Copyright
Table of Contents Intro Chapter 1 Buying your ukulele Chapter 2 Ukulele Anatomy Chapter 3 How to hold the Ukulele Chapter 4 How to read Tabs & Strumming patterns Chapter 5 Begginer songs
Intro You’ll probably ignore this page and get straight to the point of this book, but if you’re reading this I’ll make it short. I hope this wont be
like the other boring books, but remember you have to learn the basics and it can get kind of boring at times, but at the end it ’s going to be worth it, trust me! You will be learning the basics about the ukulele, and be great. I hope you try and succeed! Please don’t get frustrated if you don’t succeed the first couple of times, this is your first time playing this instrument, and remember this instrument is very easy; so let’s get started.
Chapter 1 Buying your Ukulele Buying your first ukulele isn’t that easy . You have to look at the sizes, prices, and brands.
Size The ukulele doesn’t come in just one size, there are actually four sizes.
The four sizes of the ukulele:
Soprano- Smallest Ukulele best for beginners
Concert- Most common sized Ukulele
Tenor – Larger then soprano and concert, but not the largest; not really used by beginners Baritone- Largest of all four mostly used by experienced players (not recommended)
Since you are a beginner I suggest Do Not Use the Baritone or the Tenor, but stay away from the Baritone as it is very different from the others. I recommend starting with a soprano or concert, but since soprano is smaller it may be easier. Remember which which ever size you’re more comfortable with works, so try going to music stores and holding the ukulele to see which size is best for you.
Price Ukuleles can be very cheap, but can also be very expensive. Do not buy a cheap ukulele at all! E ven if you’re a beginner , they sound horrible. I recommend buying one around $60 since it won’t be too cheap or not too expensive either . Don’t waste hundreds of dollars on your first ukulele; remember you are just a beginner.
Brands, Models, and More There is a wide selection of ukuleles, but since you’re a beginner try staying away from anything too crazily shaped, highly decorated, or any colored ukuleles. If you still can’t decide on what you want to get I recom mend a Kala KA-S or an Alveraze!
This part is optional
These are just some things you can buy along with your ukulele.
Tuner- For a beginner I suggest you buy a tuner since you can’t tune your ukulele. A really good tuner is the Snark SN-2, which is around 11 or 12 dollars at your local music store. Another tuner, which is cheaper, is the Snark SN-1, which is around 8 or 9 dollars at your local music store.
Extra Strings- Really come in handy! Sometimes you can pop your strings and you’re going to h ave to wait to buy more strings so always have back up strings.
Picks- you don’t really need picks to play the ukulele , but if you want to use one, go ahead. Remember ukuleles need special picks called felt picks so don’t try usi ng a simple plastic guitar pick because it won’t really sound the same.
Strap- if you can’t hold your ukulele while playing , or you’re just scared to drop it? Buy a strap!
Case- If you travel a lot or like taking your ukulele out in public, buy a case for protection. - If you’re a clean freak and don’t like leaving your ukulele just Stand laying around or you’re too scared that you will probably step on it? Buy a stand for your ukulele, to be safe.
Capo- This is actually for more advanced players, it’s used to play certain songs
Chapter 2 The Ukulele Anatomy Now that you’ve figured out what ukulele you want or already purchased it , I am going
to show you the anatomy of the ukulele. You obviously need to know the parts of the instrument you’re playing.
Chapter 3 Lesson 1: How to hold the ukulele Not too low
Perfect
Not too high
Chapter 4 How to read tabs Tabs are very easy to read, it just depends if you can play them The first step of reading tabs is knowing the strings of your instrument. In this case, it’s the ukulele. Lets go over the strings
Tabs are usually written in horizontal lines. The first line at the top is your first string so A and it just goes down here’s an exampl e:
A-----0-------------------------------------------------------------- A-----0-------------------------------------------------------------E-----------------------2--------------------------------------------C-----------------------------------3--------------------------------G------------2-------------------------------------------------------First you will play open A first nd
Next 2 fret on the G string nd
2 fret E string rd
Last 3 fret C string Do not play this all together It’s supposed to be one at a time as it shows in the tab, just follow the order and pluck each string separately. separately.
If all the numbers are aligned or more than one number are aligned, you play the strings together. This is an example of a chord
A-----0-------------------------------------------------------------- A-----0-------------------------------------------------------------E-----0--------------------------------------------------------------C-----0--------------------------------------------------------------G-----2--------------------------------------------------------------One last thing if there is / that means to slide down to that fret for example on the A rd th string you slide down from the 3 fret to the 5 fret.
A---------------------------3/5------------------------------------- A---------------------------3/5------------------------------------E----------------1--------------------------------------------------C-----2-------------------------------------------------------------G-------------------------------------------------------------------So those are the basics of reading tabs now lets move on to strumming patterns.
How to read strumming patterns
Ok so in middle school I was in mariachi for 3 years, and well the teacher would give us music that was basically strumming patterns accompanied by chord on the top,
so it wasn’t
really hard at all. Well I decided to write my music for you guys like that too because why not? It’s obviously easier to read since you don’t have to focus on a ll these notes, so
lets get started. Here are the basics;
Means a down strum and
here is an example
means an up strum so let me give you an example
Now you’re probably wondering what that x means, well that’s a choke. Choking is like basically muting your strings. I can’t really explain , so perhaps you should go on YouTube and figure it out. Ok so you’re going to see different patterns patterns for example
Well basically all I can say is if the notes are tied together play them together. The next thing you got to know for both tabs and strumming patterns is a forward repeat sign Here is an example of one
This sign just means to repeat; go back to the last forward repeat sign and repeat as many patterns ! Pretty easy huh? Well let’s get times as the song says. So that’s it on strumming patterns
started on the actual music. Oh and by the way a chord chart will be provided in the back of the book!
Chapter 5 Beginner songs Ok this first song is pretty easy, were going to start off with a tab to help you prepare for your next song. Be aware that I hand wrote the music all by myself and I apologize in advance for sloppiness, but I hope you can comprehend.
This next song is going to involve strumming and plucking so you will be reading tabs and strumming patterns.
The next song is just a more complex strumming pattern not too hard.
Basically you repeat this the whole song
Chapter 6 Intermediate songs
For this song I am just going to give you the strumming pattern and the chords with the lyrics separately.
Somewhere xxxx xxx xxxxxxxx
Way xx high
And xxx dreams xxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxx
Once xx x xxxxxxx
Somewhere xxxx xxx xxxxxxxx
Blue xxxxx fly
And xxx dreams xxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxx
Dreams xxxxxx xx xxxx true
Someday xxxx xxxx xxxx x xxxxx
Wake xx xxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx behind xxxx Where xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx
High xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxx xx where xxxxxx find xxxx
Somewhere xxxx xxx xxxxxxx
Bluebirds xxxxx
And xxx dreams xxxx xxx xxxx xxxx
Oh xxxx xx xxx can't xxxx
Someday xxxx xxxx xxxx x xxxxx
Wake xx xxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxx xxx behind xxxx Where xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxx xxxxx xxxxxx
High xxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxx xx where xxxxxx find xxxx
Somewhere xxxx xxx xxxxxxxx
Way xx high
And xxx dreams xxxx xxx xxxx xxx xx
oh xxxx xx xxx can't can't xxxx End on
Chapter 7 Advance songs
Thank you and have fun being basic!
