What is your most used strumming pattern?

[Pueo]

freestyle, I can't even tell you what I play most of the time, people ask me what I'm doing and I can't tell them.

Exactly this!
I hear something on the radio, and I just do that strum how I hear it, people then ask, "Hey, what strum is that?" and all I can say is, "Just like this!" and then play it. I really do not think about my right hand much, it just kind of does what it needs to do.
At UWC I was trying to show a group how to do a strum for a song and I really could not break it down or explain it at all - weird.

By the same token, if someone says, "Oh, play DDUDUDU" or whatever I cannot do that, but play it and I can copy it after I hear it.

 

[cml]

For people that dont do structured strumming, dont take this the wrong way , but for someone that has had no previous musical inclination prior to the ukulele, saying "just strum" isnt going to work. Personally, I wouldnt know where to begin. Approaching strumming had to be done in a methodical way, slowly learning. I had no idea how to even manage a consistent tempo with down and up strums 2 months ago. By practicing structured, I've come miles in this time.

I really appreciate that I've come to learn that music can be learnt by hard practice and discipline rather than some magical talent. People telling me that you need to be musical to play is the reason I waited almost 30 years before trying an instrument. It's not true. I might never be a virituoso, but thats not why I play. I play ukulele because I enjoy it!

A few weeks ago I came across a podcast with ukulele underground and James Hill, where if I recall correctly, James praised the Canadian/European school system for it's structured approach, rather than the Hawaai-style; just play. Just as James says, I am not saying it's better, it's just possible to approach this in different ways.

http://ukuleleunderground.com/2015/11/uu-podcast-interview-with-james-hill/
First 7mins or so !

Best Regards
//CML

 

[Down Up Dick]

Well, cml, you said you needed structure to learn how to strum, but, of course, that's how I and probably the other "free" strummers started. I still use some of the strums that stuck in my head, but I left the "book" strums right away when I found that I couldn't learn (remember) them.

You probably know a lotta strums now, so just relax and use them as they pop into your head, whichever one that you think fits into the tune.
ld:

 

[YorkSteve]

I have the same conversation every few weeks with someone at the uke session I go to, just after a song has finished...

Him: What strumming pattern did you use just then?
Me: Er...not sure...I sort of went (strums a bit of the song)
Him: So what pattern is that? Is it UpDownUpUpDownDown...(tries to strum it himself)
Me: Er...no...it's sort of (strums a bit more of the song). So that must be UpDownDownUpUp...(goes completely wrong) Oh, just play it...

Whenever I try to analyse what I am doing, I can't do it. So I don't. I just play it. And I really recommend Guido Heistek and his "Hear The Strum" videos for getting into this "just play what you feel" method.

 

[Wicked]

Strum patterns are the bane of ukulele existence. Its far more helpful to think of them as rhythmic patterns. Yes, beginners need a mechanical jumping off point to help them, but it should not be disconnected from the concept of rhythm. Down up down up really tells you nothing.