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5 Effective Strumming Patterns for Beginners

by Brett McQueen

In this lesson, I show you five strumming patterns you can use to play thousands of different songs on ukulele (I’m not exaggerating!). These are my “go to” strumming patterns. I use them all the time and have used them in a lot of video performances on the site (e.g. You’ve Got a Friend In Me, I’ve Been Working On the Railroad). These patterns are versatile, simple and work for most songs.

The first thing to realize about strumming is that it’s not about how fancy or complicated you make a strumming pattern. Since strumming is a form of rhythm, in order to be effective, it must be consistent and steady. A steady, consistent strumming rhythm is always more pleasing to listen to than a really complicated strumming pattern played out of time.

The following strumming patterns, as demonstrated in the video, are played in 4/4 time signature. This means each pattern is played to a steady, consistent count of four: 1, 2, 3, 4, repeat. You can use these patterns for any song counted in four. As you practice each of these strumming patterns, count out loud, and even use a metronome to keep your strumming as rocksteady as possible.

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Knowing When to Change Chords While Strumming a Song

by Brett McQueen

For the most part, ukulele songs are displayed online and in print using chord charts. A chord chart includes the lyrics of a song with letters above to indicate the chords. Most of the ukulele songs I’ve posted on Ukulele Tricks are presented through chord charts.

The big downside to chord charts is that there is no indication of the rhythm (or strumming) of a song. By itself, a chord chart doesn’t inform you about how long to strum a chord or when to exactly change a chord. The chord letters are written to line up with the lyrics, as to try to indicate when the chord changes happen, but as you’ve probably found, it’s not that easy.

In this lesson, I show you some ways I go about approaching a chord chart and learning a new song. More specifically, I give you some practical examples and exercises from actual songs that allow you to get the knack for identifying chord changes in a song, while keeping a steady strumming pattern rhythm.

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Finding an Easier Way to Play a Bb Chord on Ukulele

by Brett McQueen

A common question I see in the Ukulele Strumming Tricks video lesson course, as well as in email, is about how to play a Bb chord. If you aren’t familiar, a Bb chord is played on the ukulele as shown in the diagram to the left.

As normally instructed, to play a Bb chord, use your index finger to hold down or barre the bottom two strings of the ukulele at the 1st fret; place your middle finger on the 2nd fret of the third string and your ring finger on the 3rd fret of the top string, as shown in the following picture.

A common way to play a Bb chord

This position requires you to bend your index finger in what can seem like a really difficult and uncomfortable way. If you struggle with stiffness or even arthritis in your fretting hand, this position can seem near impossible. Not to mention, this way of playing a Bb chord requires quite a bit of strength.

In my conversations with you, a lot of you have found an alternative way to play a Bb chord that works extremely well.

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Tuning Your Ukulele to Low G

by Brett McQueen

For some of my video lessons on Ukulele Tricks, my tenor ukulele is tuned to low G tuning, sometimes referred to as linear tuning. This means, while you and I can play along together using the same chord positions, the overall sound comes across as slightly different.

In standard ukulele tuning, the top g-string of the ukulele is tuned higher than the middle two strings of the ukulele. More specifically, the top g-string is tuned to the “G” note above middle-C on a piano (learn more about standard ukulele tuning).

In low G tuning, all of the strings stay tuned the same except the top g-string is tuned down an octave to the “G” note below middle-C, as shown in the following figures.

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How to Play an F Major Scale On Ukulele

by Brett McQueen

This lesson is apart of a larger lesson series that will help us learn the ukulele fretboard. So far, we’ve learned how to play a C major scale and a G major scale on ukulele. Now, it’s time to learn how to play an F major scale.

Scales not only help us learn the ukulele fretboard, but they also allow us to understand the music we are playing. For example, if we know the notes across the fretboard, we can build chords, craft solos, and look at a piece of sheet music and play it.

Each of these lessons build on the other, so if you’re just joining us, you will want to start learning the C major scale first.

Alright. Are you ready? Let’s do this!

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How to Play a G Major Scale on Ukulele

by Brett McQueen

Right now, we are in a big lesson series dedicated to learning the ukulele fretboard. We’re doing this by learning all major scales in the twelve different keys. This is the second lesson in the series. If you’re just joining us, welcome!

In the first lesson, we looked at how to play a C major scale on the ukulele. By now, you should be able to comfortably play a C major scale in all positions across the ukulele fretboard.

Learning the C major scale is a critical starting point. All of the lessons from here on out will be building off of our understanding of a C major scale.

So again, if you haven’t learned the C major scale, go here before reading on. If you don’t have a solid understanding of that lesson, this lesson probably won’t make much sense to you.

From here on out, I will be structuring each of these major scale lessons very similarly. First, we will look at the theory behind the scale, or how to build the scale, and then, we will look how to play the scale across the ukulele fretboard.

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What Is Your Biggest Challenge As a Ukulele Player?

by Brett McQueen

One of the most exciting aspects of Ukulele Tricks for me is hearing from you.

I’ve tried to offer a variety of lessons and information about the ukulele on Ukulele Tricks, but I realize with as many people that use the site, I’ve probably overlooked something, and I know for a fact from all of our conversations that you have a lot of really great ideas for what you’d like to learn!

In the comments area below, I want you to answer the following question:

What is your biggest challenge as a ukulele player?

In other words, what do you want to be able to do better as a ukulele player? What do you want to learn? If you could improve one part of your playing, what would it be?

Your answer could be as simple as, “My biggest challenge is fingerpicking,” or, “I can’t remember how to play certain chords.”

It doesn’t matter what it is. I want to hear an honest evaluation of where you feel like you’re at as a ukulele player.

All of your responses will help me continue to create lessons and content on Ukulele Tricks that are extremely helpful and relevant to your current challenges. I want to be teaching you things that you want to learn and that are beneficial to you!

Let’s hear it. Post your comment. I read every response.

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How to Play a C Major Scale on Ukulele

by Brett McQueen

Over the next several weeks, we’re going to look at the twelve major scales and how to play those on ukulele. In the most basic way, a scale is a collection of notes arranged in ascending or descending order.

Every scale is built upon a root note called tonic. So in a C major scale, the tonic note of the scale is the note C.

There are only twelve major scales because there are only twelve notes in Western music from which we can build a scale. If we know a C major scale like the back of our hand, we can easily modify it later to play the other major scales.

For a broader explanation about scales, check out my post Ukulele Scales Explained for Beginners.

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Welcome to Ukulele Tricks’ Brand New Look

by Brett McQueen

Big things are happening here at Ukulele Tricks.

As you probably have noticed, we have a completely brand new look! If you’re reading this in your email inbox or RSS reader, be sure to head over to Ukulele Tricks to check out the new design.

Over the past month, I’ve been working a lot of long days and nights to get this new design ready to go. I’ve spent a lot of time planning, coding, and tweaking because I’ve wanted everything to be just right for you.

This update is a HUGE step forward for Ukulele Tricks, and I hope that you really like it.

When I designed the new look, my goal was to make things look cleaner and easier to find. For example, members of the Ukulele Strumming Tricks video lesson course can login to the course from the top of any page now!

Overall, there aren’t any major changes to the way the site is organized, so you should be able to find everything alright. I encourage you to click around and explore! If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below.

Please be patient with me as there might still be some kinks in the design that I have to work out.

What do you think of the new design? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Post your comment below!

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16 Best Ukuleles to Buy This Christmas… Without Breaking the Bank

by Brett McQueen

With Christmas right around the corner, there isn’t a better time to learn how to play the ukulele.

We’ve looked at the 5 Best Ukuleles to Buy for Beginners, but through the discussion in the comments of that post, there have been a lot of other great recommendations from all of you that I missed.

So in this post, I’m taking your suggestions and looking at 16 best ukuleles to buy… without breaking the bank.

Honestly, there are hundreds of brands and options out there, so I know I’m going to miss some, but these ukuleles I’ve either played or I’ve heard really great reviews from you.

These ukuleles are perfect for beginners and beyond.

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    Brett McQueen is the founder of Ukulele Tricks and author of the internationally-published book Ukulele Exercises For Dummies. He teaches thousands of people from around the world to play ukulele in a non-intimidating, easy-to-follow style. Read more.

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