Picking and Playing Melodies

I'm kinda new to playing the ukulele, but so far, these are the skills i have gotten down.
1. chunking/chucking
2. basic chords
3. some advanced strumming patterns

However, i am in desperate need of help with picking melodies. For example, which string do you start on? For example, the note, "C" may be found on several of the strings. How do you know which one to play and where to start? Does anyone have any suggestions on right hand finger positions?

thanks!

Hi gmak, and welcome aboard. The answer to your question depends on several things. First, where does the melody go after that first note? If a song starts with C and goes down from there, you would have a very hard time picking he melody starting with the 3rd string, since it contains the lowest note (a C) on a regularly tuned uke. Conversely, if you start too high, you are going to rapidly be way up the neck and its difficult for beginners like me to play way up there. I usually just try different positions for a note and see which sounds better to me. several chord-solo books recommended in threads you can search for here using the search words "Chord solo."

A lot of times, really good players will peform a solo starting way up the neck, because it just sounds cool and adds interest to the main body of the song that is usually played in the lower ranges. They also have a mastery and knowledge of the entire fretboard, which beginners like me are striving to attain.

As far as RH position, most seem to use the thumb, index, and middle fingers to pick, with the thumb mostly picking the first two (G&C) strings. The other two fingers are generally rested on the body below the strings, but others do it differently. There are also some very good chord solos on YouTube picked entirely with the thumb as the plectrum, and the fingers strumming only.

Hi SWB, I really enjoyed your contribution.

I'm a thumb-index finger picker, G-C with thumb (picking DOWN) and E-A with index finger (picking UP)
with an occasional 'pinch' every now and again.

Also, since I don't read music, I don't always start on the same note that may be on the music sheet.
Instead, after figuring out a chorded rendition, I look/listen for the melody in the chords. This means
if I don't play in the key it was written in, all of my notes will be different from what's written. (transposed,
as it were).

OK, here's my confession - I play by ear so if it sounds good to me, I go with it.

I still really like your explanation though.

A shameless plug for Aldrine's DVD. It's got lots of good stuff on it -- picking stuff, chunking, picking patterns etc, and then music to practice with. Check it out.

Hi,
I have a similar question.
I guess it is ok to use which ever finger feels comfortable to pluck single strings (as I have come to known as traditional classical method?)
My aim is to use all three fingers to pluck the strings. I'm not sure if this is the correct method, but it seems to work good.

There is a youtube clip showing how to do a "Roll", I really like this method of playing the ukulele.

Also, I seem to enjoy playing songs using simple plucks for the melody.

If anyone can give me a bit more background to this method of playing that would be great.

Aussie said:

Hi,
I have a similar question.
I guess it is ok to use which ever finger feels comfortable to pluck single strings (as I have come to known as traditional classical method?)
My aim is to use all three fingers to pluck the strings. I'm not sure if this is the correct method, but it seems to work good.

There is a youtube clip showing how to do a "Roll", I really like this method of playing the ukulele.

Also, I seem to enjoy playing songs using simple plucks for the melody.

If anyone can give me a bit more background to this method of playing that would be great.

Click to expand...

Aloha Aussie,
Have you tried Arpeggio style....