your-first-ukulele-lesson-and-then-some 吉他谱 五线谱 乐谱.pdf

Your First Ukulele Lesson and Then Some A Complete Beginners Crash Course to Playing Ukulele by Brett McQueen of the Ukulele Tricks blog This ebook is dedicated to my grandfather who taught and inspired me to play ukulele. All contents copyright 2010 by UkuleleT. All rights reserved. No part of this document or accompanying les may be reproduced or transmitted in any , electronic or otherwise, by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher. This ebook is presented to you for inational purposes only and is not a substitution for any professional advice. The contents herein are based on the views and opinions of the author and all associated contributors. While every eort has been made by the author and all associated contributors to present accurate and up to date ination within this document, it is apparent technologies rapidly change. Therefore, the author and all associated contributors reserve the right to update the contents and ination provided herein as these changes progress. The author and/or all associated contributors take no responsibility for any errors or omissions if such discrepancies exist within this document. The author accepts no responsibility for any consequential actions taken, whether monetary, legal, or otherwise, by any and all readers of the materials provided. It is the readers sole responsibility to seek professional advice before taking any action on their part. Reader results will vary based on their skill level and individual perception of the contents herein, and thus no guarantees, monetarily or otherwise, can be made accurately. Therefore, no guarantees are made. 2Contents Welcome 4 About the Ukulele 5 How to Tune Your Ukulele 7 Tuning Your Ukulele by Ear 8 Using a Chromatic Tuner to Tune Your Ukulele 9 How to Hold Your Ukulele 10 Your First Ukulele Chords 11 C major 11 G major 11 F major 12 Your First Strumming Pattern 13 The Basis of Strumming 13 Strumming Pattern 1 Down, Down, Down, Down 13 Your First Song 15 10 More Really Important Chords to Know 17 Major Chords 17 Minor Chords 18 Dominant 7th Chords 20 More Advanced Strumming Patterns 22 Strumming Pattern 2 Down, Down, Up, Down, Down, Up 22 Strumming Pattern 3 Down, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up 23 Learn Another Song “Ive Been Working On the Railroad” 25 How to Approach Learning a New Song 25 “Ive Been Working On the Railroad” Chords 26 Where Do I Go From Here 27 Develop a Practice Plan 27 Seek Out Inspiration 27 Further Resources 28 Final Thoughts 29 3Welcome Are you ready to dive into the world of ukulele Maybe you already have but youve not gotten that far. Wherever youre at, after going through these lessons, you will not only have the skills to play a large handful of chords and be able to hold down a solid strumming pattern, but youll be able to play some of your favorite songs. The ukulele has brought a lot joy to my life, and I think it can to yours, which is why I write this “crash course.” Its consistently been a centerpiece instrument around family gatherings and celebrations. The cool thing is you dont really need a musical background to play ukulele. In fact, my Grandpa taught me how to play when I was just six. If you put your mind to it, Im positive you can learn too These lessons are designed for the beginning or relatively new ukulele player to get you started on your path towards ukulele success. However, even if youve played for a little while, I encourage you to keep reading because you might just pick up some new tricks. With that being said, lets get started 4About the Ukulele The ukulele is a four stringed plucked instrument that originated in the 19th century from Hawaii. The most popular sizes of ukuleles are soprano, concert alto, tenor, and baritone. Soprano ukuleles are the smallest ukes and tend to be the most common as they can be had for a pretty low price great for beginners. They are known for their bright, jangly sound. As you go to the opposite end of the spectrum, baritone ukes are larger and are tuned like the bottom four strings of a guitar. They sound warmer and deeper in comparison to a soprano. Click here to read more about ukulele sizes. Sound is created whenever you pluck a string. The string vibrates the saddle, which is the white piece of plastic or bone supported by the bridge on the top of the ukulele. The energy produced vibrates the top of the ukulele which resonates in the body of the instrument and is projected out of the soundhole. 5The most important thing you need to know for the purposes of this lesson is how to identify the neck, fretboard, and frets. Frets are the vertical pieces of metal that lay across the fretboard. You press your ngers between the frets and pluck a string to produce a sound. The higher you go up the fretboard the higher the pitch. If you want, read more about the parts of the ukulele. 6How to Tune Your Ukulele The most common type of tuning is standard tuning. Soprano, concert, and tenor ukuleles are typically tuned this way. As you can see, the top string or fourth string of the ukulele is tuned to a G. The third string is tuned to a C. The second string is tuned to an E, and the rst string or bottom string is tuned to an A. You can see how the ukulele is tuned on the music sta 7and on the piano keys Tuning Your Ukulele by Ear You can use the Ukulele Tricks free online tuner to tune your ukulele by ear. When you tune your ukulele by ear, you play a reference pitch of the note you want to tune to, and then turn your tuning pegs to match the pitches as closely as possible. This takes some practice to get it right. One trick is to listen closely to the two pitches as they are ringing. If there is a “wobbly” or “warbly” sound between the pitches, this means they are out of tune. Your goal is to turn the tuning pegs till you hear the purest tone possible with no “wobble”. To hear an example, take a listen near the bottom of this page. 8Using a Chromatic Tuner to Tune Your Ukulele The easiest way to tune your ukulele is by using a chromatic tuner. As you pluck each individual string on your ukulele, this little device will detect the pitch and display it back to you. It will indicate if you are sharp or at above or below the pitch, so you can get an accurate tuning. Every ukulele player should have a chromatic tuner. Check out my review of the best chromatic tuners for ukulele. This is the basics of what you need to know for tuning, but if you want to a read a more in-depth explanation and learn more about alternate tunings, click here. 9How to Hold Your Ukulele How you hold your ukulele can vary depending on what size of ukulele you have. Typically though, you want to cradle the body of the ukulele in your right arm, while the part of your forearm, closest to the elbow, applies a little pressure to the top of the ukulele, so it is held snug against your body. Then, you support the neck of the ukulele in the crevice of your left hand where your thumb meets your index nger. Your strumming hand should be loose and relaxed with the ngers perpendicular to the 12th to 14th fret of the ukulele. Most of the time youll want to strum in this area and not directly over the soundhole. The closer you get to the bridge and soundhole the brighter the sound becomes sometimes this is desirable though. Some people might also strum with their index nger, so the nail of their nger strums across the strings on their down strum, and the bottom of the nger strums across the strings on their up strum. However you choose to strum, the most important thing to remember is to keep a loose, relaxed hand and wrist. 10Your First Ukulele Chords Its time to actually learn how to play something. Well be learning three chords to start o C major, G major, and F major. As a side note, you can reference these chords and hundreds of others for free at the Ukulele Tricks chord library. C major To play a C major chord, place your ring nger on the 3rd fret of the bottom string. The remaining strings ring completely open. G major To play a G major chord, place your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the bottom string, your ring nger on the 3rd fret of the second string, and your index nger on the 2nd fret of the third string. The top string rings completely open. 11F major To play an F major chord, place your index nger on the 1st fret of the second string and your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the top string or the fourth string. Let the rst and third string ring completely open. How to Practice These Chords Practice the ngering for each of these chords and practice changing between chords. At rst, its dicult and frustrating to get your ngers to go where you want them. Through time and practice, youll build muscle memory where changing chords becomes second nature. You might also notice that the ends of your ngers start to feel sore after awhile. This is very normal. Eventually, your ngers will build callouses on the ends of them, which will prevent the tips of your ngers from hurting. After a week of dedicated practice, you should start to notice this to get better. Amazingly enough, you can play hundreds of songs with just these three chords. Before we learn a song though, lets take a look at some strumming patterns. 12Your First Strumming Pattern Strumming can feel very awkward at rst and a bit of a juggling act. Not only are you trying to switch chords but youre also trying to keep the strumming pattern going while youre doing this. This can be really hard. Ive noticed the tendency might be to jump right in and start learning a strumming pattern. Before we do this, we really need to cover some important thinking that goes behind strumming. If we understand this, strumming becomes easier. The Basis of Strumming Strumming is a of rhythm. Rhythm depends completely upon good timing and consistency. Strumming is not about how complicated or how fast you can play. If youre not keeping good time and consistency, youve completely defeated the purpose of strumming. This is why as we learn our rst strumming pattern we need to be very intentional about counting out loud. Eventually, we will build an internal “clock” of sorts where it becomes easier to keep time without thinking much about it. Strumming Pattern 1 Down, Down, Down, Down For this rst strumming pattern, were going to take our C major chord that we learned and strum all down strums. Were going to do this to a count of four, which means we will count out loud “1, 2, 3, 4” and repeat this at a very consistent, but not too fast pace. We will strum down on each count. A count of four 4/4 is a very common time signature in most popular music. 13Practice counting out loud and strumming all down strums at a consistent and moderate tempo. It might seem boring to count out loud and just do down strums, but its important to develop this sense of time. As you start to feel comfortable with this, try adding a chord change. Heres where it gets a bit harder. Lets change from a C major chord to a G major chord while keeping the same tempo. Practice this until you can switch between the two chords without hesitating between the chord changes. The count should remain consistent and steady through the chord change. Click to see this part of the lesson explained and demonstrated in a video. 14Your First Song After youve practiced keeping a steady tempo and changing chords with all down strums, youre pretty well equipped to play a lot of songs with just those three chords and that strumming pattern, but lets rst take a look at an easy song--an oldie but a goodie “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Again, keep going with the down strums. The changes in this song are pretty quick, so start o slow and think about anticipating the next chord. 15Practice this till you can sing and play it at a steady tempo without having to hesitate between your chord changes. If you are having trouble, slow it down. Practice counting out loud and just going through the chord changes without singing. As you get more comfortable, start humming under your breath in combination with your counting. And then, as this becomes more comfortable sing it out, and sing it strong Again, were not trying to be “fancy” here “fancier” stu will come in the next part. Right now, we want to focus on being steady and consistent. Once youre ready, lets move on and learn some more important chords. 1610 More Really Important Chords to Know By now, you should feel pretty comfortable changing between your C, F, and G chords. Your ngers should feel used to switching and changing chords. Its time to learn some other really important and common chords. If you know these like the back of your hand, youll be half way to learning about every song out there. Major Chords Here are some other common major chords you should know. A major To play an A major chord, place your index nger on 1st fret of the third string, and place your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the fourth or top string. The bottom two strings ring completely open. D major There are a couple ways you can play this chord. The rst way is to place your pinky on the 2nd fret of the second string, your ring nger on the 2nd fret of the third string, and your middle nger on 17the 2nd fret of the fourth or top string. For people with smaller ngers, this might work well. However, those of us with large ngers, the other common and recommended way to play this chord is to barre the top three strings on the 2nd fret with your ring nger. This means your ring nger lays across the three strings while bending enough to allow the bottom string to ring open. Sometimes I will even use my index nger to do this. This is hard to do and takes some practice, so experiment with both ways to see which one comes easier. E major This chord is a bit of a stretch. Place your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the rst or bottom string. Place your pinky on the 4th fret of the third string. Place your index nger on the 1st fret of the fourth or top string. Minor Chords The next set of chords were going to learn are minor chords. Minor chords are like major chords, except you change one note of the chord to make it minor. Minor chords tend to have a “sadder” sound to them. Click here to read a more in-depth explanation on the dierences between major and minor chords. 18A minor Am This chord is really easy to play. Simply place your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the fourth or top string and let the bottom three strings ring completely open. D minor Dm To play a Dm chord, place your index nger on the 1st fret of the second string, your ring nger on the 2nd fret of the third string, and your middle nger on the 2nd fret of the fourth or top string. Let the bottom string ring completely open. E minor Em To play an Em chord, place your index nger on the 2nd fret of the rst or bottom string and your ring nger on the 4th fret of the third string. Let the second and top string ring completely open. 19Dominant 7th