A suggestion...

tbeltrans

Well-known member
Joined
May 24, 2014
Messages
395
Reaction score
0
Since I was not sure if this belongs here or in the "UkeTalk" forum, I will put it here and let the moderators move it if inappropriate here.

The contents of this post may be new to some, familiar to many, depending on how long you have been playing the ukulele. I hope nobody takes exception to this post - it is NOT meant to talk down to or otherwise attack anybody. My intent is only to provide some useful information for those who might want to make use of it.

I used a technique to learn the notes on the guitar fretboard that worked very well and was painless. I have done the same thing on the ukulele and it has worked equally well and is even more painless becasue there are fewer strings. Note that in both cases, the notes repeat themselves starting at the 12th fret.

Every day, pick one note at random on the fretboard. Jut look away and plop a finger somewhere on the fretboard. Figure out that note and then find it on every string, starting with the first occurrence (the lowest fret or open string) and find that note on each successive string, until you have reached the highest occurrence of that note on the first string, and then retrace your steps, ending back at the starting note position on the fourth string.

It is easy to figure out that initial randomly picked note. The open strings (doesn't matter if your ukulele is high G or low G, since they are both G) are (fourth to first string) g C E A. These same notes occur at the 12th fret an octave higher (so you really only need to deal with open string to 11th fret). In between are the 12 chromatic notes. This means that the note you randomly picked occurs only once within the open string and the eleventh fret.

At first, you will have to "count up" to the note positions, but that will become easier and eventually be automatic.

Pick ONE note each day unless you wish to do more. That is all it takes. Over a period of a couple of weeks, the whole process will become quick and then automatic. You don't need a book or course, just a few minutes a day.

When you know the notes on the fretboard and how to "spell" your chords, you no longer need a chord book and the entire fretboard is open to you to strum any chord voiced any way you want and you can now put chord tones under any melody note, making chord melody a relatively easy skill to learn.

Just a few more (hopefully) quick ideas to help:

Along any string on the ukulele, the notes occur in half steps, forming the chromatic scale:

As an example, the G (fourth) string:

G G# A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G

Every string contains these same notes in the same order. The only thing that changes is which note you start the sequence on:

The C string goes from C to C:
C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B C

The E string goes from E to E:
E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E

The A string goes from A to A:
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# A

There are two names for each of the notes notated with the '#' (sharp). Going UP to the next note, you sharp (#) the note. Going down from the higher note, you flat (b) the note. There is a term for two names for the same note: enharmonic tones.

So G# is also Ab, A# is also Bb, C# is also Db, F# is also Gb.

Note that there is a half step between B and C, and between E and F (no # or b between these two pairs of notes), and a whole step between each of the other notes. A "half step" along a string is from one fret to the next. A "whole step" along a string is one fret and skip a fret (a distance of two frets). The half step is the smallest distance between two notes in Western music.

So you could write the chromatic scale for the G string as:

G G#/Ab A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G

Apply these to the other strings as listed above.

I hope that this is helpful. For those who are "theory heads", yes - I glossed over a few points, but for the purpose of the exercise described, this is all that is needed. I see no point in confusing things any further than they probably are.

If interested, I can post a similar overview of scales, chord spelling, and then how to determine what chords go with a given key (the harmonized scale). Beyond that, there is a set of 5 chord positions that, when linked together across the fretboard to play the same chord (much like the CAGED system on the guitar), giving you an immediate and complete map of the fretboard for any chord or scale. As I mentioned, if there is interest in these, I can follow up to this post with three or four more providing this information. That pretty much covers any theory as it practically applies to the ukulele fretboard that most of us need to know to play popular music on the ukulele for either strumming or chord melody/fingerstyle.

Edit: The rest of music theory (the area known of diatonic theory) builds very simply and logically on what is provided here. The major scale uses a "template" of intervals (distances between notes) to extract seven tones from the chromatic scale. Since there are 12 notes in the chromatic scale, there are 12 major scales. There are "templates" for each chord that are used to extract three or more notes from the major scale to build the chords. The chords for a given key are built on the major scale by stacking thirds. That is pretty much it. If there is interest, subsequent posts can cover this information easily enough.

Tony
 
Last edited:
With 113 views and no follow up responses, the message is clear. I hope this information was useful to somebody. Due to lack of interest we will let this thread die peacefully. Not a problem, but I just wanted to be sure before investing more time in creating these posts.

Thanks,

Tony
 
I am sure the lack of response has nothing to do with the lack of interest. I'm actually glad you posted it. But like my old guitar teacher used to tell me not every guitar player cares to know anything about music theory. They just want to know how to play a song and have fun. I was the opposite and since I'm a mad scientist mechanic anyway my natural instinct is to want to know how things work. The sad part is that understanding a bit of music theory can open up a lot for any musician. Please post more as I am sure others will gain from reading your info even if they do not respond. 113 views tells you people are interested.
 
I am sure the lack of response has nothing to do with the lack of interest. I'm actually glad you posted it. But like my old guitar teacher used to tell me not every guitar player cares to know anything about music theory. They just want to know how to play a song and have fun. I was the opposite and since I'm a mad scientist mechanic anyway my natural instinct is to want to know how things work. The sad part is that understanding a bit of music theory can open up a lot for any musician. Please post more as I am sure others will gain from reading your info even if they do not respond. 113 views tells you people are interested.

4stringsinner, thanks for the response. It doesn't bother me either way whether people want to know this stuff or not. I figured that if I posted what could be the first of a couple of posts on the subject, ask for feedback, and see if there is interest, I would know whether to continue or not. There is no point in continuing if the interest isn't there, and there is nothing wrong if people don't respond. I know from being a long time guitar player that there is a rather strange sentiment that knowledge somehow stymies creativity. It makes perfect sense that ukulele players are not interested in delving into theory. A person can do quite a bit with out knowing this stuff.

The reason I decided to post is that earlier this week I was playing around with some tunes on my ukulele and realized that despite wanting to "just have fun", I was using this knowledge anyway. I am certain that the people who create arrangements that really are worth playing, such as the people at HMS with their arrangements and teaching videos, clearly know this stuff inside and out. Maybe some here might want to be able to do that rather than having to get somebody to show them how to play tunes all the time. For many, just having fun playing other people's arrangements is plenty of fun and there is nothing wrong with that either.

Tony
 
Great post and much appreciated. If you want to continue you certainly have my interest :)
 
Thank you, Tony, for your timely post on how to get to know the ukulele fretboard. I wasn't sure where to start with the several books that I have already bought for learning the ukulele. With limited time to learn and practice, I wondered how I could pick and choose within those books to come up with some kind of program for myself. Your post has provided a simple exercise to start learning the fretboard. I hope that there will be enough interest for you to continue with similar posts.
 
like my old guitar teacher used to tell me not every guitar player cares to know anything about music theory. They just want to know how to play a song and have fun.
And a lot of rock guitar players don't know how to read music or have any grasp of theory. They know chords and progressions and how to play arpeggios and make music out of it.

Likewise, a lot of uke players I've met are content to play three-chord ditties from song sheets and aren't interested in going much further. But kudos to them, because they're doing it instead of vegging out in front of the tv.

Some of us have had formal training in classical music. Again, that doesn't mean classical players know theory. But what I learned from other instruments has translated to the uke quite well, especially from guitar. :)
 
Agreed. It would not at all be my intention to say or imply that those who don't care to learn theory are in any less of a player.

I think for those who are strumming to accompany singing, it would probably make good sense to learn the five chord shapes that allow a person to span the fretboard with one chord and then what chord element each of the notes in each shape are. That would allow them to build any chord on the spot without the need for chord books.

For those who want to arrange tunes instrumentally or write their own music, knowing where the note are on the fretboard and how to build chords would open up the many possibilities there are for doing these things. I find the easiest approach to harmonizing a melody is, rather than automatically grabbing some chord form, instead to know what notes of the chord and its color tones are within easy reach under the melody. I am experimenting now wit the campanella approach and the thinking is a bit different since the melody is being played largely between the first and fourth strings, with the middle strings being where to grab those harmonizing chord tones.

Since others have jumped in here (much appreciated!!), I will continue. There really isn't that much, and it will be quite logical. Next comes the major scale, then modifications to the major scale as more of an aside (minor scales and the pentatonic as derived from the major scale and why), then chords from the perspective of being derived from the major scale, explained in such a way that they can also be derived from the other scale types. That explanation will also show how to know what chords go with a key. That completes what most of us need to know. As a sort of "addendum", I can make a post on the five chord shapes that span the fretboard - the ukulele version of the guitar CAGED chord system for mapping the fretboard.

More to come. Though I am officially "retired", I am doing contract engineering three days a week, typically Wednesday through Friday. I think my contract was extended through June. I say "I think" because the company continues to extend it. Since the money is good, the work is interesting, and my wife has medical expenses, it makes sense to continue for now. It takes about a half hour to collect my thoughts and write one of these posts, but I can probably do one this evening again.

As a final note, there are as many ways to think about the material I am covering as there are people who use and apply it. My way seems straightforward to me, but if anybody finds a more clear approach, use that too. There is rarely one "right" way to do a thing, though in terms of the hard facts about scales and chords, those will always be the same no matter who teaches it.

Tony
 
Tony .

I absolutely by no means whatsoever want to rain on your parade ,and what you are offering to do is admirable but I think that here is exactly what you are talking about as an "aid memoir" to learning the fretboard:

http://www.gotaukulele.com/p/ukulele-chord-charts.html

That will save you a shed load of work because I have drawn one of these out for myself .....and they do take a while ...but the best way to learn the fret board ...is to draw one or two of these fretboard diagrams out ....then remember where they change up in the alternative tunings ....there is no Eb tuning shown here.

Best way is to make a blank grid of four lines vertically and 13 horizontal lines . Scan or do it in paint or similar and print them off, then sit and fill in the blanks for each fret string combo in the tuning you decide . GCEA, ADF#B, BbEbGC, DGBE. Then compare them to a "crib" sheet with the correct diagram on . You'll soon be flying to them notes.

Now, bring on the chord construction stuff etc, maestro.;)
 
If interested, I can post a similar overview of scales, chord spelling, and then how to determine what chords go with a given key (the harmonized scale). Beyond that, there is a set of 5 chord positions that, when linked together across the fretboard to play the same chord (much like the CAGED system on the guitar), giving you an immediate and complete map of the fretboard for any chord or scale. As I mentioned, if there is interest in these, I can follow up to this post with three or four more providing this information.

This is pretty much what I've been researching and studying lately. I'm always eager to learn as much material as I can find.
 
Another mad scientist mechanic here, and your initial post was almost exactly what I did to learn bass guitar. As a bassist I wanted to know all the notes in a chord to allow me the option of playing something other than root, or even root-five, bass lines. I took music theory to try to understand chord progressions. Instead of memorization, I wanted to know how to construct chords and bass lines on the fly.

I came to ukulele as a guitar and bass player who dabbled in mandolin and banjo. I've been told that this is backward, you're supposed to get a ukulele first, then grow into a guitar player. Phttt! Music is the journey, the instrument only the vehicle.

I too am eager to learn as much as I can. I know just enough theory to be dangerous. Different approaches are always appreciated. Thanks for posting and please continue.
 
So in my last post, I described the chromatic scale, which is the complete set of 12 notes that we have to work with in Western music and one easy and FREE (no books, etc.) method of learning the fretboard in its entirety. This method can be applied to any string instrument (guitar, bass, mandolin, etc.) and any tuning. Of course, if you are changing the tuning all the time, you won't be in any one tuning long enough for this exercise to do its work. Some people find a tuning they like and then stay with it, building their repertoire in that tuning. for such people, this exercise will work just fine.

The next step is to use what we previously learned about the chromatic scale to create the major scale. The way I think about the various scales in common usage (harmonic, melodic, and natural minor, and the pentatonic) is as alterations of the major scale. For me it is much simpler to thoroughly know the major scale and simply modify notes in it to arrive at the other scales. In the case of the pentatonic scale, we also remove a couple of notes to go from a 7 note scale to a 5 note scale.

The major scale can be described as a set of intervals. An interval is the distance between two notes. We already defined a half step as the smallest musical unit of measure. A half step is the distance from one fret on a given string to the next fret on the same string, up or down the fretboard. A whole step consists of two half steps and therefore two frets up or down on the same string.

The major scale consists of 7 notes with the following intervals:

whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step

An easy way to remember this is to recite:

"a whole, a whole, a half, a whole, a whole, a whole, a half"

Starting on any of the 12 chromatic notes, we can construct a major scale by applying this template of intervals. Therefore, there are 12 major scales.

The remainder of this post contains the text from the section of a paper I wrote for the guitar describing how to build various major scales, along with a suggestion on how to build the remainder and really learn the process.

The diatonic scale can best be described by the intervals that constitute the scale:

whole step from 1 to 2
whole step from 2 to 3
half step from 3 to 4
whole step from 4 to 5
whole step from 5 to 6
whole step from 6 to 7
half step from 7 to 8

The first note of the diatonic scale constitutes its "key". When we refer to a key, we are really referring to that diatonic scale
and what we can do with it.

The usual first example of a diatonic scale is the 'C' diatonic scale. This is because there are no sharps (#) or flats (b) in
it. We will start with this scale and then proceed to build another diatonic scale to introduce the concept of sharps and flats
and why they are used.

To build the C diatonic scale, we start with the tone letter 'C'. Then, we apply the formula given above and count from the note we are on along the chromatic scale the required number of half steps (remember that a whole step consists of two half steps) to get the next note. This process continues until we arrive at the original note again. Note that in ALL cases, there must be one of each of the letters: A B C D E F G A. The use of sharps (#) and flats (b) merely ensures that this is possible under all conditions while retaining the sequence of half and whole steps.

The chromatic scale presented again:

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A

We start with C. From C we count up two half steps and arrive at D. Now we have C and D in our diatonic scale. From D we count up two half steps and arrive at E. From E we count up one half step and arrive at F. From F we count up two half steps and arrive at G. From G we count up two half steps and arrive at A. Now, we continue by treating both A notes as the same (or think of the chromatic scale as being circular with no end). We count up two half steps from A and arrive at B. Then, we count up one half step from B and arrive at C and we now have the entire diatonic scale for C:

C D E F G A B C

Now we will similarly build two more diatonic scales to demonstrate the use of sharps (#) and flats (b). One rule of thumb to know at this point is that sharps and flats do not occur together in the same scale. If a flat is used in building a scale, the remainder of that scale will also use flats and no sharps.

To build a G diatonic scale:

We start with G. From G we count up two half steps and arrive at A. Now we have G and A in our diatonic scale. From A we count up two half steps and arrive at B. From B we count up one half step and arrive at C. From C we count up two half steps and arrive at D. From D we count up two half steps and arrive at E. We count up two half steps from E and arrive at F#. Then, we count up one half step from F# and arrive at G and we now have the entire diatonic scale for G:

G A B C D E F# G


To build an F diatonic scale:

We start with F. From F we count up two half steps and arrive at G. Now we have F and G in our diatonic scale. From G we count up two half steps and arrive at A. From A we count up one half step and arrive at Bb. From Bb we count up two half steps and arrive at C. From C we count up two half steps and arrive at D. We count up two half steps from D and arrive at E. Then, we count up one half step from E and arrive at F and we now have the entire diatonic scale for F:

F G A Bb C D E F

Try this with all the tone letters of the chromatic scale. You should end up with the following scale spellings:

C## D## E## F## G## A## B## C

C D E F G A B C

C# D# E# F# G# A# B# C#

Db Eb Fb Gb Ab Bb Cb Db

D E F# G A B C# D

D# E# F## G# A# B# C## D#

Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

E F# G# A B C# D# E

F G A Bb C D E F

F# G# A# B C# D# E# F#

Gb Ab Bb Cb Db Eb F Gb

G A B C D E F# G

G# A# B# C# D# E# F## G#

Ab Bb C Db Eb F G Ab

A B C# D E F# G# A

A# B# C## D# E# F## G## A#

Bb C D Eb F G A Bb

B C# D# E F# G# A# B

C D E F G A B C


In the process of building these (I hope you really did this--the mechanics are very important for understanding what is to come later), you may have noticed the double sharp (##). First, it is important to understand that the flat (b) lowers a note one half tone and sharp (#) raises a note one half tone. Therefore, a double sharp raises a note two half tones (one whole tone). There exists also a double flat (bb) which lowers a note two half tones (one whole tone). All the sharps and flats do is to maintain the diatonic relationship between the notes as specified by the sequence of half and whole tones. There is nothing mysterious about this. There are many other sequences of half and whole steps used to build other types of scales such as the various minor scales. These are built the same way: by picking the starting tone (key) and simply counting up the chromatic scale according to the specified sequence of half and whole tones to get the remaining notes.

The harmonic, melodic, and natural minor scales each have similar templates. I won't go into those here, since this is getting a bit long except to say that the natural minor scale is based on the 6th element of the major scale, and uses the same key signature (i.e. the same sharps or flats) as the major scale from which it is derived. The relation between a major scale and its natural minor scale is "relative major" and "relative minor".

We used the C, G, and F major scales as examples, so here are they are with their relative minor scales:

C D E F G A B C

'A' is the 6th note of the C major scale, so the relative minor scale is:

A B C D E F G A

The G major scale:

G A B C D E F# G

'E' is the 6th note of the G major scale, so the relative minor scale is:

E F# G A B C D E

The F major scale:

F G A Bb C D E F

'D' is the 6th note of the F major scale, so the relative minor scale is:

D E F G A Bb C D E F

Notice that the relative minor scales of each of the above examples share the same sharp or flat notes as their relative major scales. The relative (natural) minor scale is the most common, so it is good to know about it.

Jumping a bit ahead to chords, it is good to know that the relative major and minor relationship also extends to the chords:

A minor is the relative minor chord of C major.
E minor is the relative minor chord of G major.
D minor is the relative minor chord of F major.

In the next section, we will go into chords, which as to be expected, builds on what we have learned about the major scale, which built on what we previously learned about the chromatic scale.

Tony
 
Last edited:
With 113 views and no follow up responses, the message is clear. I hope this information was useful to somebody. Due to lack of interest we will let this thread die peacefully. Not a problem, but I just wanted to be sure before investing more time in creating these posts.

Thanks,

Tony

Just took me awhile to get over to this forum. This is something I think I can use and I thank you for it. :shaka:
 
Just took me awhile to get over to this forum. This is something I think I can use and I thank you for it. :shaka:

Thanks Icelander53! As long as these posts are useful, it is worth doing them. I have one more on chords, and that really completes the theory most of us need to know. It is unfortunate that it takes so many words to describe this. When people actually walk through the examples, they will realize how simple and logical it is. It is surprising how little theory we really need to know. I think after the post on chords, I will do one on the other minor scales and then on the 5 chord shape system that spans the fretboard. As for practical application, maybe how to use this knowledge to harmonize a melody.

Tony
 
I too like this thread. I'm looking to move beyond looking at paper to figure out chords and melodies. It's going to take me time to digest this but keep posting please.
 
I have only been playing a month and in between practise sessions I glimpse over some theory searching the net for something that I can somehow take in ,and understand . Slowly very slowly I am starting to grasp what the theory is,this is the best explanation I have seen so far .so thank you for the information ,I have read it twice so far ,and there is no doubt I will going through what you wrote again and again,and again ........ cheers
 
Thanks Icelander53! As long as these posts are useful, it is worth doing them. I have one more on chords, and that really completes the theory most of us need to know. It is unfortunate that it takes so many words to describe this. When people actually walk through the examples, they will realize how simple and logical it is. It is surprising how little theory we really need to know. I think after the post on chords, I will do one on the other minor scales and then on the 5 chord shape system that spans the fretboard. As for practical application, maybe how to use this knowledge to harmonize a melody.

Tony

That's it, simple is key here for people like myself. I started playing for the first time at 60+. It's been hard to do this with an old brain. Seriously. But I'm gratified at the progress I've made and now, slowly want to expand my use of the fretboard and do a little picking etc. It's been intimidating to go beyond those first four frets. So lets see what I can make of this. Thanks again.
 
I am truly glad that people are getting some good use of this material. It is a sad thing that music theory is made out to be so difficult. I suppose there is economics involved, in that to make a living at teaching this stuff, it has to be stretched out and books filled with content that makes it difficult to pick out the high points that most people would use in their daily music activities. That is all I am providing here. When I am finished, you will see that there is really not much you need to know. If you "learn it in the context of the song", you will stay with what is practical. There are people who seem to revel in theory and never get around to playing. If you enjoy making music, always staying within the context of the song will help avoid that trap.

As an example, people can get into very long and convoluted discussions of chords, the subject of my next post this evening. For me, the simplest approach is the best. There are essentially major and minor triads, and then you add "color tones" to these to season as desired. Very simple. Memorize the two triads, learn how to modify them to make diminished and augmented triads (very simple), and then learn what color tones work with which triads. We extend the triads to 4 note chords to get the "dominant" and "major 7" chords, and that will likewise be covered. It all builds on what we just covered about the major scale, which built on what we covered about the chromatic scale.

Remember that there are only 12 notes to work with. These occur over and over in different octaves, and that is how we fill up 88 notes on the piano. It really is quite simple once you grasp how all these ideas snap together, which is what I am trying to illustrate in these posts.

Tony
 
Top Bottom