Chords for Ukulele Lesson: Ralph Shaw Teaches You How to Play George Formby’s Legendary Split Stroke
Tempo:
100.15 bpm
Chords used:
C
G
C#
B
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[G]
[C] [G] [C]
[C#] [G]
[C]
Alright, hello and welcome to this video where I'm going to show you how to do the legendary
George Formby split stroke.
It's an exciting strum, most ukulele players are used to doing the wimpy strong strum where
we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and wimpy strong, wimpy strong.
And that strum is done with the main beats on the 1 and 2, 3, 4 and then the and beats
are the up strums.
What makes the split stroke different is that it comes from ragtime so it tears up the rhythm
and [E] it puts a big downbeat on the and after the 2.
So it's going to sound like this.
[C] 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
And it's not a very intuitive strum to get so I'm going to show you how to do that.
We'll break it down this way.
I'm doing this on a C chord and we begin with a down strum using the end of the index finger.
If you're a thumb strummer I would suggest not doing it with the thumb because you want
to be able to do this quickly.
It's not a thumb movement or a finger movement, it's a turn of the forearm.
And so I hold my finger like this and we have a down on the 1 and then an up on the first
string or first 2 strings, it doesn't really matter.
So we've got 1 and and then the next beat is we hit the 4th string but our finger stays up.
1 and 2.
Right?
Down, up, touch.
And the finger stays above the string because it has to do the next downbeat.
And we'll do 2 of those.
We're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
1 and 2 and 3 and.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
So if we were to keep doing that, that would be a kind of a triplet strum.
But we don't want that.
We want [G#m] this to fill the space of 8 beats.
So far we've got 6.
So what we need are 2 more.
[C] That's simply a down, up.
[B] So [C] we're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Alright?
We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
And you want to intersperse this rhythm with the irregular strumming.
The contrast makes that kind of exciting.
For example, in a song like Yes Sir, That's My Baby,
where the chords are [A#] C, G [B] diminished and G7,
[C] we can play it something like this.
Yes [C#] sir, that's my [G] baby.
No sir, I don't mean maybe.
Yes sir, that's my [C] baby now.
[G] Here we [C] go.
[C#] [G]
[C] [D] [C]
[C#] [G]
[C] [G#] [Am]
And that's how to do the basic George Formby split stroke.
And I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye.
[C] [G] [C]
[C#] [G]
[C]
Alright, hello and welcome to this video where I'm going to show you how to do the legendary
George Formby split stroke.
It's an exciting strum, most ukulele players are used to doing the wimpy strong strum where
we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and wimpy strong, wimpy strong.
And that strum is done with the main beats on the 1 and 2, 3, 4 and then the and beats
are the up strums.
What makes the split stroke different is that it comes from ragtime so it tears up the rhythm
and [E] it puts a big downbeat on the and after the 2.
So it's going to sound like this.
[C] 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
And it's not a very intuitive strum to get so I'm going to show you how to do that.
We'll break it down this way.
I'm doing this on a C chord and we begin with a down strum using the end of the index finger.
If you're a thumb strummer I would suggest not doing it with the thumb because you want
to be able to do this quickly.
It's not a thumb movement or a finger movement, it's a turn of the forearm.
And so I hold my finger like this and we have a down on the 1 and then an up on the first
string or first 2 strings, it doesn't really matter.
So we've got 1 and and then the next beat is we hit the 4th string but our finger stays up.
1 and 2.
Right?
Down, up, touch.
And the finger stays above the string because it has to do the next downbeat.
And we'll do 2 of those.
We're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
1 and 2 and 3 and.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
So if we were to keep doing that, that would be a kind of a triplet strum.
But we don't want that.
We want [G#m] this to fill the space of 8 beats.
So far we've got 6.
So what we need are 2 more.
[C] That's simply a down, up.
[B] So [C] we're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Alright?
We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
And you want to intersperse this rhythm with the irregular strumming.
The contrast makes that kind of exciting.
For example, in a song like Yes Sir, That's My Baby,
where the chords are [A#] C, G [B] diminished and G7,
[C] we can play it something like this.
Yes [C#] sir, that's my [G] baby.
No sir, I don't mean maybe.
Yes sir, that's my [C] baby now.
[G] Here we [C] go.
[C#] [G]
[C] [D] [C]
[C#] [G]
[C] [G#] [Am]
And that's how to do the basic George Formby split stroke.
And I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye.
Key:
C
G
C#
B
E
C
G
C#
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
Alright, hello and welcome to this video where I'm going to show you how to do the legendary
George Formby split stroke.
It's an exciting strum, most ukulele players are used to doing the wimpy strong strum where
we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and wimpy strong, wimpy strong. _ _ _ _ _
And _ that strum is done with the main beats on the 1 and 2, 3, 4 and then the and beats
are the up strums.
What makes the split stroke different is that it comes from ragtime so it tears up the rhythm
and [E] it puts a big downbeat on the and after the 2.
So it's going to sound like this.
[C] 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
And it's not a very intuitive strum to get so I'm going to show you how to do that.
We'll break it down this way.
I'm doing this on a C chord and we begin with a down strum using the end of the index finger.
If you're a thumb strummer I would suggest not doing it with the thumb because you want
to be able to do this quickly.
It's not a thumb movement or a finger movement, it's a turn of the forearm.
And so I hold my finger like this and we have a down on the 1 and then an up on the first
string or first 2 strings, it doesn't really matter.
So we've got 1 and and then the next beat is we hit the 4th string but our finger stays up.
1 and 2.
Right?
_ _ Down, up, touch.
And the finger stays above the string because it has to do the next downbeat.
And we'll do 2 of those.
We're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
_ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
1 and 2 and 3 and.
_ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch. _
OK?
So if we were to keep doing that, that would be a kind of a triplet strum.
But we don't want that.
We want [G#m] this to fill the space of 8 beats.
So far we've got 6.
So what we need are 2 more.
[C] That's simply a down, up.
[B] So [C] we're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Alright?
We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. _ _
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
_ _ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
And you want to intersperse this rhythm with the irregular strumming.
The contrast makes that kind of exciting.
For example, in a song like Yes Sir, That's My Baby,
where the chords are [A#] C, G [B] diminished and G7,
[C] we can play it something like this.
_ Yes [C#] sir, that's my [G] baby.
No sir, I don't mean maybe.
Yes sir, that's my [C] baby now.
[G] Here we [C] go.
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ [G#] _ _ _ [Am] _
And that's how to do the basic George Formby split stroke.
And I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
Alright, hello and welcome to this video where I'm going to show you how to do the legendary
George Formby split stroke.
It's an exciting strum, most ukulele players are used to doing the wimpy strong strum where
we go 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and wimpy strong, wimpy strong. _ _ _ _ _
And _ that strum is done with the main beats on the 1 and 2, 3, 4 and then the and beats
are the up strums.
What makes the split stroke different is that it comes from ragtime so it tears up the rhythm
and [E] it puts a big downbeat on the and after the 2.
So it's going to sound like this.
[C] 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.
And it's not a very intuitive strum to get so I'm going to show you how to do that.
We'll break it down this way.
I'm doing this on a C chord and we begin with a down strum using the end of the index finger.
If you're a thumb strummer I would suggest not doing it with the thumb because you want
to be able to do this quickly.
It's not a thumb movement or a finger movement, it's a turn of the forearm.
And so I hold my finger like this and we have a down on the 1 and then an up on the first
string or first 2 strings, it doesn't really matter.
So we've got 1 and and then the next beat is we hit the 4th string but our finger stays up.
1 and 2.
Right?
_ _ Down, up, touch.
And the finger stays above the string because it has to do the next downbeat.
And we'll do 2 of those.
We're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
OK?
_ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch.
1 and 2 and 3 and.
_ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch. _
OK?
So if we were to keep doing that, that would be a kind of a triplet strum.
But we don't want that.
We want [G#m] this to fill the space of 8 beats.
So far we've got 6.
So what we need are 2 more.
[C] That's simply a down, up.
[B] So [C] we're going to go down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
Alright?
We've got 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. _ _
Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
_ _ Down, up, touch, down, up, touch, down, up.
And you want to intersperse this rhythm with the irregular strumming.
The contrast makes that kind of exciting.
For example, in a song like Yes Sir, That's My Baby,
where the chords are [A#] C, G [B] diminished and G7,
[C] we can play it something like this.
_ Yes [C#] sir, that's my [G] baby.
No sir, I don't mean maybe.
Yes sir, that's my [C] baby now.
[G] Here we [C] go.
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _
_ [C#] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ [G#] _ _ _ [Am] _
And that's how to do the basic George Formby split stroke.
And I look forward to seeing you next time. Bye bye. _ _ _ _ _ _