What are your favorite chord progressions or strumming patterns?

[sendhelplease]

I just thought it'd be cool to hear what other people's favorite chord progressions and strumming patterns are

I'll go first, my favorite strumming patterns are D tap UU tap and DD tap, not really sure what my favorite chord progression would be though

 

[ripock]

I am afraid I am not very creative in this regard. I mostly play a 1-4-5 or a minor 2-5-1 (and 7-3-6 which is the same thing in the relative key) or I like to play rhythm changes. Where I change things up is in the chord qualities. Instead of playing straight-up triads, I often spice things up with using extensions or added chromatic notes.

And I have never adhered to a strum pattern. To me that is emotional. I just play whatever feels right (although I probably do more upstrokes than downstrokes). And once I establish that pattern I keep it for whatever I'm playing.

 

[Blank Williams]

I tend to favor a kind of country/bluegrass type percussive strum. As ripock mentioned I also don’t put too much importance on the pattern either though. It’s just kinda however I play it at that moment. As far as chord progressions go, I don’t really have a favorite. I usually just mess around until I find something I like, or I’ll take a chord change in a song I like and make my own tune out of it by expanding on in my style.

 

[clear]

I like I-IV-V-I

Actually I stum whatever the song calls for.

But, I really like I -IV-V-I. Don't we all?

 

[ampeep]

Might be too specific, but here goes:
Cmaj7 Em7 Dm7 G7
F F#dim E7 Am F
C G7 F C
(I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song)

Almost everyone in my ukulele group strums & a few of us fingerpick, which adds variety. The only time I strum is for rock songs like Rockin' in the USA or Back in the USSR.

Srumming - whatever fits the song; likely to change at times during the song. Interesting that ukulele have names for different strums. Back when learning the guitar, strums had no names, it was: 'play it like this'.

 

[Canada Jim]

I like 2 bar turnarounds ( or intros) that start with the one and end on the five:

C / A7 / | Dm7 / G7 / | or C / C#dim / | Dm7 / G7 / | or C / Em7 Ebm7 | Dm7 / G7 / |

I also like to use passing chords when going from one chord to another that's two or three frets away:

C / G7 / | F / / / | becomes C / G7 F#7 | F / / / | or C / / / | A7 / / / | becomes C / B Bb | A7 / / / |

I usually do these with closed chords, but they'll work with mostly open chords as well.

 

[Mike $]

I really like a I vi ii V7 progression with the vi being a fully diminished 7 chord, the I VI7 II7 V7 progression (aka "taking it around the horn"), The Andalusian Cadence (ie. Am G7 F7 E7), and also really enjoy a clever line cliche.

 

[LorenFL]

I just have to say that so far in this thread... y'all are my people! I'm a "strum what feels right" kind of player.

That said, I guess I default to DDU-light palm mute-UDU-possibly another palm mute. But, if I'm playing a vocal melody, I change up the strums and chord variations to try to accentuate that. (because I don't sing)

Progressions:
I-IV-V (blues)
ii-V-I (jazz)
I-VI-IV-V (doo wop)


Like Ripock, I spice things up with chord variations. 7th, 6ths, Sus2, Sus4. Sometimes even variations that aren't technically chords (at least not "common" ones) just to add some dissonance.

 

[ripock]

As an example, here's what I was doing tonight. Playing E Super Lokrian or Altered Scale or whatever you want to call it and I was playing over this set of changes: Am add9, Em11, B7#5, Em11, Am add9, B°7, Am. So I guess that would be a I-V-II-V-I-II-I and don't ask me why; I just made it up to support the tones in the E Altered and E Hirayoshi scales that I was using to melodize.

 

[Voran]

I have a weird movable chord that forms the backbone of my music. 0402 in 'Voran Tuning' (D Bb C F)

 

[anthonyg]

I have a weird movable chord that forms the backbone of my music. 0402 in 'Voran Tuning' (D Bb C F)

OK, I don't want to be a jerk or anything, yet this chord/shape your playing is a sus4. G sus4 on the open position.
I like sus4 chords too, along with sus2 chords. Many a famous riff is moving through the maj, sus2, sus4.
In regular uke tuning, 0230 is Gsus2, 0232 is G maj, 0233 is Gsus4.

 

[UkingViking]

For strumming patters:
I usually try to involve som picking rather than pure strumming. When I strum, I like to apply some feel to a classic island strum, where i put in a chunk on the 2. beat. If C means chunk/chuck whatever, it would look like this:
D-CU-UDU.
A little less creative, for jazz standards I often end up with a simple 4/4: D-D-D-D, with emphasis on the 2. and 4. beat.

For chord progressions:
I like the one that goes with the song. But I like when songs do the thing going between a chord, the chord with a major 7th, normal 7th, the back again. It is hardly a progression, but a little spice on the chord that sounds sweet.

 

[cdkrugjr]

Descending sequence of x9 chords (implied root), played, e.g. 4555-3444-2333-1222-o111 etc.

It winds up being a tritone substitution sequence: Vx9-bVx9-IVx9-bIVx9 etc. You can jump off the merry-go-round any time you want to.

 

[Voran]

OK, I don't want to be a jerk or anything, yet this chord/shape your playing is a sus4. G sus4 on the open position.
I like sus4 chords too, along with sus2 chords. Many a famous riff is moving through the maj, sus2, sus4.
In regular uke tuning, 0230 is Gsus2, 0232 is G maj, 0233 is Gsus4.

I didn't know lol. I know absolutely poo-all about music theory.

 

[Brian PacNW]

Descending sequence of x9 chords (implied root), played, e.g. 4555-3444-2333-1222-o111 etc.

It winds up being a tritone substitution sequence: Vx9-bVx9-IVx9-bIVx9 etc. You can jump off the merry-go-round any time you want to.

What are x9 chords?

 

[dgame]

I vi ii V (C Am Dm G)

D DU UDU
D DU UXU

Great reggae progression.
AKA "A Love I Can Feel Riddim"

Here are 32 reggae songs using this progression:

 

[clear]

I didn't know lol. I know absolutely poo-all about music theory.

Don't worry, pretty much everything is labeled by theory in some way or form. After a few hundred years + only 12 notes; everything's bound to be inventoried.

 

[ripock]

What are x9 chords?

I believe those are rootless 9 chords. I have never seen that particular abbreviation before but if you look at the chord shapes in the post, they are rootless 9 chords--the root is hidden two frets behind the 9th interval.

 

[Brian PacNW]

I believe those are rootless 9 chords. I have never seen that particular abbreviation before but if you look at the chord shapes in the post, they are rootless 9 chords--the root is hidden two frets behind the 9th interval.

Ah thanks! I had just learned movable 9 shapes... Some of them are stretchy, so I can see why rootless is common.

 

[anthonyg]

I didn't know lol. I know absolutely poo-all about music theory.

I came up with a few wacky chords myself in the beginning, when I didn't know much about theory. Some I still use some such as 0031 (G7sus4 is one name for it) in standard tuning, yet others not so much, such as 0210 (C/6/9).

I recommend experimenting in standard tuning for a while and see what you get.