# Learn Ukulele — Strumming

From the Rhythm room: Dividing the beat, Off the beat (/sangeet-yatra/rhythm/).

> Interactive page: [`strumming.html`](strumming.html)

Right hand first: even downstrokes, then a library of common patterns, then a light mute. Use the metronome in the practice bar. Hold one easy chord — **Em** or **G** — so the left hand stays out of the way.

On the HTML page one **practice chord** selector at the top feeds every player: the Feel buttons, the downstroke drill, and the pattern library.

## Pick and fingers

This page is **strum and pick**. Named-finger *pima* lives on [Classical drills](drills-classical.md).

- **Pick**: hold it loosely between thumb and index. Downstrokes toward the floor; upstrokes toward the ceiling.
- **Fingers**: thumb brushes down across the strings; fingers can brush up. Same motions, no pick.

**Sources:** Hal Leonard Book 1 (downstrokes, then alternating) · Berklee ukulele lab practice of locking the right hand to a click before adding changes.

## Time signatures

Western meter is written as a fraction. The **top** number is how many beats sit in a bar. The **bottom** number is which note value gets one beat — 4 means a quarter note, 8 an eighth. Same idea as a **taal** cycle, but Western music names the *fraction*. Named taals live on [Tabla](/sangeet-yatra/tabla/) and [Madal](/sangeet-yatra/madal/). The fraction lives on [Western theory · Time signatures](/sangeet-yatra/theory/western/#time-signatures).

On the HTML page, **Feel it** sits on each simple-meter row and next to 6/8. It sets the metronome and strums the pattern; the same button becomes Stop. Beat 1 is the downbeat — the same job as **sam**.

### Simple meters

| Meter | Count | Feel | On ukulele |
|------|-------|------|-----------|
| **4/4** | 1 2 3 4 | Common time (the **C** symbol). Pop, rock, most film songs. | Even downs, or D-DU-UDU below. |
| **3/4** | 1 2 3 | Waltz. Strong–weak–weak. | Bass on 1, light strum on 2 and 3. |
| **2/4** | 1 2 | March. Two-step, polka, some folk. | Two downs per bar. |

### Compound — 6/8

Six eighths, felt as **two** pulses of three: **1** & a **2** & a. That is compound duple — a jig, ballad, and a lot of slow rock. Down on 1 and 4, up on the rest.

Cut time (**2/2**, alla breve) uses two half-note beats in a bar that still looks like 4/4 — feel it in two, not four. Odd meters (5/4, 7/8) group the beats (2+3, 2+2+3); pick them in the Beats menu when you are ready.

How whole, half, quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes fill those bars is on [Western theory · Note values](/sangeet-yatra/theory/western/#note-values). The patterns on this page are those lengths in the hand.


## Downstrokes on the click

Start the metronome, then play downs. Each click is one downstrum. Keep the arm moving even if you miss a string.

## Upstrokes on the and

After downs lock in, keep the metronome on **1 2 3 4** but strum **up on each &** — halfway between clicks. That is where rhythm guitar usually brushes; downs stay on the numbers. Sixteenth **a** ups come later in the pattern library.

## Mute

Rest the side of the right palm lightly on the strings near the bridge, or lay unused left-hand fingers on the strings. The click stays; the ring dies. Use it for space between strums, not as a new style yet.

The **Chunk on 2 and 4** pattern in the library below is this mute turned into a backbeat — a short dead **X** where a drummer would hit the snare.

## Accents

Not every strum in a bar carries the same weight. In notation, a slightly heavier note is marked with an **accent** — a small **>** wedge above the notehead (same idea as articulation marks in sheet music). On ukulele, that is still the same down or up motion; you simply hit a little **louder**, like the snare backbeat sitting under a steady strum.

Accents are separate from **D**, **U**, rest, chunk, and **bass** thumb notes. They do not change which strings you strike or when — only how hard that stroke speaks.

**Example — workhorse with backbeat accents:** pattern **D-DU-UDU** with **>** on beats **2** and **4**. On the HTML page, a static demo grid shows the wedge above those cells.

In **Putting it all together**, each preset ships with a default accent map. Small letters under each strum on the page say how long it lasts, up to the next strum: **q** a beat, **e** half a beat, **s** a quarter of a beat, a dot makes it half as long again, **r** is a rest. **Edit accents** under the grid toggles which cells carry **>**; **Reset to Default** restores the preset. The same controls appear in **Build your own**.

## Putting it all together

Each pattern is one bar, looped against the click. **D** = down, **U** = up, **—** = no strum, **X** = muted chunk, **>** = accent (louder strum; wedge above the cell, like the articulation mark in notation). On the HTML page, presets are grouped (4/4 eighths, sixteenths, other meters, **odd meters**); picking one **stops any current loop**, loads the **stage**, and **starts the new pattern on the click** (**Play pattern** becomes Stop). **Edit accents** / **Reset to Default** / **Clear accents** work on the preset stage and on **Build your own**. Click the same preset again to stop. The metronome’s Beats menu matches the meter.

### Eighth notes in 4/4

Count **1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &**. Downs land on the numbers, ups on the “and”. Work down the list — each pattern adds one strum or takes one away. Up-strokes only need to brush the thin strings; the downs carry the bass.

| Pattern | 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & | Where you hear it |
|---------|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|-------------------|
| **Even downs** | D | — | D | — | D | — | D | — | Marches, hymns, week one. One down per click. |
| **D-DU-D-DU** | D | — | D | U | D | — | D | U | Mid-tempo pop and campfire. The first up-strum, in the easiest place. |
| **D-D-DU-DU** | D | — | D | — | D | U | D | U | Open first half, busy second half — the lift into a chorus. |
| **D-DU-UDU** | D | — | D | U | — | U | D | U | The workhorse rock / campfire loop. Beat 3 is silent; the arm still swings down through it. |
| **D-DU-(space)-DU** | D | — | D | U | — | — | D | U | Beat 3 left empty on purpose. Ballads fill that hole with space, not more strums. |
| **All eighths** | D | U | D | U | D | U | D | U | Driving up-tempo rock and folk. Keep the ups light. |
| **Chunk on 2 and 4** | D | — | X | — | D | — | X | — | Percussive. **X** is a dead palm-muted chunk where a drummer hits the snare. |

### Sixteenth feel

Count **1 e & a**. The arm swings twice as fast and most of those swings miss the strings on purpose. Harder — come back once the eighth-note patterns run without thinking.

**D-DU-UDU + a** — the workhorse pattern with one extra sixteenth up just before beat 1:

| 1 | e | & | a | 2 | e | & | a | 3 | e | & | a | 4 | e | & | a |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| D | — | — | — | D | — | U | — | — | — | U | — | D | — | U | U |

### From the Rhythm room

The rhythms the [Rhythm room](/sangeet-yatra/rhythm/) names, strummed on one chord. Each strum sits on exactly the counts its catalogue pattern lists: the hits are the strums and the gaps are the rests. Clap and count the pattern first, then strum it.

| Pattern | Meter | Count | Grid |
|---------|-------|-------|------|
| **Charleston** | 4/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | D — — U — — — — |
| **Tresillo, 3-3-2** | 4/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | D — — U — — D — |
| **Habanera** | 4/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | D — — U D — D — |
| **Cinquillo** | 4/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | D — D U — U D — |
| **5/4 clave** | 5/4 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 5 & | D — — U — — D — D — |
| **Aksak 9/8, 2+2+2+3** | 9/8 | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & a | D — D — D — D — — |
| **Aksak 9/8, 3+2+2+2** | 9/8 | 1 & a 2 & 3 & 4 & | D — — D — D — D — |
| **Aksak 9/8, 2+3+2+2** | 9/8 | 1 & 2 & a 3 & 4 & | D — D — — D — D — |
| **Aksak 9/8, 2+2+3+2** | 9/8 | 1 & 2 & 3 & a 4 & | D — D — D — — D — |
| **Scotch snap** | 4/4 | 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a | D U — — D U — — D U — — D U — — |
| **Dadra, 3+3** | 6/8 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 | D — — D — — |
| **Rupak, 3+2+2** | 7/4 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | D — — D — D — |

Aksak is nine eighths in the bar, split into groups of two and three. 2+2+2+3 is quick, quick, quick, slow; the other three move the long group to the start or the middle. Picking a preset sets the Beats menu to the same grouping, so the metronome accents the start of each group.

### Other meters

These set the Beats menu so the metronome dots match the bar (see [Time signatures](#time-signatures)).

| Pattern | Meter | Grid | Where you hear it |
|---------|-------|------|-------------------|
| **Waltz** | 3/4 | bass(1) D(2) D(3) | Bass note on 1, light strum on 2 and 3. Strong–weak–weak; folk, hymns, older Nepali songs. |
| **Rolling** | 6/8 | D(1) U(&) U(a) D(2) U(&) U(a) | Two pulses of three: down on 1 and 4, ups between. Jigs, ballads, slow rock. |

### How to practice

- **Two minutes per pattern.** Loop it until the count fades and the hand keeps it on its own.
- **Arm keeps moving.** Down on every number, up on every “and”, whether or not that slot has a strum. A rest is a miss, not a stop.
- **Up-strums are light.** Brush the top two or three strings only. If the up is as loud as the down, the pattern loses its shape.
- **Slow first.** Drop the BPM until it is clean, then add 4–5 BPM at a time.
- **Then add the left hand.** Only after the right hand is locked, change chord on beat 1 — Em to G to C.

## Build your own strumming pattern

On the HTML page, **Build your own strumming pattern** (right after **Putting it all together**) is a separate block: pick **time signature** (simple 2/4–6/4, compound 6/8–12/8, and odd meters from the practice-bar list), pick **note length**, tap each cell to cycle **D → U → — → X**, then **Play pattern**. Play sets the metronome **Beats** to match the meter you chose.


## Island / split / rolling

- **Island** — D–DU–UDU. [Songs · Hawaiian](songs.md) · [Folk · Hawaiian](drills-folk.md).
- **Split** — bass on the beat, brush on the &s (library: Split · bass + brush).
- **Rolling** — 6/8 DUUDUU, or soft 4/4 cascade downs.

## Ready when

- Even downs on every click, then an up on every &, for two minutes with the arm never stopping.
- D–DU–UDU in 4/4 on Em or G, beat 3 silent, the arm still swinging, ups light.
- Chunk on 2 and 4: a dead muted X on the backbeat while the downs keep going.
- Waltz in 3/4 and rolling 6/8 played counted aloud, slowing the BPM until clean and adding 4–5 BPM at a time.