Uke Minutes 60 - Ghost Notes

Hey UUers! This week's Uke Minutes (#60 - Ghost Notes) has been up for awhile, but here's the discussion for it!

Uke Minutes 60 - Ghost Notes

You can use this technique and pretty much make anything sound fancy! Try it out and if you have questions, comments, scary stories, etc. - post them below!
 
Very cool and simple trick! Somethin I've been looking for to sound a lil betta!

Can anyone tab out "Mary had a lil lamb"? This would be great practice!
 
Is anyone else experiencing choppy playback? For some reason, the video will not play smoothly, and it's not by browser because the youtube vid under it plays fine...
 
haha, now you're basically playing the Uke as a drone instrument (like a hurdy-gurdy or a bagpipe)... but it would be interesting to know how you'd play a ghost note if the melody line wasn't in the same key as the other strings...
 
That's a good question - can you use the high G as the ghost note for any melody? If not, how do you pick what note to use as the ghost note? Thank you!
 
Well that depends....Do you want harmonious all throughout, or is a bit of dissonance fitting? Depends on the song, depends on the mood.

I'm new to uke, but familiar with ghost notes aka pedal points, from guitar. It's used a lot in metal guitar (riffs commonly built around the low E note, muted and distorted). It's also used a lot in finger style guitar work.

For me, it feel natural to pedal off the high g on the uke, but the opposite string, the low A also feels right....other times, I'll use a fretted note as the pedal point (or ghost note, fine, I'll say it your way). I'll play a riff with the g as the ghost, then play the same riff 1 step up, just barring the second fret and playing the riff the same, but now the a note is used as the ghost note.

I dunno if that helps. High I'm new here :)
 
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