“What strum am I supposed to be playing for this song?”
That’s the question I am most often asked while teaching, and my answer is always the same: Obsessing over a specific ‘strum’ is not useful. Instead, the real focus should be on rhythm and coordination, which are essential for musicianship.
As a beginning ukulele or guitar player, you are likely to encounter the idea that each song has a particular “strum” – and that everyone should be playing that together.
First of all, I consider the word “strum” as a verb, not a noun. When you pass your hand across the strings to make a sound, you are strumming. ‘What strum do I use?’ just sounds grammatically wrong to me and should be rephrased as ‘What strumming pattern might I use?’ But even then, there is no one answer. It depends on the song, the situation, how many others are playing, and how you want to sound.
Imposing this imaginary concept does not do the student any favors and is a distraction from real learning.
As an experienced and professional musician, I have many times expressed my view that being concerned with a “strum” is not even a thing. It’s a dead end, and it’s a waste of time.
Of course, I get pushback. At one ukulele retreat, another ukulele teacher vehemently denied this idea and supported his claim that, yes, the “strum” was indeed something and had its legitimacy. Well, of course, I suppose it is a ‘thing,’ or we wouldn’t be discussing it. But that doesn’t mean it’s legitimate and worth spending time on.
To use one of my favorite analogies: imagine a hiker on the path leading towards the summit, moving at their own pace, and, in doing so, encountering another hiker who leads them off trail onto a rogue path that looks promising but eventually leads to a dead end. That rogue path may have led to a decent view and served some temporary purpose, but it was not the same view or perspective they would have achieved by actually traveling along the official path and staying on course.
These “strums” I’m referring to are those dead ends lead by well meaning folk who themselves are starting out on the musical path, or can be found on websites where user created song versions are rewarded with extra points by having supplied a “strumming pattern.” The mere fact that any given song on these sites have multiple and conflicting versions should itself be a red flag. True, there are grains of salt in these versions, and though useful to a degree, they should be treated with a degree of skepticism. (Sometimes they don’t even get the lyrics right.)
What is important?
Rather than simply discounting this approach to learning music, allow me to supply you with the alternative – the techniques that will keep you on the musical path and away from the dead ends.
I recently asked a fellow professional working musician if he had ever, in his musical experience, started working on a song with another musician and had been asked the question, “What strum am I to use on this?” to which he readily replied, “No.” Nor have I. Ever. In my nearly 60 years of playing music, I have never, ever needed to know that.
It’s not important, and I’ll tell you why. Some songs don’t even have a ukulele on them to begin with. So how could there be a strum that the ukulele player is supposed to play? Some songs have two or three guitars on them, so how could one strum possibly inform the player of what they, as one person, should play? The answer, of course, is that there isn’t. A player strums, or rather creates a rhythmic strumming pattern based on the context: what other instruments are playing and the cumulation of all instruments at a certain time. If there is a particular rhythmic feature of the song, then of course, learn it and include it in the piece, but not as an endlessly repeating automation.
What do I need to know?
Musicians ask each other questions like: What “feel” is it? Is it a swing tune, or one in straight 8s? What’s the tempo? What style would you like it to be? This information gives enough direction that the player can listen and create their own rhythm patterns based on what is actually needed at the time. These are the skills that a player needs to spend time on and learn.
And I will add that I might play a song one way if I were to play it by myself, but if I were to be with one, two, three, or dozens more, I would certainly play it differently.
But when I do play a rhythmic pattern…
Not to add confusion, but landing on some sort of consistent rhythmic strumming pattern is a good thing, as it offers consistency and something for the other players to play with – to find their complementary parts. But one short 4 or 8-beat phrase repeated endlessly could be maddening without the occasional variation at the end of a phrase or section. And knowing how to create those variations leads us back to the musical path where we learn how to coordinate our strumming hand and create from scratch an appropriate rhythmic pattern.
The problem and the solution.
The problem this has caused within the beginner communities is that they believe there’s a template they can apply to their playing that is going to fit almost any song, every time. If one really wants to learn how to “strum,” they need to spend time learning rhythm, learning how to simply strum down and up to a beat, and to vary their accents and their patterns. That way, they will have unlimited “strums” at their fingertips rather than having to choose from one or two. They will simply listen, synchronize to the beat, and add what is needed.
This is not hard to learn. In fact, it is easier than memorizing a pattern.
All In Good Time 