Ukulele For Dummies, 3rd Edition

✍ Scribed by Alistair Wood

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2020
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 339
• Edition: 3
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Strum a tune on your ukulele—no Hawaiian shirt required!

Picture it now: the sun sets over the shimmering sea, and, as the beach bar falls quiet, you begin strumming Queen Liliuokalani’s “Aloha ‘Oe” to a mesmerized crowd. ... Okay, while this doesn’t happen every day for ukulele-players, you’ll still have a lot of fun learning your favorite tunes on your ukulele. Widely associated with Hawaiian music, the ukulele has exploded in popularity in recent years as kids and adults alike have started their music education with a uke or added it to their collection of instruments.

Learning to play this versatile instrument is made easier for the experience and inexperienced alike with this new edition of Ukulele For Dummies. Following its straightforward instructions, you’ll pick your way from the basics of purchasing your ukulele and accessories to confidently strumming through simple chord progressions and jamming through various styles and standards, including pop, folk, and those much-loved holiday favorites. Aloha, Santa Claus!

Buy the right ukulele for you 
Perfect your pick and fret 
Practice with downloadable audio 
Get the best ukulele apps

Whatever you want from your ukulele adventure—strumming on the beach or adding its island style to your distinctive new pop sound—Ukulele For Dummies will have you making a big splash with this tiny instrument in aloha no time at all!

✦ Table of Contents

Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part 1 Getting Started with the Ukulele
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 2 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: “Li’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 Seventh Chords
Getting to grips with G7
Adding the E7 chord
Taking off with your second song: “I’ll Fly Away”
Practicing 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
Practicing the Three-Chord Trick: The I–IV–V 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
Easing the Chord Changes
Changing D and A the easy way
Refingering E minor
Shuffling B7
Breezing through D7
Part 3 Picking and Single-Note Playing
Chapter 7 Coming 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 4 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
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 “Aloha” 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 “Alekoki”
Chapter 14 Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing
Turning Around, Jazz-Style
Using Hot Jazzy Chords
Strumming in That Jazzy Way
Playing a ragtime tune
Hitting the split stroke
Chapter 15 Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style
Starting Up Some Jawaiian Strumming
Practicing the touch strum
Drumming up the thumb ’n’ strum style
“Jamming” with Bob Marley
Chapter 16 Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele
Strumming Up the Classics
Picking the Classics — Classical Guitar Pieces for Ukulele
Playing Campanella Style
Chapter 17 Ukuleleing the Holidays
Playing the Twelve Days
Ringing in the New Year with “Auld Lang Syne”
Making a Noise with “Silent Night”
Part 5 Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele
Chapter 18 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
Lowering the Tone: Bass Ukuleles
Chapter 19 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
Going Mobile
Finding uke chords
Tuning up
Keeping time with a metronome
Recording tunes
Chapter 20 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
Adjusting strings that go out of tune
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
Part 6 The Part of Tens
Chapter 21 Ten Ukulele Players to Know
Ernest Ka‘ai (1881–1962)
May Singhi Breen (1895–1970)
Roy Smeck (1900–1994)
George Formby (1904–1961)
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (1985–)
Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole (1959–1997)
Jake Shimabukuro (1976–)
Amanda Palmer (1976–)
James Hill (1980–)
Zach Condon (1986–)
Chapter 22 Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene
Joining a Ukulele Club
Visiting a Ukulele Festival
Making a Video
Playing Live
Going Online
Spreading the Uke News
Entering a Contest
Teaching Someone
Writing Your Own Songs
Seeing a Show
Chapter 23 Ten (or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing
Playing Very Slowly
Refusing to Rush Things
Recording Yourself
Playing with and for Others
Practicing in Sections
Knowing When to Stop Practicing
Stealing from Everyone
Varying Your Inversions and Verying Your Invarsions
Opening Your Ears
Enjoying Yourself
Busting a Rut
Chapter 24 Ten Greatest Ukulele Chords
Invigorating C (with a High Note)
Shimmering A Minor 7 (High Up)
Melancholy F Major 7
Complex G9
Chilled Out G6
The “Hawaiian” D7
Uncomfortable A Augmented 7
Jazzy C9
Menacing F Minor 9
Nostalgic E Diminished 7
Part 7 Appendixes
Appendix A Chord Charts
Appendix B Reading Standard Musical Notation
Appendix C Audio Tracks
Index
EULA