More advanced song books?

djc227

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Can you guys recommend some more advanced level song books? I just started ukulele, but having played guitar and mandolin for 20 years I'm past the level that most of the songbooks are written in. Not for playing chords obviously (which is great fun on the uke), but the tablature and/or standard notation is melody only if it is included at all. Ideally something that includes bands like The Beatles, Bob Dylan, etc. Country and bluegrass would be good also. Just looking for something more advanced than the many beginner level books that seem to be out there.
 
I'm not sure if this is the type of thing that you're looking for, but here is one for ukulele fingerpicking:

The Beatles for Fingerstyle Ukulele
https://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Fing...-fkmr2&keywords=ukulele+fingerpicking+beatles

My favorite right now, (also fingerpicking, this one is low G):
Polani (Pure): Fingerstyle Ukulele
https://www.amazon.com/Polani-Pure-...UTF8&qid=1478211202&sr=8-1&keywords=daniel+ho

Hope that helps.

I hear Recstar(Ryan) talk about Polani a lot.
I think I am going to have to pick this one up too.
Have you tried the Pekelo books? I am wondering how this book compares to what is taught in the Pekelo series.
 
I haven't tried the Pekelo books yet. Maybe I'll get to it this winter?
For now, I have a large stack of things I'm trying to work on already.

So many options for having fun. :)
 
Please get daniel ho's polani it's the best don't look back :)
 
Please get daniel ho's polani it's the best don't look back :)

Ryan, it is done. And thanks again for that copy of Pekelo Book 1,
I am at the last 2 songs and was wanting to try some other Hawaiian songs in low G before jumping into Pekelo Book 2.
Sorry to hi-jack the thread.
 
Check out Will Bickart's "Celtic Music for Ukulele" e-books available free from links here http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com/showthread.php?122653-Celtic-Campanella-Book-2 ... keep you busy for while ;)

And Jonathan Lewis has a fingerstyle ebook: http://jons-ukulele.com

Plus Val Sauvage has a youtube channel with some free tab (look for ukeval). I really like Daddy Stovepipe's stuff. It all depends on what kind of music you like - celtic, ragtime, blues, classical. There's a lot of stuff around.
 
Thanks guys. I'm looking more for folk stuff, but illl definitely look at that Celtic and blues stuff. Thinking about getting the ukulele fakebook for the selection and improvising solos from the melody lines. Anyone have an opinion on that book? I play with a pick most of the time. I play faster that way and I need to have that volume. Fingerstyle is still something I want to get into more though.
 
Have you tried the Pekelo books? I am wondering how this book compares to what is taught in the Pekelo series.

Just an FYI on this - the Pekelo books are written for low G, and are mostly Hawaiian songs and fairly simple exercises if I remember correctly. They're really great for a beginner low G player.

For advanced fingerstyle, I'm going to have to recommend my old standbys, the two John King classical books. As for the OP's interest in folk, as a more advanced player I'd suggest working out your own arrangements, since many of the songs are fairly simple to begin with, although your idea of folk may be different than mine. I'm thinking Carter Family, Woody Guthrie and so forth but I do realize "folk" covers a lot of musical ground.
 
You sound like you are advanced enough to not need ukulele specific music. Just pick up guitar music and work it out.

I do this myself every now and then. I worked out a version for John Mayer's, Stop this Train from Guitar tabs.

Anthony
 
True, and I have a lot of guitar books. I plan on focusing on the uke for a while though and thought I'd just get a uke book. I have a good country fakebook and bluegrass fakebook, so thought I'd try to go folk/classic on this one. The ukulele is so portable and convienient I find myself playing it 10 times more than I played guitar. I had 0 ukes three weeks ago and now I have three!
 
True, and I have a lot of guitar books. I plan on focusing on the uke for a while though and thought I'd just get a uke book. I have a good country fakebook and bluegrass fakebook, so thought I'd try to go folk/classic on this one. The ukulele is so portable and convienient I find myself playing it 10 times more than I played guitar. I had 0 ukes three weeks ago and now I have three!

Are you a picker?

Instead of using your thumb for the bottom 3 strings of a guitar you can use your thumb for the bottom 2 strings of a ukulele and pick 2 fingers for the top 2 strings.

Anthony
 
I'm envious you bring such a strong background to the instrument. It's the beauty of this little gem, though, that somebody with your experience and depth on another instrument is as excited as those of us without any are.

If you really want to challenge yourself, check out some of the George Elmes tutorials on Youtube. He slays the soprano with vintage-style songs that focus heavily on advanced right hand strum techniques. This isn't a tutorial, but here he is playing a Roy Smeck tune called Tiger Rag:



I also second the recommendations on Polani (low G) and Beatles for Fingerstyle. They have a wide variety of difficulty levels.

Welcome to this joyous addiction! ;-)
 
Have you tried the Pekelo books? I am wondering how this book compares to what is taught in the Pekelo series.

Your comment piqued my interest so I set out to find the books. They are not available at Amazon, or The Book Depository, neither do HMS nor Elderly have them. So I sent an email to the publishers which resulted in a "permanent error" notification. That should not have been the result of a spelling error 'cause I cut and pasted the email address. I'll have another shot but...

If anyone knows where the Pekolo books can be had I'd be most interested to hear.

Thanks in anticipation
 
Your comment piqued my interest so I set out to find the books. They are not available at Amazon, or The Book Depository, neither do HMS nor Elderly have them. So I sent an email to the publishers which resulted in a "permanent error" notification. That should not have been the result of a spelling error 'cause I cut and pasted the email address. I'll have another shot but...

If anyone knows where the Pekolo books can be had I'd be most interested to hear.

Thanks in anticipation

pritch,

I have books 1 and 2. I have almost finished book 1, only two songs to go. I am loving it.
I started a discussion on another thread about Pekelo publishing and was able to get a response from Pekelo.
You can order directly from him, go to this link and then go to post #24 on page 3...You will find his contact info there.
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...ishing-still-operating/page3&highlight=pekelo
 
I'm envious you bring such a strong background to the instrument. It's the beauty of this little gem, though, that somebody with your experience and depth on another instrument is as excited as those of us without any are.

If you really want to challenge yourself, check out some of the George Elmes tutorials on Youtube. He slays the soprano with vintage-style songs that focus heavily on advanced right hand strum techniques. This isn't a tutorial, but here he is playing a Roy Smeck tune called Tiger Rag:



I also second the recommendations on Polani (low G) and Beatles for Fingerstyle. They have a wide variety of difficulty levels.

Welcome to this joyous addiction! ;-)


Hijole! ! ! That is some impressive playing and it is nice to see he can still have fun playing stuff that technically intense.
 
pritch,

I have books 1 and 2. I have almost finished book 1, only two songs to go. I am loving it.
I started a discussion on another thread about Pekelo publishing and was able to get a response from Pekelo.
You can order directly from him, go to this link and then go to post #24 on page 3...You will find his contact info there.
http://forum.ukuleleunderground.com...ishing-still-operating/page3&highlight=pekelo

Thanks for that. I have sent an email to that address. Fingers crossed.
 
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