Live ‘Ukulele

The chop strum (usually shown as “X”) is used in many different strum patterns, especially contemporary Hawaiian songs (”Surf”, “Honey Baby”, “Kiss You in the Morning”, etc…). The chop is pretty easy; you are already halfway there when you strum down. All you need to do is add your palm to the mix.Start by making your right hand into a very loose fist. Hold the chord of your choice. Then strum down with your hand in the same shape. When your finger nails hit the top string, open your hand so that your fingers are fully extended, striking the strings on the way by. As you follow through with the strum bring your palm down to mute the strings a split-second after they sound. You will need to do this quickly to make it sound decent. Chop strums need to be integrated into strum patterns. Playing chop strums throughout a whole song would sound horrible!

Try adding chops to the DDUUD strum pattern. With chop strums it would go like: DXUUX.