Beginning Fingerstyle Resources

jollyboy

jollyboy

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Hi,

I'm looking for recommendations for absolute-beginner level fingerstyle resources - books, cds, dvds, online videos etc.

One thing I've become interested in is alternate picking. That is picking where you use the thumb to sound the top two strings rather than using the more traditional PIMA method. There is some information about this in the For Dummies book (enough to whet the appetite anyway) and I would really like to learn more. I'm looking for picking patterns and tabs especially.

Also I would like to dip a toe in the waters of campanella. Again I need to stress that this needs to be at a very basic level.

A caveat: A lot of fingerstyle resources seem to focus on classical and baroque music (or old time American roots music). I would be really happy to hear any recommendations that suit my own musical tastes a little more closely - so mainly 60s/70s rock, pop and singer-songwriter/folk revival stuff. I just find it much easier to learn playing techniques when they focus on music that I know well :) On the other hand I realize that I'm probably going to have to start out at the London Bridge/Camptown Races level :p


Some specific queries:

I suspect that Aaron Keim's fingerstyle book would serve my needs well but I'm a little wary of his online storefront as it doesn't use Paypal. If anyone has any anecdotal information about securely buying his stuff online, just to ease my mind, that would be great.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the suitability of Fred Sokolov's The Beatles for Fingerstyle Ukulele for a beginner?

When I type 'campanella ukulele' into Amazon.uk's search engine it lists a whole bunch of books by Ondrej Sarek. Anyone know of this guy? Are these worth taking a look at?


Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me any advice :)
 
Last edited:
I can vouch for Aaron and the security of his online website. Have purchased tons of books from him. He has an etsy shop that takes PayPal and has the same books. You can also email him directly and just to pay through PayPal.
 
I have purchased several items from Aaron's website and have had no problems. His books can be purchased as digital downloads as well as hard copy versions.
Aaron's "Fingerstyle Ukulele" is an excellent book for beginners. I highly recommend it. Also, Aaron teaches Travis Style picking (I think that's what you are describing) and Clawhammer style so you can expand on the basics learned in the Fingerstyle book. Check out his videos on YouTube to get an idea of what is in the Fingerstyle book.
While the Beatles book by Fred Sokolov is a great book, I think it might be more advanced than what you are looking for.
 
Not specifically for the style you're interested in but for general skill building wrt finger picking (and other things as well) I highly recommend a book called Ukulele Aerobics. Available on Amazon and likelikely elsewhere if you want to support an independent retailer.
Set up with progressing lesson-a-day skills that will walk you through everything slowly but surely
 
For beginning campanella style, I highly recommend John King's book titled Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Masters John King The Classical Ukulele Book/CD. Some of the arrangements may seem advanced but it starts with a couple of very easy ones and the progression takes you through the style in such a way that not only do you develope a feel for the style, but you will very likely find yourself actually improving on the arrangements to increase the camanella passages.
H66889000000000_IMAGE_00.jpg
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I have purchased the Aaron Keim fingerstyle pdf via his main storefront (his Etsy store is temporarily closed). So, I'll be perusing that over the next few days :)

The ukulele aerobics book looks interesting. It has consistently positive reviews on Amazon. I'll almost certainly grab a used copy via Amazon marketplace at some point soon.
 
jollyboy said:
When I type 'campanella ukulele' into Amazon.uk's search engine it lists a whole bunch of books by Ondrej Sarek. Anyone know of this guy? Are these worth taking a look at?
Click to expand...

For campanella style are three books:

Campanella style songbook for beginner.
Excerpt from the book page 12. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Gregorian chant for Ukulele.
Excerpt from the book page 6. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Irish tunes for all ukulele
Excerpt from the book page 4. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Attention books have more versions! (for Low G ukulele, ukulele D tuning, or baritone ukulele.) Choose carefully.
 
There are a lot of (60's) songs on my site that are not too difficult. You may give them a try. (see my sig)
 
Putter.....great site!!!! Mahalo!!
 
jollyboy said:
Hi,

I'm looking for recommendations for absolute-beginner level fingerstyle resources - books, cds, dvds, online videos etc.

One thing I've become interested in is alternate picking. That is picking where you use the thumb to sound the top two strings rather than using the more traditional PIMA method. There is some information about this in the For Dummies book (enough to whet the appetite anyway) and I would really like to learn more. I'm looking for picking patterns and tabs especially.

Also I would like to dip a toe in the waters of campanella. Again I need to stress that this needs to be at a very basic level.

A caveat: A lot of fingerstyle resources seem to focus on classical and baroque music (or old time American roots music). I would be really happy to hear any recommendations that suit my own musical tastes a little more closely - so mainly 60s/70s rock, pop and singer-songwriter/folk revival stuff. I just find it much easier to learn playing techniques when they focus on music that I know well :) On the other hand I realize that I'm probably going to have to start out at the London Bridge/Camptown Races level :p


Some specific queries:

I suspect that Aaron Keim's fingerstyle book would serve my needs well but I'm a little wary of his online storefront as it doesn't use Paypal. If anyone has any anecdotal information about securely buying his stuff online, just to ease my mind, that would be great.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the suitability of Fred Sokolov's The Beatles for Fingerstyle Ukulele for a beginner?

When I type 'campanella ukulele' into Amazon.uk's search engine it lists a whole bunch of books by Ondrej Sarek. Anyone know of this guy? Are these worth taking a look at?


Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me any advice :)
Click to expand...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yee0W0N4Atk
 
Ondrej said:
For campanella style are three books:

Campanella style songbook for beginner.
Excerpt from the book page 12. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Gregorian chant for Ukulele.
Excerpt from the book page 6. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Irish tunes for all ukulele
Excerpt from the book page 4. http://osos.sweb.cz/preview-ukulele.pdf

Attention books have more versions! (for Low G ukulele, ukulele D tuning, or baritone ukulele.) Choose carefully.
Click to expand...

Oooo, yay! I have ordered the Gregorian Chant book from Amazon! There are several others I would like to have some day . . .
 
Hi.
Does anybody know the "thing" her ukulele is resting on?
Thanks.

I mean in the video of Sam Muir
 
Putter thanks for sharing! Great stuff there.
 
More thanks to people :) Lots of useful material. That's the second time you've helped me out Putter - really nice selection of tunes on your website (Nick Cave - yay!). Will definitely follow up leads re. the Ondrej Sarek and Samantha Muir stuff.
 
If you can swing the cost, take some lessons. I wanted to learn fingerstyle and tried to teach myself. I have a masters in music ed and just could not get anywhere. My main instrument is trumpet and I never played strings until starting the uke. Lessons helped a great deal and I've made significant progress.
 
And Ondrej's books are just the right size!

2q0oq5e.jpg
 
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