Bare Bones Ukulele Basics

BARE BONES UKULELE BASICS

Before you begin – a note about pain.  Sometimes you will have some discomfort or strain from playing uke.  Do not push it too far!!  It's better to do a few short sessions a day than one long session.  Also look at your ergonomics.  Can you hold your elbow out to relieve strain on your shoulder?  Can you change your wrist angle to put it at a more neutral position?  Be thoughtful and you will be able to play longer.  (Says the voice of carpal tunnel and tendonitis.)

STRUMMING

You strum with your right hand.  Don't worry about strum patterns, it tends to work itself out as you play.  For now, just strum downwards on the 1, 2, 3, 4 beats. 

Using your thumb will give you a nice soft sound while you are getting your chords figured out.

FRETTING

You fret with your left hand.  Fretting is pushing down the strings to change their length.  Although each thickness of string sounds different, changing the length is what allows for even more changes to tone.

Experiment with finger placement to get the cleanest sound from your string.  Generally speaking, using the fingertip, very close to the fret closest to the soundhole will give you the best result.

TUNING

To tune your ukulele, clip on the headstock tuner and power it on.  Turn the tuning knobs on the ukulele until the strings register that they are good  - GREEN on many tuners. 

Your ukulele is tuned:

G – close to your face

C – the next one down

E – the next one down

A – closest to the floor. 

Do you need to power down your tuner? Some shut down automatically, but double check. 

CHORDS

On the ukulele,  most people strum chords rather than playing individual notes.  Most songs are made of the same standard “chord progressions”.  If you learn the chord progressions, you will know a lot of songs!

Most people find it easy to sing in the key of C, and those chord progressions are easy to learn, so that is where we will start.

For the Key of C, the chord progression is     C, F, G, C

YOUR FIRST CHORDS

There are many ways to finger each chord, and they are referred to as “different voicings” of the chord.  However, we are going to start with first position OPEN chords.  Open chords are ones where some strings do not need to be fretted (pressed down).  Later you will want to learn closed chords to make your playing more interesting and challenging.

Many people use chord graphics but for the vision impaired it can be easier to use numbers.  When you tuned your ukulele you started by your face, and it’s the same for counting chords.

Numbering chords looks like this: C is 0003.  This means that the first string – the string closest to the floor – you put your finger on the 3^rd fret.  The other strings, since they say zero, do not need to be held down. 

So, put your finger on the third fret of the first (near the floor) string.  Now strum.  Congratulations!  You just played a C chord!

That was a one finger chord.  C is 0003.

Let's try a two finger chord.  F is 2010. 

Now for a three finger chord.  G is 0232.

Get comfortable with those three chords  - enough so that you know which is which - before you move on to the next section.  It may help to say or sing the chord name as you strum it. 

Guess what?  Now that you know C, F, and G, you've just learned enough chords for hundreds of songs!

CHORD PROGRESSION of C

Key                 Progression

C                     C, F, G, C

Every ukulele workshop I have attended has emphasized that the core skill that players need to master is the transition between chords.  It is very important that your fingers know what is going to happen next.  Therefore, it is important to do rote practice, both for mental and muscle memory to kick in.

Now's the time where you turn on the TV and practice just switching through the cycle of your chosen chord progression. 

We're going to borrow a strategy from Uncle Rod Higuchi's Boot Camp.  (Which you should totally Google, it’s free and awesome.)

Boot Camp for C

First time through, strum four beats for each chord.  It will sound like this:  CCCC, FFFF, GGGG, CCCC.

Second time through, strum three beats for each chord.  It will sound like this:  CCC, FFF, GGG, CCC.

Third time through, strum two beats for each chord.  It will sound like this:  CC, FF, GG, CC.

Fourth time through, strum one beat for each chord.  It will sound like this:  C, F, G, C.

Go slowly and make your changes as cleanly as you can.  Precision is FAR more important than speed.  Speed comes over time, and if you practice sloppy you will play sloppy.  Practice clean, so you can play clean!

Next, do the progression backwards.

CCCC, GGGG, FFFF, CCCC

CCC, GGG, FFF, CCC

CC, GG, FF, CC

C, G, F, C

Sweet.  Ready to play a song?   Let's do a familiar tune.

 (C) Happy birthday to (G) you, happy birthday to (C) you, happy birthday dear (F) (your name), happy (C) birthday (G) to (C) you.