Low g solo and development

Theblackegg

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I apologize if this thread has been done to death, but even on advanced search finding it hard to get the information I'm after.
With that said, I've recently been exploring the warm delights of linear tuning and would like to take my 'solo' playing further. So far I'm working my way through the Michael lynch chord melody series as i understand they are suited to low as well as high G tuning. I have also transposed Baritone Ukulele Aerobics to make it relevant to gCEA tuning and use this as my practice regime, I then pick a few songs from the quintet to work through, not moving on to new songs until I'm able to play them well.
I would like advice from more experienced players on any break through media sources and books that have pushed their playing to the next level in solo Ukulele, specifically for linear tuning. I'm comfortable with finger style arrangements in tabliture and like all styles of music, especially classical and pop music.

Thanks in advance

George
 
What's pushed me.. is playing by ear.
I know.. that's a hard one, since i have no idea how to teach someone to do it.
 
There isn't a whole lot that I've seen. But there's a heck of a lot more than when I wanted this kind of material 10 years ago! Y'all spoiled! :)

Playing by ear, learning all your scales/basic chords, and honing your timing are all foundational things that will help sharpen everything in your toolbox, IMO. Everything you learn about arranging will only take you so far without that knowledge. I wish I had really drilled this stuff right from the start instead of picking it up by trial and error...

Beyond that, I'm pretty constantly impressed with The Ukulele Way by James Hill for solo playing.

The Advancing Guitarist really humbled me down from "I know everything" to "I know nothing." And most importantly, gave me ideas for how to teach myself. My desert island book, for sure.

Stay hungry.
 
What pushed me a long was just picking songs I wanted to play and learning them. It can be guitar material too. Pick a song you like and figure out how you are going to play it without the 2 bass strings.

I'm a fan of Chris Smither who is a genius on the guitar. Now I don't play exactly how Chris plays but just picking a song of his and figuring out a way to play it pushed me along.

Me playing Leave the Light On.


Chris playing Leave the Light On.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZ9BlTEIZqA

Chris is obviously better, He's playing in an open tuning and I'm in standard, and I'm not really coping him that exactly, yet just getting an angle on the song on a ukulele took some work.
 
Writing your own songs is also a great way to expand your knowledge, here's one I wrote a while back for my good friend Brenda (SoloRule) this song was to celebrate the arrival of her new ukulele "Mercedes" :D There's a link to the Tab in the YT description.



Thank you Camsuke. That song worked me to death but definitely took me to a new level!
There isn’t much finger style arrangements out there on ukulele ! The popular classical books that I bought were either too difficult or I got bore ! Just didn’t want to put in the effort !
Camsuke and I recently started playing Daniel Ho books! You may like it. It’s all low G!
 
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Hello The Blackegg,

You might consider delving into the renaissance guitar repertoire, which is beautiful, rich and complex and lends itself to the low-g uke without any change (the renaissance guitar was tuned the same way : single string a, double strings in unisson for E and C and octave for the G). Michael Walker published excellent transcriptions in both tab/staff of the main historical sources, Adrian Leroy and Guillaume Morlaye (5 books). If you're already an advanced player, the "fourth book of tablature for guitar by Gregoire Brayssing" is by far the most challenging collection of renaissance guitar music, with lenghty and difficult settings of psalms.

I also strongly recommend the Bach transcriptions from our fellow member Jordi Vives i Batlle, available for a very modest price on the Score exchange website.
Hope this helps,
regards,

Gilles
 
Get Daniel Ho's Polani song book. It has every song from that amazing fingerstyle album (my favorite uke album bar none). in both standard notation and tab. It's not easy -- probably Advanced Intermediate so it's a real stretch for me but I am working hard on my first song out of that book.
 
Writing your own songs is also a great way to expand your knowledge, here's one I wrote a while back for my good friend Brenda (SoloRule) this song was to celebrate the arrival of her new ukulele "Mercedes" :D There's a link to the Tab in the YT description.



WHAT A WONDERFUL GIFT!!! I love this piece and both my wife and I are working on it, learning from your wonderful dynamics.
Thank you Camsuke!
Thank you Brenda!
Thank you Mercedes!

;-)
 
Kalei Gamiao and Corey Fujimoto's Free TABs (Low and High G)

If you haven't already, maybe check out the free TABs on the HMS site:

http://www.theukulelereview.com/sheet-music-for-instrumental-ukulele/

I've learned about 10 of the low G songs and they are both challenging and beautiful. You can use the videos to see how they do it. Often helpful with various finger choices. Corey's stretch is beyond mine so I adapt the notes where necessary.

You can use the Low G TABs on DGBE Baritone Tuning as well.

Enjoy.
 
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