took lessons for six months I could probably learn now I'm never going to be fabulous but I could I could probably strum out a few songs right but with storytelling people just and and most people know that most people know if Iwant really wanted to be an artist or musician I could learn it a little bit but a lot of people assume a
prodigious learning it's a lovely little resource I think that's the right name and I use it all the time but she's strumpet tonged she flatters and she deceives what a enormous knowledge you have my young why not let me make you a real scholar and the young crows in his dungill he can cite anything and construe nothing now that's
Jimmy: Nibblin' on sponge cake Watchin' the sun bake All of you Parrot Heads covered with oil. Jimmy: Strummin' my six-string On my front porch swing Smell those shrimp hey, they're beginning to boil. Jimmy: Mmm. I can smell that lunch already.
It has a much stronger sound. He had an incredible strum , which if you go on YouTube, you can see people demonstrate. It's very, very hard to do.
It's very, very hard to do. He had a syncopated strum . He recorded a lot of politically incorrect songs.
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. But my strum 's a bit rudimentary right now.
He's the guy in the middle. His name is Joe Strummer-- had actually been born a child of privilege. You know, Joe Strummer was a diplomat's son whose parents dropped him off at a-- basically to be raised by another school.
that would be ridiculous in instead you do something very particular actually you hold its its Fred fingerboard in certain patterns while strumming its strings in others and by manipulating the physical configuration of this device that we call a guitar uh you can make it produce a a subset of the the
I believe the whole world's problems of the world could be solved if we all just marched into trouble spots with our ukes and just strummed. I say that in the book.
was working at a place called stuffy face which sold Stromboli in New Brunswick New Jersey if you've ever been there you understand and if you haven't you should go there because these strum bolies were a fantastic and delicious addition to the gastronomic scene in New Brunswick and I became a one of the lead and fastest Cooks because I'm just focused and that's what I do and I love
way up your spine, in your neck, anywhere where two bones meet. So, if you go ahead and reach around to your back and just sort of strum along any of these spot these spines that this these are called spinous processes, then you'll be able to sort of pluck across and feel those are ligaments. Right?
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. I used to have a very good strum .
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. And they sit there and they strum and they sing.
Because they have two little sarods. And there's a lot of strumming that happens. But then, they're very fortunate.
They called it the ukulele, jumping flea, and then it got popularized from then. They really developed the whole strumming style. Yes? Did they keep the same tuning?
And you know, oh, this guy doesn't have a repertoire. Well, I can strum the guitar.
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. It's much simpler than playing guitar to get a basic strum and find those figures.
that's where the instrument's strength lies in its simplicity. Like I can sit with a ukulele and just strum a C chord for an hour and not get bored.
How do you put something like that together? I have a hard time sitting down and strumming guitar. I love music, but composition-wise, it completely escapes me.
His name is Joe Strummer-- had actually been born a child of privilege. You know, Joe Strummer was a diplomat's son whose parents dropped him off at a-- basically to be raised by another school. And he realized that privilege wasn't the way that he wanted to live.
and that it sounded and felt really real and not just like a music video, where people were kind of lip syncing. Yeah, you can often tell when people are strumming, and it doesn't quite .. Yeah, we had to do some of that just because filmmaking is limited in what you can record.
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. No, I think they just strummed along.
He used to say, he's turned out nice again, he-he-he. And they meet once a week, these strummers.
like, bawling. And I'm like, I didn't know how to feel about it. And Moses comes on stage, and you hear the strum of his guitar.
Good, great, well I used to be a very good player. But I had an illness, and I can't strum very well. Here's the ukulele. This is a Martin, one of the best ones you can get.
When you can pick up an instrument and just do this-- and you know that I can do this, it just makes you feel so good. I tell you, it's like an entire yoga session in one strum . I mean, you can play one chord over and over and over.
But this guitar has been on the road with me for 10 years, and it's kind of a work horse. And I play '60s Gibsons because they have this great warmth, sound that's great for strumming, but they also have really a small head stocks, so that I-- my hands are really small.
So that way I'm not just practicing the technique, but by practicing a song and playing the song, you know, essentially I'm mastering that one technique. So if I'm playing a Flamenco piece and I'm doing these things, these Flamenco strums , and all that, I won't do that in any other song, I'll keep it specific for that song.
- Yeah. With an eye towards... You learn the chord shapes and you learn how to strum basic patterns to begin with. I think the first
It kind of took me back. Everything that I have, that I have control of, I try to bring that into every stroke, into every strum .
always starts different you know sometimes it'll be a lyric someone will bring in a lyrics somebody will bring in a melody or we'll strum something on the
But the interesting thing I think for me, is starting with the ukulele, I really started backwards. I really started -- when I first started playing, people would tell me okay, put your fingers here and strum that. Now, the next chord, put your finger here and just do this and I would be like okay.
that's where the instrument's strength lies in its simplicity. But you try to tell a jazz guy to do that, he's going to, I can't just hold a C chord for an hour and strum that because harmonically,
You killed me. And if it's a breastbone that's been strung for a harp, the harp sings, you are strumming my hair on your harp,
that's where the instrument's strength lies in its simplicity. Before they even know exactly, you know, the proper fingering or the proper right-hand technique of strumming.