One of the most often asked questions by my ukulele students is “how do you know which strum pattern to use?”
There are many possibilities which I show in my video. Deciding which is the most appropriate depends on the mood, tempo, genre, and other factors.
For songs that you count 1, 2, 3, 4 there are at least nine types of strum patterns you can use.
To celebrate St Patrick’s Day, I chose the two chord song “Lord of the Dance” as an example. This particular song sheet uses the chords of G and D7. If switching between the two is challenging, try substituting with F and C7 respectively.
- Single strum on each chord: downstroke only
- Downstroke on each beat
- Alternating: D- DU D- DU
- Country strum: Thumb on G-string, Down on remaining three strings, Thumb on C-string, Down on remaining two strings. T4, D, T3, D
- Country strum: T4, DU, T3, Du
- Down Up Wham Up: DUXU
- Calypso: D- DU -U DU
- Down Up only: DU DU DU DU
- Rock n Roll: D ——- uDU