Strumming

Strumming is the act of brushing one’s fingers over the strings of a stringed instrument such as a guitar. This action often serves the purpose of keeping time in a piece of music. 

The guitar pans in a steelband take the name from the stringed guitar and provide a similar function within the steelband. Hence the term strumming is used to describe the rhythmic pattern played. This pattern is short and long beats within a pulse that continues through a piece of music. 

In addition, strumming the chords creates harmonic progression in music and enables the player to learn different rhythms.

The rote learning method is often used to teach rhythmic strumming patterns as they as usually repetitive.