Ditch Strumming Patterns and Tap Into the Rhythm System Every Pro Uses!
If you’re frustrated with jerky and robotic strumming, don’t sweat; most teachers don’t teach the proper approach. A quick change to your mindset will have you locked into the timing grid and grooving with every strum.
- Strum smoothly and lock your hand to the rhythm
- Figure out the strumming pattern to any song
- Learn the exact strums for seven great ukulele songs
The Grid Makes Strumming Automatic!
Many casual players – even longtime students of the ukulele – struggle to make strumming sound smooth. They end up playing every song with robotic rhythm that just doesn’t groove.
I used to do the same exact thing until I cracked the code: the grid.
Of course, it took me years to put a finger on it. Along the way I was consistently frustrated, playing the same jerky rhythms so many people struggle with.
The grid is simply a visualization of the timing of music. By locking your hand motions to specific places in the grid, you strum WITH the flow of music instead of against it.
I dig the detailed nature of the lessons […] The Skills in GROOVE are well developed and have already improved my playing and teaching. Looking forward to more of your lessons.
-Rick Burke
Groove Ukulele is perfect for you if:
- You have to ask for the strumming pattern
- Everything you play sounds stilted and robotic
- You don’t know how to figure out a suitable strum
- Locking into the groove of music is elusive
Become the Strum!
Locking your hand to the timing of the song immediately sets you free to interpret the rhythm musically – no pattern needed!
The truth is that every single pro uke player uses some variation of the grid to play world class music. It’s just a better way to strum.
You might think: “But the pros are advanced! They must use some strumming secret!”
Here’s the secret:
There is only one foundational ukulele strumming pattern:
Down, up.
Pros don’t memorize patterns. They lock into the grid.
With Groove Ukulele, you’ll learn to morph this simple approach into an appropriate strum for any song!
What You’ll Learn from Groove Ukulele
Despite seeming like a simple trick, the grid is the foundation for so many facets of ukulele strumming that I’ve managed to fill over 70 pages with instruction, diagrams, and how-to photos. There are also videos that demonstrate each concept.
You’ll start by getting up to speed with timing. This is a simple look at how to count and understand rhythm patterns using a ruler as a visual.
Then you’ll learn the fundamentals of ukulele strumming technique and how to lock your down, up motion to a steady eighth note pattern, which is a basis for the rest of the book. You’ll learn to separate actually sounding the strings from a constant hand motion.
Groove Ukulele lays out a sequence of exercises you can practice to become comfortable strumming any rhythm.
Once you can keep a steady motion and emphasis each beat confidently, you’ll dive into the most exciting part of the book: how to figure out the strumming pattern of any song.
In this section I’ve gotten permission from some of my awesome ukulele friends to showcase the strumming patterns from a handful of their songs, including:
- “Heart Shaped Tattoo” by James Hill
- “Sea Swing” by Neal Chin
- “Sunny Day” by Herb Ohta, Jr.
- “Summertime” by Victoria Vox
- “She’s My Girl” by Kris Fuchigami
- “Little Lucky” by Kelly Hyde
You’ll have a chance to use your newly found skills to figure out the strum yourself before looking at the provided pattern diagram.
To take things to the next level, you’ll learn a handful of strum decorations like the chuck/chunk and fan strum/rasqueado, along with how to apply them to any ukulele strum pattern.
Finally, you can test your rhythmic feel with some advanced strum timings by dropping 16th notes and triplets into the grid along with how to manage odd time signatures like 3/4 and 6/8.
All in all, Groove Ukulele is intended to make you the strong, intuitive strummer you’ve always wanted to be.
What You Get with Groove Ukulele
PDF Download
Groove Ukulele’s main component is a 70+ page PDF ebook. This instant download includes easy-to-follow written direction, ukulele strum diagrams, and images to illustrate the movements you need to make for effective strumming.
Low-res sample page
The the PDF contains links to songs you can listen to for inspiration and also links to the accompanying video lesson for each section.
Videos
To supplement the written direction, I’ve created 25 walk-through videos with over three hours of instruction to demonstrate most of the main concepts. You can also refer to them to hear how the strum examples should sound as well as play along in various exercises.
Each of these is shot with two cameras in HD so you can clearly see what I’m doing.
Discussion
A Q&A comments section is provided so you can get your questions answered by me and learn from what others have asked.
FAQs
Is Groove Ukulele for baritone ukulele tuning?
Yes! There is no pitched information in the ebook so you can apply the right hand movements to chords and songs that work in any tuning.
How do I get the videos?
The videos are accessed through your Live Ukulele account. Each video is displayed in order on the Groove Ukulele download page. They are number coded and linked in the PDF for easy access.
What if I don’t like it?
Groove Ukulele has a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. If you don’t find it super awesome and helpful, just email brad@liveukulele.com and I’ll send you a refund.
All in all, Groove Ukulele is a system that will help you learn how to strum and create your own ukulele rhythm patterns. Why learn one strumming pattern when you can learn to make your own, suitable for any song?