Comment gratter un ukulélé

Strumming is what turns chords into a song and it is simpler than it looks. The whole technique comes down to three things: a relaxed wrist, the right spot on the strings and a steady pattern. Here is how to do all three, then eighteen patterns to practice, each one with arrows you can play back.

Les bases pour gratter ton ukulélé

Start out with the basic hand position, which is a loose fist. Strum with the index finger of your right hand, fingernail side down. When you strum down you should be hitting the strings with your nail. When you are strumming up, with the fleshy tip of your finger. It is important to use your wrist rather than your whole hand. Using your whole hand gets tiring very quickly.

When I started playing the ukulele I did it in a different way. I put the tip of my thumb and index finger together as if I were holding a plectrum. I strummed down with the nail of the index finger and up with the tip of the thumb. Maybe that is because I had a guitar background, but I found it an easier way to strum in the beginning. You also want to make sure that you strum on the correct spot. Strumming too close to the bridge or too high on the neck will make a dim sound.

I have found that the best place to strum the ukulele is different on every instrument, but it is around the area where the neck meets the body (see the red zone below).

Practice strumming either way by simply going up and down. Once you have mastered that, go on to the advanced section. And once your strum runs on autopilot you can start singing over it. Here is how to sing and play at once.

Avancé

Once the basic up-and-down feels comfortable, you can start shaping a rhythm. Every song has its own strumming pattern and you build one by keeping the same steady up-and-down motion but skipping the strings on certain strokes. For example, try down, up, miss, down: keep your hand moving the whole time, but only let it touch the strings on the strokes you want to hear. Practice slowly, ideally with a metronome around 60 beats per minute. Only speed up once the pattern is even. Keeping your hand moving on the skipped strokes is what holds your timing together.

Notation des accords

Strumming patterns are written as a short row of letters showing which way your hand moves on each beat. I do not publish the exact strumming for an individual copyrighted song, but the general patterns and notation below work across thousands of them. Here is what each symbol means.

• d: coup vers le bas
• u: gratter vers le haut
• – : pause or missed strum, meaning you move your hand up or down without hitting the strings. These give you the timing of the strums.
• x : a chnk. You strum down and follow through so the underside of your hand lands on the strings, creating a “chnk” sound.
• (d) or (u) : a muted down or up strum. You strum as normal but with your fretting fingers resting on the strings to stop them reverberating. It sounds like a chnk but you can do it in either direction.
• D or U : capitalized letters mean the strum is emphasized, so give it a bit more welly.

Rythmes de grattage

There is no single correct strumming pattern for a song the way there is a correct chord. Plenty of patterns can fit and learning to pick one by ear is a skill in itself. The table above lists the most common ones, simplest first. Every pattern below shows the arrows and has a play button. Most have a recorded sample too. Brand new? Get the two starter strums steady before anything else. Try a few against your song, keep whichever feels right and once you are comfortable you can invent your own.

Accords d'introduction

Tu débutes tout juste le jeu à la guitare ? Commence par maîtriser ces deux accords, puis passe aux motifs ci-dessous.

Pattern 1: all downs (d d d d)

Le tout premier accord : un coup vers le bas à chaque temps. L'important, c'est de garder un rythme régulier, alors compte « un, deux, trois, quatre » à voix haute pendant que tu joues.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Radiohead – Creep
• The Civil Wars – You Are My Sunshine
• The Lumineers – Ho Hey

Pattern 2: down-up eighths (d u d u)

Ajoute un coup vers le haut entre chaque coup vers le bas, pour que ta main ne cesse de monter et descendre tout le temps. C'est la base sur laquelle reposent presque tous les motifs ci-dessous.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Frank Sinatra – Fly Me To The Moon
• Coldplay – Viva La Vida
• Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Motifs de grattage en 4/4

La mesure la plus courante. Si tu peux compter « un, deux, trois, quatre » en suivant le rythme d'une chanson et que ça colle, essaie celles-là.

Pattern 3: everywhere 4/4 (d – d u – u d –)

Skips the third down-strum for a gentle syncopated lift. Simple, but it turns up everywhere, which is how it got the name.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová – Falling Slowly
• The Muppets – Rainbow Connection
• Ben E. King – Stand By Me

Pattern 4: island strum (d – d u – u d u)

The classic island strum: pattern 3 with an extra up-strum at the end. The go-to for a huge number of songs and the most used pattern on UkuTabs by a wide margin.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – Somewhere Over The Rainbow
• Bruno Mars – Count On Me
• Vance Joy – Riptide

Pattern 5: driving 4/4 (d – d – d u d u)

Un rythme régulier et entraînant, avec une seconde moitié de mesure plus animée.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
• Dolly Parton – Jolene
• The Neighbourhood – Sweater Weather

Pattern 6: busy upbeat 4/4 (d – d u d u d u)

Une fois lancé, le rythme monte et descend presque sans arrêt, ce qui convient bien aux morceaux plus rapides et entraînants.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Twenty One Pilots – House Of Gold
• Mariah Carey – All I Want For Christmas Is You
• Outkast – Hey Ya !

Motifs d'une demi-mesure

Pour les morceaux où les accords changent deux fois par mesure.

Pattern 7: half-bar (d – d u)

A short half-bar strum for songs where the chord changes quickly. You play it twice per bar, once for each chord.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Halsey – Without Me
• Melanie Martinez – Tag, You’re It
• Trevor Daniel – Past Life (feat. Selena Gomez)

Pattern 8: half-bar chunk (d u x u)

Un accord de demi-mesure avec un « chunk » (le x) pour un son percussif et un peu funky.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Twenty One Pilots – Stressed Out
• Taylor Swift – Blank Space
• Shawn Mendes – Stitches

Motif à deux barres

Pour les morceaux où les accords changent lentement. Ça permet d'étaler un motif sur deux mesures.

Pattern 9: two-bar relaxed (d – d u – u d u)

The island strum stretched over two bars instead of one, so each chord gets twice as long. Useful for slow ballads where the chords barely move.

This one is a shaping trick rather than a pattern in its own right, so no song on UkuTabs is tagged with it. Take any slow song that uses pattern 4 and give each chord two bars instead of one.

Accent

Les mêmes coups, mais insiste un peu plus sur certains temps pour obtenir un groove différent. Un « U » majuscule correspond à un coup vers le haut plus marqué.

Pattern 10: upbeat emphasis (d u d U d u d U)

Leans on the up-strums for a bouncy, lifted feel, good for big singalongs. The capital U is where you dig in.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• The Foundations – Build Me Up Buttercup
• Neil Diamond – Sweet Caroline
• American Authors – Best Day of My Life

Pattern 11: funky chunky (d u x u d u x u)

The chunk groove from pattern 8 carried across two bars, for a funky, percussive feel. It suits anything built on a tight rhythm part.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
• Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc
• Earth, Wind & Fire – September

Accords de reggae

Le reggae met l'accent sur les contre-temps plutôt que sur le « un ». Un tiret signifie qu'il faut sauter ce coup et continuer à bouger la main.

Pattern 12: reggae offbeat (– d – d – d – d)

Pure off-beat: you only strum on the “and” of each beat, which is the foundation of a reggae feel.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Bob Marley – Three Little Birds
• Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
• MAGIC! – Rude

Pattern 13: syncopated reggae (– – d u – – d –)

A syncopated reggae strum that accents the two and the four. Common in reggaeton and Latin pop as well as reggae itself.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Gorillaz – Clint Eastwood
• Cardi B – I Like It (feat. Bad Bunny and J Balvin)
• Matisyahu – One Day

3/4 de temps

Pour les morceaux qui se comptent par trois plutôt que par quatre.

Pattern 14: waltz (d – d u d –)

Un simple accord en 3/4, pour les chansons où tu comptes par trois.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Misc Cartoons – Remember Me (Coco)
• Julie Andrews – Edelweiss
• Billy Joel – Piano Man

Pattern 15: busy waltz (d – d u d u)

Un arpège en 3/4 plus soutenu, avec davantage de coups vers le haut.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• The Beatles – Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
• Édith Piaf – La Foule
• Bo Burnham – Welcome To The Internet

6/8 time

Some songs count in six rather than four, with a swaying, rocking feel underneath. Count “one two three four five six” evenly and lean on the one and the four. These two patterns are written across all six beats rather than in bars of four.

Pattern 16: 6/8 lilt (d – – d – u)

Two strums per bar with a lift on the last beat, which gives 6/8 songs their rocking, lullaby feel. This is the one to reach for whenever a ballad refuses to sit in four.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Can’t Help Falling In Love
• Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
• Hozier – Take Me To Church

Pattern 17: 6/8 flowing (d – u d – u)

The same six-beat count but with an up-strum closing each half, so it flows rather than rocks. Good for songs that need to keep moving underneath a slow vocal.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Adele – Make You Feel My Love
• The Animals – House Of The Rising Sun
• Lady Gaga – Die With A Smile

One strum per bar

Sometimes the right answer is barely strumming at all. On slow, spacious songs a single stroke per chord leaves room for the voice. Adding more just gets in the way.

Pattern 18: whole-bar ballad (d – – –)

One down-strum per bar, left to ring. Count the other three beats in your head and let the chord breathe. It sounds like nothing until you try it under a slow vocal. Then it sounds exactly right.

Songs that use it on UkuTabs

• Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
• Harry Styles – Sign Of The Times
• Billie Eilish – Lovely (feat. Khalid)

FAQ sur le jeu de l'ukulélé

Allez, accompagne une chanson à la guitare

Pick a song you know, get the island strum going and keep your hand moving even through the chord changes. Count On Me is about the friendliest place to start and its own page suggests that exact strum. There are thousands more in the easy ukulele songs list. Look up shapes in the free chord library and when you are ready, the fingerpicking guide is the natural next step. Feel free to contact me whenever you need more information about strumming.