Need help with (uke) music theory.

OK, I'm getting over my head with my fingerpicking aspirations. I'm not sure even how to articulate this. Basically I have been reading TAB, I think it's called, eh, when below the line of western notation there is the 'quick and easy' just place your finger on the numbered fret on the strings shown.

Well the thing is, now that my fingerpicking songs are getting a bit more complex there is timing that I need to follow which only shows in the notes above, like, say, a dotted quarter note, but I can't see the timing info and the numbers below at the same time. So I think I should learn to read the western notation as it relates to the fretboard of the uke.

Do you know what I mean?

I imagine there's a lot of resources online to teach this but which would you recommend? Or would I be better off buying a uke book?

Help! How can I learn to read the notes so that I can play them rather than just following the numbers on the lines below?

If there is a uke-specific book that addresses reading standard notation, I certainly haven't seen it (but would love to know about it if there is one!). I learned how to read standard notation when I was a kid, and even though I'm a pretty poor sight-reader I do rely on it heavily for timing, as you noted, so that in and of itself is a good reason to learn it. Another good reason? Once you can read standard notation, you don't need to hunt down uke-specific music, almost any piano arrangement or lead sheet will give you enough to go on to come up with your own uke arrangements.

Do you have a smartphone? There are a ton of "flash card" type apps out there for this sort of thing. On my iPhone, I have a very basic (and I think free) one called MusicFlashcards for this. There's a much more complex theory app called Musicopoulos that has a sight reading section, and if you want to get further into theory I'd recommend spending the few dollars on it. There are similar apps for Android as well. And if you Google "online sight reading games" you'll get some free sites - I can't vouch for any of these, but they're out there.

An audio file or video can be a very valuable tool used in conjunction with the tab. Hearing how the song is played can make a world of difference.

What you're really doing is learning two different things at the same time. You're learning what the dots on paper mean...and you're learning where the notes are on the fingerboard. It may help you to consciously separate that into two tasks. First, learn the notation - and flashcards or the like are great for that. Then, once you've got a pretty good handle on that learn the fret board.

The opposite approach might also work, but then you risk being able to "read" music only when playing the uke. If you learn the "dots" separately you will be able to readily apply it to other instruments later.

Back in the 70's when I was in the AF they taught us Morse code by teaching us to type on a teletype terminal as we heard the code. The connection went directly from ears to fingers, because our whole job was just to eavesdrop and type everything we heard (most of it was encoded and the teletype tapes got sent over to the crypto folks). We would hear a code and our fingers would automatically move to the right key on the teletype but most of us couldn't have told you what letter we had just typed to save our necks. (A few of us could, mostly those who already knew how to type before starting the course.)

John

janeray1940 said:

If there is a uke-specific book that addresses reading standard notation, I certainly haven't seen it (but would love to know about it if there is one!).

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Hal Leonard Ukulele Method is one such method. Alfred has another. Since these are basic method books, they will have really easy tunes and nothing too complex.

Stackabones said:

Hal Leonard Ukulele Method is one such method. Alfred has another. Since these are basic method books, they will have really easy tunes and nothing too complex.

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Thanks, I'll keep those in mind - I've been asked this question before by other uke players and had no idea how to recommend they learn to read standard notation, since I learned long ago (and not well!). The Leonard one is easy enough to find; the Alfred link is blocked for me for some reason - I get an "access denied" message.

janeray1940 said:

Thanks, I'll keep those in mind - I've been asked this question before by other uke players and had no idea how to recommend they learn to read standard notation, since I learned long ago (and not well!). The Leonard one is easy enough to find; the Alfred link is blocked for me for some reason - I get an "access denied" message.

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The Alfred title is Alfred Basic Ukulele Method. They also have one for kids that I use for kids!

For building up reading, I think The Daily Ukulele Books are good for ukers in general (though you'll get more mileage out of them if you're strung low-G). For a little more intermediate reading, I really like Fake Books (I have quite a few of the Hal Leonard Real Books). So many tunes are written in the key of F, which is great key for reading music on the uke -- of course, other than that great ole standby of C.

I highly recommend Pekelo's Hawaian Ukulele Method books. I came to the ukulele with zero music background and became smitten with fingerpicking. His books really are well organized, building gradually, come with CDs to play along with (metronome in background), and the tunes are fun. He also provides historical information about each tune.
Here's an Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Pekelos-Hawaiian-Ukulele-Method-Volume/dp/B004HXIWSI
or you can go to his own site: pekelosbooks.com
I ordered them directly from him and they arrived quickly.
I don;t know why his books are not more well known but I have learned a lot from them!
Enjoy your ukulele path...
ME

dogstayplay said:

I don;t know why his books are not more well known but I have learned a lot from them!

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I agree, those are among the best ukulele method books that I encountered when I first started playing. I don't recall that he went into instruction about reading standard notation though - I could be wrong. And one important thing - if I remember correctly, they are specifically for low-G playing. This in and of itself could be a reason why they aren't more well-know; I think fewer players are into low G than are into reentrant tuning.

In Canada, they teach music with the ukulele, and have developed a series of books.
https://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/books.htm
James Hill, a wonderful musician and teacher, is involved with this program. If you want to learn notation and apply it to the ukulele, I think this is a good way to go. The books are best suited for linear tuning (low G), but standard re-entrant tuning will work as well. Make sure you choose the correct tuning for your preference... Canadians sometimes prefer D tuning.

–Lori

Thanks, lots of good suggestions here!

I can't believe how much there is to learn!

I learned to recognise the note names years ago. But I have never mastered the way in which time is registered in standard notation. I can never "read" a piece of music (I have never heard) accurately. Whenever I have attempted to do so (or attemtped to write down a tune using the notation method) I have always produced something which sounds nothign like what comes out my speakers if I laboriously enter the notes into a score reading programme - even a cool and cheap one like the one I have Melody Assistant from Myriad.

I would love to be pointed in the direction of THE video tutorial (or music learning app) which unlocks the best way to "count" the notes so that I acquire an instinctive feel for this. I am not holding out much hope for learning this skill now though. I've just turned 60 and you know what they say about us old dogs

The problem is that different types of music involve a different feel. If you enter music into a program it tends to be very precise and mechanical - which is fine for some kinds of music. A lot of popular music tends to swing a bit more so the first part of the beat is held a little longer. You might try holding some scores while listening to music. The way I learned was playing in my school band - maybe there is a community college band around where you can pick an instrument and play. When I studied sax I had books for teaching rhythm, even swing feel is a little different depending whether the music is old fashioned swing, modern swing, or bop, or straight jazz, etc. To read music is a skill like learning a foreign language or reading your native language. I read music very well but have some issues with standard notation on the uke and tend to rely more on tabs although my preference is to have both standard notation and tabs. Reading music is not something you can learn watching a video or from a short tutorial.

Barbablanca said:

I learned to recognise the note names years ago. But I have never mastered the way in which time is registered in standard notation. I can never "read" a piece of music (I have never heard) accurately. Whenever I have attempted to do so (or attemtped to write down a tune using the notation method) I have always produced something which sounds nothign like what comes out my speakers if I laboriously enter the notes into a score reading programme - even a cool and cheap one like the one I have Melody Assistant from Myriad.

I would love to be pointed in the direction of THE video tutorial (or music learning app) which unlocks the best way to "count" the notes so that I acquire an instinctive feel for this. I am not holding out much hope for learning this skill now though. I've just turned 60 and you know what they say about us old dogs

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katysax said:

Reading music is not something you can learn watching a video or from a short tutorial.

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I know... I've got the books and videos to prove it . I was hoping that the knowledge base here might know that killer vid that really gives you the ideal trick to get inside the way music is counted. I'm afraid I have an allergy to math and never count when playing. I know there is a mathematical element to music, but I prefer to feel the rhythm, rather than chop it up into the dreaded numbers.