"Faux" Triplet Strum

Bill Sheehan

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Hi friends, I continue to struggle with the George Formby-inspired "triplet strum", despite working on it for a few years now. I love the technique, which is demonstrated in many online instructional/tutorial videos, but to save my soul (as my Mom would have said), I cannot seem to master it. To clarify, it's the one where you go down with the index, down with the thumb, up with the index, and down again with the index. My main problem is that I can't decide if I should curl my middle, ring, and pinky fingers up during this process, or just let 'em fly open. A secondary problem is that when I attempt the triplet strum technique, it seems like I'm playing the uke way, way too hard and loud. So, in an effort to achieve an effect similar to that of the triplet strum, with a nice moderate touch and volume, I will often utilize a very quick and discreet "hammering-on" technique with certain chords (it won't work with every chord, so it has to be used somewhat sparingly), which produces the "trip-a-let" effect desired, but which employs primarily the fretting hand, and only secondarily the strumming hand (the index finger still has to do a "down-up-down" strumming motion, but that motion is, I believe, much easier than the motion involved in the "true" triplet strum technique, as it eliminates the thumb from the equation). I'm wondering if any of you have also opted for some version of a "faux" triplet strum? On a good day, used in moderate doses, it sounds pretty darn good, actually. I would love to post a little clip showing how I'm accomplishing it it, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet!
 
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If it's any consolation, I've been practicing the triplet strum for a while and still don't feel I've got it. I think I just need to incorporate it in to more of the songs I play so eventually it'll come. I've not tried any alternative technique, but I did notice someone (might've been Joe Brown) in a video call it something like a 'thumb drag' which I think best describes the way I can best make it work.. on a good day!
 
I ‘got’ it about a year ago. My advice would be to use your trusty metronome, and set it SLOW.
Aim to complete the cycle of three strums in 9 seconds.
Yes nine seconds.
Slow motion, count maybe 4 beats per strum.
You need enough time to think, and enough of the metronome to get it smooth.

Do this for 5 minutes without stopping.
Deliberately relax shoulders etc. during the 5 minutes, but do not stop.

Efficiency maybe comes later as you speed up.


Another one is to not play chords, just gently barre the fretboard at the seventh fret. It’ll produce sole harmonic but mostly muffled. Then you can concentrate on the right hand (first).

(5 minutes correct at super slow speed is better than 5 hours at normal speed)
 
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Thank you so much, Jim and Sunrise, for your input; I appreciate it so much. I will continue to work on it, very slowly, and hopefully one day in the not-too-distant future I'll "turn the corner" and find that it's second-nature!
 
I tried it a couple of times watching on videos and it wasn't working. I went to a Lil' Rev workshop and he taught it. I caught right on. I don't know what was the difference, but he just has a knack for teaching people. I don't know if Lil' Rev in video is the same as in person, but maybe he has a video somewhere.
 
I am also struggling with it. Marcy Marxer showed it to me and she suggested that for the first downstrum one can also use middle finger or multiple fingers whatever works.
 
I practice triplets whilst strumming "Five Foot Two. Every strum.

I, too learned from Lil' Rev.

I'm getting better...
 
I use the all finger strum when I do triplet strums. Downstroke with four fingers slightly apart and lightly curled. Follow this with a downstroke with the pad of the thumb. Follow this with an upstroke with the back of the thumbnail and end the triplet with another downstroke, four fingers, lightly curled. The trick to getting it smooth for me is to keep the hand close in to the uke so that your palm is parallel to the top of the uke. That gives me the light touch I’m looking for. The volume comes from having longer nails.
It’s become second nature for me, and I goof around sometimes playing songs entirely with triplet strums... but it’s best used, I believe, infrequently for accenting certain parts of songs.
 
You know what might help with learning... hold your strumming hand like a pistol, thumb up, index finger straight but relaxed, don’t clamp your other fingers tightly.
In this position, note how the middle, ring and pinkie fingers are lightly curled.
Now, with your palm parallel to the top, keeping the pistol shape, strum down with the middle, ring and pinkie as a unit, leaving the index pointing out, then follow with a downstroke with the thumb, an upstroke with the thumb, and a final downstroke with the three fingers. ...all while maintaining the pistol position.
This pistol position will give you the proper separation between the thumb and other fingers that you need to execute the strum. As you hardwire the strum, you can lose the pistol position as you see fit, although it looks pretty cool anyway ;)
 
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Thanks, S. Y., and sorry for the delay in responding! I had been away for a while and forgot to check this thread! I will incorporate your suggestions into my practice and see how it goes!
 
play it as slowly as you must in order to master it. Speed comes with proficiency..you cannot "expedite" the process.
 
Calling downstrokes 'D', upstrokes 'U', finger 'F' & thumb 'T', I don't think it matters whether you play your triplets DF-DT-UF (Kimo I), DF-DT-UT, UF-DF-DT (Kimo II) DT-UT-UF (Jake) or any other combination of up/downstrokes.

Technique is secondary to counting: i.e., thinking of a triplet not as 3 beats but as 4: da-da-da dah. The 'dah' establishes the beat that's being broken into 3 by the 'da-da-da's. Without it, you're just playing a fast waltz.
That 'dah' is almost always played as a downbeat. So: DF-DT-UF DF; DF-DT-UT DF; DT-UT-UF DF (and so forth). Only using the Kimo-II technique would you have to end on an upstroke: UF-DF-DT UF.

And of course, go as slow as you can to get it right. Once you have, then you can play as many triplets in a row as you like - just so long as you end on that dah: da-da-da da-da-da da-da-da dah!
 
I have been working on this for a few months now and it is starting to come in a little smoother. I really like the way Kimo Hussey teaches it as in the above video. However, I am not sure how to apply it to a song. Would one play a chord melody with multiple notes and use the triplet strum or would it be better to play just the single note melody line using triple note strums?

I assume one would play eighth notes as written and quarter notes with a triple note strum. While half notes and whole notes would get as many triple note strums as needed to complete the timing of the measure.

I was thinking if the melody notes were on strings 3 or 4 that it would be better to start the strum with a downward stroke of the index finger and if most of the melody notes were on the top strings, strings 1 and 2 that it would be better to start the strum with an upstroke of the right finger. Or does it matter which way one starts?

I really like the sound of this strum and want to learn more about using it.
 
Be aware that you can overuse any technique. I like a triple when filling between melodies Dm to G7 for example or as a turnaround.
 
One way to use this in a song is to play the triplet right at the beginning and louder. It can be seen as a very short intro.

For example a song with simple down strums in 4/4 time:
(Fingerdown,Thumbdown,Fingerup), Down strum, Down strum, Down strum, Down strum,

This song you could would count 4,1,2,3,4. Where the first 4 beat is the fast triplet and the three is down strummed at bit louder.
The rest of the song is simply: Down strum, Down strum, Down strum, Down strum

Good luck!
 
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However, I am not sure how to apply it to a song. Would one play a chord melody with multiple notes and use the triplet strum or would it be better to play just the single note melody line using triple note strums?

One plays a triplet strum in that part of the song in which it will sound grooviest. Dig?
 
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