Strums
Here goes… Strums are one of the hardest things to explain.
Once you get past the down, up and down, down, up, up, down strums, most of the time you just have to learn by watching and listening. But, the good thing about strums is that you can play them how you like as long as they fit the song. All strums can be played either swing or straight. Most of the time a swing strum is easier.
Swing is lopsided - it takes longer to come back up than it takes to go down (listen to almost any simple strumming Hawaiian song and they are probably using swing). Straight is even - going up takes just as much time as going down (practice this with a metronome: down on one tick, and up with another). Here are some one-finger strum patterns (D=down, U=up, (space)=rest, X=chop).
- DU
- DDUUD (used in a lot of contemporary Hawaiian songs - i.e. “Surf”)
- DXUUD
- XDUUD
- D UX XUUD DU
Triplet Strum
Used by James Hill and Kimo Hussey, this is a nice addition to your strumming arsenal.
Strum down with your index finger. Then strum down with your thumb. Strum up with your index finger. Practice this over and over slowly. Try starting the rotation with different fingers.
Ten Finger Strum
Note that I myself cannot play this. I feel that it is more of a Jake performance thing than useful technique, but I do know how it works.
Strum up with your thumb. Then roll/brush up on the strings starting with your pinky,and going to your ring, middle, then index fingers. Next you roll/brush down with all fingers starting with your pinky ending on your index. Then strum down with your thumb. Repeat this with blistering speed until you can’t see your hand moving.
If you have a strum pattern that you would like to share, please submit it in the comment box below. We will put it up on this page and give you credit.
