley-dum" strum - They use the same as Kimo Hussey, the finger down followed by the thumb, then finger up. That's the "diddley".... another finger down strum is the "dum". It sounds like the old steam trains used to, on the track. When you know you're going to do a triple, stick your thumb in the air ready. On here, you'll see John Bianchi use it....
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stevepetergal
Well-known member
Big fan of Kimo. No one is steeped in the ukulele world/culture like him. I could watch and listen all day.
