Chord Melody?

VaGoddess · Oct 24, 2012

Hello! I have a question that I'm sure someone can answer. I really enjoy playing melody, fingerpicking, finger style ukulele. I've been playing the uke for about 7-8 months now and don't really play to many songs that incorporate a lot of strumming. So, my question is how do I begin making up songs that have more melody than strumming? I like more modern music, so if anyone has tabs feel free to let me know!

Thanks!

clayton56 · Oct 25, 2012

Do you want to make up songs or do you want tabs of existing songs?

If you want to make up your own songs, try doing chord arpeggios over and over. Hold a chord and pick the strings in various patterns. Change chords with the same pattern, or vary the patterns. Eventually you will start to hear melodies in there. Then a couple of connecting notes between chords and you'll have a full fledged melody. And you will already have the chords to go with it. Write 'em down, too.

mds725 · Oct 25, 2012

Paul Hemmings taught a workshop at the 2012 Wine Country Ukulele Festival called "Chord Melodies" and he's posted instructional materials online in pdf format. Here's the link to these materials:
http://www.uketet.com/workshops/chordmelodies.pdf

itsme · Oct 25, 2012

Arpeggios are good. Try this:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/f...or-Gradus-ad-Parnassum-for-the-High-G-Ukulele

Sven-Uke · Oct 25, 2012

The trick I learned is to use different chord positions, this will allow you to play a melody on the bottom string.
Example:
Play a C chord like 0003
Now play a C chord in another position, 5433.
From that position play 5437, 5435, 5433, 0433, while stumming.
This will give you some sort of melody possibilities.

Good luck!

MisterRios · Oct 25, 2012

mds725 said:
Paul Hemmings taught a workshop at the 2012 Wine Country Ukulele Festival called "Chord Melodies" and he's posted instructional materials online in pdf format. Here's the link to these materials:
http://www.uketet.com/workshops/chordmelodies.pdf

Whoa. That's pretty cool. I got his CD from his Kickstarter project, and he is an awesome musician. The PDF also looks awesome!

Ondrej · Oct 25, 2012

When I became interested in the chord melody playing.
Helped me very much to play tabs on books by Lyle Ritz ("Lyle Ritz Solos" "Lyle Lite").

VaGoddess · Oct 25, 2012

clayton56 said:
Do you want to make up songs or do you want tabs of existing songs?

If you want to make up your own songs, try doing chord arpeggios over and over. Hold a chord and pick the strings in various patterns. Change chords with the same pattern, or vary the patterns. Eventually you will start to hear melodies in there. Then a couple of connecting notes between chords and you'll have a full fledged melody. And you will already have the chords to go with it. Write 'em down, too.

I would like to do a little of both, eventually! As of right now, I'm just looking for tabs!

VaGoddess · Oct 25, 2012

Sven-Uke said:
The trick I learned is to use different chord positions, this will allow you to play a melody on the bottom string.
Example:
Play a C chord like 0003
Now play a C chord in another position, 5433.
From that position play 5437, 5435, 5433, 0433, while stumming.
This will give you some sort of melody possibilities.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!

VaGoddess · Oct 25, 2012

mds725 said:
Paul Hemmings taught a workshop at the 2012 Wine Country Ukulele Festival called "Chord Melodies" and he's posted instructional materials online in pdf format. Here's the link to these materials:
http://www.uketet.com/workshops/chordmelodies.pdf

Thanks! Looks very helpful!

VaGoddess · Oct 25, 2012

Thanks for all the suggestions, so far!

Ben_H · Oct 26, 2012

Have you checked out Ukulele Hunt? Lots of tab there as well as helpful videos of it being played. Also if you're looking more at your baritone then check out the side links on Humble baritonics.

Have fun

garyg · Oct 27, 2012

What's up with the chord shapes in that pdf, they're quite different from the ones that I know. Some are for C-tuning but others are ???? e.g., Am as open (really Am7) rather than 0100 and Dm as 0111 rather than 2210? I know that there are different ways to chord but these seem strange or perhaps I just don't know them as alternatives? TIA, g2

coolkayaker1 · Oct 27, 2012

mds725 said:
Paul Hemmings taught a workshop at the 2012 Wine Country Ukulele Festival called "Chord Melodies" and he's posted instructional materials online in pdf format. Here's the link to these materials:
http://www.uketet.com/workshops/chordmelodies.pdf

God, brother MDS, your insight is, in a word, encyclopedic. Thank you for this interesting linkage.

caukulele · Oct 27, 2012

Yes mds, this is a great link......looks like it would have been a fun workshop to take.

collarbone · Oct 27, 2012

garyg said:
What's up with the chord shapes in that pdf, they're quite different from the ones that I know. Some are for C-tuning but others are ???? e.g., Am as open (really Am7) rather than 0100 and Dm as 0111 rather than 2210? I know that there are different ways to chord but these seem strange or perhaps I just don't know them as alternatives? TIA, g2

I think you are misreading the shapes. The Am chord has a muted string in it and the Dm is at the 5th fret

wickedwahine11 · Oct 27, 2012

Ooh, thank you for the link to that .pdf. I am most definitely vocally challenged, so I'm always interested in learning more tab or arpeggio information.

Pukulele Pete · Oct 27, 2012

This is great , check it out.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPj1vfy6b58

Tootler · Oct 27, 2012

mds725 said:
Paul Hemmings taught a workshop at the 2012 Wine Country Ukulele Festival called "Chord Melodies" and he's posted instructional materials online in pdf format. Here's the link to these materials:
http://www.uketet.com/workshops/chordmelodies.pdf

That looks a really useful document. I've downloaded it.

I do sing, but am always interested in ways I can make accompaniments more interesting and this will give me some ideas.

Another way of melody playing I have seen which sounds good is to play the melody single string but at important places play chords.

Thanks for posting the link.

luluwrites · Oct 27, 2012

Thank you all for this thread. I'm learning a lot!

Chord Melody?

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