Classical music for ukulele

Shakespeare

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2011
Messages
82
Reaction score
1
I need to pick the community's collective brain. Recently I bought two books by John King. If you don't know who he is search for him on youtube, you are in for a real treat. The books I bought are 'Famous solos and duets for ukulele' and 'the classical ukulele'. For the past week I have been learning Bach's cello prelude from the latter book. I would call myself an advanced beginner or intermediate uke player but found with guitar that the way to improve was to tackle songs that are for those with a much higher ability. Learning the Bach piece and looking at some of the more complex arrangements in the books has made me realise that is the direction I want to go in. So where do I go next? I cannot find any other books that specifically deal with classical music. Are there other classical uke fans that can help me?
 
Tough question. I'll be watching this thread.
I've sent you a PM.
 
Yes, there are other classical uke fans out here. From Lute to Uke by Tony Mizen is a great book with an accompanying CD. Also, a Gaspar Sanz Baroque book by Rob MacKillop is great and harder, and a great CD. MacKillop has other books and an exercise book. There is also a young bloke who's putting out some John Dowland e-books. The uke's reentrant tuning has much in common with the lute and the word lute is a mispronunciation of l'oud, which the Moors brought to Spain. A form of tablature was used for lute music. I just got myself an Ohana Vita uke because I have found myself going in a more classical direction. Learning classical certainly doesn't hurt playing in other styles. Classical music structures are the backbone of all music. The little flourishes of Baroque lend themselves well to country, believe it or not. Bluegrass picking and Renaissance picking are kissing cousins, if under a greenwood bower.

For more modern music, is it John King who does the Chopin?

Google lute and uke and you'll find more than you imagined. One fellow who I have linked on another computer has a site with many classical pieces, including many Bach transcriptions. I'd google "classical ukulele pieces".

Glad you brought up the subject.
 
Last edited:
I have both King's "The Classical Ukulele" and Mizen's "From Lute to Uke" and recommend both. "From Lute to Uke" is, in my humble opinion, much easier than King's book so you can pick it up and get a relatively good feel for the music.
 
Changing subjects .... sorry ... but if anyone is in the market for a custom tenor uke that's built like a small version of a classical guitar that sounds amazing with complex tones -perfect for classical music - PM me if interested, I'm considering selling mine. It's about 2 months old, in mint like new condition, and I'm the original owner.
 
Last edited:
The Ukulele Etudes are excellent classical/traditional style pieces for high g tuning.

I've got the John King book - it's great also. However, some of it is rather challenging - particularly, the campanela style playing he arranges in.

For both the Etudes and for King's book, having a tenor uke will make everything much more challenging as there are some large stretches in both.


My experience has been that a low-g instrument is better suited to most classical music as it gives a much larger range of available pitches. This is especially the case with Renaissance music. (One version of) the Renaissance guitar was an eight-stringed instrument with the same tuning as a baritone uke. So, you can play just about anything written for Renaissance guitar on bari or any other uke tuned re-entrent (it'll just be in a different key).

Check out this site for some Renaissance guitar music:
http://www.delcamp.net/

(be aware though that some pieces are for 6 string guitar or many course/string lute and will not be easily adapted to ukulele).
I have been working on one of the pieces here, Troisieme Branle de Champaigne by Adrian LeRoy (not Leroy - Le Roi, as in The King). I will try to post a tab/transcription and maybe a quick recording (if I can actually play through the whole thing without a trainwreck!)
 
UU member pulelehua has a good one: The Ukulele Etudes.

Very nice, thanks for sharing! I have the John King classical book and have been working up the first three pieces. It is very challenging beyond that for me at this time. This will be a nice addition to practice sessions.

Also looking for a way to read melody lines and play them on the uke. I have The Daily Ukulele and have plenty of experience with the bass so I sight read the melody on the ubass, then the chords on the tenor uke. Would like to learn to play the melody on the uke and need to figure out a good process to begin mapping the uke strings/frets to the treble clef, to my brain. Anybody have thoughts on that?
 
Thanks guys, keep it coming. I remember seeing that lute to uke book before and now I will definitely pull the trigger thanks to all your recommendations.
 
I agree with all the recommendations here. I started with Jamie Holding's arrangements of Fernando Sor's pieces, and I am now working on several from Rob McKillop's Gaspar Sanz book. I really love Rob's arrangements and his choice of music.

The John King is excellent, but I also found his arrangements difficult - although when I was working on the John King I did not have a classical guitar teacher as I do now. Also check on Michael Parmentier's blog for classical uke. He has many baroque and renaissance pieces. If you download the TablEdit tool, you will be able to get music with both TAB and standard notation. He has arranged many pieces for both re-entrant and low-G tunings. Here is the link:

http://ukeclassicaltabs.blogspot.com/

ChiefNoda also has arrangements for classical uke.

Another great source is Roger Ruthen. Check out his website at:

http://pdfminstrel.wordpress.com/

Wilfried Welti has put out a classical ukulele book with a lot of great arrangements that is available as a free download. Get it at:

http://ukulelehunt.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/solobuch.pdf

He also has a book of classical and sacred music arrangements for Christmas. Welti's books are all in German - but notes, TAB, and ukulele all transcend language, so I don't think that will be a barrier.

For inspiration I watch videos by Rob McKillop, Val Sauvage, Herman Vandecauter, and many others.

Daniel Estrem plays classical arrangements for the low-G tenor, often paired with a classical guitar. No videos as far as I know, but he has several CDs and has performed on the radio on St. Paul Sunday Morning from NPR.

Well, that should get you started. We have a Classical Ukers group here on UU. Join us!
 
This is a great thread. I have just started trying classical pieces and am really enjoying it.
 
Last edited:
I'm enjoying this thread and will return to it when I have the skills to begin to learn this kind of repertoire!
 
Ok, where's the uke method book that will teach in standard notation then? There's another thread about this, and it doesn't exist. Yeah sure I can read music, I'd just need to pick up another instrument is all.
 
Hey Dvep, you should jump right in...

You would be surprised how easy some of it is. Look for tarrega study no 2 or Jamie Holding's free sor ebook.

If you want send me a pm with your email and I will send those two to get you started...

I'm enjoying this thread and will return to it when I have the skills to begin to learn this kind of repertoire!
 
Dvep, I agree with Olarte. I just posted a video of me playing this version of Tarrega's Study in E minor last week in the videos and links section of the forum. If you want to see it, it is here: clicky. I posted the tab on that page as well, but here is a link to an easy version of the tab: clicky
 
Anyone interested in Franz Liszt?

I've recently transcribed the A section of Liszt's Liebestraum #3 for Low G ukulele. If you wish to try it out and give me feedback, I'd love to share it. Just send a PM, I'll be able to email you a copy.
 
I love classical music! I actually had a classical guitar that I had hoped to learn to play but it was too big for me to handle! So I am hoping to use my uke to play classical music on.

I am just beginning the ukulele, but I intend to go ahead and try some of this stuff. I like a challenge!

I bought the John King classical book and the Lute to Flute book. Hope they arrive soon!

I the mean time, I have downloaded tons of free classical sheets to practice.

Now, as someone already mentioned this, I can read music. So if I want to pick up a hymn book and play, all I have to do is learn where the notes are on the uke?
 
Top Bottom