Ukulele For Dummies (61 page)

As with the chord stab strum in the preceding section, keep the chords sounding only for a very short time. As soon as you strum, release the pressure on your fretting to cut the notes short.

A near ubiquitous development of the ska strum is to include a slide into the chord on the fourth beat. Taking the Bm chord used in the earlier Figure 15-8, ska players would move the whole chord down a fret (to B
m in this case) on the fourth ‘and' and slide it up to Bm at the start of the next bar. This slide creates the strum shown in Figure 15-9 and on Track 90, Part 4.

Chapter 16

Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele

In This Chapter

Using chords to get classical

Strumming patterns for classical playing

Performing classical guitar tunes on your uke

Arranging classical pieces to suit the uke

C
lassical music is one of the last things people expect to hear coming out of a ukulele, which is what makes classical music so much fun to play on the uke. Perform a classical piece and people think, ‘I didn't know you could do that on a ukulele!' This chapter shows you how to go about creating this surprised response in listeners. So put on your best suit or classiest frock because you're going to the concert hall!

Conjuring Chords for Classics

Most classical music is too complex to be played easily using just chords, but with a bit of ingenuity a few pieces can be arranged in this way. One such tune is Beethoven's ‘Ode to Joy', the famous melody from his Ninth Symphony. The groundbreaking Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (about whom I write more in Chapter 20) chose this simple tune as the ideal piece for their audience to play along with in their Proms performance at the Albert Hall. This arrangement is made in the same way as ‘I'll Fly Away' in Chapter 9; by adding the melody notes to the chords as you strum them.

Listen to Track 91. The chords and tab arrangement for ‘Ode to Joy' are shown in Figures 16-1 and 16-2, respectively. The arrangement is based on two familiar chord shapes: C and G. For the first eight bars, hold down the C chord shape but use your little finger to hold down the A-string, third fret. The melody notes are then added to this chord to create the tune. Assign one finger to each fret (index finger to the first fret, middle to the second, ring to the third) and use those to create the chord shapes in the first half of Figure 16-1.

When the tune switches to a G chord in bar 9, you need to use a slightly truncated form of G. Hold down the C-string second fret as you normally would, but use your middle finger to hold down the E-string at the third fret. Now mute the A-string with the underside of your middle finger by resting it against the string (rather than arching over it as you usually would). Now when you play the A-string it should make a click and nothing more.

When you have that skill down, add in the extra notes to create the chords in the second half of Figure 16-1. With each chord, be sure that you're still muting the A-string.

Strumming this tune is dead simple: the pattern is just up, down, up, down almost all the way through. The only exceptions are the long notes in bar 12 and at the end.

Strumming Up the Classics

The
strum up
technique that I cover in Chapter 9 (that is, strumming down on a chord and adding the melody note at the top) is an effective way to arrange more simple classical tunes.

For example, Figure 16-3 (Track 92) shows the tab for Brahms's ‘Lullaby' (a tune familiar from every music box ever made). The melody is built around three main chords: C, G7 and F. At the start of each bar the relevant chord is strummed down (using the thumb) with the melody note on the last string you hit.

After the opening chord of the bar, the thumb plays the single melody notes.

The fretting hand fingering is pretty straightforward, but bar seven requires a bit of thinking ahead. I indicate using your fourth finger (the little one) to play the note at the third fret. Although using your third finger may look more natural, you'd then be stranded for the next note.

The next tune – ‘Greensleeves' (Track 93) – uses the same technique as Brahms's ‘Lullaby' but adds a couple of elements.

Figure 16-4 contains the arrangement.