5 Strum Patterns: 5 Levels – EP014

Helpful Tips

In this ukulele lesson, you’ll learn five strum patterns that progressively increase in difficulty. Off the bat, I want to state that you’re not learning five unique strum patterns, rather you start with one and evolve it each time by adding layers. A “layer” meaning, you’re adding a new concept or technique to each subsequent pattern. Take a look at the five patterns below to see how layers are added.

Pattern 1 is a simple down/up strum pattern.

Pattern 2 adds syncopation to the mix. This means that you’ll be missing some of the downbeats (down strums) and accenting the upbeats (up strums).

Pattern 3 adds a percussive element via chunking.

Pattern 4 takes advantage of the reentrant tuning used by High G ukuleles to substitute some down strums with a ghost note (the open G string). This adds more depth to the overall sound of the strum pattern.

Pattern 5 adds rasgueado technique to the mix. This 4 finger strum technique adds a lot of texture to a pattern.

Part 1 – Performance & Free Lesson

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