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A structured way to learn the uke when you already know guitar?
By no means am I a virtuoso on guitar but I do know my way around the beginner and lower-intermediate stuff, I can play and sing and all that jazz and recently got a uke. The problem I'm having with it though is I don't really know how to utilize the instrument and I'd love to find a structured way to do it. To just see lesson-by-lesson what ukulele is good for, not from the "it's easier than the guitar, just see!" angle that many online teachers seem to take. Right now, because of that I fiddle on my own and thus treat it like a handicapped guitar which is doing the instrument a great disservice-- but it's due to me not understanding what else I can actually do with it. I jump mindlessly from song to song thinking to myself "well, it'd sound better if I just played it on guitar" most of the time. That's not a good way to learn the instrument.
I'm thinking of something like JustinGuitar for guitar or PianoForAll for the piano, just for uke - a structured set of lessons from someone who knows enough to provide you with proper techniques in proper order so that you can actually get a feel for the instrument. I know Justin has a ukulele section but it's basically one entry lesson and then a bunch of chord shapes thrown at you and there you go. Hardly comparable to his guitar videos (which go really in depth on all the stuff) or actually helpful in understanding where ukulele holds its _own_ actually. Any recommendations for such situation? Maybe you could share what path _you_ took when you were coming from guitar? |
#2
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#3
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#4
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Maybe think of as:
À. Examples of what you might want to achieve: A great collection of performances is on the 'Seasons of the Ukulele' sub-forum of the Ukuleleunderground forum. Each week a host sets a new topic (season) and players post videos. Performances range from beginner to virtuoso in a variety of styles. They are up to Season #476. Find examples you like. B. Techniques Lessons on song structure, strumming patterns, rhythm and timing, soloing, embellishment, playing by ear, genres. Go faster on parts you already know. Ask for specific lessons on stuff that interests you. You can sorta simulate the six string range on four strings. For bass runs think of the fretboard as the bass side of guitar. Locate the root, fourth, fifth notes and find the walk up/down patterns. For treble lines think of the fretboard as the treble side of guitar. Ukes can be tuned re-entrant standard ukulele gCDA with high g, linear standard uke GCEA aka guitar capo 5, linear baritone uke DGBE treble side of guitar, open tunings, GDAE octave fiddle/mandolin/irish tenor guitar, CGDA viola/mandola/tenor guitar, zhongruan GDGD. Ukes can also be played claw hammer style gCEA, dGBE, dGBD, etc For acoustic loudness playing in ensembles there are banjo ukuleles and you can adapt four string tenor guitars and tenor banjos. C. Practice Skills development, skills reinforcement, song arrangement and re-arrangement, riffs, fills, melodies, counter melodies. Weekly sessions at ukulele clubs with my baritone uke and jamming at the park sharpened my uke skills (and guitar skills) quickly. I worked hard to keep up with better players and prepared to lead my share of songs. My favourite weekly was hosted (tip jar) by a professional rockabilly guitarist who played electric ukulele while leading approx 40 uke players through two hour sessions of 30+ songs (mixed genre) at concert speed. Made more progress on basic skill in six weeks than 12 weeks of solo lessons. Ukulele groups world wide have songbooks on their websites, and many Zoom sessions welcome out of town players. Cheers.
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#5
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Understood, thank you for the replies. If anybody else has any more kind of recommendations too, be sure to share!
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#6
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#7
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Good response by casual music. The left hand fretting is easy as chord shapes and tuning are similar to guitar. Most rewarding is expanding right hand techniques, for example with Hawaiian and other strumming patterns. Many uke players also enjoy chord melody, which I find most fun with a uke that is setup in re-entrant so you play chord and melody not only with down strokes but also with up strokes to high g.
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#8
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I dunno, I handed my son, a teenager, my ukulele, reminded him what the open strings were tuned to and he proceeded to do some notes and scales and cords.
Of course he has had Suzuki violin since age 4, some music theory, guitar, mandolin, hardanger fiddle, keyboard and music composition....he is certainly not a prodigy by any measure.....just his young life experience.... Get to know the fretboard and you will be fine. I'd imagine you already have some skill sets.....it's just a slight shift here.....a little different there....lots of fun.... Lots of good resources shared...... Now my spouse.....she's even a quicker study than my son.....picks up anything with strings and is playing it in just a little while...... Me.....I'm all double handed with no rhythm.. |
#9
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I found this very helpful - https://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...eory-for-noobs
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#10
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same chord shapes work on a uke.
though they are called different things...... D shape on Guitar is G on a UKE. I've played a Gig with Uke just by changing the chords on my music.........
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