Fingerpicking the ukulele doesn’t have to be hard, and you certainly don’t have to shred in order to get started!
Today, in this fun song play-along, we’re fingerpicking the melody of You Are My Sunshine on ukulele on just one string – the A-string.
So tune up your ukulele, find a comfortable spot, and let’s make some music!
[Continue Reading...]You don’t have to be a world class singer to make beautiful music on ukulele, and you certainly don’t need to be advanced to start with some easy, simple fingerpicking.
Today, in this fun video play-along, we’re fingerpicking the melody of Happy Birthday on ukulele on just one string – the E-string.
So tune up your ukulele, find a comfortable spot, and let’s make some music!
[Continue Reading...]I’ve always thought ukulele is a romantic instrument so of course learning to play Perfect by the romantic hit-song-wonder Ed Sheeran on ukulele is only fitting.
Whether or not you want to woo that special someone or perform this on ukulele at your friend’s wedding for their first dance, with the simple chord shapes and a simple strumming pattern I show you in the video below, you can start playing this song today.
Scroll down to get the ukulele chords and a video lesson giving you tricks and tips for how to play Perfect on ukulele.
[Continue Reading...]There’s nothing worse than an out-of-tune ukulele.
Even if it’s just you locked away practicing in a room by yourself where nobody can hear you, listening to out-of-tune chords and notes can you make you feel uninspired and wonder why you sound so, well, bad.
You can be a competent and proficient ukulele player, but if your ukulele is out of tune, no one would know it – even yourself!
I’ve always said one of the fastest ways to sound better as a ukulele player is to tune your ukulele. It’s a common beginner mistake to think that since you had your ukulele tuned once that you won’t have to tune it again later. If you’re new to playing ukulele, then, your number one goal is to figure out how to tune your ukulele! Always tune every time you sit down and play.
But why does your ukulele keep going out of tune after you spend all that time tuning it up?
How can it be that your ukulele is technically “in tune” according to the tuner but sounds out-of-tune when you play?
And what can you do if you have a ukulele that can’t hold pitch?
Here are the six reasons your ukulele is going out of tune and what you can do about it.
[Continue Reading...]Happy Memorial Day!
Today I’m playing a chord melody arrangement of The Star Spangled Banner on ukulele.
Chord melody is a style of playing ukulele where you strum the chords of a song while you simultaneously fingerpick the melody.
As far as chord melody goes, The Star Spangled Banner is an easy song to learn for those who are beyond the basics of picking. Played in the key of C you use a lot of open strings to create a full and resonate sound.
The Star Spangled Banner is the United States national anthem. The lyrics of the song were written by Francis Scott Key in 1814, however, the music was written much earlier in 1773 by John Stafford Smith. Key wrote the poem on September 14, 1814 at age 35-years-old after seeing the British Royal Navy bomb Baltimore Harbor in the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. After looking at the U.S. flag waving above Fort M’Henry in victory, he was inspired to write the poem. It wasn’t until March 3, 1931 that Congress made it the U.S. national anthem by resolution, which was then signed by President Herbert Hoover.
Musically, The Star Spangled Banner has one of the broadest vocal ranges spanning 19 semitones making it one of the hardest songs to sing. Fortunately for us, we can fingerpick the melody and strum the chords of the song without singing! Whew.
[Continue Reading...]An exciting way to take your ukulele playing to the next level is to find new ways to play the same chord on ukulele.
Yes, there are often several different ways to play the same chord on ukulele, and I include many of these chord variations in the Ukulele Tricks Chord Library, but you might be wondering why you’d want to find a different way to play a chord on ukulele.
There are many reasons for why you’d find a new way to play the same chord:
In this lesson, I introduce you to the world of finding chord variations on ukulele by showing you how to play a C major chord on ukulele in five different ways.
[Continue Reading...]You finally figure out how to play that one ukulele chord that’s giving you all sorts of trouble, but when you strum:
Bzzt!
No matter what you do, playing the chord sounds like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard.
Is this a problem with how you’re strumming? Is it an issue with your fretting hand? Do you just not have the strength yet to play a chord?
Every ukulele player at some point or another has gone to play a ukulele chord just to have the chord sound out with a dead thud. This is such a common challenge every ukulele player has to overcome. Even advanced ukulele players will encounter this problem and have to find a way to fix it.
Fortunately, most buzzing ukulele chords can be fixed with one easy trick.
Watch the video to learn how to fix your buzzing ukulele chords.
[Continue Reading...]I haven’t had this much fun lately learning to play a song as I did learning Justin Bieber’s Love Yourself.
In this heart-felt and soulful tune, you play unexpected chord variations for the verse giving the song it’s signature sound and instant recognition. With a subtle strumming hand slap, you create a percussive rhythm that carries the song’s melody. By the time you get to the chorus, you play the same chords but change the variation to create a fuller sound.
I chose to perform this song on baritone ukulele for two reasons. For one, Love Yourself is played in the key of E, and the key of E is a much more player-friendly key on the baritone ukulele versus a standard-tuned ukulele. And secondly, the baritone’s smooth, mellow sound lends itself well for this particular song’s soulful style.
First, listen to my performance, and then, once you’re ready dive into the ukulele chords for this song below.
[Continue Reading...]Today we’re playing Lady Gaga’s famous song Million Reasons on ukulele.
This emotive and powerful ballad has just four ukulele chords making it a perfect song for beginners to learn on ukulele. With simple down strums in the verse and full-sounding down-up strums in the chorus, you have the ability to make this song sound dynamic and emotional when just played as a solo ukulele player.
I perform this song on baritone ukulele, but you can also perform it on a standard-tuned ukulele without a problem (I include both versions of chords below).
First, listen to my performance, and then, once you’re ready dive into the ukulele chords for this song below.
[Continue Reading...]Learning the notes of the ukulele fretboard takes a lot of discipline and effort, but it’s nothing you can’t accomplish!
In this lesson, you learn the fifth and final position of the C major scale on the ukulele fretboard.
So far we’ve looked at C major scale in four other positions:
You’ll want to learn the other positions first before learning this last position.
Upon completing this lesson, you’ll know the natural notes of the ukulele fretboard (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) and where to find them. With this knowledge, you can eventually go on to learning other scales in other keys, playing solos, finding melodies, coming up with riffs, and more. But first, it all starts with learning and memorizing these C major scale positions.
Learn this fifth and final C major scale position now!
[Continue Reading...]