Strumming Patterns

I taught myself "old school" using books like "The Daily Ukulele" so I learned the chords and then strummed to try to make a song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Waltzing Matilda sound recognizable. It was only much later that I started watching video teachers who were playing a fixed strum pattern and singing the melody on top.

I learned to do that too but I'm not sure if or why this is preferable to playing songs like chord/melody arrangements even when you're not specifically playing the melody notes. So when I'm playing for myself I play strum songs with the rhythm, dynamics and melody of the song. I will sometimes play a song with an Island or triplet strum just for the practice because singing a melody on top of a fixed strum pattern doesn't come naturally and this feels like a good stretch.

Maybe someone with more musical chops can explain why strumming a fixed pattern seems to be the default teaching/playing method.

I've wondered about this for both guitar and uke. I have found learning new patterns to open up some new sounds in my playing but I don't limit myself to choosing one pattern for a whole song. I often just strum it how I feel it, which doesn't always sound great

Without cyclic repetition, it isn't really music. It is more just you wanking around. There has to be some pattern for the listener. That being said, ukulele players do have a tendency to overdo the pattern to the point of absurdity. When you watch a video on youtube what are the two stultifying comments? "Do you have tabs for that?" and "What's the strum pattern?" --as if having those things are all one needs to make music. So, yeah, some repetition is necessary. That's why we have 12-bar blues and AABA form songs. But you also have to have some flexibility and have some fun. You need to play when you play.

I don't know if I use a 'fixed' strum pattern or not. Most likely I do

For me, it's about keeping time... so many beats per measure, and all that.

Without a strumming pattern it may lead to strumming and singing a song
without regard to the actual timing of the song, especially, at the ends of
stanzas or lines where the singer really should hold a note or at least account
for the number of beats before beginning the next line of the song.

It can be awkward when a song leader does not follow the timing of a song
( you know, not holding the note to the end of the measure, or simply coming
in [starting the next line] too soon ). This tends to throw everyone off, especially
the bass player or percussionist/drummer.

That said, I think a 'fixed' strum pattern might help in singing/leading a song
that follows the 'sheet music' better, where the audience or fellow ukers can follow
the presentation more comfortably.

just my 2 cents

keep uke'in',

If find I have a tendency to strum along with the melody. I have a hard time singing and singing the melody while maintaining the strumming pattern,

For a lot of people it is simply easier.
I guess most beginners want to sing, and accompany themselves on ukulele. They are going to sing it anyway, a strumming a pattern requires less efford that learning the melody on ukulele.
If you can mix it the melody notes, so the song is evident without singing on top, dont stop doing it. It all adds to it.

I find it more peculiar that so many people teach a specific key for a song, and people play it without considering whether the key is right for them to sing it in.

I played guitar for many years, and never came across the term "strumming pattern". So when I switched to ukulele, and some uke videos talked about up-down-down-up-up...I was baffled. Why? I just strum what feels right, and always have done. Sometimes it's the same all the way through a song, sometimes it changes in some places, or I leave a gap and then come back in. I never write it down or feel I HAVE to do it a certain way, as long as I keep to the beat. I heartily recommend the "Hear The Strum" DVD by Guido Heistek, which says all of this, but probably better.

I think that method books and video lessons teach strum patterns because beginners have to learn to strum. It just isn't intuitive to some people. Strum patterns facilitate rhythm and timing, and that is essential as soon as you get out and play with other people.

BBegall said:

I taught myself "old school" using books like "The Daily Ukulele" so I learned the chords and then strummed to try to make a song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Waltzing Matilda sound recognizable. It was only much later that I started watching video teachers who were playing a fixed strum pattern and singing the melody on top.

I learned to do that too but I'm not sure if or why this is preferable to playing songs like chord/melody arrangements even when you're not specifically playing the melody notes. So when I'm playing for myself I play strum songs with the rhythm, dynamics and melody of the song. I will sometimes play a song with an Island or triplet strum just for the practice because singing a melody on top of a fixed strum pattern doesn't come naturally and this feels like a good stretch.

Maybe someone with more musical chops can explain why strumming a fixed pattern seems to be the default teaching/playing method.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the "more musical chops", but generally when you strum and sing, your vocal is providing the melody and your ukulele is the accompaniment.

WRT a few strum patterns, I usually just stick to a very few for 4/4 and 3/4 time. I think patterns here is important for a beginner like me because I can't think too much about strumming, fretting, singing, and reading the music all at the same time, so if I make strum muscle memory, that gets rid of one of the items. So, to make it muscle memory, I pick the patterns I like best/most flexible and practice it. Come to think of it, I really only have 2 strum patterns to 4/4 time, 1 pattern for 4/4 swing, 1 pattern to 4/4 syncopated, and 1 pattern to 3/4.

I think for more advanced players, strum pattern may become less of an issue where they can switch around because they've got the singing, fretting, and music down already. So, one with "more musical chops" may not need to pay so much attention to any pattern; it might just come subconsciously to them... then they'd say, there's no strum pattern.

Strumming patterns are probably desirable for a group of players ... if they were all playing their own interpretation there'd be even more of a cacophony Obviously this concept doesn't apply to a group (orchestra?) who are playing an arrangement, where the individual parts compliment each other, not clash!

For the soloist, variety is the spice of life. Unless you really can sing tunefully and expressively the instrument becomes an integral part of the performance, not just an accompaniment banging out four in a bar or whatever!

YMMV :music:

I've been trying to play a couple of Bossa Nova numbers and decided I should learn a prescribed, regular strum pattern. You know, moving the strumming hand regularly, down and up, maintaining a steady movement, but defining the pattern by varying whether to contact the strings on the down or on the up stroke. I'm getting the hang of it, but it sounds very mechanical and stilted.

Perhaps the Bossa Nova only really works if you use a picking pattern with the alternating bass notes.

John Colter

"Some of them have so much enjoyment just doing this very simple activity that they never bother moving on"

Bill1, you've summed me up, right there. Also, I have no wish to go beyond what I enjoy doing. In my defence, I must add that I have never sought to teach, beyond giving small golden nuggets of advice.

John Colter