What do you consider to be “the basics”?

McCall

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I know this is a pretty subjective question, so I’m just looking to hear some opinions.

I’m a beginner with the Ukulele, and I think that the best way for me to learn would be to focus on getting down the basic skills as sort of a baseline before moving on to working on playing actual songs. I also know that I learn best when I have a specific, attainable goal to work towards, so that’s what I’m trying to set for myself.

If a person is competent with, say, 20 basic chords, several basic strumming patterns and chucking, would you consider them to have “learned the basics” and be ready to move on to learning simple songs? If not, what else would you consider to be “the basics” that a beginner should learn before getting into playing songs?
 
For me the basics means all major and minor triads, all dom7 chords, and all minor7 chords. Also, a bare minimum for me was learning the Roman numeral system for chord harmonization. However, I think most people would disagree. Most people just pick a song, learn the three chords needed to play the song, and that's their basics.
 
For me the basics means all major and minor triads, all dom7 chords, and all minor7 chords. Also, a bare minimum for me was learning the Roman numeral system for chord harmonization. However, I think most people would disagree. Most people just pick a song, learn the three chords needed to play the song, and that's their basics.
That would be my answer, and a decent strum.;)
 
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I'm definitely in the "learning songs" camp. The more chords in the songs, the better. not the three chord stuff. I like the older popular tunes of the 20s, 30s and 40s...and The Beatles, of course. Lots of cool chords in that older stuff. And when I find a song I like, I transpose it into different keys.
 
A few years into my playing I felt like I was probably an advanced player. That was about the time Herb Jr. said to me: "You've got the tools, Brad, now you just need to practice the basics."
 
Looking back (a long, long way!) I wish I had concentrated more on developing my right hand skills in the early days. I concentrated more on learning really interesting chord sequences. You can make a good job of playing the uke with very basic chords and a solid strumming technique - much better than the other way round.

The important thing is to enjoy yourself.

John Colter.
 
If a person is competent with, say, 20 basic chords, several basic strumming patterns and chucking, would you consider them to have “learned the basics” and be ready to move on to learning simple songs? If not, what else would you consider to be “the basics” that a beginner should learn before getting into playing songs?

Like you said, subjective. I've been playing for many years, mostly fingerstyle, but have zero interest in chucking/chunking/whatever it's called, but since I don't know how to do that I wouldn't say I haven't learned the basics. But I learned to play in a somewhat random way - by learning songs and theory rather than rote memorization of chords and techniques. I don't see any need to memorize chords before learning songs - I'd advocate doing both at once.

In terms of basics though - I'd put timing at the top of any list. Get a metronome, use it, and get a teacher or more advanced player to provide a reality check from time to time.
 
Like you said, subjective. I've been playing for many years, mostly fingerstyle, but have zero interest in chucking/chunking/whatever it's called, but since I don't know how to do that I wouldn't say I haven't learned the basics. But I learned to play in a somewhat random way - by learning songs and theory rather than rote memorization of chords and techniques. I don't see any need to memorize chords before learning songs - I'd advocate doing both at once.

In terms of basics though - I'd put timing at the top of any list. Get a metronome, use it, and get a teacher or more advanced player to provide a reality check from time to time.
I'm on the same page as you on that. I don't spend a lot of time learning chords that I'm never going to use or learning to play in keys that I can't sing in. But some people view the ukulele as a discipline and they are into mastering the technical aspects of playing the ukulele and for those people the basics are quite different.
 
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I have coached a lot of beginning players and I believe the only "basics" required to make music are the C-major, F-major and G7 chords and a steady up-down strum. Everything else is gravy.

There is no standardized curriculum so we are all left to our own devices deciding what to learn, and when. Think about your goals as a musician. Why do you want to play uke in the first place? What kind of music do you want to make? The "basics" for someone who wants to accompany campfire songs are different from the "basics" for playing jazz solos. I happen to think the point of all this is to play music, so I learn best within the context of learning to play a specific song. But I know people who prefer to learn scales and chord progressions as exercises and that's great.

I agree with John about right-hand skills (and enjoying yourself). Beginners often get caught up in memorizing chords and scales -- but if you can't strum/pick a good rhythm, the notes don't matter. Rhythm is what drives the music. In other words:

Please learn the difference between straight time and swing time before you memorize fancy chords.

I might put that on a t-shirt. In fact, I'm gonna start giving beginners this advice: Learn three chords and five strums. Play a bunch of 3-chord songs beautifully. Then learn more chords. YMMV as always.
 
I have coached a lot of beginning players and I believe the only "basics" required to make music are the C-major, F-major and G7 chords and a steady up-down strum. Everything else is gravy.

There is no standardized curriculum so we are all left to our own devices deciding what to learn, and when. Think about your goals as a musician. Why do you want to play uke in the first place? What kind of music do you want to make? The "basics" for someone who wants to accompany campfire songs are different from the "basics" for playing jazz solos. I happen to think the point of all this is to play music, so I learn best within the context of learning to play a specific song. But I know people who prefer to learn scales and chord progressions as exercises and that's great.

I agree with John about right-hand skills (and enjoying yourself). Beginners often get caught up in memorizing chords and scales -- but if you can't strum/pick a good rhythm, the notes don't matter. Rhythm is what drives the music. In other words:

Please learn the difference between straight time and swing time before you memorize fancy chords.

I might put that on a t-shirt. In fact, I'm gonna start giving beginners this advice: Learn three chords and five strums. Play a bunch of 3-chord songs beautifully. Then learn more chords. YMMV as always.

I'm thinking this is right too. I've been learning chords and trying to figure theory etc but after taking a class find I can't really play a good strumming pattern. I need to get this corrected
 
I have coached a lot of beginning players and I believe the only "basics" required to make music are the C-major, F-major and G7 chords and a steady up-down strum. Everything else is gravy.

I’ve got a few thoughts that build off of this. I just listened to one of Ukulele Underground’s recent podcasts (TIL) and Aldrine was talking about identifying beginners, intermediate players, and advanced players—and went on to say that he didn’t consider himself an advanced player...

Which would put about 99% of the ukulele players I have seen as beginner ukulele players (the exceptions would be Jake Shimabukuro and Kalei Gamiao)—and pretty much anyone reading this.

I’m not sure I want to get into labels, but I would say that when you can play what you want to play, you’ve reached an intermediate stage of playing. And if you have the drive (as does Aldrine, a professional player, performer, and now teacher), you’ll see other things you want to add into your playing.

I use Jake as an example because he makes a point in his concerts to play a little of everything—he makes it clear that if something can be done on a ukulele, he can do it. And I have said this before here on UU—every one of us might have had a chance to be as good as Jake if we had been born in Hawaii (where there was never a negative bias towards the instrument as there was during the late 60s to 2005), played the ukulele since we were 4, and played many hours a day for nearly 40 years. Obviously, Jake also has natural ability and has become a virtuoso. He didn’t start there.

Back to the topic—in our mainland schools, if ukulele is even offered, most of the programs introduce 4 chords (maybe 5): C, F, G, G7, and Am. If you add a few more chords to those—you can cover the large majority of popular music in C (Dm, Em, D7, Bdim7, C7, and maybe Bb). I think Uncle Rod’s Boot Camp Number 1 is a good place to test your skills. And yes, there are videos, too.

One final note: once you’ve reached the point where you can play what you want to play—enjoy that. Don’t let anyone else take away that joy. If you see something else you want to add to your playing—work towards it.
 
A few years into my playing I felt like I was probably an advanced player. That was about the time Herb Jr. said to me: "You've got the tools, Brad, now you just need to practice the basics."

That's quite a tease. Aren't you going to tell us what the venerable Ohta considered the basics, or at least what basics you felt you had to re-visit?
 
It is all in the right hand. Different kind of strums and mutes we do. If hit just a few strings or all same time. All the various ways to build into our subconscious. A big trap is just to fingerplay, try avoid that as basics.
We don't need many chords with the left hand to keep it interesting.
 
When I started out, I zoomed in on chords (grouped into keys) and picking patterns, and I jumped around between different courses, books and videos, which led to a lot of confusion and a sense of being overwhelmed. In retrospect, think the most fundamental skill to practice right from the start is timing/rhythm. I didn't do this and I felt it always held me back until I actually sat down more to practice it deliberately. So if I had to do it again, I'd pick up a metronome (or metronome app, I like "Tunable" for both iOS and Android), force myself to count out loud, and do a simple strumming or picking pattern, depending on which appeals more, until I get it down (really down) before moving onto the next exercise. I like the "Ukulele Aerobics" book (there's also a baritone version of it) as a one-stop source of exercises and both strumming and picking patterns, but there's plenty of other material available too.

This may however be a bit of dry approach. You could do the same rhythm/timing training by learning to strum songs you like or with arpeggio based fingerstyle pieces, if this route appeals more. It's definitely a "all roads lead to Rome" thing, though. It's unlikely that there is a generally accepted definition of what exactly "the basics" include. The important thing is probably to not rush to more advanced things before you can even switch between basic chords (C, F, G7) smoothly, strum in time, and pick strings smoothly. It's always tempting to move on to harder stuff before the easier things have been "mastered", thinking that learning the harder stuff will also teach the basics, but it's not necessarily a very successful approach, in my experience.
 
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I very much like a definition that James Hill tought in his Workshop "Beyond C, F an G7" a few days ago...

A beginner asks "what chord are you playing" while an intermediate ask "how do you play this chord", which means discovering the power of different voicings.
 
I've worked with a LOT of beginners, some kids, some elderly. The 1st thing I teach them is how to hold the darn thing correctly!
I didn't have the benefit of a teacher when I started, and I held my uke wrong for at least a year. When I finally learned to hold it, I took off.
Tuning the uke without help is essential. With a tuner, and by ear.
In our kid's workshops, the other instructors want to drop the part about teaching them to play tabs. When they finally allowed me to help them, they saw how fast the little tykes picked it up. It's not all about strumming, even for a beginner.
True, "it's all in the right hand", but the left hand needs to be strong too. My left hand is weaker and slower and it causes me to make all kinds of mistakes. I practice left hand exercises just as much or more than right hand strums and picking techniques.
Even an early beginner can begin to make up new strumming patterns pretty quickly. But don't neglect the left hand!
 
That's quite a tease. Aren't you going to tell us what the venerable Ohta considered the basics, or at least what basics you felt you had to re-visit?

The fretboard, chords, scales, timing, playing songs, fretting technique, etc... "Easy" stuff, played with always more proficiency and quality. I was on a binge looking for answers and more, more, MORE advance concepts. His point was basically the same as what I've heard Jake say: "You can't spend too much time practicing quarter notes."

I meet a lot of "advanced" players that can't hold a groove or fret a clean barre chord. These are basics that should be second nature before moving too much further along the learning curve.

Bottom line is: even if you just learned your first three-chord song, there are fundamental skills you can improve upon that you will use no matter how advanced you become. The more skilled you get, the more you can improve these simple things.

Pay attention to your fingers, how they interact with the instrument, and slow everything down to painfully slow tempos (while still playing in time, of course). That's the basics, IMO.
 
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I played rhythm guitar for almost 50 years and never learned theory or much picking. At 15 it actually didn't take me long to get comfortable with strum techniques. Since taking up the uke and becoming a member of The CC Strummers that meets twice a week, that experience has leant itself very well. I play far more songs than I ever did on the guitar, so I'm in the camp of learn technique by playing songs.


8 tenor cutaway ukes, 3 acoustic bass ukes, 8 solid body bass ukes, 7 mini electric bass guitars

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children's hospital music therapy programs. http://www.theukc.org
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If you like a particular genre, jazz, ragtime, pop, swing or whatever, Then play those tunes. A great way to learn is by listening and watching on YouTube. You do not need twenty chords but if you learn some basic patterns or shapes, then you can play in most keys.
 
I'm still not a good player, as regards to sing & strum, I prefer picking melodies, & I do that in a simple fashion - who's to say I'm wrong. :)

Learn what is important to you, there's no right or wrong if you just want to have fun. ;)
 
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