Most people are not very familiar with the egg shakers. The egg shakers are super fun and simple instruments that can add a funky and somewhat-Latin sounding rhythm, and can sound good with most songs out there.
Not long ago, while jamming with my friend Daniel, we were both playing acoustic guitars. On a sudden burst of spontaneity while playing a four-chord song, I picked up the egg shaker that laid on the table and started strumming with it. It’s “slightly bigger” than a pick, but apparently – it works!
Not only that it worked, but as long as I kept maintaining steady time-keeping in my strumming, it provided a steady and cool rhythm! Just like we added another person to the jam, and we did not even have to worry that this person would stray out of time, because this person was me and the rhythm was obviously strictly attached to my guitar rhythm anyway…
So I am proud to present to you… (:
The Egg Shaker Strum™
So all you have to do is to start strumming with the egg shaker. It looks funny but it works great.
Egg shakers are extremely cheap, you can get a couple of them for less than 10 bucks. I recommend getting more than one because they tend to get lost – here’s an example for a good set of four eggs for 8$:
Egg shakers are also very useful – I always carry one in my guitar case and hand them out to other people I meet and play music / jam with.
Songs that will work well with The Egg Shaker Strum:
– Any song that can sport a steady strum and requires full strums. (as opposed to finger picking or other strumming techniques that demand more precision)
I recommend using this technique with barre chords since it gives you more control over the sound and eliminates most unwanted sounds that are more common when using open chords, but it still works fine with open chords as well.
Have fun with this new technique!
