Ukulele Sheet music

Powertabs include music staff that you could practice on, but if you are looking for just standard notation, fiddle sheet music might be a good bet. I have a book of Irish fiddle tunes and the range is about perfect for the 'ukulele (with low G - there might be some low notes that a high G can't reach).

Yes, sheet music for any instrument can be used for any other instrument. Notes are notes, you just might have to transpose a bit to fit the 'ukulele's range.

Kudos for taking the time to learn to read.
 
I know that James Hill's uke program uses standard notation. I think he's got an advanced degree in music and truly believes that in the end, being able to read music can only be benificial and rewarding. I heard him play fiddle once, wow!

http://ukuleleintheclassroom.com/index.htm

He also recommends using a low G, at least for learning. This makes sense as the reentrant G could make reading standard notation less than intuitive. Maybe someone could come up with a way to write uke music with standard notation but signify notes played with the reentrant G with a different symbol or color.

Also, anything written with Powertab has a parallel line in standard notation.

In my case what's funny is that I learned classical guitar years ago and can read standard notation. But when I picked up the uke, tabs and chords are what everyone else uses, so....

With regard to using music written for other instruments, of course you can. Anything written in treble clef could work. You may be limited by things like the relatively small range of a uke. And be aware that music written for classical guitar is played an octave lower. Also, a lot of popular piano music has the chords written above the music.
 
He also recommends using a low G, at least for learning. This makes sense as the reentrant G could make reading standard notation less than intuitive. Maybe someone could come up with a way to write uke music with standard notation but signify notes played with the reentrant G with a different symbol or color.

I know exactly what you mean! I have been using standard reentrant, and I do notice the uke's limitations in respect to playing with sheet music as opposed to getting a tab. Thanks a lot guys for all the resources :D
 
The only thing I would add is to beware of some ukulele notation you find on the web. It's been done like guitar notation, where notes sound an octave lower than written. This means that music in the range of the ukulele appears in the stratosphere, much of it well over the treble clef. To get it to show the notes where they sound, simply lower the whole thing 1 octave (you can get some cheap, and probably even free, software to do this). Written at pitch, ukulele music sits nicely in the range of the treble clef, from middle C just below, to a few ledger lines above, depending on your instrument and the music.

I have some stuff I've downloaded which looks terrifying, with four note chords all flying way above the clef. And it's never as scary as it looks.

Good luck! And as others have said, well done.
 
Maybe someone could come up with a way to write uke music with standard notation but signify notes played with the reentrant G with a different symbol or color.

I think some of the old-timey uke music used to write notes intended for the G-string an octave lower than sounded. In other words, if you saw a note on a ledger line below middle-C (or D, depending), you'd know to play that note an octave higher, but on your fourth string.

Sounds confusing to me. Maybe that's why you don't see it anymore. :p

JJ
 
That actually makes sense to me.

Just pretend that you G strings is a low string in music, even though it's not. that would make reading music easier, but you wouldn't really be able to get the melody in your head unless you consciously think about it.
 
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