Help with Chucking
- Thread starter Flip27
- Start date
Newportlocal
Well-known member
Ambient Doughnut
Well-known member
I agree I've been calling it damping on the guitar for years but in the ukulele world it chunking. Silly...
Lime
Well-known member
Is it "chucking" or "chunking"? Can it also be called damping when it's on a ukulele, or is that wrong? I typed in "ukulele chunking etymology" into Google and nothing came up (just this thread, actually), so maybe someone who knows better can tell us why it's called that.
The technique associated with chunking is not very common on the guitar, just like strumming patterns. Most guitarists dampen the strings by releasing the fretting hand. They also strum quite casually on the guitar but on the ukulele, somehow, strumming is very structured. I guess it's because with less strings and smaller frets the right hand gains prominence.
I learned with the video Newportlocal linked.
When did the index finger become the pointer finger btw? Is that a Hawaiian thing?
I learned with the video Newportlocal linked.
When did the index finger become the pointer finger btw? Is that a Hawaiian thing?
Spud1$
Well-known member
I think the pointer finger is a kindergarten thing!! That's where I learned it!
Shastastan
Well-known member
Did you ever see the poster of Uncle Sam pointing at you with the caption, "I want you." He's using his index finger. However, I don't hear people referring to it as their "pointer finger".
Lime
Well-known member
I would say index finger is correct and pointer finger is a slang term.
Oh.... Don't get me started on the "Strum Pattern Fetish."
river_driver
Well-known member
First I drink waaaay too much. The rest comes naturally.
I had always heard songs in the style of Johnny Cash referred to (by guitar players) as "boom-chuckers" based on the rhythm pattern. But the playing technique was called palm muting. If you're playing barre chords you can mute effectively with the fretting hand, but you can mute anything with the plam of your strumming hand.. It's just strum-palm-release, all in one fluid motion. Practice "Folsom Prison Blues", you'll get the hang of it soon enough.
When I read chuck, I immediately hoped they had a plastic ukulele. I wouldn't want that near any wood.
When done with an upward strumming motion, is it called "up-chucking"? 
pootsie
Well-known member
Well, now that we got all the jokes out of the way ...
When I was but a wee beginner over a year ago, I was struggling with chunking until I watched this:
By the end of the vid I kinda got it. Not long after it was super-easy.
Thanks, Stu, for making it so easy!
My 2 cents: "Chunking" is onomatopoeic. I had to look up how to spell that.
When I was but a wee beginner over a year ago, I was struggling with chunking until I watched this:
By the end of the vid I kinda got it. Not long after it was super-easy.
Thanks, Stu, for making it so easy!
My 2 cents: "Chunking" is onomatopoeic. I had to look up how to spell that.
And why, pray tell, do you believe that all of the jokes are out of the way?
I understand why "chunking" is an appropriate descriptor... but I'm pretty sure that we went at least a century of using the technique before somebody decided it needed a new name.
Actually, I'm sure that the technique has probably been used since the days of the lute... but only ukulele players seem to call it chunking. It just seems unnecessary.
...but, hey... Everybody is free to call it whatever they chose.... Myself, I shall name the technique "Steve."
That was a really good video and easy for me to do even if he does call it chunking regardless of what the true term is. I also tried it with my index finger rather then the middle and ringers and that worked to.
Thanks for posting it Pootsie!
Thanks for posting it Pootsie!
Rick Turner
Well-known member
Pointer finger down throat, and you will (up) chuck.
Roselynne
Well-known member
Hmmm. I'm ... errrr ... fretting over guitar strum patterns right now. For rhythm work, or for pieces that require a certain rhythm and texture, the right strum pattern is just as important (and frustrating) on guitar as on ukulele.
The Good News is, I have yet to find a strum that doesn't sound good on both instruments ... once I get 'em down, that is. 'Til then, I'm real good at making 'em sound equally bad on anything.
Chunking, on the other hand, isn't all that common on guitar. Still, I've heard it in Caribbean and African guitar music, and the occasional Americana or European-style folk song.
