Beginner questions

Hi guys

I am a complete beginner and I have a question...it probably seems stupid to you guys who know what you are doing.

When reading lyrics which have the chords above them (are these called tabs???) how do you know how many times to strum the uke in each chord?

like it might be set out like this on paper
_______C__________G
Hey Jude dont be afraid

Thanks
Maybeimadreamer.

Those are not tabs, they're just the chord names. Tabs are actually for individual notes. I just do my strums by feel and how well I know the song. Listen to the original song and go from there. As a beginner you might just do a simple down, down in tempo until you get more comfortable.

kohanmike said:

Those are not tabs, they're just the chord names. Tabs are actually for individual notes. I just do my strums by feel and how well I know the song. Listen to the original song and go from there. As a beginner you might just do a simple down, down in tempo until you get more comfortable.

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So basically I listen to a song and I change chords when I think i hear a change in note? sorry I'm not very musical!

maybeimadreamer said:

So basically I listen to a song and I change chords when I think i hear a change in note? sorry I'm not very musical!

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When sight reading a song you change to the next chord exactly where it is written above that word. It might be between words, at the start, middle or end of a word. But you hit that chord at that exact spot.

Strumming is a whole huge topic that is a skill as important as chording. When starting out use all down strums or down up strums. Figure out how fast or slow the tempo has to be to make the song sound "right". This is a starting point and you will learn and build from there.

Google Guido Heistek.......hear the strum. He has a great DVD on strumming. On his youtube channel you will gleen enough to have a good concept. His "learning to strum" on a piece of cardboard is brilliant. Teaches you how to become instinctive with strumming

DownUpDave said:

When sight reading a song you change to the next chord exactly where it is written above that word. It might be between words, at the start, middle or end of a word. But you hit that chord at that exact spot.

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Yes, that is the idea. Because the internet is full of contributions by players, sometimes the placement for the chord change is off by a word or two. So, get used to listening to when chord changes happen. Once you become aware of chord changes, and get a feel for them, you can anticipate when they should happen. When you are starting out, try and keep a steady strum beat, like a metronome. Once that becomes easy and natural, you can get more variety in your strumming.
–Lori

maybeimadreamer said:

how do you know how many times to strum the uke in each chord?

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To answer your question directly, you know how many beats (strums) to use by listening to someone else play the song, and then duplicating the number of beats they use.

In your Hey Jude example, I recall four beats with the word Hey on the third beat of those four,
then four more beats with the name Jude on the first beat of those four,
and four more beats with the syllable 'fraid on the first beat of those four.
I know that because I've heard the song and heard the beats. If you can find/read sheet music you can see where the beats are supposed to fall.

Other songs have different rhythms. A waltz has three beats per measure.

Chord sheets are useful to show how to shape and position your left hand.
Tabs are useful to show which strings to fret with your left hand and to pick with your right hand.
Sheet music (notation) shows both pitch and rhythm. All of these are useful.
Too many Web pages claim to provide a tab when they are actually providing only chords and lyrics. Once you learn the difference you won't be fooled when someone mislabels a page.

DownUpDave said:

Google Guido Heistek.......hear the strum. He has a great DVD on strumming. On his youtube channel you will gleen enough to have a good concept. His "learning to strum" on a piece of cardboard is brilliant. Teaches you how to become instinctive with strumming

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reminder. I had bookmarked Heistek's site a few months back, then got distracted by fingerpicking techniques. You are absolutely right, this is an excellent resource, and I need to spend some more time here.

http://ukuleleinthedark.com/ud-28-strum-like-a-drummer-backbeat/

http://ukuleleinthedark.com/paper-strum-strum-without-a-uke/

Thanks so much guys. You have really cleared things up for me!!!

Another question, and bare in mind i am a COMPLETE beginner. When they say put your finger on a fret, do you hold down the string as well? as in flatten it? or try and put your finger over it and not touch it?

Ukulele-Chords.com has photographs of finger positions next to the chord diagram for all of the chords. Here is a link to how to read a chord diagram;
http://www.ukulele-chords.com/how-to-read-chord

Here are links to the C chord and the F chord;

http://www.ukulele-chords.com/C

http://www.ukulele-chords.com/F

You can select other chords from the menus at the top of the page.

Some additional tutorials;
http://ukuleleunderground.com/lessons/learn-to-play-the-ukulele-in-5-minutes/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKMwCMlEF6A&list=PL3G6UTOZzczUYUO_6k-qEoNJ0j3LeIaYv&index=1

http://ukuleleunderground.com/courses/first-ukulele-course/

In the video library (look under 'learn to play the ukulele' in the red bar at the top of the page) there is an ultimate beginner tutorial. Uke minutes and ukulele mike videos on utube were helpful when I was at your stage. I recall ukulele mike had a good one with four basic strums for 3/4 and 4/4 time (he'll explain that too).

When they say put your finger on a fret

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You press the string down onto the finger board so as to shorten the length of string that vibrates giving you your note.

A march has three beats per measure.

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Actually - a march had 4 beats per measure or 4/4 time - 4 quarter notes per measure - counted ONE two three four - with a slight emphasis on the first beat.

A WALTZ on the other hand has 3 beats per measure - usually indicated as 3/4 or 3 quarter notes per measure. counted ONE two three. Sometimes the 2nd beat is divided making the count ONE two-and three

Examples of 4/4 time songs are London Bridge, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,
Examples of 3/4 time songs are The More We Get Together or Clementine or Home on the Range

Practice strumming these easy songs at an even pace - to get the difference between the two strum patterns in your head - then you can apply them to other songs as you learn them.

As for placing your fingers - place your finger ABOVE the fret - in the space between frets - not directly on it. You only need to hold tight enough to get a clear sound. If your finger is not pressed hard enough the sound will be dull - if held too tight your fingers will hurt and the string may buzz.