Strumming patterns: am I missing any? [2021]

Luke, your recording and implementation process sounds really interesting. I’d like to see a behind the scenes documentary some day!

Looking forward to whatever you come up with👍

All the dampened styles please - would make my Texas Style and Swing practice so much more authentic!

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Hi Luke. Thanks for your reply and for the plan to include. Much appreciated! - Rory

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Would love a driving Tony Rice rhythm pattern for straight bluegrass tunes.

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I like what I hear with the strum patterns but I have this recurring dream that strum machine morphs into another band in a box. If it does can you arrange what you have now and add a link to “Strumming for Dummies???!!

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Sounds more like a nightmare to me! :laughing:

Hopefully I can reassure you by saying that keeping things simple, and avoiding big/disorienting changes to the interface, is always top of mind. In fact, that’s one of the main things that blocks me from adding new features, both requested features and ones that I come up with: if I can’t figure out an elegant, non-intrusive way to implement the feature, I probably won’t add it.

I will have to make some changes to the interface over the coming years, as part of various new features that I want to offer. But generally I can just add a button here, or a menu item there, which folks can freely ignore if they’re not interested in it.

In the case of these new strumming patterns, that means that all these settings are going to be tucked away inside of a dropdown menu of some kind, most likely next to the “Key of __” dropdown menu. If you like Strum Machine the way it is, you’ll be able to just ignore that button and use it as before. :smiley:

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Thank you Luke!!! Now I can quietly slink back into my modest world of 1-4-5 and the occasional minor where I’m safe from flat 9’s, and augmentations with dimentia.

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These all sound great. I’m especially excited about the new jig patterns that will fit Irish, Scottish, Contra, Scandinavian styles. Also love the Pretty Waltz back up and the arpeggiated chords for slower tunes. Strum machine is broadening! Thank you for all the work you are doing!

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Luke, you are my hero!

Down-Up with Half-Time Palm Muting (what to call this) is clearly Pink Floyd - Brick in a wall

Haha :joy:

So I am really excited to see these new features, thanks for the preview. Looks fantastic!

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Luke you are doing such a wonderful work for us!
My request when you will have time to work on it would be on measures with 5/4, 7/4 and 9/4, (or 5/8, 7/8, 9/8) and the possibility to insert those measures anywhere.
The reason is because I love some tunes with that kind of rythm, and we have many for example in some Béla’s tunes :wink:

Thanks and all the best!

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Hello Luke,
What an awesome concept, can’t wait to hear it implemented and continually evolve!
Strum Machine’s Editor exactly what I have been looking for with ability to select strumming patterns and tempos for different song sections.

Perhaps I missed them above, what about adding most common 4/4 strumming patterns,
D dududu
duDuduDu
d du udu
d dud du
d d udud
dudu udu

Note, I certainly would be willing to pay extra to implement and grow specific strumming patterns options list over time!

Any way count on me subscribing + Thank you + Cheers,
Mike

@GillesRzard - yes, compound time signatures will come at some point down the road. You’ll probably have to specify them as (3+2)/4, (2+2+3)/8, etc., so that Strum Machine knows how to play them. And you’ll be able to switch time signatures in the middle of a song too.

@MichaelSchott - at least some of those down-up strumming patterns are included in the plan above. I’ll be able to cover all of them with the samples I am recording. That said, something like “d du udu” can mean different things, depending on what “down” refers to.

In a “pop” context, one usually strums across all the strings for both the down and up strokes, as they’re relying on bass and drums to carry some of the rhythmic variety. Whereas in the kinds of music that most Strum Machine users are focusing on, some of those downstrokes are actually bass notes, or bass hits across multiple strings, or treble strings only, depending on the pattern.

For example, the “Syncopated Boom-Chuck” pattern above is technically a “d du udu” pattern, but there are at least two kinds of downstrokes and two kinds of upstrokes used.

Anyway, I am focusing on the more complex patterns because they are in higher demand and more difficult to implement, but we should be able to get the “pop” patterns included in that quite easily.

And all of these new patterns will be free for all Strum Machine users!

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Luke, I don’t suppose there are that many Strum Machine fans that are into this kind of thing, so its priority can’t be very high, but I would so love to have some Latin strums available. Just a couple of basic ones would cover a lot of the repertoire out there. Something like this would work for chacarera, zamba, and even huapango in a pinch, and this simpler one would serve for more up-tempo stuff like joropo and the like. Of course, then you’d have to translate your UI into Spanish for all the Latin American pickers who would come flocking to the app :slight_smile:

Are these new patterns out yet

I was initially hopeful there’d be something to play with by the end of the year, but that’s basically out of the question now. Between the fixing the issues with iOS devices, getting my billing compliant with VAT/taxes, and other no-fun-but-absolutely-necessary tasks, I am already going to be scrambling to get everything done before we go out of town for Christmas.

New strumming patterns remain my #1 goal and the thing I want to work on the most. But I don’t always get to work on what I want to work on. :confused:

Hopefully in January I can focus more-or-less exclusively on this and have something out in the first few months of 2022. [Update: Most of January got taken up by stupid-but-necessary tasks related to taxes and legal requirements… but as of the last week of January I’m finally able to focus on building these new patterns.]

Hey Luke, Thanks for all of your hard work on Strum Machine. I use it a lot, and think it’s a fantastic tool.

Was wondering if you’d consider adding the option of adding a click track to the strum, for those of us who are rhythmically challenged.

Here’s an example of something I would find very helpful:
https://twitter.com/noampikelny/status/1453190155704193029?s=21

Thanks again for this fantastic app!

Ted

Yes, a click track is definitely coming in the future!

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Please include the Arpeggiated chords: For slower songs, hymns, etc.
If possible! Great Job! Jim Jones

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Hey folks,

Thought I’d give a quick update and teaser about the new strumming patterns project. After many delays, I’ve finally got some momentum going and a decent amount of progress. I made some breakthroughs in my recording process in the past month that have resolved some long-standing issues (not roadblocks per se but detractors all the same) which is going to make the end result even better! There’s still lots and lots to do but we’re getting closer!

There are many pieces to the project, each in varying states of completion (most pretty far from completion still, to be honest), but I wanted to share a sneak peek. This is me playing mandolin along with a guitar track, generated in real time with a swung bluegrass rhythm:

Thanks for your patience… I promise it will be worth the wait!

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