Ukulele for beginners, or how to play the ukulele. How to play the ukulele Major and minor scales

More recently, a small guitar - the ukulele - has become very popular. But its biggest charm is that learning to play it is extremely simple. In this article, we will show you how you can learn how to play the ukulele in just a week.

Build.

The ukulele is much easier to play than the regular one. acoustic guitar guitar, since the ukulele has only 4 strings - sol, do, mi, la. There are several types of ukulele - soprano, alto, tenor and bass, and depending on the height of the instrument itself, the system may vary. We will consider an example of a standard tuning.

Chords.

Chords are relatively easy to play on the ukulele. For example, it is not difficult to play a bar, which throws novice guitarists into a fever, since it is much easier to pinch four strings with one finger than to pinch six strings with the same finger, and it is extremely rarely used on the ukulele bar. Many chords can be played with just one finger, which greatly simplifies our task.

Feel.

The strings of the ukulele are always nylon (when the guitar can be both nylon and metal), so you don't need to bother with buying picks. And if you don’t buy a pick, then you won’t have to look for this pick, and these things are lost more often than socks in washing machine. And of course, the calluses that everyone is so afraid of will be much softer, or they may not grow at all, since the strings on the ukulele are very soft, and clamping them is very simple and does not hurt at all!

Scheme.

The chords are easy to remember and here are the diagrams for some of them.

In the diagrams indicated in the picture, many of us do not understand anything, so let's figure it out. The vertical lines are the strings of our guitar themselves from left to right (sol, do, mi, la). horizontal lines- it's frets. Well, the black dots are the place where you need to put your finger and hold down the string so that the chord we need sounds.

The battle.

Well, and, of course, the fight. Striking the strings of a ukulele is much easier than hitting the strings of a guitar. As with acoustic guitar playing, there are several types of fighting. You can play: alternately up - down, down - down - up - up - down, down - up - down and so on ... Or you can just sort through the strings, but it is advisable to start from the second string, and then as your heart desires. In general, the word “battle” is not very suitable for the ukulele, because the swing of the brush, to extract sound on such a miniature instrument, requires a minimum.

Many will read this post and think: “How can you learn to play in a week?”, And I assure you, if during the week every day you devote at least an hour a day to classes, then during this period you can learn a couple of songs without straining and become a star in your company. The most important thing is to set yourself up for work and overcome the difficulties of the first lessons. You have no idea how quickly our fingers are able to memorize the position on the fretboard!

If you learn all the chords presented in this article, you can play almost any song and sound very original. The ukulele is quite small, and you can always take it with you to any picnic, and you will always be in the center of attention.

And I wish you good luck and inspiration in mastering this wonderful musical instrument that has melted the hearts of millions of people on our planet!

14.12.2010

Ukulele The ukulele is a four-stringed plucked musical instrument. Appeared in the 1880s as a development of the bragina, a miniature guitar from the island of Madeira, related to the Portuguese cavaquinho. The ukulele is common in various Pacific islands, but is primarily associated with Hawaiian music. Hawaiian musicians who appeared in San Francisco at the 1915 Pacific Exposition engendered a love for this "childish" guitar and Hawaiian music in general, first in America, and then throughout the world.

The name "ukulele" is translated, according to one version, as "jumping flea", since the movement of the fingers when playing the ukulele resembles the jumping of a flea. According to another - as "a gift that came here", the Hawaiian words: uku(thank you) and lele(come), since the instrument was invented by three Portuguese who arrived in Hawaii in 1879 and sold it for only 75 cents.

After speaking at the Pacific-Panama International exhibition The Hawaiian Royal Quartet's instrument began to catch on in the US, especially in jazz. Its production was put on a wide conveyor ( Regal, Harmony, Martin) and had a good demand in view of the cheapness, small size and interesting sound. Then there was some decline in interest in the ukulele. It was only in the 1990s that new round in the development of national (folk) music, and the ukulele again took its rightful place.

Playing the ukulele is much easier than, for example, classical guitar, chord diagrams are very simple. Maybe this explains the popularity of the ukulele all over the world.

Ukulele device

Ukuleles are usually made of wood, although there have been variants consisting partially or entirely of plastic. Cheaper ukuleles are usually made from layers of wood or laminate, in some cases with inexpensive but acoustically superior woods such as spruce. Other, more expensive ukulele models are made from hardwoods such as mahogany, for example. . There are also very expensive ukuleles that can cost thousands of dollars, they are made from Koa acacia ( Acacia koa), Hawaiian arborescens. In general, in the manufacture of a ukulele, almost the same types of wood are used as in the manufacture of a conventional guitar:

• Ash - ash
• Agathis - agathis
• Koa - acacia
• Mahogany - mahogany (Swietenia)
• maple - maple
• rosewood - rosewood
• Spruce - spruce
• Walnut - walnut (Almires)

The ukulele usually has a figure-of-eight body, similar to a small acoustic guitar. However, there are also other forms: round, like a banjo, and in the shape of a "pineapple", and in the shape of an oar, and even square (often made from old wooden cigar boxes). Also, all kinds of colors and designs are beyond enumeration! Here everything depends on the imagination of the master, and, as you know, it is inexhaustible!

The ukulele has only four strings, or there are instances with double strings (a total of 8 strings). The strings are pulled by nylon (soft). It is possible to use guitar strings, however, at the expense of sound quality.

Exist 4 types of ukulele

*If written« G.» , that is, with a dot below, it is tuned an octave lower.

There are also less common sopraninos and bass ukuleles, at opposite ends of the size spectrum.

Types of building

Standard tuning for soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles GCEA(Sol-Do-Mi-La) - " C-tuning”, while the 4th string G is tuned in the same octave. Baritones have a common system D.G.B.E(Re-Sol-Si-Mi), that is, like the first four strings of a guitar.

Alternate tuning - one step up GCEA, that is ADF#B - « D tuning". The sound of the ukulele becomes more interesting due to the effect of increasing the tonal boost (small ukuleles boost the high frequencies more fully). This tuning was used during the boom of Hawaiian music in the early 20th century. D-tuning with the 4th string down A.DF#B called the "Canadian system", as it is used there in music schools.

Setting

Tuning by frets and tuner

	Tuning by tuner (http://www.get-tuned.com/ukulele_tuner.php) gives a much more accurate sound than tuning by ear. Manual selection by unisons in Do ( GCEA): 1 string released, 2 at the 5th fret (sound La, A); 2 released, 3 on the 4th fret (sound Mi, E); 1 released, 4 on the 2nd fret (sound La, A). See also other options in the paragraph " finger thinking».
	Standard Frequencies GCEA for ukulele: 1 string “A”= 440Hz 2 string “E”= 329.6Hz 3 string “C”= 261.6Hz 4 string “G”= 392 Hz

Flagstone Tuning

With the finger of your left hand, barely touch the 1st string above the 7th metal nut. Weak-weak. Hook this string with the nail of your right hand, and immediately remove your finger from the string. A high pitched sound will come out.

1. This sound should correspond to the sound of 2 strings above the 5th nut and 3 strings above the 4th nut;
2. The sound of the 3rd string over the 7th threshold must correspond to the sound of the 4th string over the 12th threshold.

This setting is suitable only for high-quality, well-worked instruments (at least a year of playing) with “stand up” strings and clearly calibrated nut and scale. Such a quality check is decisive when buying an expensive tool. Small imperfections and discrepancies in tones may go away with time or be corrected by hand.

Ukulele lessons. finger thinking

Chapter 1. General theory and device of the ukulele.

In classical musical theory 12 notes, 7 of them are basic (white keys) and 5 are, say, additional (black). 12 notes = one octave. For example, let's press the note Do on the piano (or it on the ukulele), and the 13th note (at the 13th fret) will be the same Do, only an octave higher (Fig. 1).

The black note, located to the right of the white one, has the same name, only with a "sharp". Black next to Do = Do#. To the left - she, but with a "flat". To the left of Do - Dob. Distance between adjacent notes (including blacks) = semitone. So there are 6 full tones in an octave. As can be seen from fig. 2, there are fewer black keys than white keys. Due to the fact that between Mi and Fa, as well as between Xi and Do half a tone. Why didn't they come up with a system of 6 white and 6 black notes, so that there is 1 tone between all the white ones? To somehow navigate the piano.

English note names:

Classic ukulele tuning GCEA(Sol-Do-Mi-La). Notes on the ukulele Unison for A. First you need to find all the notes on all the strings of the Hawaiian. It is desirable - to constantly have before your eyes (print), and then - to learn. It will learn on its own. Next - find the location of unisons (identical notes). The picture shows the rule for the location of unisons for La. It needs to be learned. Try to build from random notes - for example, from F (on the 2nd string, 1st fret), but without looking at the diagram. With unisons, you can tune the ukulele when it is out of tune, and also build chords from them, taking them for the tonic.

Chapter 2. Building chords

Chords are triads. That is, there are 3 notes in each chord (mandatory). There are minor and major chords. This has nothing to do with sharps and flats. That is, a C# (Do#) chord can be either a major (C#) or a minor (C#m) chord. Flat chords are usually not written down, that is, they write not Gb, but F#. Chords are usually indicated by English letters.

Minor chords are built on 1, 4 and 8 semitones. That is, the tonic is taken (the note by which the chord is called, the main one), from it we go forward through two frets, then through another three frets. It turns out 3 notes. For example, the notes of the chord Am (A minor), that is, La-Do-Mi, are taken. For example 2 - the chord Dm (D minor), D-F-La.

Further, all the notes included in the Dm chord are marked, with a black dot - tonics (Re), the scheme of their arrangement is already known. Let's try to build this chord using only the marked notes. Remember that all 3 notes (Re-Fa-La) should be included in it, and not two (Re-Fa-Fa-Re). There are many ways, right?

But they can be reduced to seven main positions. To be honest, no more than five are usually used to play on 5 sections of the neck, but this is already more difficult.

Major chords are built on 1, 5 and 8 semitones, that is, first through three frets, and then through two. Minor chord La: La-Do-Mi, major: La-Do#-Mi. The main fingering positions are shown on the right.

Since the ukulele is an unusual instrument, but created on the basis of insight, then if you turn the ukulele with major notes and compare with minor ones, then ... See the pictures:

Jazz and blues guitarists who are accustomed to pentatonic improvisation will be able to transfer their knowledge to the ukulele without any problems. the first three tuning strings are a copy of the guitar ones. What scales are, their types and how to use them can be found in guitar books.

All. This is the foundation that will help you make the big, quick jump in getting to know the instrument and understanding how it works. Further schemes (seventh chords, blues pentatonic, chord inversion rules) you can build yourself.

These miniature four-string guitars are relatively recent, but quickly conquered the world with their sound. Traditional Hawaiian music, jazz, country, reggae and folk - the instrument has taken root in all these genres. And it's also very easy to learn. If you know how to play the guitar at least a little, you can make friends with the ukulele in a matter of hours.

It is made of wood, like any guitar, and is very similar in appearance. The only differences are 4 strings and much smaller.

History of the ukulele

The ukulele appeared as a result of the development of the Portuguese plucked instrument - cavaquinho. TO late XIX For centuries, it has been played everywhere by the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands. After several exhibitions and concerts, the compact guitar began to attract the attention of the people of the United States. Jazzmen were especially interested in her.

The second wave of popularity for the instrument came only in the nineties. The musicians were looking for a new interesting sound, and found it. Now the ukulele is one of the most popular tourist musical instruments.

Varieties of ukulele

The ukulele has only 4 strings. They differ only in size. The larger the scale, the lower the tuning is played on the instrument.

• Soprano- the most common type. Tool length - 53cm. Adjustable in GCEA (more on tunings below).
• concert– slightly larger and louder. Length - 58cm, GCEA system.
• Tenor- This model appeared in the 20s. Length - 66cm, action - standard or reduced DGBE.
• Baritone- the largest and youngest model. Length - 76cm, action - DGBE.

Sometimes you can find non-standard ukuleles with twin strings. The 8 strings are paired and tuned in unison. This allows you to achieve more surround sound. This, for example, is used by Jan Laurens in the video:

As the first instrument, it is better to buy a soprano. They are the most versatile and the easiest to find commercially. If miniature guitars interest you, you can look at other varieties.

build ukulele

As you can see from the list, the most popular tuning is GCEA(Sol-Do-Mi-La). He has one interesting feature. The first strings are tuned as on ordinary guitars - from the highest sound to the lowest. But the fourth string is Sol belongs to the same octave, as the rest 3. This means that it will sound higher than the 2nd and 3rd strings.

This tuning makes playing the ukulele a bit unusual for guitarists. But, it is quite comfortable, and it is easy to get used to it. The baritone and sometimes the tenor are tuned in DGBE(Re-Sol-Si-Mi). The first 4 guitar strings have a similar system. As with the GCEA, the D string belongs to the same octave as the others.

Some musicians also use the raised system - ADF#B(La-Re-F flat-C). It finds its use in Hawaiian folk music. A similar system, but with the 4th string lowered by an octave (La), is taught in Canadian music schools.

Tool setup

Before you start mastering the ukulele, you need to set it up. If you're experienced with guitars, this shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise, it is recommended to use a tuner or try to tune by ear.

With a tuner, everything is simple - find special program, connect a microphone to the computer, pull the first string. The program will show the pitch. Twist the peg until you get La first octave(designated as A4). Tune the rest of the strings in the same way. They all lie within the same octave, so look for the notes Mi, Do, and Sol with the number 4.

Tuning without a tuner requires musical ear. You need to play on some instrument (you can even on a computer midi-synthesizer) the necessary notes. And then adjust the strings so that they sound in unison with the selected notes.

Ukulele Basics

This part of the article is intended for people who have never touched plucked instruments, for example, to the guitar. If you know at least the basics of guitar skills, you can safely move on to the next part.

A description of the basics of musical literacy will require a separate article. So let's move on to practice. To play any melody you need to know where which note is. If you use the standard ukulele tuning - GCEA - all the notes you can play are collected in this picture.

On open (not clamped) strings, you can play 4 notes - La, Mi, Do and Sol. For the rest, the sound needs to clamp the strings at certain frets. Take the instrument in your hands, strings away from you. With your left hand you will press the strings, and with your right hand you will play.

Try playing the first (it will be the lowest) string at the third fret. You need to press with your fingertip right in front of the metal threshold. Pinch the same string with the finger of your right hand - and the note Do will sound.

Further hard training is needed. The sound extraction technique here is exactly the same as on the guitar. Read tutorials, watch videos, practice - and in a couple of weeks your fingers will quickly “run” along the neck.

Ukulele chords

When you can confidently strike the strings and make sounds from them, you can start learning chords. Since there are fewer strings here than on a guitar, it is much easier to pinch chords.

The picture shows a list of the main chords that you will use while playing. dots the frets on which you need to clamp the strings are marked. If there is no point on some string, then it should sound in an open form.

At first, you will only need the first 2 rows. This major and minor chords from every note. With their help, you can play accompaniment to any song. When you master them, you can master the rest. They will help you decorate your game, make it more vivid and lively.

If you don't know what you can play on the ukulele, visit http://www.ukulele-tabs.com/. It contains a huge number of songs for this wonderful instrument.

Choose a ukulele. There are several different sizes and, accordingly, the types of ukulele sound - it is important to choose the most suitable option for yourself. As a beginner, you will most likely prefer to choose a cheaper option than to invest in an expensive tool; maybe otherwise. There are four types of ukulele.

• The soprano ukulele is the most common type. This is the smallest ukulele, the sound of which is considered classic. This type of ukulele is also cheaper than the others, and therefore the soprano is the most common choice for beginners. The length of such a ukulele is on average 53 cm, the number of frets is 12–14.
• The alto ukulele (or concert ukulele) is the next largest after the soprano. The length is about 58 cm, the number of frets is 15–20. Since the alto ukulele is larger, people with larger hands prefer this variant of the soprano ukulele. Ukuleles of this type also have a deeper sound than soprano ukuleles.
• The next type is the tenor ukulele, which is about 66 cm long; the number of frets - from 15. Its sound is even deeper than that of a concert ukulele, and it allows you to extract even more sounds due to an even longer neck.
• The largest ukulele is the baritone ukulele, which is 76 cm long and has 19 frets or more on the neck. The baritone ukulele is tuned in the same way as a guitar on the bottom four strings, making the two instruments very similar. Due to their large size, this type of instrument no longer has the classic sound of a ukulele, but a baritone ukulele will suit you if you want a really deep and rich sound.

1. Learn how the ukulele works. The structure of a ukulele is somewhat different from that of a guitar or other stringed musical instrument. Before you start playing, make sure you understand how the instrument works.

   • The body of the ukulele is hollow inside and made of wood, like most other musical instruments. Under the strings in the case there is a small hole - a rosette.
   • A ukulele neck is an oblong piece of wood on which the strings are stretched. The top flat surface of the fretboard is called the fretboard.
   • Frets are fingerboard sections separated by metal frets. Each fret has its own note for each string.
   • The headstock is the part at the end of the neck where the pegs are located.
   • The ukulele has four strings, although these strings may vary depending on the type of ukulele. The thickest and lowest-sounding string is the first; the highest-sounding and thinnest string is the fourth.

2. Set up your ukulele. Be sure to tune the instrument before each game. The ukulele is tuned using tuning pegs located on the headstock, which can be rotated to increase or decrease the tension of the strings.

   • Over time, the strings stretch and the instrument gets out of tune. This means that you will have to tighten them more often.
   • Take the ukulele in front of you. The top left peg is connected to the C (C) string, the bottom left to the G (G) string, the top right to the E (E) string, and the bottom right to the A (A) string. Accordingly, to change the tension or sound of a string, you need to use the appropriate peg.
   • You will need an electronic or online tuner in order to have a sound sample for each string. Once you have a pattern, you can adjust the peg of a particular string until the string is in tune with the pattern.
   • If you have a piano or a synthesizer, you can try playing the note that matches the string you're tuning and compare the sound of that note to the sound of the string.

3. Get in the right position for the game. If you hold the ukulele incorrectly while playing, it can negatively affect not only the sound, but, over time, your wrists. Every time before you play the ukulele, pay special attention to the correct posture and posture.

   chords

   1. Learn some basic chords. A chord is the harmonic consonance of two or more notes played at the same time. To play a chord, you need to play the strings at different frets at the same time. Learning most chords is quite simple: for this, you will be given the string number, fret number, and which finger is most convenient to hold the desired string.

      Learn basic major chords. Major chords consist of three or four notes played at the same time, and the difference between these notes amounts to an even number of frets, or an integer number of tones. Major sounding means cheerful and joyful sounding.

      Learn basic minor chords. A minor chord is three or more notes played at the same time, two of which differ by one and a half tones (three frets). Under the minor sound, in contrast to the major, is meant the sound of a sad, melancholy.

   Ukulele game

   Work on pace. Now that you've learned a few initial chords, playing several consecutive chords directly can become difficult for you; it means that you lack a sense of rhythm. In order for your playing to be melodic and coherent, a sense of rhythm must be developed.

   • Keeping the rhythm in line with the fighting style at first, while you are still learning how to quickly move the fingers of your left hand from one position to another, will be difficult. As your skills begin to improve, try to stop interrupting the fight between when changing two chords.
   • Try counting to four: this will help you keep the rhythm when playing the fight.
   • If you're still having problems with rhythm, try using a metronome. This device emits a rhythmic tick, which allows the musician to relate his playing to it. Tick ​​speed adjustable
   • Do not try to immediately start playing very quickly, because as the speed of the game increases, the probability of error also increases. Start with a slow rhythm and speed up as you get used to it.

   1. Learn entire songs. Now that you have learned all the basic major and minor chords, you can play many songs in their entirety. You will be able to learn several songs in no time and play by fighting and busting.

      • Many self taught ukulele books feature some popular songs that a beginner can easily learn. Pick one from your local music store and start playing!
      • If you want to learn any of the songs you like, look up the ukulele tabs for that song on the internet. Tablature is a fairly clear diagram that indicates which strings and where to press to play a song.

   2. Practice daily. The most important thing you can do to improve your overall playing skill is to start practicing regularly. In order to become a ukulele virtuoso, it is not necessary to have an innate talent - perseverance and diligence are enough. Spend at least 20-30 minutes a day on training, which will allow you to become a real master!

   • New, not stretched to the optimal position, the strings tend to quickly lose the system. To avoid this, try leaving your ukulele overnight with the strings heavily taut to stretch them to their optimal shape.
   • Be patient! With time and practice, you will learn how to play chords properly.
   • It is easier to learn to play the ukulele while sitting. As soon as you gain practice, appear in front of the audience and sing songs.
   • If you learn from written or video tutorials and don't consult with an experienced ukulele player, you may end up with an incorrect playing technique that will be difficult to correct later. Although there is no loss in learning speed without full lessons, valuable guidance from an experienced musician can be useful in correcting any technical inaccuracies.
   • If you are looking for best compilations songs or a teacher, contact your local record store for advice.

   Warnings

   • The ukulele is not recommended to be played with a normal pick, because the strings wear out so quickly. Instead of a regular pick, use your fingers or a special felt pick.
   • Be careful not to drop the ukulele, it is fragile! Use the case to transport the instrument.