How do you use fakebooks/the daily ukulele?

Piecomics

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I have finally broken down and started singing with my playing. Since this is a new thing for me, I'm using the daily ukulele to practice. Other than figuring out a strumming pattern and following the chords, what else do people do? Seems like there might be some ways to vary playing to make it more interesting, just looking for any suggestions, or videos to look at…
 
Our Uke group uses the Daily Ukulele from time to time. It is convenient but in general I prefer other sources. Doctor Uke is a good online resource, there are tons of songs and generally there is a audio to listen to and play along with.
 
I either use them for playing the melody, or on rare occasions, strum (some of) the chords whilst 'speaking' the words, or I might actually attempt to 'sing' along. :)
 
That dr uke website is nice! Doesn't have much in the way of folk/old time but lots of early rock.

Good stuff!
 
I have finally broken down and started singing with my playing. Since this is a new thing for me, I'm using the daily ukulele to practice. Other than figuring out a strumming pattern and following the chords, what else do people do? Seems like there might be some ways to vary playing to make it more interesting, just looking for any suggestions, or videos to look at…

You have the basic idea exactly figured. Use the chords to strum along and the lead line to sing. Ideally, with others--a fakebook puts a whole ensemble on the same page, with everything they need to immediately play productively together.

Fakebooks also make a great resource for working out fingerstyle or chord melody arrangements. As ChoirGuy recently pointed out in another thread, listening to a recording over and over will eventually allow you to figure out and record your own fake sheet (if you have a developed enough ear) but a fakebook will have finished that work for you.

Internet tablature and chord charts are on the whole fairly inaccurate and often require a similar level of effort to correct as recording your own fake sheet from scratch. Fakebooks distributed by a reputable music publisher are much more reliable and can save you a bunch of hassle.
 
So how do you use the fake book to work at the finger style? That's what I don't understand, well, that's one of the many many many things I don't understand.
 
So how do you use the fake book to work at the finger style? That's what I don't understand, well, that's one of the many many many things I don't understand.

I have the Daily Ukulele because a lot of times at festivals and such have a group strum-a-long and they want to do it out of the "yellow book". Except for picking a few of those melodies sometimes for grins and giggles, I don't practice out of it.
 
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So how do you use the fake book to work at the finger style?

That is a much more complicated question. Writing arrangements requires a certain kind of musical experience. A developed ear and the ability to read and write some form of musical notation are necessary skills. It is also necessary to have an adequate knowledge of the technical aspects of playing the instrument you are writing for. Have you written any music or transcribed any arrangements in the past?

For me it involves listening, noodling, listening, and then recording the notes I like on paper. After a long process of doing those things repeatedly, all the way through a piece, I will have produced musical notation for that piece, which I can then read and play.

Fakebooks make this process easier by doing a good portion of the work for me. If I already have the lead line and accompanying chords available, I don't need to listen or noodle as much as I otherwise might in order to find pleasing notes to record.
 
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Thank you! Very helpful. Someone had posted but edited I guess about using the 2 and 6 chords or passing chords... that was super helpful, if you don't mind either reposting or DMing it to me? Either way this is super helpful and helps me bridge the gap between the complexity of finger style (which is all I have done really, fun, hard and gratifying) and playing chords (which before now has been "easy" and not gratifying)
 
Oh, and any recommendations on a fake book? Happy to write in chords if it's a non uke one?
 
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