How To Strum a Ukulele
by Jonas
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To strum a ukulele, brush down across all four strings with the nail of your index finger, right where the neck meets the body, and let the motion come from a loose wrist rather than your whole arm. Strum up with the fleshy pad of the same finger. Once that feels natural, add a pattern like the island strum.
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 the patterns to practice.
The basics of how to strum your ukulele
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’re 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 strummed up with the tip of thumb. Maybe this is because I had a guitar background, but I found this 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’ve 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 red zone in the image below).
Practice strumming either way by simply going up and down. Once you have mastered this, go on to the advanced section! And once your strum runs on autopilot you can start singing over it. Here’s how to sing and play at once.
Advanced
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, and only speed up once the pattern is even. Keeping your hand moving on the skipped strokes is what holds your timing together.
Strumming Notation
Strumming patterns are written as a short row of letters showing which way your hand moves on each beat. We don’t 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 : down strum
- u : up strum
- – : pause or missed strum i.e. moving your hand either up or down but not hitting the strings. These are useful to give you an indication of the timing of the strums.
- x : indicates 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/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 with strums in either direction.
- D or U: capitalised letters mean the strum is emphasized (i.e. give it a bit more welly).
Strumming patterns
| # | Pattern | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Starter strums | ||
| 1 | d d d d | The very first strum (all downs) |
| 2 | d u d u | Down and up on every beat |
| 4/4 time | ||
| 3 | d – d u – u d – | The everywhere 4/4 strum |
| 4 | d – d u – u d u | The classic island strum |
| 5 | d – d – d u d u | Driving 4/4 |
| 6 | d – d u d u d u | Busy, upbeat 4/4 |
| Half-bar (chords change twice a bar) | ||
| 7 | d – d u | Fast chord changes |
| 8 | d u x u | Half-bar with a chunk |
| Two-bar (slow chord changes) | ||
| 9 | d – d u – u d u | When chords change every two bars |
| Emphasis | ||
| 10 | d u d U d u d U | Accent on the up-beat |
| 11 | d u x u d u x u | Funky and chunky |
| Reggae | ||
| 12 | – d – d – d – d | On the offbeat |
| 13 | – – d u – – d – | Syncopated reggae |
| 3/4 waltz time | ||
| 14 | d – d u d – | Three-beat songs |
| 15 | d – d u d u | Three-beat songs, busier |
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, and each has an audio sample below. 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.
Starter strums
Brand new to strumming? Get these two steady first, then move on to the patterns below.
Pattern 1 d d d d
The very first strum: one down-strum on each beat. It is all about steady time, so count “one, two, three, four” out loud as you play.
Try it on
Pattern 2 d u d u
Add an up-strum between each down, so your hand keeps moving down-up the whole time. This is the foundation almost every pattern below is built on.
Try it on
4/4 strumming patterns
The most common time signature. If you can count “one, two, three, four” along to a song and it fits, try these.
Pattern 3 d – d u – u d –
Skips the third down-strum for a gentle syncopated lift. Simple, and it turns up everywhere.
Heard in
Pattern 4 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.
Heard in
Pattern 5 d – d – d u d u
A steady, driving feel with a busier second half of the bar.
Heard in
Pattern 6 d – d u d u d u
Almost constant up-and-down once it gets going, which suits faster, upbeat songs.
Heard in
Half-bar patterns
For songs where the chords change twice a bar.
Pattern 7 d – d u
A short half-bar strum for songs where the chord changes quickly.
Heard in
Pattern 8 d u x u
A half-bar strum with a chunk (the x) for a percussive, slightly funky feel.
Heard in
Two-bar pattern
For songs where the chords change slowly. This spreads one pattern across two bars.
Pattern 9 d – d u – u d u
A relaxed two-bar strum, good for mellow songs with slow chord changes.
Heard in
Emphasis
Same strokes, but lean harder on certain beats for a different groove. A capital U is a stronger up-strum.
Pattern 10 d u d U d u d U
Leans on the up-strums for a bouncy, lifted feel, good for big singalongs.
Heard in
Pattern 11 d u x u d u x u
The chunk groove from pattern 8 carried across two bars, for a funky, percussive feel.
Heard in
Reggae strums
Reggae accents the off-beats instead of the “one”. A dash means skip that stroke and keep your hand moving.
Pattern 12 – d – d – d – d
Pure off-beat: you only strum on the “and” of each beat, the foundation of a reggae feel.
Heard in
Pattern 13 – – d u – – d –
A syncopated reggae strum that accents the two and the four.
Heard in
3/4 time
For songs that count in threes rather than fours.
Pattern 14 d – d u d –
A simple strum in 3/4, for songs you count in threes.
Heard in
Pattern 15 d – d u d u
A busier 3/4 strum with more up-strokes.
Heard in
Ukulele strumming FAQ
What is the easiest ukulele strumming pattern?
The simplest is one down-strum on each beat, the “all downs” strum (pattern 1 above). It builds your sense of timing and works for slow or beginner songs. Once that feels steady, add an up-strum between each down to get the down-up strum.
How should I position my strumming hand?
Make your strumming hand into a loose fist and hold it in front of the centre of your chest, pointing toward your opposite shoulder. Strum from the wrist, and let your thumb steady your strumming finger for extra support.
Where should you strum on the ukulele?
If you strum too close to the bridge it sounds tinny and the strings have little give. The sweet spot on soprano and concert ukuleles is around the point where the neck meets the body. On tenors it sits a little closer to the bridge.
What is the correct strumming technique?
Use your wrist, not your whole arm, or you will tire quickly. On the way down, hit the strings with your nail; on the way up, hit them with the fleshy tip of the same finger.
What is a swing or shuffle strum?
In swing time the down strum lasts about twice as long as the up strum, which gives a relaxed, bouncy feel used in a lot of Hawaiian, jazz and blues. It makes a plain up-and-down strum sound much more interesting.
What is chunking?
Chunking adds a percussive beat to your strum. As you strum down, lightly slap the strings with the side or underside of your hand so they click instead of ring. It is sometimes called muted strumming.
What are dead strums?
A dead strum is another percussive click, but made with your fretting hand. You rest your fingers lightly across all the strings so they do not ring, then strum, giving a muted chuck.
How do you play the island strum?
It is the most popular and versatile uke strum. Using the symbols above, the pattern is d – d u – u d u (down, down-up, up-down-up). It is pattern 4 in the table above, with an audio sample.
Do I need to learn all of these strumming patterns?
No. Learning three to five versatile patterns, like the island strum plus a couple of others, lets you play almost any song. Add more only when a particular song calls for it.
Now strum along to a song
Pick a song you know, get the island strum going, and keep your hand moving even through the chord changes. Look up shapes in the free chord library, and when you are ready, the fingerpicking guide is the natural next step.
Really helpful. I find strumming the hardest thing playing the uke
jk, but this was super helpful, Thanks!
I thought that the chords and moving my fingers would be the hardest thing for me but once you get that down it becomes muscle memory. Strumming is the hardest thing about the ukulele definitely
i am still having some trouble strumming up, i don’t know how to position my hand.
how to do the chnk
what about this / ?
Thank you! I was unsure on how to strum before but this was really helpful <3
Does anyone know any good song that use the hawaiian strum…Ive been wanting to practice that
Waww! finally 🙂 since I started learning ukulele (without any background in music) I have being jumping from one tutorial to the other and getting frustrated because of the lack of strumming instructions. This guide helped me greatly. Thanks a lot!
Thank you so much! These Strumming patterns helped a lot
I’ve been playing ukulele for around 3 years now and I have a really odd strumming pattern. I use my entire hand, so for a down I hit it with all of my nails and and for an up i hit the upper skin of my thumb and slide onto the nail.
I actually don’t know if that’s okay or not, but it works nonetheless.
I’m so glad I found this. Thanks especially for the little audio clips of the strumms.
TQVM fir this informative ibformation. 🙂
how do i sign-up for newsletter?
Really helpful. Thanks!
How do I fingerpick 😭
How do you do d u u d d?
Just use Middle finger if comfortable and do simple and common pattern of D D U U D U used in most ukulele songs
the e chord is still kind of hard for me tho
i fond struming the hardist