Welcome back to day 3 of our absolute beginner ukulele course! Today we’ll start learning how to strum your ukulele. Although it seems so simple when you watch people do it, strumming is actually a pretty challenging technique. In addition to that, the proper way to strum the ukulele is actually completely different than strumming other stringed instruments like guitars.
There’s a lot of little mechanical things going on while you strum, and the motion of strumming properly itself may start off as feeling very unnatural. This is why we’ll be taking it slowly and breaking down the strumming section of this course into two parts.
In today’s lesson, we’ll be working on the mechanics of strumming, learning which finger you use, where on the ukulele you want to be strumming, and learning the proper form for a technically correct strum. Tomorrow we’ll work on strumming in time with rhythm so keep up with the foot tapping practice as that will come back into play tomorrow!
Ok, let’s learn how to strum!
The first thing we’re going to go over today is which finger the best finger to use for strumming. Although many people who pick up an ukulele for the first time instinctively will try to strum with their thumb, the ideal finger is actually your pointer finger.
There are a few reasons to use your pointer finger instead of your thumb.
- Because of the way your thumb is positioned in relation to your ukulele, It’s much harder to keep the rhythm while strumming with your thumb especially when the songs start to get faster.
- As you begin to learn more advanced strumming patterns and techniques, many of them can only be performed with the pointer finger. If you get into the habit of using your thumb it’ll be much harder to move on from a really beginner stage.
- As you get into finger picking and other really advanced strumming techniques, you’ll actually use your thumb in a completely different way.
There are some rare exceptions to this rule such as the legendary Ohta-san who strums exclusively with his thumb, but for most beginners and people learning the ukulele, you’ll want to get started using your pointer finger.
Now that I’ve hopefully sold you on how much better it’s going to be to use your pointer finger (trust me its worth it!).
Here’s a picture of my ugly finger to show you where you’ll be hitting the strings with it.
During down strums, the right side of your pointer finger nail will be hitting the strings, and when you up strum, the pad of your finger under that area will be hitting the strings.
Now let’s take a look at the ukulele and learn the best place to strum the instrument.
Luckily for you, since you already learned the proper way to pick up an ukulele, finding the strumming sweet spot is a piece of cake. Here’s how to find the sweet spot.
- Pick up your ukulele using the method you learned in Lesson 1.
- Bracing the butt end of your ukulele with the area of your right forearm near your elbow and your left hand holding the neck near the nut, slowly slide your right hand away from the ukulele until the pad of your pointer finger is touching the bottom string of the ukulele.
This area is where you want to be strumming your ukulele.
This is one of the first differences with strumming an ukulele compared to strumming a guitar. When strumming a guitar, you’ll generally be strumming over the sound hole with a pick. Because the body of the guitar is much bigger, this is where your hand naturally ends up. However because the ukulele is much smaller, the ideal strumming spot is somewhere between the area where the neck joins the body of the ukulele and the sound hole.
For smaller ukuleles such as sopranos, the spot will likely be further up the neck and on larger ukuleles like tenors, you’ll be strumming closer to the sound hole. The exact spot can vary person to person, so try to experiment within the area and find the most comfortable spot for you. No matter what, you should be strumming over the fretboard somewhere and NOT over the sound hole.
Ok now that you know which finger you’ll be strumming with and where on the ukulele you’ll be strumming all that’s left is to do, well, strum!
The proper strumming technique for the ukulele is again, much different than playing the guitar. When strumming a guitar, there’s a lot of arm movement as your trying to strum across a much wider space to hit all 6 strings. An ukulele is much smaller with only 4 strings, so you actually don’t use your arm as much and much more of the strumming is handled by your wrist.
If you’re my age, you may remember those old mercury-filled thermometers. Remember shaking that thing before using it? That is actually a very similar motion to an ukulele strum. You don’t move your whole arm when you’re shaking a thermometer, you just kind of turn your wrist in and then flick it down. Keep that in mind as you learn to strum.
Ok, let’s break down a strum step by step.
- While holding your ukulele, let’s imagine you’re holding a thermometer in your right hand between your pointer finger and thumb.
- Now separate your thumb and your pointer finger naturally and make about an inch and a half (around 4 cm). If you do it naturally, your pointer finger and your thumb should both move away from each other. Your pointer finger will straighten out a little but still be relaxed. If you look at your fingers from above your thumb should kind of creating an x shape with your pointer.
- Now cover all the strings with your left hand (we’re not bothering with chords just yet), brace your ukulele with your right forearm and try to strum with this finger position in the same way you would shake a thermometer. Keep your pointer finger relaxed and turn your wrist in and out to make your pointer finger go up and down over the strings. You can look back to the picture above to see where you should be hitting the strings. If your finger is relaxed it should naturally and effortlessly glide across the strings.
- The actual path your pointer finger takes is actually not up and down. If you’re twisting your wrist, your finger should actually be moving in a diagonally and away from the sound hole as you strum down and similarly, when you strum up it should be moving diagonally up. Just remember, shake that thermometer!
If your fingernail feels like it’s getting stuck, it could be that your pointer finger is too stiff and you’re hitting the strings with the wrong side of your nail. Check the picture above and try to make sure that you’re hitting the strings with the correct part of your finger.
Hopefully, you’re got it, but like I said earlier this can be a pretty unnatural motion so if it feels clunky just keep at it. Remember to stay relaxed and try to have fun! This is the ukulele we’re playing here! If you stick with it, you’ll get it. Trust me, I’m someone who could not strum at all when I started. It just takes practice and the willingness to sound terrible, make adjustments and try again.
Keep practicing this muted strum and tomorrow we’ll start to bring everything you learned together and begin strumming with rhythm!
See you tomorrow!
-Ryan
