george formby ukulele banjo fan stroke split stroke

Well here is my question for all you banjo uku players out there using the George Formby style of playing.. How the hell do you do it? I want to master the split & Fan stroke but I am finding it quite difficult to achieve. I bought a new uke which was branded as Ashbury but found that the old one in this video sounded better so I returned it to the shop Hobgoblin in WadeBridge (excellent people in the shop) anyone else had one of these ukes. Please can you tell me what brand of Uku banjo you are all using and a average price for it. Forever grateful Harry

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• George Formby
• banjo-uke
• banjolele
• ukulele
• banjo
• split stroke
• fan
• stroke
• instructional video
• music
• chords
• howto

[jsnbeat]

lookin good to me. the triple here and there would smooth it all together i think. these guys here - correct me if i'm wrong gents, must have spent MANY many hours to reach their level of competency and timing. good luck hairy chef ... and eat well

[harrychef]

@jsnbeat thanks very much for that. new video on the soon many thanks

[wittgrjp]

On the fan stroke I couldn't see much wrong! What may be missing is the theatre- try making more elaborate fan shape, open your hand out far more, try practicing in the mirror! Again try against metronome or alternating finger order.

The uke does look tricky and seems to be set fairly high but difficult to tell from the video, you may be able to adust the height of the strings down to help. Another uke set up properly for Formby would definitely help but not essential

Cheers, John

[harrychef]

@wittgrjp Thanks for taking the time to look at my playing , its most appreciated. I will keep on till i get it right . Many thanks

[myfineday]

Hi, there is one little change that will make your fan stroke come together. Try switching the order from pinkie first, to first using your thumb on the down, first finger on the up, and then pinky down. This will sync up with the tapping you are doing. Da dee dee da dee dee da da. There are some Jack Johnson videos on Dave Clarkes page that show him teaching the fan stroke. Best of luck and your fan already sounds great!!

[harrychef]

@myfineday thanks for that my friend ill give that a go straight away. cheers for looking

[MrJnobianchi]

Hi Harry -

I'm no expert - I'm learning, like you. I think you have the fan stroke; it looks quite strong and you should just keep working it. A good way to practice it for me was to use it instead of a split stroke during a solo, as it can give you the same rhythmic pattern.

Again - I think you've essentially got the split stroke, and just need to keep practicing it so that it becomes second nature. I practice the stroke on the subways; I'm sure everyone who sees me thinks I'm psychotic.

[harrychef]

@shreeveuke many thanks for that , i need a bit of encouragment at the moment so cheers . Ill keep on strumming

[wittgrjp]

HI Harrychef, sorry for the delay in responding.

For the Split stroke, I think you have the basics right (well done) but the timing is wobbly and the chord change stutters, which is where the continuity problem in sound comes in. Try playing against a metronome to get the rigour of keeping to time, if you don't have one there are some available on a web search. Good chord change helps keep timing of course! Eventually it will come naturally.

[harrychef]

@seanandhisuke thanks alot for that mate Im really enjoying it