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Inmusic,strumming is a way of playing astringed instrument such as aguitar,ukulele, ormandolin. Astrum orstroke is a sweeping action where afinger orplectrum brushes over severalstrings to generatesound.[2] On most stringed instruments, strums are typically executed by a musician's designatedstrum hand (typically the musician'sdominant hand,[3] which is often responsible for generating the majority of sound on a stringed instrument), while the remaining hand (referred to as the fret hand[4] on most instruments with afingerboard) often supports the strum hand by altering the tones and pitches of any given strum.[5]
Strums are often contrasted withplucking, as a means of vibrating an instrument's strings. In plucking, a specific string or designated set of strings are individually targeted to vibrate, whereas in strumming, a less precise targeting is usually used. Compared to other plucking techniques, any group of strings brushed in a single sweep by a plectrum could be considered a strum due to the plectrum's less precise string group targeting (however, a plectrum might simultaneously pluck a small group of strings without being considered a strum). In contrast, a musician could utilize a technique with more precise string group targeting (such as afingerstyle orfingerpick technique) to pluck all the strings on a stringed instrument at once and this would still be considered a pluck, not a strum.
A strumming pattern or strum is a preset pattern used by arhythm guitar.[6] For example, a pattern incommon time or4
4 consisting of alternating down and up eighth note strokes may be written:
The pattern most typical of rock and related styles is:
The final upstroke is sometimes omitted altering the strumming pattern slightly to d du ud. This pattern is often called "Old Faithful",[7] or when played on ukulele, the "Island Strum".
Examples of other strumming patterns include:[8]
The simple four-to-a-bar rhythm is associated withjazz guitarists such asFreddie Green, although they may subtly vary the rhythm of a chord on some beats to add interest.
A simple eight-to-a-bar (8 eighth notes) rhythm is known as "straight eights" as opposed "swung eights", in which each pair are played in a rhythm that resembles the first and third notes in atriplet.
The fretting hand can also mute the strings on the fretboard to damp a chord, creatingstaccato and percussive effects. Inreggae andska, a few staccato "chops" are played per bar. Infunk rhythm playing, the strumming hand keeps a fairly steady motion in16th notes, while the left hand, basically holding down ajazz chord damps some of them in asyncopated pattern.
Some of the many possiblefingerstyle strums include
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