Ukulele Songs
There’s plenty of wonderful music out there. And not just old standards and radio hits that you hear on the radio! With an ukulele you can play virtually any song written for guitar from breezy tropical melodies to rock anthems; here are a few songs we think you should start off playing today.
The ukulele may look like a miniature acoustic guitar, but its sound and feel make it distinct. Perfect for soft ballads like Israel Kamakawiwoole’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World Medley”, learning this instrument offers the ideal introduction into what makes ukulele music unique.
“Yesterday” by The Beatles is another excellent song to start out on your music journey with! For this timeless classic, chords C, F, G and A will come in handy as well as using DDUDUDU as your strumming pattern for verses and chorus. Enjoy this joyful melody that is sure to put a smile on your face!
Learn Blink-182’s “A Horse With No Name.” It’s an enjoyable song with only four repeating chords to learn, plus an easy strum pattern and the possibility to sing along!
Finally, don’t forget to add some reggae music to your repertoire. Bob Marley’s “I’m Not In Love” is an ideal ukulele song to play while relaxing on an island vacation – simply use C, D, and G chords along with some gentle strumming of your guitar – you’ll feel as if you’re truly on an exotic beach vacation!
The ukulele is enjoying an exciting renaissance. Even celebrities are joining in; Zooey Deschanel can be seen strumming a ukulele while duetting with Joseph Gordon-Levitt in “Election,” while Tony Blair interrupts Labour Party conventions to showcase his skills as an accomplished ukulele player. Tony Blair even interrupts Labour Party conventions just so he could show off his skill at playing his instrument! It’s easy to understand why folk singers and pop stars alike turn to playing their instruments; the ukulele’s affordable nature as portable design means anyone can pick it up! So stop waiting! Get playing today – grab yourself an instrument!
Ukulele Chords
As soon as you learn ukulele chords, you are effectively creating music by connecting different notes together to form chords. Each chord can have different moods and sounds; chords can add depth to songs by creating whole new feelings for listeners. Beginners should start off slowly learning popular ukulele songs that include simple chords that are easy to pick up before gradually progressing to more complicated songs with intricate chord structures.
Learning ukulele music requires understanding its key concept. Most popular songs are written in specific keys, making it imperative that you know how to alter them when necessary if you plan on singing along or performing with other singers.
A ukulele chord chart (also called a chord diagram) illustrates the fretboard and strings of an instrument. The top horizontal line represents the nut; vertical lines represent its four strings, typically tuned G-C-E-A from left to right; an open string marked by thin horizontal line at nut; dots or numbers represent where fingers should be placed on frets to produce specific chords; thin horizontal line indicates open string at nut; dots indicate specific finger placement on frets to create specific chords.
Chord charts also contain a small grid to help players read notation more easily. A thick line in the top row indicates fingernail placement on fretboard; below nut, thin rows indicate off fretboard fingernails. A dot next to each string indicates where its root should be played; its number suggests which finger you should use when playing it.
Once you understand how a chord chart works, learning ukulele songs and chords becomes much simpler. Additionally, having a reference sheet with all of the most commonly-used chords will give you an idea of which fingerings you need for each chord – helping prevent mistakes along the way!
Ukulele chords can generally be divided into three distinct types: major, minor and diminished. Major chords consist of their root note plus three additional notes – typically thirds and fifths. They can sound bright or add depth by including more complex harmonic overtones – with major chords offering either cheerfulness or melancholy depending on how they’re played; minor chords offer similar sounds but have minor thirds instead of major ones.
Ukulele Scales
Ukulele scales are an essential foundation of music theory and key to playing melodies on your instrument. Additionally, they help you familiarize with the fretboard while training your ears to recognize notes as they ascend and descend a string. Learning scales is important for many reasons – one major reason being they provide a regular pattern for moving notes across the fretboard.
Scales are composed of whole and half steps. To quickly grasp them, consider the piano keyboard – each white note represents one whole step while black keys represent half steps. When starting on middle C and playing all white notes (skipping over black ones), starting from middle C to the right you will hear a major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C (an octave higher than where you began).
This sequence serves as the cornerstone for all major ukulele scales. Simply shifting up or down by one tone makes them simple to play once you know where they can be found on your instrument.
Learning the major scale will prove particularly helpful since most re-entrant ukuleles are tuned to C. You can use it as the foundation for building other scales by starting from any note and following its pattern of whole and half steps:
Once your ear and fingers have become adept at finding notes easily on the fretboard, try creating some simple melodies using only notes from C major scale. Gradually move onto other major scales until you understand all of their distinct sounds that can be created when moving the scale up or down an octave.
As part of my effort to assist ukulele players with learning the major and minor scales, I’ve compiled a massive bundle of free fretboard dot charts in PDF format for easy reference. These cover all major and minor scales across key-by-key fingering arrangements and web optimization; print them out if needed as reference charts on your instrument!
Ukulele Tabs
When learning ukulele songs, tabs (musical notation) can be invaluable in aiding your learning experience. Similar to sheet music but designed specifically for fretted instruments like the ukulele, tabs provide easy reading for chords and songs written using tab format; you’ll find these available online from various websites or create your own. Tabs make learning the instrument much simpler; each line represents one string while its number indicates which fret to press when playing that string; furthermore they also display chord shapes if your song includes more than one chord shape!
Ukulele tabs are typically written using the letters GCEA; this represents the standard tuning for ukuleles used by most songs. If there is any alternate tuning used in any given tune, it will be indicated at the start of the tab. There may also be other symbols included such as bend (looks like an arrow pointing up), hammer-on (a lower case “h”) or pull-off (lower case “p”) displayed within tabs.
Wherever multiple numbers appear vertically on a line in a ukulele tab, this indicates playing all strings simultaneously. For instance, seeing “0 on A, 2 on C and 3 on E strings simultaneously indicates playing a C major chord that you may either pluck with four fingers or strung all at the same time depending on what song is being performed.
Your guitar’s strings may also feature multiple lines indicating they should be played using only one or two fingers, rather than all four.
Note that ukulele tabs do not include specific timing information like you might find in sheet music. In order to develop your sense of rhythm and tempo, listen to recordings of songs you want to learn or use a metronome when practicing – having a good rhythm sense is an essential skill in music; learning it on ukulele may prove particularly challenging!