Ukulele For Dummies

Authors: Alistair Wood

Ukulele For Dummies
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Table of Contents

About This Book
What You're Not to Read
Conventions Used in This Book
Foolish Assumptions
How This Book Is Organised
Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics
Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming
Part III: Picking and Single-Note Playing
Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles
Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele
Part VI: The Part of Tens
Part VII: Appendixes
Icons Used in This Book
Where to Go From Here

Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics

Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele
Understanding the Uke's Advantages
Loving the sound
Joining a vibrant community
Appreciating the uke's practicality
Sizing Up the Ukulele
Meeting the family: Daddy uke, mummy uke and baby uke
Deciding which uke is best for you
Taking a Tour: The Anatomy of the Ukulele
Becoming a Well-Versed Ukulele Player
Strumming along to hula in Hawaii
Swinging and picking across the USA
Rockin' and rollin', and getting down with the blues
Diversifying into ever more styles
Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great
Knowing Some Musical Terms
Notes as letters
Half steps and whole steps
Chords and scales
Major and minor
Pitching Into Tuning Basics
Unravelling Tunings for Your Instrument
Exploring the most common tuning: gCEA
Using other tunings
Choosing a Tuning Method
Going hi-tech: Tuning with an electronic tuner
Listening and repeating: Tuning to the audio track
Stringing along: Tuning to a guitar
Seeing in black and white: Tuning to a piano or keyboard
Tuning your uke to itself
Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele
Holding On to Your Ukulele
Positioning yourself to play
Standing up
Sitting down
Holding your uke left-handed
Developing Your Strumming
Strumming in the right spot
Strumming in the right way
Refusing to use a pick!
Pressing On to Fretting
Positioning your fretting hand
Locating where to fret
Discovering how strongly to fret
Adjusting when things don't sound right
Playing and pain

Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming

Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs
Playing Music without Reading Music
Reading chord diagrams
Deciphering chord diagrams for lefties
Playing a Song Using Two Chords
Creating a C chord
Fingering an F chord
Starting your first song: âLi'l Liza Jane'
Developing Your First Strumming Patterns
Using strumming notation
Filling in with ups and downs
Finding an easy way to follow rhythms
Discovering Seven Chords
Getting to grips with G7
Adding the E7 chord
Taking off with your second song: âI'll Fly Away'
Practising Minor Chords
Attempting A minor
Moving on to D minor
Majoring in E minor
Playing your first minor-chord song
Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns
Pocketing the Ever-useful Swiss Army Strum
Adding Pep with Some Strumming Variations
Changing chords within bars
Strumming strongly and weakly
Introducing the time signature
Checking out chnks
Strumming for Various Genres
Getting down with blues strumming: The shuffle
Becoming upbeat about the reggae off-beat
Rocking without strumming
Rolling your strums
Deciding on an Appropriate Strumming Pattern
Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families
Getting to Know Chord Families
Practising the Three-chord Trick: The IâIVâV Progression
Fingering Barre Chords
Going flat-out for B flat
Deciding to play D7
Playing B minor
Moving Chord Shapes
Budging up barre chords
Discovering new moveable chord shapes
Inviting Round More Chord Families
Geeing up the G chord family
Finding out about the F chord family
Playing according to the A chord family
Discovering the D chord family
Attempting More Complex Chords
Making melancholy minor 7 chords
Relaxing with major 7 chords
Getting cool with diminished chords
Remaining unresolved with suspended chords

Part III: Picking and Single-Note Playing

Chapter 7: Getting to Grips with Tabs and Notation
Tapping into Tabs
Stringing notes along in tabs
Fretting notes in tab
Sequencing notes in tab
Playing simultaneous notes in tab
Chording in tab
Strumming in tab
Reading Rhythms
Splitting into quarter notes
Holding on for half and whole notes
Dividing further: Eighth and sixteenth notes
Dotting and tying notes
Resting and Repeating
Taking a rest
Repeating . . . and repeating
Putting Everything Together
Starting with a simple tune
Moving up the neck
Shifting positions
Chapter 8: Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns
Introducing the Fingerpicking Technique
Picking Up Some Picking Patterns
Getting the lowdown on the up pattern
Rising and falling: The up and down pattern
Playing all together: The simultaneous picking pattern
Thumbing around: The alternate picking pattern
Chapter 9: Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo
Strumming Melody and Chords Together
Thumb-strumming the melody
Using up strums
Strumming between the melody
Finger-strumming the melody
Picking Out Melodies and Chords
Faking a strum
Fingerpicking to combine melody and chords
Chapter 10: Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques
Getting Articulated on the Frets
Hammering-on
Pulling-off
Sliding between notes
Bending notes
Producing vibrato
Putting everything together
Picking Your Way to Great Solos
Being all fingers and thumbs (in a good way!)
Picking alternately: The running man
Using a pick
Strum blocking
Inventing Solos the Easy Way
Soloing using chord shapes
Playing all the chord shapes
Soloing with scales

Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles

Chapter 11: Rocking Out With Your Uke
Rocking Out With Chords
Keeping it simple: Three-chord punk
Adding a fourth chord
Powering up with 5 chords
Building tension: Suspended chords
Strumming Rock and Punk Rhythms
Bo Diddling
Iggy Popping
Riffing Your Way to Rock Heaven
Working with chord riffs
Strengthening your single-note riffs
Combining chords and single notes
Discovering Rock Soloing Techniques
Double stopping
Shifting position with slides
Making Your Uke Talk: Soloing Tips
Phrasing like speaking
Articulating questions and answers
Moving up the fretboard for tension and release
Chapter 12: Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits
Playing Blues Chord Progressions
Performing a simple 12-bar blues
Varying the 12-bar blues
Shuffling the blues
Turning the Blues Around
Leading the Blues
Soloing with the Blues Scale
Discovering the first position blues scale
Using the second position blues scale
Scaling the heights with solos
Chapter 13: Saying âAloha' to the Hawaiian Style
Strumming in the Hawaiian Way
Turning Around, Hawaiian-style
Progressing to the Hawaiian turnaround
Soloing the Hawaiian turnaround
Stretching Out to Play âAlekoki'
Chapter 14: Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing
Turning Around, Jazz-Style
Using Hot Jazzy Chords
Extending your chords
Stretching chords even further
Altering your chords
Strumming in that Jazzy Way
Playing a ragtime tune
Hitting the split stroke
Faking a Jazz Solo
Chapter 15: Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style
Starting Up Some Jawaiian Strumming
Practising the touch strum
Drumming up the thumb 'n' strum style
âJamming' with Bob Marley
Going âOne Step Beyond': Skanking
Chapter 16: Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele
Conjuring Chords for Classics
Strumming Up the Classics
Picking the Classics â Classical Guitar Pieces for Ukulele
Playing Campanella Style

Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele

Chapter 17: Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele
Buying Your First Uke
Assessing how much to spend
Picking a size
Avoiding problems
Deciding Where to Buy
Buying from a shop
Purchasing online
Obtaining Your Second (and Third, Fourth, Fifth . . .) Ukulele
Thinking about solid versus laminated
Considering types of wood
Plugging In: Electric Ukuleles
Chapter 18: Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories
Picking the Right Strings
Getting Hold of Optional Accessories
Clipping on a tuner
Bagging a case
Recording your performance
Leaving it standing up or hanging down?
Strapping on your uke
Capturing the right capo
Feeling for a pick â if you really must
Computing Your Way to Better Playing
Keeping time with a metronome
Recording tunes
Tuning up
Charting a way to uke chords
Producing chord sheets
Making tabs
Training by ear
Chapter 19: Restringing, Maintaining and Adjusting Your Uke
Restringing Your Ukulele
Deciding when to restring
Removing the strings
Tying the strings at the bridge
Looping the strings round the tuning pegs
Stretching the strings
Maintaining Your Ukulele
Cleaning after playing
Storing your ukulele
Tackling humidity
Diagnosing and Solving Uke Problems
Deciding that the strings are too high: Lowering the action
Fixing a buzzing sound: Raising the action
Fighting against out-of-tune strings high up the fretboard
Adjusting strings that go out of tune

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