Beginner books for the musically literate?

Gekaap · Mar 13, 2013

Hi all,

I've recently taken up the uke but am finding that most of the information available for beginners is not well suited for me. I'm very musically literate and would prefer the chance to learn uke from a more technical perspective. I bought Ukulele for Dummies, and within a month I've outgrown it while still barely beginning to scratch the surface of playing uke. It's little more useful to me than as a reference. If anyone can recommend a good source that works from staff music I would greatly appreciate it.

durgidog · Mar 13, 2013

I've seen several threads with links to graphs that display the notes on the fingerboard, I'm sure you can find them with a search. Once you've memorized those you should be good to go and can create your own arrangements.

cds · Mar 13, 2013

I use this site a good bit: www.capotastomusic.com
It has notation and tabs with very easy to play songs. I have not affiliation with it.

Pukulele Pete · Mar 13, 2013

I got the Hal Leonard ukulele method books 1 and 2 , both are a good way to go.

FairyGodmartyr · Mar 13, 2013

Pukulele Pete said:
I got the Hal Leonard ukulele method books 1 and 2 , both are a good way to go.

Same here. I have years of piano/trumpet/voice experience, so I'm very music literate, too. I went through the first book in a couple of weeks, and the second book in probably 1 1/2 months, but I would definitely recommend them. You'll be able to totally skip all of the stuff on note values and whatnot, but it will do a lot to get you comfortable with where the notes are on the fretboard. Now that I am done with those, I am working on Nelson's Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele, which is definitely more challenging, but is great for someone who already "gets" music.

addicted2myuke · Mar 14, 2013

If you are that fortunate and good for you, check out any of Jake Shimabukuro's youtube videos. If you don't already know who he is, you soon will. He has many uke tutorials for the more advanced players. Books are good, but there's nothing like a visual. Good luck.

hibiscus · Mar 14, 2013

Nelson's Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele if you want to play fingerstyle. I come from an extensive musical background, especially piano, and Nelson's is one of my favorites. Also recommend solos from Ken Middleton (some free tabs on his site) and Mike Lynch. You can find both of them on You Tube and listen to their compositions.

ricdoug · Mar 15, 2013

http://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/

http://ukuleleintheclassroom.com/forum/YaBB.pl

JSambista · Mar 15, 2013

Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps by Fred Sokolow and Jim Beloff was recommended to me by Brian at Hilo Guitars and Ukulele when I bought my first uke there recently. I play cavaquinho, sax, and percussion and think the book moves at a good pace for someone with a solid background and gets you moving though the chord shapes and fretboard without too much extraneous fuss. He also recommended the fingerstyle book the other posters referred to and I plan to get into that soon. I've needed to work on ear training and have been enjoying playukulelebyear.com although this may be a little remedial if you have a good grounding. I hope you're having as much fun as I am learning uke, it's been a blast so far!

rubykey · Mar 16, 2013

I too found most books to be too basic. Took the Hal Leanord out of the library. Somewhat useful, but I moved to the end of the book very quickly.

I purchased Fretboard Roadmap with my new uke. Haven't had time to delve into it, but it looks like it will keep me busy for a while and not dumb it down.

BadLands Bart · Mar 19, 2013

Fretboard Roadamps is a really good book and will keep you quite busy!

Beginner books for the musically literate?

Gekaap

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cds

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