Learn to: Alistair Wood. Play the ukulele right away no experience required. Master various chords and strumming patterns

Transcription

1 g Easier! Making Everythin e l e l u k U Learn to: Play the ukulele right away no experience required Master various chords and strumming patterns Play rock, punk, blues, reggae and standards Stretch your skills with the bonus CD Alistair Wood Founder of ukulelehunt.com

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3 Ukulele FOR DUMmIES

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5 Ukulele FOR DUMmIES by Alistair Wood A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, Publication

6 Ukulele For Dummies Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd The Atrium Southern Gate Chichester West Sussex PO19 8SQ England (for orders and customer service enquires): Visit our Home Page on Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex, England Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS, UK, without the permission in writing of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, England, or ed to [email protected], or faxed to (44) Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER, THE AUTHOR, AND ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN PREPARING THIS WORK MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFI- CALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR PRO- MOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL SERVICES. IF PRO- FESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ. For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at , outside the U.S. at , or fax For technical support, please visit Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Not all content that is available in standard print versions of this book may appear or be packaged in all book formats. If you have purchased a version of this book that did not include media that is referenced by or accompanies a standard print version, you may request this media by visiting For more information about Wiley products, visit us at British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN (paperback), ISBN (ebook), ISBN (ebook), ISBN (ebook) Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall

7 About the Author Alistair Wood is a ukulele enthusiast, arranger, and writer. He first picked up a ukulele at the age of 16 and spent five years working out which way round the strings were supposed to go. Once that hurdle was leapt, he quickly became a devote and launched the website UkuleleHunt.com in Since then, UkuleleHunt.com has gone on to be the most popular ukulele blog on the net, attracting over 6 million views and becoming the online hub of the ukulele scene. His expertise on the current ukulele boom has lead to his opinions being sought by The Guardian, The New York Times, and BBC News. If you have any questions or comments about the book, or ukulele playing in general, you can contact Alistair at [email protected].

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9 Dedication For Trefor Wood ( ). Author s Acknowledgements If you find this book helpful, grammatically correct, and not at all offensive, that outcome is entirely due to the skill, patience, and hard work of the team at Wiley. I d like to thank Mike Baker, Steve Edwards, Jen Bingham, and Rachael Chilvers for all their work. And thanks to Arch Larizza for ironing out the technical foul-ups. I owe more thanks than I could possibly say to Mum, Dad, and Gaz, who ve supported everything I ve ever done even my bright idea of packing in a steady job in favour of writing about ukuleles on the internet. Huge thanks go to Jenny Sokol (who has been a rock of support) and to Armelle Aaserod, Lou Armer, and Lorraine Bow. I d also like to thank my fellow ukulele bloggers Gary Peare and Craig Robertson at Ukulelia, Mike Dickison at Kiwi Ukulele, and Bertrand Saint-Guillain at Ukulele.fr for their help and encouragement when I started out. My thanks also go to everyone who has supported me with kind comments and s. Finally, thanks to all the musicians who ve made the ukulele an instrument worth writing about.

10 Publisher s Acknowledgements We re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Commissioning, Editorial, and Media Development Project Editor: Steve Edwards Commissioning Editor: Mike Baker Assistant Editor: Ben Kemble Development Editor: Andy Finch Copy Editor: Kate O Leary Technical Editor: Arch Larizza Proofreader: Charlie Wilson Production Manager: Daniel Mersey Cover Photos: istock/david Cannings-Bushell Cartoons: Rich Tennant ( Composition Services Project Coordinator: Kristie Rees Layout and Graphics: Samantha K. Cherolis, Lavonne Roberts, Corrie Socolovitch Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC Special Art: Alistair Wood Interior Photographer: Max Cisotti Proofreader: Jessica Kramer Special Help Brand Reviewer: Jennifer Bingham Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

11 Contents at a Glance Introduction... 1 Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics... 7 Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele...9 Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great...21 Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele...31 Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs...43 Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns...65 Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families...87 Part III: Picking and Single-Note Playing Chapter 7: Getting to Grips with Tabs and Notation Chapter 8: Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns Chapter 9: Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo Chapter 10: Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles Chapter 11: Rocking Out With Your Uke Chapter 12: Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits Chapter 13: Saying Aloha to the Hawaiian Style Chapter 14: Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing Chapter 15: Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style Chapter 16: Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele Chapter 17: Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele Chapter 18: Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories Chapter 19: Restringing, Maintaining and Adjusting Your Uke...267

12 Part VI: The Part of Tens Chapter 20: Ten (Plus) Ukulele Players to Know Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene Chapter 22: Ten (Or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing Part VII: Appendixes Appendix A: Chord Charts Appendix B: Reading Standard Musical Notation Appendix C: Audio Tracks Index

13 Table of Contents Introduction... 1 About This Book...1 What You re Not to Read...2 Conventions Used in This Book...2 Foolish Assumptions...2 How This Book Is Organised...3 Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics...3 Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming...3 Part III: Picking and Single-Note Playing...4 Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles...4 Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele...4 Part VI: The Part of Tens...4 Part VII: Appendixes...5 Icons Used in This Book...5 Where to Go From Here...6 Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics... 7 Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele Understanding the Uke s Advantages...9 Loving the sound...9 Joining a vibrant community...10 Appreciating the uke s practicality...10 Sizing Up the Ukulele...12 Meeting the family: Daddy uke, mummy uke and baby uke...12 Deciding which uke is best for you...13 Taking a Tour: The Anatomy of the Ukulele...13 Becoming a Well-Versed Ukulele Player...17 Strumming along to hula in Hawaii...17 Swinging and picking across the USA...18 Rockin and rollin, and getting down with the blues...19 Diversifying into ever more styles...19 Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great Knowing Some Musical Terms...22 Notes as letters...22 Half steps and whole steps...23 Chords and scales...23 Major and minor...23

14 xii Ukulele For Dummies Pitching Into Tuning Basics...24 Unravelling Tunings for Your Instrument...24 Exploring the most common tuning: gcea...25 Using other tunings...26 Choosing a Tuning Method...26 Going hi-tech: Tuning with an electronic tuner...27 Listening and repeating: Tuning to the audio track...28 Stringing along: Tuning to a guitar...28 Seeing in black and white: Tuning to a piano or keyboard...29 Tuning your uke to itself...29 Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele Holding On to Your Ukulele...31 Positioning yourself to play...32 Standing up...33 Sitting down...34 Holding your uke left-handed...34 Developing Your Strumming...35 Strumming in the right spot...36 Strumming in the right way...36 Refusing to use a pick!...36 Pressing On to Fretting...37 Positioning your fretting hand...37 Locating where to fret...39 Discovering how strongly to fret...39 Adjusting when things don t sound right...39 Playing and pain...40 Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs Playing Music without Reading Music...43 Reading chord diagrams...44 Deciphering chord diagrams for lefties...46 Playing a Song Using Two Chords...46 Creating a C chord...46 Fingering an F chord...47 Starting your first song: Li l Liza Jane...49 Developing Your First Strumming Patterns...50 Using strumming notation...50 Filling in with ups and downs...51 Finding an easy way to follow rhythms...52

15 Table of Contents xiii Discovering Seven Chords...54 Getting to grips with G Adding the E7 chord...55 Taking off with your second song: I ll Fly Away...56 Practising Minor Chords...58 Attempting A minor...58 Moving on to D minor...58 Majoring in E minor...60 Playing your first minor-chord song...61 Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns Pocketing the Ever-useful Swiss Army Strum...65 Adding Pep with Some Strumming Variations...69 Changing chords within bars...69 Strumming strongly and weakly...71 Introducing the time signature...71 Checking out chnks...76 Strumming for Various Genres...78 Getting down with blues strumming: The shuffle...78 Becoming upbeat about the reggae off-beat...79 Rocking without strumming...82 Rolling your strums...84 Deciding on an Appropriate Strumming Pattern...84 Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families Getting to Know Chord Families...88 Practising the Three-chord Trick: The I IV V Progression...89 Fingering Barre Chords...90 Going flat-out for B flat...91 Deciding to play D Playing B minor...97 Moving Chord Shapes...97 Budging up barre chords...97 Discovering new moveable chord shapes...98 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...108