Twiddle dem strings

In Strum mode the pads don't drop the chord like a sad piano — they rake across it the way your clumsy hand crosses the strings (you know, if you could actually play), and they keep strummin' a repeatin' pattern for as long as you can hold that chord down. Touch & hold the Strum button to configure it. (You got this. Probably.)

Pattern

The pattern is one bar, read as sixteenths. A down stroke rakes from the low note upward (fancy!), an up stroke rakes back down from the top (also fancy!), & empty cells are rests (the breaks where you contemplate your life choices).

• Whole — a single down-stroke at the top of the bar. The one to use when the chord should simply arrive & ring like you actually know what you're doin'.
• Half — downs on 1 & 3. (Math! In your strummin'!)
• Quarter — a down on every beat. Straight, drivin', & never in the way. (Unlike you.)
• Eighths — down on the beats, up on the "and"s. The default, & the pattern most songs are beggin' for.
• Sixteenths — full alternatin' down-up sixteenths, for busier, faster parts. (Show off much?)
• Folk — a block chord on 1, then down-up through 2, 3 & 4. The standard acoustic accompaniment (aka "how grandma does it").
• Calypso — the latin push, ghostin' beat 3 so the pattern leans forward. (It's got rhythm, baby.)
• Pickup — plain quarters on 1, 2 & 3, then the last beat subdivided into a sixteenth run that pulls you into the next bar. (Spoiler: it works.)

Patterns adapt to the song's meter like they actually respect your time signature. In 3/4 the run in Pickup slides onto beat 3 rather than gettin' cut off — it always lands on the last beat of the bar. (We're thorough like that.)

Custom

Below the presets, Custom holds the patterns you've written yourself (wow, look at you!). Any saved pattern is selectable straight from the submenu, & Add / Remove… opens the Custom Strums Editor, where you manage the list like a boss. (Or at least pretend to.)

Stagger

Stagger is how long the rake takes to cross the chord — the difference between a hard pick attack & a slow, deliberate sweep. It's the feel of the stroke, not its rhythm, so it applies to whatever pattern you've chosen. (Basically, it's where the magic happens.)

• Tight — about 8 ms per note. Almost a block hit; you hear the direction but little else. (Kinda robotic, ngl.)
• Standard — about 18 ms per note. The default, & a classic acoustic feel. (The safe choice for safe people.)
• Loose — about 30 ms per note. A slower, more deliberate rake. (Gettin' artsy now, are we?)
• Sloppy — about 50 ms per note. A broken strum where every note is clearly its own event. (It's supposed to sound like you don't have your life together.)

Stagger is the setting that makes a strum sound like you actually played it instead of a robot with better rhythm than you. If the chordboard sounds too mechanical, move to Loose before you panic & call tech support.