Strum

Guitar strum Play: base pattern on open G tuning. Strumming is used to create a chord. Many patterns are created through subtracting beats from this base.
Guitar strum Play: pattern created by subtracting the second and fifth (of eight) eighth notes from the base, above.
Ska stroke[1] Play: features dampened staccato upbeat downstrokes.

In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar, ukulele, or mandolin. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a finger or plectrum brushes over several strings to generate sound.[2] On most stringed instruments, strums are typically executed by a musician's designated strum hand (typically the musician's dominant 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 a fingerboard) often supports the strum hand by altering the tones and pitches of any given strum.[5]

Strums are often contrasted with plucking, 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 a fingerstyle or fingerpick technique) to pluck all the strings on a stringed instrument at once and this would still be considered a pluck, not a strum.

  1. ^ Snyder, Jerry (1999). Jerry Snyder's Guitar School, p.28. ISBN 0-7390-0260-0.
  2. ^ "Definition of STRUMMING". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  3. ^ "Should You Play Left-Handed or Right-Handed? | Hub Guitar". hubguitar.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  4. ^ "Fret-Hand Fitness: Four Wicked Workouts to Develop Your Digits". GuitarPlayer.com. Retrieved 2018-06-22.
  5. ^ "Right-handed and Left-handed Vs Right and Left Hand Guitars". Retrieved 2018-06-22.