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The McNally Strumstick Playing Instructions and Owner’s manual
Contents:
About the Strumstick 1
How to play the Strumstick 1
Solutions to possible problems 2
Tuning 3
Fancy strumming 4
Advanced fancy strumming 5
Special effects 5
Broken strings 7
Songs 7-10
Chords 6
Chord charts 11-12

"Strumstick", "Original Strumstick"and"Grand Strumstick" are copyrighted trademarks of McNally Instruments.
Printed on recycled paper

 

About the McNally Strumstick™
This instrument is equally intended for people who can't play anything and for people who live and breathe music. By giving you just the notes of the major scale (do-re-mi), plus a drone background, essentially any note you finger on it will sound good. For the non-player, that means that it is safe to experiment, it's like fingerpainting, or tinkertoys... your music may not be highly organized, but the sounds will be attractive right from the beginning. You will quickly learn how to organize it if you care to (this manual will be a big help), or you may just be content with how good it sounds at the very beginning level, and stay there. Fine! For people who are musically more experienced, the Strumstick™ is an agile platform for improvising, composing, doodling, and performing. While partially limited compared to a chromatic instrument, nevertheless it offers a range of chords, 2 1/2 octaves of melody, and countless rhythmic possibilities...you need never be musically bored with a Strumstick in your hands!

Who Should Play the Strumstick?
Anyone intrigued by it. There is no other qualification.

How To Play the Strumstick
Use the Strap. Squeeze the bottom (1st) string (the thin one, closest to the ground) and strum all three strings. Only squeeze the 1st string; you can try the other strings later. Keep your finger just to the left of any one of the metal frets, and squeeze firmly with the tip of your finger, upright (like the eraser on the end of a pencil). Keep your thumb behind the neck, just your finger tip and thumb should touch the neck. Remember, use the strap (over your head and right arm through.) Don't hold the Strumstick up with your left hand; let it hang from the strap. Let the big end of the Strumstick rest against your forearm to keep the SS from moving as you strum. You can slide the knot on the strap to obtain a comfortable length. Hold the pick between your thumb and first finger (right hand), pointy end towards the strings. Now lift your arm, and with a sharp downward motion (and a twist of the wrist), strum across the strings. Congratulations! You've just made the worst sound you can get out of a Strumstick (not bad, eh?). Continue strumming for a while until it feels a bit less awkward. Try to make the pick run smoothly and briskly across all three strings.

Solutions to Possible Problems
1) Be sure your fingertip is close to, but not on top of, the fret, and on the left side of it. You can have some distance between fret and finger, but the closer to the fret you are, the less hard you'll have to squeeze.
PS. Your fingertips will get tougher over a week or two.
2) If the Strumstick is moving around, review how to hold it in the previous section.

 

Tuning Your Strumstick
Tuning the Strumstick is easy, it just requires a little patience, and learning what to do. In fact, reading about how to tune is more difficult than actually tuning. If you have an outside reference like a guitar or piano, the notes that the strings are intended to be tuned to are:
Standard Strumstick (29 1/2"long) G, D, G' (one octave higher)
Grand Strumstick (32 1/2" long) D, A, D' (one octave higher)
The strings are numbered 3,2,1, with 1 being the thinnest (the bottom one, closest to the ground) and 3 being the thickest (the top one). The frets (the metal pieces on the fingerboard) are numbered 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc., with 0 being the fret at the top, which the strings rest on. To tune, follow these instructions.
1) Finger the 3rd string at the 4th fret, and pluck that string with the pick. That sound is the note the 2nd string should be. Pluck the 2nd string open (open means no fingers), and adjust its tuner until the 2nd string open sounds the same note as 3rd string /4th fret. Now the 2nd string is "in tune with" the 3rd string.
2) Now finger the 2nd string 3rd fret. That is the note the 1st string open should be. Adjust the 1st string tuner until the 1st string open sounds like the 2nd string 3rd fret. Your Strumstick is now in tune with itself.
Note:There is one real trick to tuning, and that is to listen! Pluck the note you are fretting; listen to it. Pluck the string you are adjusting; listen to it change. Tuning is not done by remembering notes, or thinking, it's done by listening.

Fancy Strumming (Rhythms)
Count out loud 1-2-3-4 and strum down once for each count. Keep counting steadily (1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4,etc.), and strumming down at each beat you count. Do that for a while (don't do anything with your left hand). Notice that you bring up the pick between counts? The count is called the beat, and 1/2 way between beats is the off beat.

We can count "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and" as a way of counting the off beat. Count "1+2+3+4+" a few times, while strumming down on the beats again. Notice that your hand moves down on the numbers, and moves up on the +'s.

Now, instead of simply moving up on "+", strum up on the "+". You may have to twist up a bit harder. Count "1+2+3+4+" and strum down-up down-up down-up down-up. It will throw you off at first, stay with it. Count first to get the rhythm in mind, then try counting and strumming together.

Now we are ready to get fancy! Try this count, out loud, over and over, without strumming: 1 2 3+4+. (This rhythm sounds like "fee, fie, fiddle faddle). Then try strumming it - down, down, down-up down-up.

Let's try another one - how about 1+2 3 4 ("fiddle fee, fie foe) ...down-up, down,down,down. Try that a while. You can add those upstrums after any downstrum, like 1+2+3 4, or 1+2+3+4+, or 1 2 3 4+, etc. The object here is not to memorize any of these rhythms, but to get used to strumming a beat and adding upstrums into it. Practice all of this for a while.

Advanced Fancy
Try leaving out a downstrum (producing an empty space). Do this by strumming down without hitting the strings - a "fake" downstrum (it is much easier to do a fake downstrum than to do nothing and wait). This would count like, for example, "1 2 space 4". After counting that out loud a few times, strum "down, down, fake, down". Try it until it's smooth. Then count out loud "1 space 3 + 4 +" several times, then strum "down, fake, down-up, down-up". To add an empty space, just do a fake!
When you get comfortable with a rhythm, try moving your left hand around while you strum. If you are playing a song, adding offbeats will make it more interesting, and add a background rhythm.
Very useful trick...strumming the 1 beat (or others) harder makes an emphasis, called an accent, which really livens up your rhythms. Simply give a harder twist to your wrist. Accenting is one of the things that makes playing more musical.

Special effects
Here are a few tricks that can add more interest to what you are playing. Here they are (without a lot of detail), so you can experiment with them:

1.Sliding; after strumming, slide your finger to a new note. Usually the new note is an "+".

2. Hammering on; after strumming, while fingering 1 note, slam another finger onto the next note on the same string (or from open to fretted).

3.Pulling off; fret a note, then, after strumming, remove that finger, plucking the string as it goes.

4. Muffling; after strumming or plucking a note, ease up on your squeeze, stopping the note abruptly. You can also get some delightful sounds by resting the side of your hand on the strings just in front of the bridge. Experiment!

Chords
A chord is a group of notes that sound good together. That may require that more than one note be fingered with the left hand. Adjust your whole hand to the needs of the chord, shifting so that a finger doesn't lean over and muffle another string. The chord diagrams (at end) show the strings as vertical lines, the frets as horizontal lines, and fingertips as circles. The chord fingerings for the Grand Strumstick are the same as for the original, but they result in different chords, since the Grand is tuned differently. The Grand names are given underneath the diagrams.

Care and Feeding
Your Strumstick is very durable as wooden instruments go, but it is still possible to break it. Avoid impacts,and extremes of temperature and humidity. As far as impact, the soundboard is the most fragile area. Don't put your Strumstick anywhere you would not want to be for an extended period of time (like the trunk of a car on a hot day). Hanging it on the wall (not in sun or over a heater) is fine, and convenient.

Broken Strings
Strings will break. You need loop end strings(like for banjo or mandolin); .023" wound, .014" plain, .010" plain for Original Strumstick. [.023"wound, .014"plain, .010" plain for the Grand Strumstick.] You can unwind the chenille from the old string if you need to, or use yarn or a pipecleaner if the strings you get don't have it. If necessary, you can use strings .001" larger or smaller (example: the first string, .010" plain, could be .009" or .011"). A light gauge 5-string banjo set will give you 1 of each string you need for the Original Strumstick™. If the bridge should get moved, the front edge should be lined up with the two marks on the top (yes, it should slant). You can get strings from us by mail. $7/set ppd.

Songs
The songs (starting on page 8) are represented as follows: a single number represents a fret to finger on the first string. If a note is on string #2 or #3 the string number is first, then there is a slash (/), then the fret number. For example, the number 1 means 1st fret (on the first string). The number 2/1 means 2nd string 1st fret. These songs are just to get you started. The best way to learn it is by figuring out songs from scratch, by trial and error, and by making mistakes. That's
how you learn to "think in Strumstick". These songs give you something to do to get oriented, and to have fun with right away. Once you get so you can finger the melody without looking at the numbers, try strumming various rhythms as you do the melody (see Rhythm Section). You could also try finding chords that fit and finger a chord that includes the melody note from time to time. Have Fun!

Questions?
Call us during the day at (973) 983-9153. Write to McNally Instruments, Box 387, Hibernia, NJ 07842
Or email at mcnallyinstruments@strumstick.com

 

 

 

 

SONGS

2 1 0 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 4 4
Mary had a lit-tle lamb, lit-tle lamb, lit-tle lamb.

2 1 0 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 0
Mary had a lit-tle lamb, its fleece was white as snow.

 

0 0 4 4 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0
Twinkle, twinkle, lit-tle star, how I wonder what you are.

4 4 3 3 2 2 1 4 4 3 3 2 2 1
Up a- bove the world so high, like a diamond in the sky,

0 0 4 4 5 5 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 0
Twinkle, twinkle, lit-tle star, how I wonder what you are

 

 

0 1 2 3 3 3 0 1 2 2
This land is your land, this land is my land.

0 0 2 1 1 1 1 0 1 2 2
From California to the New York island.

0 0 1 2 3 3 3 3 0 1 2 2
From the Redwood forest to the Gulf Stream Waters,

1 1 0 2/2 2/0 2/1 2/2 0
This land was made for you and me.

Note: 2/0 means 2nd string open ( no finger needed). Pluck that string by itself or strum all three.

 

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 0 1 2
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 2 1 4
Oh, what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sle-eigh.

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 4 0 1 2
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way.

3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 4 4 3 1 0
Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.

2/0 2 1 0 2/0
Da - shing through the snow,

2/0 2/0 2/0 2 1 0 2/1
in a one horse open sleigh

2/1 3 2 1 2/2 4 4 3 1 2
O'er the fields we go, laughing all the way.

2/0 2 1 0 2/0 2/0 2 1 0 2/1
Bells on Bobtail ring, ma - king spirits bright,

2/1 2/1 3 2 1 4 4 4 4 5 4 3 1 0
What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.
Note: 2/0 means 2nd string open ( no finger needed). Pluck that string by itself or strum all three.

0 0 0 4 3 2 0 0 1 0 3/6
Fare thee well, old Joe Clark, fare thee well I say.

0 0 0 4 3 2 0 1 2 1 1 0
Fare thee well, old Joe Clark, bet-ter be on my way.

4 5 6 5 4 3 2 4 5 6 5 4
I went down to old Joe's house, forty stories high.

4 5 6 5 4 3 2 0 2 1 1 0
Every story in that house, filled with chicken pie.

 

0 2 3 4 0 2 3 4
Oh when the Saints, go marching in,

0 2 3 4 2 0 2 1
Oh when the Saints go marching in

1 2 1 0 2 4 4 3
I want to be in that number,

0 2 3 4 2 0 1 0
Oh when the Saints go marching in

0 0 2 4 8 5 5 3 4 5 4
On top of old Smokey, all covered with snow,

0 0 2 4 4 1 2 3 2 1 0
I lost my true lov-er, for courting too slow

 

Strumstick Instruction Book version 2 ©2005

CHORD DIAGRAMS next pages