Ukulele For Dummies (46 page)

Scales are usually presented in boxes, which are similar to chord diagrams and show you where to put your fingers on the fretboard. The difference is that you don't play all the notes at once but instead play one at a time. The boxes show the note options you can use when playing within that scale.

Majoring in the pentatonic scale

Like major chords, the
major pentatonic scale
has a bright, happy sound to it. You hear it regularly in country and pop solos.

Scales are often shown in a
scale box
. A scale box depicts the fretboard just like a chord box and shows the position of the notes in the scale. The scale box for the C major pentatonic scale is shown in Figure 10-22, and the notes in tab form in Figure 10-23. Listen to Track 49, Part 1, for an example.

Like chords, this shape can be moved so that you can use it in different keys. If you move the C major pentatonic box up two frets, you get the D major pentatonic box in Figure 10-24.

Minoring in the pentatonic scale

The
minor pentatonic scale
is a dark, bluesy scale that's common in rock and blues playing. Figure 10-25 shows the C minor pentatonic scale box and Figure 10-26 shows the scale tabbed out. Listen to Track 49, Part 2, for an example.

Again, this shape can be moved up the neck to create the minor pentatonic scale in different keys. So to create the D minor pentatonic scale you move the shape up two frets, as shown in Figure 10-27.

The minor and major pentatonic scales can be used in a wide range of genres, but I cover them specifically in Chapters 11 (on rock) and 12 (on blues), along with tips on building your own solos.

Part IV

Discovering Genres and Styles

In this part . . .

I prove the ukulele's incredible versatility and provide you with a guide to playing the uke in a whole range of different styles. I include three areas that are traditionally associated with the ukulele: Hawaiian, jazz and the Jamaican/Hawaiian crossover sound. I also lead you to some genres that have become popular more recently with the rise of ukulele groups and orchestras: rock, blues and classical.

Chapter 11

Rocking Out With Your Uke

In This Chapter

Playing rock-hard chord progressions

Riffing big with single notes and chords

Putting together heavy solos

R
ock may not be the first genre you connect with the ukulele, but many rock stars have used the uke. The Who, Queen, Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and George Harrison have all released ukulele songs. The movement in the other direction has been even stronger, with groups such as the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra popularising arranged rock songs for uke.

This chapter runs through a range of rock techniques that can be used on a ukulele, including three-chord punk songs, rock strumming patterns, riffing and soloing techniques.

Rocking Out With Chords

Rock and punk songs are often based on chords but use them in a slightly different way to other musical styles. They tend to use shorter chord progressions than blues and folk songs, with chords often changing within a bar, and they often have a short sequence of chords repeated over and over.

Keeping it simple: Three-chord punk

You may be surprised but the philosophies of punk culture and uke culture have a large crossover: both are based on the unpretentious, user-friendly idea that anyone can make music and that when you've learned three chords, you're ready for public performance.

Punk fanzines teach their readers three chords and tell them to go form a band, in the same way that a ukulele group teaches beginners three chords and throws them into their first song. Sometimes the chords are those of the three-chord trick (that I describe in Chapter 6) and sometimes the three-chord punk progression.

In the key of A, the latter is A–C–D, which you can use to create the chord progression in Figure 11-1 (Track 50).

You can make switching between D and C easier by fretting the C chord with your little finger rather than your ring finger.

Adding a fourth chord

Figure 11-2 (Track 51) is a Nirvana-style progression in the key of A, which contains the C and D chords from the progression in the preceding section and adds the F chord to make A–D–C–F.

Powering up with 5 chords

Nothing embodies rock and punk's less-is-more philosophy than the
5 chord
, often called a
power chord
. These chords don't crop up very often in ukulele playing, but they're often used in rock songs. A 5 chord has only two notes in it, which gives you an ambiguous chord that's neither major nor minor.

You have two main options for creating 5 chords on the uke:

Play the C moveable chord shape and add in the third fret on the E-string to give you the first chord shape in Figure 11-3.

This fingering can be made into a moveable chord shape (as I discuss in Chapter 6) to give you the E5 and F5 chords in Figure 11-3 (remember, the number next to the chord diagram is the fret from which the diagram starts).

Play G chord shape, release the A-string and mute it (with the underside of your fretting fingers) to give you the G5 shape.

Again, this can be made moveable to create an A5 chord.