Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Conventions Used in This Book 2
What You’re Not to Read 2
Foolish Assumptions 3
How This Book Is Organised 3
Part I: Getting Started with Ukulele Exercises 3
Part II: Becoming a Better Strummer 3
Part III: Becoming a Better Fingerpicker 4
Part IV: Mastering the Ukulele Fretboard 4
Part V: The Part of Tens 4
Accessing the Audio Tracks 4
Icons Used in This Book 5
Where to Go from Here 5
Part I: Getting Started with Ukulele Exercises 7
Chapter 1: Preparing to Practise 9
Equipping Yourself with the Right Practice Tools 9
Tuning up with a chromatic tuner 9
Keeping time with a metronome 10
Tracking your progress with a practice journal 10
Reviewing Ukulele Notation 11
Deciphering tablature 11
Understanding chord diagrams 12
Comprehending neck diagrams 13
Reading rhythm charts 13
Chapter 2: Warming Up for Practice 15
Limbering Up Your Body to Play Ukulele 15
Loosening up with stretches 15
Relaxing with breathing exercises 16
Strengthening your hands with exercises 16
Brushing Up on Perfect Playing Posture 17
Looking at Some Warm-Up Exercises on the Ukulele 17
Practising single-note exercises 17
Practising chord exercises 19
Part II: Becoming a Better Strummer 23
Chapter 3: Foundations For Strumming 25
Working Out Your Strumming Technique 25
Choosing the right strumming technique 26
Strumming with your index finger 26
Strumming with your thumb 27
Strumming with four fingers 27
Getting Acquainted With the Golden Rules of Strumming 28
Rule #1: Strumming is consistent 28
Rule #2: Strumming is relaxed 29
Rule #3: Strumming is intentional 30
Finding the Right Strumming Pattern for Any Song 30
Building a strumming repertoire 30
Listening to the song 31
Counting the song 31
Starting with down strums 31
Knowing when to change chords 32
Singing and Strumming at the Same Time 32
Playing the song through without singing 32
Humming first, singing later 32
Simplifying isn’t a bad thing 32
Chapter 4: Building a Repertoire of Strumming Patterns 33
Discovering How to Use These Exercises to Become a Better Strummer 33
Mastering the Universal Strumming Pattern 34
Counting along with down strums 34
Keeping the beat with up strums 35
Combining down and up strums 35
Application song: ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ 36
Tackling Common Time Strumming Patterns 37
Developing eighth note strums 37
Building a multi-purpose strumming pattern 38
Practising chord changes on different beats 39
Application song: ‘Jingle Bells’ 40
Making Common Time Strumming Patterns More Interesting 41
Accenting the beat 42
Using syncopation in three different ways 43
Rearranging up strums to create different feels 45
Application song: ‘I’ve Been Working On the Railroad’ 47
Waltzing Along With 3/4 Time Signature Strumming Patterns 48
Practising versatile 3/4 strumming patterns 48
Application song: ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’ 49
Getting More Advanced With 6/8 Time Signature Strumming Patterns 50
Developing delightful 6/8 strumming patterns 51
Application song: ‘O Holy Night’ 52
Chapter 5: Taking Strumming Patterns to a Higher Level 55
Getting Groovy With Shuffle Rhythms 55
Finding the pocket with shuffle rhythm exercises 56
‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ 57
Strumming Faster Without Getting Sloppier 58
Working on relaxing strumming movements 58
Minimizing wasted strumming motion 59
Drawing up a plan to improve strumming speed 59
‘Hello! Ma Baby’ 60
Showing Off Subdivided Strumming Patterns 61
Souping up your strumming with sixteenth notes 62
Trying out triplet strums 63
Putting the pedal down with speed rhythm exercises 64
Making Your Strumming Dynamic 66
Playing loudly and softly 66
Varying rhythmic complexity 67
‘Oh! Susanna’ 67
Recognising Offbeat Chord Changes 68
Switching to chords on offbeats 69
Variation on the 12 bar blues 69
Switching Chords Without Interrupting Your Strumming 70
Setting up a chord change 70
‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ 71
Chapter 6: Refining Advanced Strumming Techniques 73
Playing Percussively With Two Muting Techniques 73
Developing your ‘chnking’ technique 74
Figuring out fret hand muting 75
‘ Michael, Row the Boat Ashore’ 77
Perfecting Alternative Strumming Techniques 77
Taking on the touch strum 77
‘Billy Boy’ 79
Improving the thumb ’n strum 80
Application song: ‘Rock a Bye Baby’ 82
Wrapping Your Mind Around Rolling Finger Strums 83
Four finger roll 84
Five finger roll 84
Eight Finger Roll 84
Ten Finger Roll 85
Practising finger roll strumming pattern exercises 85
Application song: ‘Sweet Lei Lehua’ 86
Part III: Becoming a Better Fingerpicker 89
Chapter 7: Examining Fingerpicking Technique 91
Practising Two Different Fingerpicking Techniques 91
Polishing the four-finger technique 92
Perfecting the alternating thumb technique 93
Looking at the Golden Rules of Fingerpicking 94
Rule #1: Stay loose 94
Rule #2: Slow and steady wins the race 95
Rule #3: Repeat, repeat, repeat 95
Chapter 8: Developing Rhythmic Fingerpicking Patterns 97
Practising the Four-Finger Picking Technique 97
‘Inside-out’ pattern 98
‘Outside-in’ pattern 99
Simultaneous pinched patterns 101
Patterns in varied rhythms 104
‘The Water Is Wide’ 107
Practising the Alternating Picking Technique 109
‘Inside-out’ pattern 109
‘Outside-in’ pattern 110
Simultaneous pinched patterns 110
Patterns in varied rhythms 112
Application song: ‘I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger’ 114
Chapter 9: Improving Your Solo Fingerpicking Skills 117
Tackling Solo Fingerstyle Pieces 117
Learning two pieces of music 118
Playing Carcassi’s ‘Andantino’ 119
Strengthening Your Fingerpicking with Arpeggio Exercises 120
Trying your hand at ‘p i m’ arpeggios 121
Playing Tarrega’s ‘Etude in E minor’ 125
Working through more advanced arpeggios 127
Playing Aguado’s ‘25 Pieces Pour Guitare, no 17’ 130
Developing Lightning-Fast Tremolo Technique 132
Tackling three-finger tremolo 132
Playing ‘Etude in C major’ 133
Figuring out four-finger tremolo 133
Chapter 10: Taking a Deeper Look at Single-Note Fingerpicking Techniques 135
Speeding up Single-Note Passages 135
Practising four alternation techniques 136
Applying alternation techniques to pieces of music 137
Articulating Single-Note Passages 140
Hammer-on exercises 141
Pull-off exercises 142
Slide exercises 143
Bend exercises 144
Strumming and Fingerpicking for Melody 145
Playing ‘Silent Night’ 146
Playing ‘Danny Boy (Londonderry Air)’ 147
Part IV: Mastering the Ukulele Fretboard 151
Chapter 11: Learning the Fretboard with Major Scales 153
Taking a Quick Look at the Chromatic Scale 154
Building a Major Scale 155
Learning the major scale interval pattern 155
Creating a major scale in any key 156
Practising Major Scale Patterns in Three Different Keys 158
Learning natural notes with C major 158
Seeing how sharps work with G major 161
Figuring out flats with F major 164
Getting Your Fingers Moving with Major Scale Sequences 167
Faking Fretboard Knowledge 170
Recognising fretboard landmarks 170
Locating the same note on different strings 171
Finding octave notes 172
Using Major Scales to Play Actual Songs 173
Playing ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’ 173
Playing ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ 174
Chapter 12: Taking On Three Minor Scales 177
Building a Natural Minor Scale 177
Discovering the natural minor scale interval pattern 178
Relating natural minor to major 179
Playing the Natural Minor scale 180
Homing In On Harmonic Minor 184
Mixing It Up With Melodic Minor 187
Practising Five Different Minor Scale Sequences 190
Playing Songs Using All Three Minor Scales 193
Playing ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel’ 193
Playing ‘Coventry Carol’ 194
Playing ‘Greensleeves’ 195
Chapter 13: Commanding the Fretboard with Chords 197
Building Major and Minor Triads 197
Constructing major triads 198
Putting together minor triads 199
Practising Triads Up and Down the Fretboard 200
Major triad exercises 201
Minor triad exercises 202
Combined triad exercises 203
Taking Triads and Playing Actual Songs 204
Playing ‘Red River Valley’ 205
Playing ‘Joy to the World’ 206
Turning Triads Into Moveable Chord Positions 207
Making moveable major chords 207
Assembling moveable minor chords 208
Practising moveable chord progressions 208
Getting Jazzy with Moveable Seventh Chords 209
Figuring out dominant seventh chords 209
Mastering major seventh chords 210
Tackling minor seventh chords 211
Practising jazz chord progressions 211
Chapter 14: Using Scales to Solo and Improvise 213
Rocking Out with Pentatonic Scales 213
Learning the minor pentatonic scale 213
Constructing the major pentatonic scale 214
Practising pentatonic scale licks and exercises 215
Playing a rock solo 217
Expressing Soul with the Blues Scale 218
Building the blues scale 218
Practising blues scale licks and exercises 219
Playing a blues solo 221
Sounding Jazzy with the Bebop Scale 221
Discovering the dominant bebop scale 222
Mastering the major bebop scale 223
Practising bebop scale licks and exercises 224
Playing a jazz solo 226
Part V: The Part of Tens 229
Chapter 15: Ten Ways to Improve Your Practice Times 231
Setting a Location 231
Scheduling a Time 231
Creating Time Limits 232
Keeping a Practice Journal 232
Trying Out Different Musical Styles 232
Practising with Other People 232
Writing a Song 233
Working on Active Listening 233
Leaving Your Ukulele Out On a Stand 233
Taking a Break 234
Chapter 16: Ten Tips for Every Performing Ukulele Player 235
Becoming a Better Performer 235
Getting Involved in the Local Music Scene 236
Finding a Place to Perform 236
Building a Set List of Songs 236
Preparing to Play Before an Audience 237
Handling Nerves Right Before the Show 237
Mastering the Art of Focus 238
Remembering to Breathe 238
Engaging With Your Audience 238
Being Confident in Yourself 239
