Intermediate Book Recommendations

about2 · May 13, 2020

I'm looking to add some books to my uke library . . . I'd call myself an intermediate player. I've worked through Daniel Wards books and love them. I mostly use fingerpicking. I'm working now through some of Daniel Ho's works. Very stretching for me, but enjoyable.

What books, at an intermediate level, have you found helpful?

Kimosabe · May 13, 2020

Mark Kailana Nelson

rainbow21 · May 14, 2020

I have and have enjoyed songs from:

Duets for One by James Hill
Classical Ukulele by John King
Beatles for Fingerstyle Ukulele by Fred Sokolow

They must be intermediate as I cannot play the majority of songs in them very well.

about2 · May 15, 2020

Thanks I took your advice and ordered a couple of books . . . A Nelson and Hill. I already own the King and Sokolow one mentioned. I'll pull them both out and take another look. Funny how one can grow into a book. Pull them back out and suddenly the author sounds brilliant.

bacchettadavid · May 15, 2020

"The Advancing Guitarist". I'm not a guitarist and found it easily adaptable to the 'ukulele.

The book contains probably a decade's worth of material if you're committed. It's designed to help develop musicianship and instrumental mastery beyond that "advanced beginner" stage so many find themselves stuck in.

snowdenn · May 15, 2020

about2 said:
I'm looking to add some books to my uke library . . . I'd call myself an intermediate player. I've worked through Daniel Wards books and love them. I mostly use fingerpicking. I'm working now through some of Daniel Ho's works. Very stretching for me, but enjoyable.

What books, at an intermediate level, have you found helpful?

I'm not sure if these are the level of difficulty you're after, but Samantha Muir has material available on her site. I like her style of play, and I like the idea of more directly supporting musicians like her.

www.samanthamuir.com/ukulele

bacchettadavid said:
"The Advancing Guitarist". I'm not a guitarist and found it easily adaptable to the 'ukulele.

The book contains probably a decade's worth of material if you're committed. It's designed to help develop musician and instrumental mastery beyond that "advanced beginner" stage that so many find themselves stuck in.

I find this kind of recommendation very helpful. Do you have any more suggestions similar to this?

bacchettadavid · May 15, 2020

snowdenn said:
I find this kind of recommendation very helpful. Do you have any more suggestions similar to this?

I don't want to dilute my previous recommendation, and the other text I'd recommend is no longer readily available.

Work from the Advancing Guitarist for at least a few months. If you're still serious about seeking out other resources, PM me.

Mark.T · May 15, 2020

I have purchased a couple of Samantha Muir's books in PDF form and I really like them. They start at the very beginning - lots of exercises are simple plucking patterns on open strings, with variations in fingering and basic music notation and theory mixed in. The ones I got don't get you playing songs quickly, but I think they'll be perfect for laying a solid foundation and forcing me to even out my sound regardless of which fingers or strings are in use. I think she has other books that get you going on tunes, too, I just think I'm not ready for those yet. I think the ones I got were a book of easy songs, the 100 Arpeggio Studies, and the Classical Ukulele Method.

I also have a book of Rob MacKillop's which I like (10 Progressive Fingerstyle Studies for Uke), and one by "KEV", which I'm not sure is as useful - to me the content all falls in the uncanny valley between too basic and too advanced.

about2 · May 20, 2020

samuelt said:
Thanks guys for so many books!

Agreed. Great suggestions.

Ludwig. · May 20, 2020

If you liked Daniel Ward's ukulele meditations I highly recommend Elisabeth Pfeiffer's new book Fingerstyle etudes: https://www.elisabethpfeiffer.de/en/books-2/

It's a collection of 30 pieces - just like Ward's books, each piece focuses on a a few certain techniques. I'm loving it!

GraemeC · May 20, 2020

about2 said:
I'm looking to add some books to my uke library . . . I'd call myself an intermediate player. I've worked through Daniel Wards books and love them. I mostly use fingerpicking. I'm working now through some of Daniel Ho's works. Very stretching for me, but enjoyable.

What books, at an intermediate level, have you found helpful?

Hi there! I was actually looking at Daniel Ho's The Complete Ukulele Method -- Intermediate Ukulele (Book & Online Access) Would you recommend it? I would also consider myself an intermediary but I am admittedly pretty weak on theory and would like to get a bit more serious about things! The Daniel Ward books a good alternative? Thanks!

GraemeC · May 20, 2020

GraemeC said:
Hi there! I was actually looking at Daniel Ho's The Complete Ukulele Method -- Intermediate Ukulele (Book & Online Access) Would you recommend it? I would also consider myself an intermediary but I am admittedly pretty weak on theory and would like to get a bit more serious about things! The Daniel Ward books a good alternative? Thanks!

To be honest, I'm guessing it would be no harm for me to start with his beginner book?

Mark.T · May 21, 2020

Ludwig. said:
If you liked Daniel Ward's ukulele meditations I highly recommend Elisabeth Pfeiffer's new book Fingerstyle etudes: https://www.elisabethpfeiffer.de/en/books-2/

It's a collection of 30 pieces - just like Ward's books, each piece focuses on a a few certain techniques. I'm loving it!

That looks and sounds really good. She has really a fantastic tone on the ukulele, too. I have a lot of material to work through at the moment but this is going towards the front of the queue.

GraemeC · May 21, 2020

Sorry for thread jacking folks, but I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction on some books. I would consider myself an intermediary in that I have a guitar background, am comfortable with a broad range of chords and am fairly decent at picking; however, and it is a big however - I have virtually no theory. I was self thought on guitar and never took the time to learn scales or indeed any theory. Very much worked on tabs from songs I wanted to learn.

I really want to change my lazy ways as I have fallen in love with the ukulele and want to take the time to properly understand it to better my playing. Is it best to start with a beginner book e.g. Daniel Ho? I sort of feel skipping to an intermediary book might not the right move. Any help/recommendations are much appreciated!

Thanks
G

about2 · May 21, 2020

Ludwig. said:
If you liked Daniel Ward's ukulele meditations I highly recommend Elisabeth Pfeiffer's new book Fingerstyle etudes: https://www.elisabethpfeiffer.de/en/books-2/

It's a collection of 30 pieces - just like Ward's books, each piece focuses on a a few certain techniques. I'm loving it!

thanks! just ordered it.

bacchettadavid · May 22, 2020

GraemeC said:
Sorry for thread jacking folks, but I would be grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction on some books. I would consider myself an intermediary in that I have a guitar background, am comfortable with a broad range of chords and am fairly decent at picking; however, and it is a big however - I have virtually no theory. I was self thought on guitar and never took the time to learn scales or indeed any theory. Very much worked on tabs from songs I wanted to learn.

I really want to change my lazy ways as I have fallen in love with the ukulele and want to take the time to properly understand it to better my playing. Is it best to start with a beginner book e.g. Daniel Ho? I sort of feel skipping to an intermediary book might not the right move. Any help/recommendations are much appreciated!

Thanks
G

Again, "The Advancing Guitarist". You're pretty much the target audience. Supplement it with "Ukulele Fretboard Roadmaps" or "Ukulele Aerobics" for an extra dose of fun.

about2 · May 27, 2020

I'm gonna respond to my own question as I just found this resource: https://www.paulhemmings.com

I recd yesterday, Duke on Uke. Really nice. I ordered the hard copy book as my wife plays double bass and the hard copy allows us to share. Love Paul's videos as well. Really fun stuff.

snowdenn · May 27, 2020

about2 said:
I'm gonna respond to my own question as I just found this resource: https://www.paulhemmings.com

I recd yesterday, Duke on Uke. Really nice. I ordered the hard copy book as my wife plays double bass and the hard copy allows us to share. Love Paul's videos as well. Really fun stuff.

Great discovery, thanks!

Mark.T · Jun 10, 2020

Ludwig. said:
If you liked Daniel Ward's ukulele meditations I highly recommend Elisabeth Pfeiffer's new book Fingerstyle etudes: https://www.elisabethpfeiffer.de/en/books-2/

It's a collection of 30 pieces - just like Ward's books, each piece focuses on a a few certain techniques. I'm loving it!

I just got my copy yesterday. It's great, I really like it - the etudes start off quite simply but they sound good on their own (unlike a lot of etudes which may be great exercises but you wouldn't play for anyone else...). I can't wait to dig in further!

Mark.T · Jan 27, 2021

Ludwig. said:
If you liked Daniel Ward's ukulele meditations I highly recommend Elisabeth Pfeiffer's new book Fingerstyle etudes: https://www.elisabethpfeiffer.de/en/books-2/

It's a collection of 30 pieces - just like Ward's books, each piece focuses on a a few certain techniques. I'm loving it!

Elisabeth Pfeiffer just published a new book containing fingerstyle transcriptions of the music of Adrien Le Roy. I haven't had much time with it yet, but it promises to be every bit as good as her book of etudes (which I also really love).

Intermediate Book Recommendations

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