I'm not sure If a triple strum should go this way..

Thoughts?

I will answer because I'm still up and just tried that. I can kinda do what I think I see you're doing there and it looks like what I understand as a triplet (at least a variant), which is down stroke with index, up with back of thumb and down again with index, but I need to have a couple sips of a good rum to do it even close to that fast and of course it doesn't sound nearly as good.

Nice.

So I'm interested in the answer too.

Teek said:

I will answer because I'm still up and just tried that. I can kinda do what I think I see you're doing there and it looks like what I understand as a triplet (at least a variant), which is down stroke with index, up with back of thumb and down again with index, but I need to have a couple sips of a good rum to do it even close to that fast and of course it doesn't sound nearly as good.

Nice.

So I'm interested in the answer too.

Click to expand...

Thanks Teek

Well it's more of a :
Down strum (Middle and ring finger)
Down strum (Thumb)
Up strum (Thumb)

Or something similar. Haha!

Looks fine, seems you're trying too much to roll with it but that's your call. I just use it whilst strumming to spice things up. People like it when the sound coming from an instrument doesn't match the hand movement.
Practice a bit more going slowly, get that tight.

And Teek..

what I understand as a triplet (at least a variant), which is down stroke with index, up with back of thumb and down again with index

Click to expand...

I understand it to be down stroke with index, down stroke with thumb, up with Thumb+Index (after the DOWN-stroke with the thumb you connect index and thumb together for a more controlled upstroke).
Do this whilst muting the strings with your left hand and count out 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, etc. as you strum. Index, thumb, both.
When I'm strumming faster my hand works in a circular motion with my first stroke moving towards the neck and my third stroke moving towards the bridge.
Give it a shot.

It looks pretty good, but it seems a lot more natural when you do it faster. Its hard to figure out where to work them into a piece, because it gets kind of tiresome if that's ALL you're doing in a song! Keep at it. I'm still a long way from getting mine down, but it's coming along. Like MiiNii said above, people love it when the sound doesn't match the movement. Check out this guy's video for a great example (several, actually) of that phenomenon. This is the sort of playing I would love to be able to pull off! He's featured in one of the short films on the "Mighty Uke" dvd also. His name is Steven Sproat.

Hmmm, that looks almost more like you're going for a tremolo or maybe a fan strum. Typically triplets are used kind of sparingly. The "best" way to do a triplet probably varies with the basic strumming you're doing and where the triplet falls within it. Most of the time, where I'm putting the triplet on one down beat through to the next, I find that strumming down, up, up works best for me and leaves me in position to do the down strum on the next beat.

Ken Middleton mentioned something here in a response to me a few weeks ago that helped me enormously - he said something to the effect that "you don't need to catch every string on the extra strum, sometimes even one string is enough." Even though I usually catch all of the strings with my down-up-up triplet I realized that he's right, the middle strum, especially, can be just a "ghost" of the other strums and you still get the same effect. That really helps with triplets when you're already strumming near the speed of light.

Okay, now I see the Sproat video and realize what you were going for. You'll notice Steven doesn't do those continuously. When you do, you lose the triplet feel and it just sounds like fast strumming.

John

George Formby also teaches his own techniques, in the kitchen! Check out the split stroke & triplet techniques @

And also.. is a good example of how they can be put into your playing

Hmmm, that looks almost more like you're going for a tremolo or maybe a fan strum.

Click to expand...

That is what I see also. That type of tremolo is much easier to do with just the index finger.

Actually guys, i was going for something like this.
http://ukuleledisco.com/jakestrum

Lexxy said:

Actually guys, i was going for something like this.
http://ukuleledisco.com/jakestrum

Click to expand...

I'm still hearing it as more of a tremolo effect, even when Jake does it. I also think it's easier to do those tremolo things just with my index finger, but I've never tried inserting it into a chord progression the way Jake is in this video. I guess in that context, it might be easier to do it the way he is.

I read through this thread and found I am too uncoordinated to do it the way you do, my rotten thumb wants to get stuck in the strings on the way down. This thumb has bouts with arthritis that make that hurt a lot. An up strum is less stressful on the joint. Of course now this thumb is fine for the moment and the left is giving me fits.

The variant discussed here is one that supposedly Aldrine does which is probably illusion and see post #12 in the linked thread, it explains this version of the strum as far as adding a natural accent. Also I can use the side of my thumb to go softer or drag the nail more to get more ring from the strings. At this point what is important to me is that I can do it with some speed, and since I have no expectations of ever getting any good at this, if I can get a rhythm with speed I call it good enough, lol.

But since other advice in the linked thread is to learn to do BOTH variants, at some point when there are more solid ruts in my brain so that it doesn't freeze up in confusion I will see if I can get it to acquiesce to learning another way to do it. I spent a few minutes with it and still it feels very awkward to me.

What is really helpful though is your explanation of how you get your circular motion and when, that is the kind of very precise explanation I really appreciate (all of it actually) and I thank you.

MiiNii said:

Looks fine, seems you're trying too much to roll with it but that's your call. I just use it whilst strumming to spice things up. People like it when the sound coming from an instrument doesn't match the hand movement.
Practice a bit more going slowly, get that tight.

And Teek..

I understand it to be down stroke with index, down stroke with thumb, up with Thumb+Index (after the DOWN-stroke with the thumb you connect index and thumb together for a more controlled upstroke).
Do this whilst muting the strings with your left hand and count out 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3, etc. as you strum. Index, thumb, both.
When I'm strumming faster my hand works in a circular motion with my first stroke moving towards the neck and my third stroke moving towards the bridge.
Give it a shot.

Click to expand...