Chords for How to Chuck // Ukulele Tutorial

[C] _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
Aloha [Em] everyone!
Today we have a tutorial on how to chuck.
So chucking is that percussive sound that you can make while you're strumming
and it's an important tool to have because it really adds a lot of rhythm
and that sense of percussion to your ukulele playing.
Almost like you have a little drummer in your one-person band here.
So today we're gonna walk through the steps of how you learn to chuck. _
So essentially what you're doing in chucking is you are [Bb]
strumming,
[C] _ you are making sound on your strings,
and then you are taking the [E] heel of your hand and you are smushing the strings, right?
You are crushing the sound and actually you're moving those ringing strings
against the fretboard and it makes a smack kind of sound
and it actually sounds like a chk.
So that's why I think you call it chucking.
Some people call it chunking.
_ That's cool too, but to me it sounds more like chk, so I call it chucking.
Okay?
So let's walk through that slowly, right?
You can strum with all fingers, you can strum with one finger, doesn't matter.
So [Am] strum, _ _ heel of the hand, right?
_ Strum, mute. _
_ Strum, push those strings into the fretboard. _
Strum.
_ _ [G] Okay?
Now we just do that a little bit faster and a little bit faster until it gets crisp.
Okay, a [Am] little faster.
Strum, mute.
[G] _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ Okay, how about a little bit faster than that? _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] Okay?
And then if you can get even faster than that and get the timing just right,
then you get almost no sound and you just get that smack. _
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ Okay?
It's just a matter of practicing that speed,
adjusting that timing until it is really just that [Am] strum,
and then you get that smack down _ _ _ and make that percussive sound.
I [B] find that students sometimes have trouble [C] _ getting enough sound before they mute.
They're so excited to mute that they just start muting right away.
You need to get that sound first.
You need to [Am] let the strings ring [G] before you then clamp down on it.
[Am] _ Okay?
So the way to practice is really to go slow, let it ring, mute.
Ring, mute.
[A] Ring, mute.
A little [Am] faster. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ A little faster than that. _ _
_ _ _ A little faster than that. _
Right?
Try to get that smack.
It's like you're just clamping down right away. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Okay.
That's how you achieve your chuck.
Now, how do we use the chuck?
Let's learn the chucking strum now.
Okay?
So what we do with the chucking strum, we're essentially doing a regular down-up strum.
You're just going down, up, [C] down, up, but on every other down, you're going to do a chuck.
[Am] And a chuck is always on the down strum.
So you're going to go down, up, now you're going to chuck on the way down.
Chuck, and then come back up.
So down, up, chuck, up.
Down, [C] up, chuck, up.
Down, up, chuck, up.
Down, up, chuck, up.
And essentially it serves as like a drummer hitting the two and four in the background.
Like one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
So we're doing one, and two, and three, and four, and one, and two, and three, and four, and.
So the timing should be as if you were just playing two, and three, and four, and.
But it takes a little while to just get fluid with [B] adding the chuck in there in time.
So let's try that slowly.
Really slow.
We'll go one, and chuck, and [Am] one, and chuck, up, down, up,
chuck, up, down, up, chuck, up, down, up, chuck, up.
We're [C] just doing it in open strings.
Let's try it on a C.
Be a little bit friendlier sounding.
Ready?
Three, four.
Down, up, chuck, up, down, up, chuck, up, down, up, chuck, up, down, up, chuck, up.
[G] Okay?
You can practice this with different tutorials.
We use it in Build Me A Buttercup, in Banana Pancakes, and you can check below.
I'll have links for the different tutorials you can practice that with.
You can also use the chuck [C] in the Island Strum.
The Riptide tutorial is good for practicing that.
That's a more complicated strum.
Essentially what you're doing is _ the Island Strum is down, down, up, up, down, up.
Again, you're replacing the two and four beats [G] with the chuck.
So it [C] sounds like down, chuck, up, up, chuck, up.
It's more complicated, so you got to take it slow.
Okay?
So let's do the first half.
We're going to go _ down, chuck, up.
Again.
And down, chuck, up.
One more time.
Down, chuck, up.
Now we do the second half.
We'll go up, chuck, up.
Let's just do the second half.
Drop your hand.
Up, chuck, up.
Again.
Ready?
And up, chuck, up.
Now let's put the two halves together.
Ready?
Down, chuck, up.
Drop.
Up, chuck, up.
Again.
_ Down, chuck, up.
Up, chuck, up.
Okay?
And then when you play that faster, _ that's _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
where you want to get to.
It adds a lot of rhythm compared to just the regular island strum, right? _ _ _ _
_ Regular island strum has rhythm.
When you add that chuck, _ _ _ _ _ [G] then you can rock with it.
_ Okay.
So that's an introduction to the chuck and the chucking strum and the chucking island strum.
So hopefully that's a good foundation for you for adding percussion and rhythm to your ukulele playing.
Happy chucking, everyone, and I'll see you out there.
Happy practicing.
Ciao. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _