Ukulele For Dummies

Contents

• Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 3
• Part 1 : Getting Started with the Ukulele 5
• Chapter 1 : Exploring the Ukulele 7 Understanding the Uke's Advantages 7 Loving the sound 8 Joining a vibrant community 8 Appreciating the uke's practicality 8 Sizing Up the Ukulele 10 Meeting the family: Daddy uke, mummy uke, and baby uke 11 Deciding whi
• Chapter 2 : Tuning Up to Sound Great 19 Knowing Some Musical Terms 20 Notes as letters 20 Half steps and whole steps 20 Chords and scales 21 Major and minor 21 Pitching into Tuning Basics 22 Unravelling Tunings for Your Instrument 22 Exploring the most co
• Chapter 3 : Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele 29 Holding On to Your Ukulele 29 Positioning yourself to play 30 Standing up 31 Sitting down 31 Holding your uke left-handed 32 Developing Your Strumming 32 Strumming in the right spot 33 Strumming in the
• Part 2 : Starting Out with Chords and Strumming 39
• Chapter 4 : Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs 41 Playing Music without Reading Music 42 Reading chord diagrams 42 Deciphering chord diagrams for lefties 44 Playing a Song Using Two Chords 44 Creating a C chord 44 Fingering an F chord 45 Starting
• Chapter 5 : Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns 59 Pocketing the Ever-Useful Swiss Army Strum 59 Adding Pep with Some Strumming Variations 64 Changing chords within bars 64 Strumming strongly and weakly 65 Introducing the time signature 66 Checking out ch
• Chapter 6 : Meeting the Chords and Their Families 79 Getting to Know Chord Families 79 Practicing the Three-Chord Trick: The I-IV-V Progression 80 Fingering Barre Chords 82 Going flat-out for B flat 82 Deciding to play D7 85 Playing B minor 85 Moving Chor
• Part 3 : Picking and Single-Note Playing 99
• Chapter 7 : Coming to Grips with Tabs and Notation 101 Tapping into Tabs 101 Stringing notes along in tabs 102 Fretting notes in tab 102 Sequencing notes in tab 103 Playing simultaneous notes in tab 103 Chording in tab 104 Strumming in tab 104 Reading Rhy
• Chapter 8 : Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns 117 Introducing the Fingerpicking Technique 118 Picking Up Some Picking Patterns 120 Getting the lowdown on the up pattern 120 Rising and falling: The up and down pattern 123 Playing all together: The simulta
• Chapter 9 : Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo 131 Strumming Melody and Chords Together 131 Thumb-strumming the melody 132 Using up strums 134 Strumming between the melody 134 Finger-strumming the melody 137 Picking Out Melodies and Chords 13
• Chapter 10 : Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques 141 Getting Articulated on the Frets 141 Hammering-on 142 Pulling-off 143 Sliding between notes 144 Bending notes 147 Producing vibrato 149 Putting everything together 150 Picking Your Way to Great Solos 150
• Part 4 : Discovering Genres and Styles 157
• Chapter 11 : Rocking Out with Your Uke 159 Rocking Out with Chords 159 Keeping it simple: Three-chord punk 160 Adding a fourth chord 160 Powering up with 5 chords 160 Building tension: Suspended chords 161 Strumming Rock and Punk Rhythms 162 Bo Diddling 1
• Chapter 12 : Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits 167 Playing Blues Chord Progressions 168 Performing a simple 12-bar blues 168 Varying the 12-bar blues 168 Shuffling the blues 172 Turning the Blues Around 176 Leading the Blues 178 Soloing with the Blue
• Chapter 13 : Saying "Aloha" to the Hawaiian Style 185 Strumming in the Hawaiian Way 185 Turning Around, Hawaiian-Style 188 Progressing to the Hawaiian turnaround 188 Soloing the Hawaiian turnaround 189 Stretching Out to Play "Alekoki" 190
• Chapter 14 : Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing 193 Turning Around, Jazz-Style 193 Using Hot Jazzy Chords 195 Strumming in That Jazzy Way 196 Playing a ragtime tune 196 Hitting the split stroke 198
• Chapter 15 : Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style 201 Starting Up Some Jawaiian Strumming 202 Practicing the touch strum 202 Drumming up the thumb 'n' strum style 203 "Jamming" with Bob Marley 205
• Chapter 16 : Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele 207 Strumming Up the Classics 207 Picking the Classics - Classical Guitar Pieces for Ukulele 210 Playing Campanella Style 213
• Chapter 17 : Ukuleleing the Holidays 217 Playing the Twelve Days 217 Ringing in the New Year with "Auld Lang Syne" 219 Making a Noise with "Silent Night" 220
• Part 5 : Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele 223
• Chapter 18 : Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele 225 Buying Your First Uke 225 Assessing how much to spend 226 Picking a size 226 Avoiding problems 227 Deciding Where to Buy 227 Buying from a shop 227 Purchasing online 228 Obtaining Your Second
• Chapter 19 : Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories 233 Picking the Right Strings 233 Getting Hold of Optional Accessories 234 Clipping on a tuner 234 Bagging a case 235 Recording your performance 235 Leaving it standing up or hanging down? 236 Strap
• Chapter 20 : Restringing, Maintaining, and Adjusting Your Uke 241 Restringing Your Ukulele 241 Deciding when to restring 242 Removing the strings 242 Tying the strings at the bridge 243 Looping the strings round the tuning pegs 245 Stretching the strings
• Part 6 : the part of Tens 251
• Chapter 21 : Ten Ukulele Players to Know 253 Ernest Ka'ai (1881-1962) 253 May Singhi Breen (1895-1970) 254 Roy Smeck (1900-1994) 254 George Formby (1904-1961) 255 The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (1985-) 255 Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (1959-1997) 256 Jak
• Chapter 22 : Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene 259 Joining a Ukulele Club 260 Visiting a Ukulele Festival 260 Making a Video 261 Playing Live 261 Going Online 262 Spreading the Uke News 262 Entering a Contest 262 Teaching Someone 263 Writing Y
• Chapter 23 : Ten (or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing 265 Playing Very Slowly 265 Refusing to Rush Things 266 Recording Yourself 266 Playing with and for Others 267 Practicing in Sections 267 Knowing When to Stop Practicing 267 Stealing from Everyone 2
• Chapter 24 : Ten Greatest Ukulele Chords 271 Invigorating C (with a High Note) 272 Shimmering A Minor 7 (High Up) 272 Melancholy F Major 7 273 Complex G9 273 Chilled Out G6 274 The "Hawaiian" D7 274 Uncomfortable A Augmented 7 275 Jazzy C9 276 Menacing F
• Part 7 : Appendixes 279
• Appendix A: Chord Charts 281
• Appendix B: Reading Standard Musical Notation 285
• Appendix C: Audio Tracks 291
• Index 297