• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

I want to learn to play the Ukulele

jim slagle said:
Can’t understand a word you are saying.

My wife is an ESL teacher. I’ll get her to translate for me tonight. :yankchain:
Click to expand...

For strumming patterns your finger strikes the strings in either a downward or upward swing. The strings on a Ukulele play the notes G C E A (top to bottom as you hold the uke) so a downward stroke will ring the G string, then the C string, followed by the E and finally the A strings. Upward strokes ring out the strings in reverse order, which gives a different sound, even if the chord is the same chord. You can play a chord with either an up strum or a downward strum, or you can play it with both. It varies from song to song.

D = Down
U = Up

So the strumming pattern => Down, Up, Down, Up, Up, Down, Up, Up, Down, Up ... repeat

Or, NUMBERS are Down and a '+' (or an '&' symbol) would denote an Up. Some people use the letters D and U while others use the Number and the + or &.

Strumming patterns vary from song to song and some songs can be played successfully using different strumming patterns. For example I learned Amazing Grace with 2 different strumming patterns. 1 2 3 or DDD. And also 1 2 3 + or DDDU. Adding the upward strum at the end of the 3 downward strums adds a little bit of a JAZZ style sound to the song. Neither is more or less correct. And there are probably a half dozen other fairly common ways to play the same song.

Regardless of the chords being played, the strumming pattern would generally be consistent. In some songs a full strumming pattern is played for each chord, in other songs the strumming pattern continues but the chords are changed multiple times during the strumming pattern. In the case of this Jimmy Buffett song there are 4 chord for each single strum pattern.

I understand this stuff ... sadly it is easier to explain than to actually do!

So to get the ukulele to "sound" similar to Jimmy Buffett's band, playing the proper chords with the pattern DUDUUDUUDU or 1+2++3++4+ gives the correct sound to the song. Realize that one 4 string instrument (or 6 strings for a guitar) is trying to recreate the music of an entire band and that is not really possible but what is possible is for basic "sound" of the song to be familiar enough that it all comes together in a familiar way to the ear.
 
Melensdad said:
For strumming patterns your finger strikes the strings in either a downward or upward swing. The strings on a Ukulele play the notes G C E A (top to bottom as you hold the uke) so a downward stroke will ring the G string, then the C string, followed by the E and finally the A strings. Upward strokes ring out the strings in reverse order, which gives a different sound, even if the chord is the same chord. You can play a chord with either an up strum or a downward strum, or you can play it with both. It varies from song to song.

D = Down
U = Up

So the strumming pattern => Down, Up, Down, Up, Up, Down, Up, Up, Down, Up ... repeat

Or, NUMBERS are Down and a '+' (or an '&' symbol) would denote an Up. Some people use the letters D and U while others use the Number and the + or &.

Strumming patterns vary from song to song and some songs can be played successfully using different strumming patterns. For example I learned Amazing Grace with 2 different strumming patterns. 1 2 3 or DDD. And also 1 2 3 + or DDDU. Adding the upward strum at the end of the 3 downward strums adds a little bit of a JAZZ style sound to the song. Neither is more or less correct. And there are probably a half dozen other fairly common ways to play the same song.

Regardless of the chords being played, the strumming pattern would generally be consistent. In some songs a full strumming pattern is played for each chord, in other songs the strumming pattern continues but the chords are changed multiple times during the strumming pattern. In the case of this Jimmy Buffett song there are 4 chord for each single strum pattern.

I understand this stuff ... sadly it is easier to explain than to actually do!

So to get the ukulele to "sound" similar to Jimmy Buffett's band, playing the proper chords with the pattern DUDUUDUUDU or 1+2++3++4+ gives the correct sound to the song. Realize that one 4 string instrument (or 6 strings for a guitar) is trying to recreate the music of an entire band and that is not really possible but what is possible is for basic "sound" of the song to be familiar enough that it all comes together in a familiar way to the ear.
Click to expand...

Thank you, really more information than I expected! :thumb:
 
[ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=0VT3yIKfmyQ"]Music Minute 9 - Keeping Your Instrument in Tune - YouTube[/ame]

This is cute :yum:
 
Sort of bummed out but when I got sick with kidney stones over Memorial Day weekend I pretty much stopped playing the ukulele.

Part of that was pain.

Part of the problem is as I got feeling better (and I'm back to my version of 'normal' now) the lovely Mrs_Bob retired from teaching so she is now home with me and I don't like to practice with an audience.

So I have the desire to practice but I've not being doing much of it. Sometimes 2 or 3 minutes. Sometimes none. Sometimes 10 minutes. But never enough.
 
I understand. I often won't play in front of anyone. Even though I have no problem playing at church and singing in front of 100s of people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top