For those who can play tons of chords but not a single recognizable song

I've had the ukulele for a WHILE now...I can do different strumming patterns, chords, and a little bit of fingerpicking. I don't really enjoy singing very much, and the problem that I have found is that for a lot of the tabs/chords I find, a song is not recognizable without the singing. Does anyone have songs with fingerpicking for practice, or songs that are more recognizable without having to sing? This may sound like an odd request, but it would be satisfying to be able to play a few songs that are recognizable by their melody alone. I would love if someone could post tabs/chords/links (anything) to help with this.

Thanks for any help

Lots of great tabs on Dominator's site: http://dominator.ukeland.com/index2.shtml

Which reminds me, my husband was going to browse Dom's tabs for a new song...

I don't know how long you have been playing.. but there is a beginner book by little Rev that has chords and tabs/music for the melody too. sounds nice if you have someone to play with and one plays the chords and other the finger picking.. good luck!

Sometimes if you will 'strum' with just your thumb, if the chords are 'true' you may be able to
stop on a melody note within the chord. Then try finding the next melody note until you need to
change chords.

This will probably mean that you will have to learn the 2nd and 3rd+ positions of the chords of
the song. You may also find that you'll be stretching that pinky out to boldy go where no pinky
has gone before!

Start with something simple like Twinkle Little Star in the key of F.

If the songs you play are chorded well, more often than not the melody notes are in the chords.
Again, they may be in the chord's 2nd or 3rd+ position. [(+) = 4th or 5th position.]

Anyway, give it a try and you'll be surprised by what you find.

Keep uke'in',

try these

http://home.arcor.de/crazydawg/tabs.html

http://ukucafe.wordpress.com/about/arrangees-par-moi/

http://www.muffin.net.nz/muffin/Pdf_Tablature.html

http://ukulelehunt.com/

something in there should work for you.

If the song has a recognizable guitar riff you can often play that on the uke, mixing with the chords. If not, you can play, or at least suggest, the melody as you play the chords - basically what guitarists call "fingerstyle."

John

Thank you!

Thank you everyone for your input, looks like I have a few links to look over

There are many melodies which can be relatively easily fingerpicked on ukulele, or at least it's simpler than with a guitar. It helps if somebody tabbed it already of course. Sometimes it can be done even easier than what's tabbed, look for patterns with the finger on fret 3 on string 2.. if your uke is stringed with low G you can often just pick the open G string instead, if it fits in otherwise.)
I mostly work on fingerpicking because I don't sing well or like it much anyway. I sing and play songs only as an exercise to memorize chords better (as I'm new to ukulele). I'm utterly, totally unable to remember lyrics anyway so to sing songs I would always need a sheet. So things not involving lyrics is better for me. But fingerpicking isn't the only option - there's some stuff out there which is (mostly) about chords but still very recognizable.. Crazy G, for example.

I bought a book called The Daily Ukulele which is a fake book sorta and I am going to work through it so I have a repertoire. My son takes piano and his old teacher, which I think was a better teacher, required the students to be able to play the songs without the book so I think a good goal for me is to be able to sing the songs and play them without looking at the book or my fingers. When you get to a sticky spot in your performance, you practice that part of it to fix it.

ArchDukeofUke said:

I don't really enjoy singing very much, and the problem that I have found is that for a lot of the tabs/chords I find, a song is not recognizable without the singing.

Click to expand...

Obviously there are a lot of reasons for not wanting to sing. Often it is some form of shyness. If that is the problem, almost everyone can sing well. I can say that having gone to private schools with morning assemblies, large groups of untrained singers, getting the job done well. Americans (profound apologies) notwithstanding their prodigious output of amazing music often sing terribly, in groups they are often all over the place, or you get the person who can only hit the high notes, but messes up the rest. Keep it simple, and it normally turns out great. When one looks at all the singers who have become famous, often with character voices, people should just give it a go. Almost everyone can talk...

Ancient thread, but FYI, I think Brad Bordessa's website Live 'Ukulele now houses dominator's tabs...

Also a beginner who doesn’t sing. Try la vie en rose as transcribed by viggy. You can buy it or support her on her Patreon. You don’t need to sing to recognize it and it’s a mixture of chords and finger picking.

I also don’t enjoy singing along. The key to making chords sound right is voicing (alternating one or more finger placements within the chord shape to fit the melody, but someone will probably provide a more accurate description).
Please forgive the “pile driver” Soundbrenner metronome at 90bpm but here’s my take on Jim Carrey’s (www.ozbcoz.com) Key of C arrangement of Al Jolson’s “Hello My Baby”.

EDIT- I dislike finger style tabs because I prefer to wing the melody fingerings within chord progressions. That seems to speed muscle memory between both hands and my little brain.

I'm one of those obsessed with getting chords right. I know exactly which notes belong in every chord. That was fun.

It wasn't until I joined a strum-a-long that I learned how to use them. There is a rhythm in playing with others that confirmed just how proficient I was. (You mean you have to be able to form the chord sequences in time with the music? And sing the correct words too?)

Choose your battle and find shortcuts. Blend in. That takes awareness of what's going on around you. Then you adjust. It may take some time, as the group will be adjusting at the same time as you. Somehow it all falls together. You hear them, maybe they hear you. Winner takes all. At the end of the song, there will be laughter for many reasons But, it is all genuine laughter. It doesn't get better than that!

I joined another group and things were a bit more cacophonous. Using what had learned I was able to try some "leadership." We all played well enough, but which note to start singing on was missing. I decided to learn to pick out the first few notes to help out. At once, we all could start singing on the same note!

That caused me, for good reason, to learn how to pick the melody line from a written score on staff. Now, the challenge is for me to be able to play the first melody line of every song we do. Some in the group have never heard some of the songs we are learning to play and sing, that is where it helps. It is a great feeling to have them thank my helping them to learn the melody. It is also a great feeling to look at dots on a treble staff and be able to play the notes. Yeah, I fumble around when there is more than one sharp or flat (I'm cool with C, F and G), but they are patient with me.

It's all about having fun and learning to play music.