Strumming Lesson: Chuck and Chunk the Backbeat

BY VICTORIA VOX | FROM THE FALL 2026 ISSUE OF UKULELE MAGAZINE

Perhaps you’ve heard about chucking or chunking as rhythmic strumming techniques on the ukulele. Both rely on muting techniques to emphasize the backbeat—the 2 and 4—adding a percussive pulse that helps keep time in solo or group playing. But while the terms are often used interchangeably, they can produce slightly different sounds.

In this lesson, we’ll explore the guitar origins of chucking and the more recent adaptation known as chunking, along with ways to use both in styles including swing, pop-rock, and reggae. So get your right—and your left—hand ready to keep the beat without a percussionist.

What’s the Difference?

Generally speaking, the chuck has a mellower sound, using the side of the palm to mute the strings, while the chunk is louder and crisper, using the side of the thumb. Try strumming and chucking or chunking on open strings while leaving your left arm at your side. In both cases, the goal is to stop the strings from ringing while creating a clear percussive beat. The video will help with technique here.

Left-Hand Muting

One notable exception to right-hand chucking is the style of Freddie Green. Green, who played rhythm guitar in Count Basie’s band for nearly 50 years, influenced generations of players with a comping style built around short, dampened chords played squarely on the beat, with little or no sustain. This effect comes from the left hand, rather than right-hand muting.

Try Example 1a, using your left hand to dampen the strings on each beat. Note that beats 1 and 3, shown with rhythm slashes, ring briefly, while beats 2 and 4 are marked with Xs to indicate a percussive scratch sound.

Once that feels comfortable, try the same pattern with barre chords, as shown in Example 1b. This makes left-hand muting easier, since you can simply lighten your grip while keeping each finger in contact with its string.

Island-Style Backbeats

Beginning in the 1960s, singer-songwriters and folk artists often used guitar techniques to emulate the rhythmic feel of a drum kit, effectively functioning as a one-person band. Some of the first artists to bring this approach to the ukulele were the Ka‘au Crater Boys and Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole in the 1990s. Their Hawaiian-style reggae sound later influenced acoustic artists like Jack Johnson and Jason Mraz.

Let’s begin by adding a backbeat to the common island strum (Example 2), followed by an island strum variation (Example 3). To get the mellow chuck sound, strum with your index finger and, while keeping the hand relaxed and open, use the pinky side of the same hand to palm-mute the strings on the downstroke. You can also use your strumming finger on the upstrokes for a consistent mellow tone. Note that these examples can be played either straight as written or with a swing feel—that is, long-short feel rather than evenly spaced eighth notes. In the accompanying video, I demonstrate both rhythmic feels. 

Next, try a swung double-reggae pattern, in which the subdivisions are played long-short rather than evenly, creating a looser, more relaxed groove. In Example 4a, start with the basic groove, resting on beats 1 and 3 (use a light tap or left-hand mute to stop the strings from ringing). Strumming down and up on the and of 2 and 4 places the emphasis squarely on the backbeat.

Now try the 16th-note rhythm in Example 4b. The groove will sound similar, but this time, count it so you strum on the and-a of each beat. This pattern serves as a stepping stone to the groove heard in “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” in the style of Kamakawiwo‘ole.

For Example 5, stay in the 16th-note feel, but instead of tapping or muting on beats 1 and 3, strum those beats and substitute a chuck on beats 2 and 4. This approach works especially well at faster tempos.

Get Chunky

For the chunk, keep your hand curled, with your fingernails aligned roughly with the heel of your palm and wrist, and bring your thumb slightly forward so it lines up with the nails. As you strum, the thumb, wrist, and even forearm mute the back half of the strings near the soundhole, so the chord never has a chance to ring out. The effect is purely rhythmic.

Using the thumb to mute is one of the key distinctions between the chuck and
the chunk. The more fingers you use on the downstroke, the louder your chunk will be. 

For a mellower chunk, strum with your index finger and use all the nails to mute. For a louder sound, try strumming with the index, middle, and ring fingernails together. You can also use the index finger on downstrokes, the nails for the chunk, and the thumbnail on upstrokes. (Tip: longer right-hand fingernails help produce a sharper chunk sound. My secret: I regularly glue on fake nails for consistent length and hardness.)

Example 6 uses another 16th-note strumming pattern that incorporates the chunk on the backbeat. After the chunks on beats 2 and 4, the and-a figures function more as light scratch pulses, with the thumb still in contact with the strings, than as fully sounded strums. Focus on keeping the motion efficient and natural while maintaining a clear percussive pulse.

In Example 7, from my song “Kick It Back,” the first two measures establish the basic rhythm. On beat 1 of the third measure, a roll-down strum adds variety and emphasizes the chord change. Keep the thumb slightly separated from the index finger so it naturally follows the index on the downstroke.

Putting It All Together

Once you’re comfortable with the basic chucking and chunking patterns, the next step is to vary them with different rhythms and articulations to add more expression and variety to your playing. Here are a couple of figures from my own songs that combine chunking with hammer-ons—techniques in which one or more fretting-hand fingers are firmly placed onto a string to sound a new note without re-striking it—for extra movement and color.

Example 8 is drawn from “Technicolor Way,” as heard on Vox Ukulele Cello. The first half of the measure is relatively simple: downstrum on beat 1, then chunk on beat 2. Beat 3 introduces some 16th notes: strum an F chord, then hammer on the second-fret D on the e of 3 to add the sixth. This creates the illusion of another strum, even though you won’t strum again until the a of 3, followed by a quick chunk on beat 4 and a light muted scratch on the following and-a.

Begin Example 9, taken from the title track of Colorful Heart, by hammering on to a D minor chord: On beat 1, with your first finger on the first-fret F, strum all four strings, then add your second and third fingers on the bottom two strings without re-strumming. Next, strum up on the a of 1, then add a quick chunk on beat 2 and a downstrum with a chord change to F. For efficiency’s sake, come up on the and of 3 with a left-hand mute, followed by a downstrum chunk on beat 4. In the second measure, hold the Bb chord through the 16th-note figure.

Ultimately, adding a backbeat, whether through a chuck or a chunk, gives any strum a stronger sense of motion and energy. Try applying these techniques to some of your favorite chords, progressions, and tunes, and notice how each approach changes the feel. Be patient as you develop your own technique—there’s no single right way to do it.