Required Reading

Dallas Pursley

Dallas Pursley

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Hello everyone,

Being a Uke newbie, I was wondering if there happened to be any books that you long time Uke players would count as required reading for learning more about the Ukulele? Not learning any one thing in particular, but books for the all around progression of playing ability.

Thanks,
 
Jumpin' Jim's "The 'Ukulele a Visual History" has a lot of info about the history, but it's more into mainstream USA/UK performers like Tiny Tim.
"The Music Lesson" by phenomenal bassist Victor Wooten will blow your mind about music and what it is all about. Not 'ukulele related, but I highly recommend it.
Herb Ohta Jr. and Daniel Ho's books are the best instructional books I know of.

There isn't a lot out there. You will realize early on that once you get past the "Mel Bay" stage that guitar books have most of the info you need.
 
Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps by Fred Sokolow and Jim Beloff. The most useful music book I've bought. Great.
 
I'll second "Fretboard Roadmaps".

For general "abstract" musicianship, I always recommend "The Inner Game of Music" by Barry Green. (I was less impressed with the Wooten book, by the way. He's got some great ideas in it, but the whole new agey, "Richard Bach" style or presenting them didn't really work for me, personally.)

Mark Levine's "The Jazz Theory Book" is great too, if you want to get into that sort of thing.

JJ
 
I think a good book of chord positions is essential, so that you're not tied to a computer for looking stuff up online. The Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Finder book is pretty good - I use mine almost every day.
 
How about a freebie e-book? This book from UU member Uncle Rod Higuchi helped me get my head around how to learn songs. http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?19364-Free-gift-for-Beginners

While you are at it- read and/or print the most excellent "ukulele-theory-for-noobs" thread. It is kinda like a book. from http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?11264-ukulele-theory-for-noobs

Aside from these, I agree with the other posts that the Ukulele Roadmaps book is good, although I had it for quite a while before I was ready to think like that.
 
Melissa82 said:
What's a book?
Click to expand...

A "book" is a fantastic wireless device that lets you read text without having to use batteries or adapters or solar panels! No need for additional accessories for it to function at maximum capacity! "Books" are made with special biodegradable materials and they can come in a variety of sizes and colors to suit any need. Pick one up at your local store today!
 
StereoJoker said:
A "book" is a fantastic wireless device that lets you read text without having to use batteries or adapters or solar panels! No need for additional accessories for it to function at maximum capacity! "Books" are made with special biodegradable materials and they can come in a variety of sizes and colors to suit any need. Pick one up at your local store today!
Click to expand...

I don't know about your town, but around here we have this service that's kinda like Netflix. Except it deals with these book things. No mail involved--they actually have branch offices where you can pick up your rentals in person.

You can only have a certain amount of books out at a time, and there are restrictions on how long you can keep them. And they don't always have the title you want (especially for new releases). But the best part is that your subscription fee is subsidized by the government. It's basically a perq thrown in just for living here!

It's a great idea. I hope it catches on.

JJ
 
Ukulele JJ said:
I don't know about your town, but around here we have this service that's kinda like Netflix. Except it deals with these book things. No mail involved--they actually have branch offices where you can pick up your rentals in person.

You can only have a certain amount of books out at a time, and there are restrictions on how long you can keep them. And they don't always have the title you want (especially for new releases). But the best part is that your subscription fee is subsidized by the government. It's basically a perq thrown in just for living here!

It's a great idea. I hope it catches on.

JJ
Click to expand...

That's just crazy talk - I refuse to listen to this kind of socialist madness! ;)
 
Thumper said:
I think a good book of chord positions is essential, so that you're not tied to a computer for looking stuff up online. The Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Finder book is pretty good - I use mine almost every day.
Click to expand...

There are web sites where you can print the list of chords rather than buying one of them new fangled book thingies every keeps talkin bout!

If you get a book or not, this is a good site for chords and nice list of songs.

http://www.ukulele-tabs.com/ukulele-chords-chart.html
 
Ukulele JJ said:
For general "abstract" musicianship, I always recommend "The Inner Game of Music" by Barry Green. (I was less impressed with the Wooten book, by the way. He's got some great ideas in it, but the whole new agey, "Richard Bach" style or presenting them didn't really work for me, personally.)
Click to expand...

The Inner Game of Music didn't really do it for me - I never finished it. It's still on my shelf and I pulled it out a few days ago to look at, but I don't know... Kind of bland. I guess I belong to the "Jus' Press" school of thinking.

I got a cool guitar book since this thread came up called "The Chord factory" by Jon Damian. If you can wrap your head around the guitar part and adapt some things, all a normal person would want to know about chords is presented. You actually build your own chord charts and Jon says stuff like "now make a chart for maj7 chords. The formula is 1 3 5 7 - here is the first shape I found: -----. I found [this many] shapes - figure them out." I think the best part though is that everything is based off of the formulas so you don't end up with a chart that says "A B C D F etc..." instead you have a shape and the numbers of the formula to work off of. So you learn those 4 basic shapes and where the root is and you can figure out all the chords. This is a do-it-yourself book. If you want a bunch of chord charts look elsewhere, but if want an in-depth look at how chords go together this is a great choice.
 
alec534 said:
Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps by Fred Sokolow and Jim Beloff. The most useful music book I've bought. Great.
Click to expand...
I've found this in the Kindle store, but I guess that would be without the music from the CD that comes along with the book. Is this CD important for the experience with the book?
 
I've met Jim and here's a lovely guy but fretboard roadmaps makes my head hurt :(
 
I got Understanding Ukulele Chords by Robert van Renesse a while back and think it's a great book.

As the name implies, it's more about understanding chords and progressions rather than scales and melodies. Overall though, I think I like it better than Fretboard Roadmaps. It's a short book (48 pages), but is very clearly written and easy to understand.

It's similar to Fretboard Roadmaps in that it's based around learning movable chord shapes, but I think it does a better job of explaining how to use them.

Jason
 
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