Finger picking

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Ukulelerick9255

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I recently had to halt lessons for a while while I recover from surgery and I want to start learning finger picking and playing melody lines on my own. Any suggestions for the best way to learn to play finger style self taught? Any particular book or video series you think is the best for learning finger style?
 
I have been praising the Pekelo book since I bought it.

From their website:
Pekelo Publishing presents a new series of ‘ukulele instruction books that combine ‘ukulele fingerpicking foundations with basic music education forming one comprehensive method.

http://www.pekelosbooks.com/
 
johnson430 said:
I have been praising the Pekelo book since I bought it.
Click to expand...

Those are only for low-g, right? I have been tempted when copies were offered, but I prefer re-entrant tuning, so I didn't bite.
 
When practising finger style I find I am either playing too lightly with my index or middle finger. Or I am pulling too hard and really over compensating and feeding it.

Any suggestions from any one?
 
sam13 said:
When practising finger style I find I am either playing too lightly with my index or middle finger. Or I am pulling too hard and really over compensating and feeding it.
Click to expand...

Are you pulling the strings up, away from the fretboard? I ran into the same thing, and what helped a bit was to pull the strings sideways, parallel to the fretboard, almost causing the finger to bump into the neighboring string
 
Ukulelerick9255 said:
I recently had to halt lessons for a while while I recover from surgery and I want to start learning finger picking and playing melody lines on my own. Any suggestions for the best way to learn to play finger style self taught? Any particular book or video series you think is the best for learning finger style?
Click to expand...

I'm not self-taught, but the book that I wish had been around when I was a beginner is Aaron Keim's Fingerstyle Ukulele.
 
I tried a few different books, but the only ones I stuck with were ones where there were particular pieces of music that I wanted to play, like a classical piece, or The Beatles, for example. So, I would suggest watching various YT videos to see what you can pick up, and also finding something that you'd really like to learn to play, and diving in.
 
Mivo said:
Those are only for low-g, right? I have been tempted when copies were offered, but I prefer re-entrant tuning, so I didn't bite.
Click to expand...

Mivo, yes...but the only difference is that your uke will sound different than the recordings.

Honestly, I think that the finger-picking techniques learned would be valuable to any uke player regardless of their G size. =)

I am getting back into my Alfred method. It is a high g book but I can still learn the method using a low g uke. (same problem, the cd recordings are in high g, but it is nothing to sweat)
Actually, the added low g made Amazing Grace(a song in the beginner Alfred) sound even more amazing, IMHO. =)
 
I can recommend Aaron Keim's books & associated videos. I'm working through his fingerpicking and clawhammer books and they're far better than anything else I've bought. Don't be put off by how inexpensive they are.
 
One can type "Fingerpicking ukulele" into any search engine, and come up with a dozen sites on the internet. I find that works well for me, as I'm not stuck with a book that I order, open up, find that I don't like any of the songs that they are using for the exercises, close it up and order a new book, that shows up much the same. Another thing is that some of the internet sites you can click on an icon right there, and hear what they are showing you, without sticking a CD into a CD player and searching through a menu for it. Just saying, it works for me. Also there are tons of videos out there to watch.
 
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mikebell48 said:
I can recommend Aaron Keim's books & associated videos. I'm working through his fingerpicking and clawhammer books and they're far better than anything else I've bought. Don't be put off by how inexpensive they are.
Click to expand...

I agree. Aaron's Fingerstyle Ukulele book is excellent. My only complaint is sometimes the handwritten tablature can be a little difficult to read, but otherwise, it's great!
 
johnson430 said:
My only concern with that book is that there doesn't seem to be any music notation just tabs for the notes.
Perhaps others don't care but I like having the notation.
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Ideally, it should have both, but the songs in this particular book are fairly straightforward, so it's not a big issue. More complex tunes would definitely benefit from having standard notation in combination with the tablature.
 
A lot depends on the level you want to aspire. If the is just simple single notes, they are already in the chords. I taught myself from YouTube videos and then went from there. You can find tutorials or just copy and figure it out.

IMO, there are a lot of songs based on the key if G... so many open chord variations up the neck. After you work out a few of Jake's songs the lightbulb will come on.

John
 
+1 vote for Arron Keim's - Fingerstyle Ukulele book - i bought a digital version just yesterday after reading some recommendations in these forums, and am happy after a brief test. I'm a beginner to intermediate in chord strumming, and went through first lesson and a half fairly quickly thanks to that. I believe i will slow down with the following lessons. I find the arrangements nicely sounding, written with very good difficulty level - meaning not too trivial, yet not too challenging either to close the book being discouraged :)
 
Before I picked up the ukulele, I spent the better portion of my teens and twenties playing classical guitar, so proper fingerstyle technique was a particular obsession. In fact, one of my biggest factors to starting to play was John King's campanella work. So, I'd point to his book, The Classical Ukulele as a trying yet rewarding approach to fingerstyle. Another more approachable work that ports classical guitar technique and hand positioning over to the ukulele is Pop & Rock Ukulele: Volume II: Picking by Elisabeth Pfeiffer. I've been reading this in my spare time, and I think her approach is really refreshing. Also, there are a lot of videos and audio tracks to go along with it, too.
 
I've learned just about all my fingerpicking from playing scales and noodling tunes (by ear) that I already know. Once I learned how to fret the notes that I wanted, the rest was pretty easy. It's the chords and those darned tabs that were so difficult for me. I mostly use standard notation for the chords, but I can fingerpick it too.

That's how I learned all my flutes too. I used an elementary book to learn the fingerings (no chords or tab- yea!) and away I went!

I probably won't get a gig at Carnegie Hall any time soon, but I learned enough to amuse myself. :eek:ld:
 
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