Old Faithful Strum

Here’s what is often called the “Old Faithful” strum for guitar players. The version I describe here consists of Down-Up-Down-Up–Up-Down-Up. In other words, you miss the 3rd Downstroke. You may also hear a variation which does not include upstrokes for the first two beats. In other words, Down- -Down – – Up-Down-Up. Or even Down – – Down-Up – – Up-Down-Up. The important thing about this strum is that missing 3rd downstroke.

The “Island Strum” used by ukulele players is like the third version above. In other words: Down – – Down-Up – – Up-Down-Up where you still miss the 3rd downstroke, but also don’t play the first beat upstroke. Say it like this: “Down-Down-Up-Up-Down-Up”. This is demonstrated in the video in this post.