Learning Music Theory in Relation to Ukuleles on a Keyboard

Picking up the 'ukulele has inspired me to learn music theory. As others have stated elsewhere, having a keyboard is a really good learning tool for this endeavor. The downside though, is that keyboards/pianos are not generally as portable as an 'ukulele. One small exception is the Casio SA-46, 32 key keyboard. It has just enough keys to cover all the notes that can be played on an 'ukulele up to the 15th fret, with either re-entrant or linear tuning. It is also small enough to fit in my backpack, so I can head to the park on a nice sunny day with my 'ukulele and keyboard and books and stuff for some good study time. Having a small keyboard such as this wouldn't be suitable for really learning piano, but to work out songs on the 'ukulele it's a pretty good tool.

Interesting approach

I've never been a fan of keyboards (as in wanting to learn to play one) but having learnt to read music so's I could play a penny whistle from a book, I managed to transfer my new-found skill-set to fretted instruments, first mandolin, then, in no particular order, ukulele, guitar and banjo (4 & 5-string).

I'm sure that with a little initial dedication you'll manage to enhance your skill-sets on both instruments and benefit greatly from the experience.

Good luck :music:

You can get many keyboard apps for your phone (regardless of OS) which makes the concept of a keyboard even MORE portable.

We have a little keyboard that belonged to the kids sitting on a shelf, and I find myself often times going to it to see the relationships between notes in chords and such.

I got started with music theory and notation on trombone of all instruments. Keyboards are nicely laid out for the visual types, but I would argue that ukulele is just as good for learning theory if it is done along with traditional notation, not tab. I have a small 32 key midi keyboard that I use with my PC to enter notes in Sibelius (notation software). I really wish there was a midi ukulele out there that I could plug directly into my PC....

Maguwa said:

I got started with music theory and notation on trombone of all instruments. Keyboards are nicely laid out for the visual types, but I would argue that ukulele is just as good for learning theory if it is done along with traditional notation, not tab. I have a small 32 key midi keyboard that I use with my PC to enter notes in Sibelius (notation software). I really wish there was a midi ukulele out there that I could plug directly into my PC....

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I have encouraged and will continue to encourage the makers of the JamStik to make a UkeStik.

If you have an iPad, you can use Notion and an onscreen ukulele to play notes into dual staff/tab notation.

Something like an uke version of the Jamstik would be great! How did you contact them? Maybe if enough of us show them we are interested they will consider production...

Maguwa said:

Something like an uke version of the Jamstik would be great! How did you contact them? Maybe if enough of us show them we are interested they will consider production...

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My professional "hobby" (I spend far more than I make) is as an expert on technology in music education (techinmusiced.com, metpodcast.wordpress.com) and Zivix, the company, is "relatively" in my backyard.

I would say that e-mails to their general contact information would send a message.

They have asked if a $250 USB ukulele with 5-7 frets would be of interest, when you can buy a uke for $35 on eBay. It is a fair question--but right now the only way to get data into GarageBand is through something like the iRig, iBox, or Lanikai UkeSB--and none of those are MIDI solutions.