Strum

In music, strumming is a way of playing a stringed instrument such as a guitar. A strum or stroke is a sweeping action where a fingernail or plectrum brushes past several strings in order to set them all into motion and thereby play a chord. Strums are executed by the dominant hand, while the other hand holds down notes on the fretboard. Strums are contrasted with plucking, as a means of activating strings into audible vibration, because in plucking, only one string is activated by a surface at a time. A hand-held pick or plectrum can only be used to pluck one string at a time, but multiple strings can be strummed by one. Plucking multiple strings simultaneously requires a fingerstyle or fingerpick technique.

A strumming pattern or strum is a preset pattern used by a rhythm guitar. Compare with pattern picking, strumming patterns may be indicated through notation, tablature, up and down arrows, or slashes. For example, a pattern in common time or 4/4 consisting of alternating down and up eight note strokes may be written: