Слово "strum". Англо-русский словарь Мюллера

Bring out your guitars, strum your balalaikas!

He seems to spend most of his time strumming the piano.'

Far, far away, in the centre of the earth, someone strummed a balalaika and a black-earth Battistini broke into song:

And she spoke to me quietly and sternly for some time; but I did not understand what she said, and presently she stood up and began to pace the room, strumming on her chin with her fingers, and alternately raising and depressing her thick eyebrows.