Metronome-driven songs present a great musical challenge. Here are five advanced ukulele songs to help expand your repertoire and help expand as a musician.
Classic rock tunes such as CCR’s Bad Moon can make for a wonderful ukulele rendition, providing the opportunity to practice chords of C, F and G alongside quick down strums to maintain rhythm.
1. Somebody That I Used to Know
Establishing your skills on the ukulele requires practice with various enjoyable and straightforward songs that help build your skillset and expand your repertoire of techniques. Music can provide motivation as you continue your training on this instrument and expand upon existing ones.
This article will outline some ukulele songs advanced players can use to advance their playing and take it to the next level. While these songs may contain additional chords and/or complexity than some of the simpler tunes found here, they still represent a worthy challenge for beginner or intermediate ukulele players to learn.
Advanced ukulele songs involve playing chord shapes that may not be used frequently in beginner ukulele songs, including G, C, and D chords, minor A7 chords as well as others not commonly found in beginner pieces such as A. Some of these chords require additional skill when fingering them as well as hearing what notes are played when strumming occurs.
Start learning these songs by familiarizing yourself with your ukulele’s string names. Hold it with its neck against your body on the left side, looking closely at each string to understand its name; string 4 should be closest to its headstock while string 3 sits beneath.
2. Redemption Song
As an intermediate ukulele player, you will likely have expanded beyond beginner songs to take on more complex tunes. These 5 challenging ukulele songs represent a step beyond easy hits and will put your skills through their paces! Make sure that your instrument is tuned properly before trying these challenging pieces; additionally have your chord dictionary handy (whether online, app or paper-based) in case there are more complex chords involved that need looking up!
This song has an upbeat feel to it that will delight any crowd! Utilizing only three chords, it presents you with the challenge of honing barre chords and switching between them seamlessly – it takes plenty of practice to master this pop classic!
While not a particularly difficult tune to learn, this song requires knowledge of seventh chords which may prove difficult at times. But if you’re up for it and willing to put in the time to master them, this song can add some flair and fun to performances while giving audiences something extra exciting! Plus if ska music is what strikes your fancy this classic tune should fit right in.
3. Ain’t No Sunshine
This song is perfect if you want to explore chord progressions beyond major and minor, featuring more advanced chords that may appear complicated for beginners but are actually easier than they appear. Additionally, its beautiful fingerpicking part adds another challenge and will enhance its beauty.
Reggae music genre can help you quickly develop ukulele skills due to its tranquil tempo and easy strumming patterns, helping you quickly get comfortable with chords as well as more complex chords like sevenths. Check out Bob Marley’s song for an excellent example of that!
Bill Withers may have made “Ain’t No Sunshine” famous, but there are numerous others with equally impressive renditions. Rockmelons featuring Deni Hines made the top five in Australia for 1991 while Ladysmith Black Mambazo featuring Des’ree scored a chart hit in 1999.
Discovering new ukulele songs to practice is key to expanding your skill set and honing your craft. By practicing different songs daily and focusing on various modes and scales, it will enable you to keep challenging yourself each day while exploring different modes and scales. Also consider finding different ways to practice, like strumming on Monday and playing finger positions on Wednesday to physically challenge your hands!
4. Africa
Beginners to ukulele often start out playing songs that feature basic chord progressions, but as their skills advance it’s essential they add more challenging songs into their repertoire. Challenging songs provide your fingers with more of a challenge while intricate strumming patterns help maintain rhythm and add an exotic sound when coupled with 7th and diminished chords progressions.
Reggae music can be an ideal musical genre to learn when transitioning into more advanced ukulele songs. A song like Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” provides a great opportunity for practicing reggae chords and strumming patterns; or check out Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” to perfect fingerpicking techniques or minor chords.
These songs combine strumming and fingerpicking techniques for optimal practice. As soon as you’re ready to progress to more complex songs, practicing switching effortlessly between strumming and fingerpicking could also prove invaluable.
5. Hotel California
This Eagles song presents intermediate ukulele players with a worthy challenge due to the chords required. Additionally, fingerpicking practice may be necessary and this song provides an ideal opportunity to practice chord progression and rhythm; additionally it’s fun for singing along!
This song, like many, was recorded multiple times before being combined for inclusion on the final album. Early takes of this track were recorded with reggae influences due to Don Felder and his bandmates’ appreciation of Bob Marley.
One song considered advanced for ukulele is “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s, although not technically barre chord-required, that can present players with a formidable challenge is its complex rhythms and seventh chords that may take practice to memorize. Also consider trying this song without metronome for maximum fun!
Selecting songs that are enjoyable and challenging to play on the ukulele is essential for mastering its instrument. Here are five ukulele songs to get you started if you are looking to advance beyond basic skills. For added assistance, consider finding a ukulele teacher near you who can teach complex chords and songs.
6. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Once you have learned the fundamental chords on your ukulele, you may notice that your favorite songs become increasingly challenging to play. At this point, it’s time to progress onto more complex songs – these require practice to master; plus they help further your ukulele skills that you couldn’t develop by just playing simple songs!
Although an oldie, this classic AC/DC song offers the ideal challenge for ukulele players. Using simple chords that change quickly with complex riffs that add extra layers to this challenging tune. This song will test both your stamina as a musician as well as provide you with an opportunity to practice bar chords!
This Beatles classic presents another formidable challenge for the ukulele player. It employs complex chord progressions and features seventh chords (Dmaj7) – not too advanced but can be difficult to play initially if unfamiliar. Also an opportunity to practice your rhythm by using a metronome when learning these more challenging songs.