Ukulele Lessons: Fundamentals

Course details

Pick up the ukulele at your own pace. Follow Grammy-winning artist Daniel Ho as he shows you how to change chords, read standard music notation, and approach music theory concepts like the major scale, intervals, and harmony. Explore the surprising range of this fun little instrument by practicing movable chords and left-hand mute strokes for reggae and soul, trying out the blues shuffle rhythm, and strumming Hawaiian tunes. To help you practice what you learn, he shows you how to play a fiddle tune, "Solider's Joy," and the beloved island standby, "Aloha 'Oe." He wraps up with a performance of his own; watch as he performs "Bicycle Holiday" and "Living in Paradise."

Learning objectives
Reading tablature
Changing chords
Navigating a musical map
Strum patterns
Adding percussion with mute strokes
Using movable chords
Transposing the blues and the minor pentatonic scale
Fingerpicking

Concepts

0. Introduction

01 - Welcome

1. Getting Started

02 - Know your uke
03 - Reading tablature
04 - The notes on the fretboard

2. Strum, Strum, Strum

05 - Your first chords
06 - Changing chords
07 - Play some real songs
08 - Spice up your strumming
09 - More chords more chords
10 - Minor chords
11 - Waltz time, 3 4
12 - Right-hand tools and techniques

3. Reading Standard Music Notation

13 - Rests
14 - Dotted half notes
15 - Natural notes on the 1st string
16 - The C major scale
17 - Eighth notes, of course
18 - Dotted quarter notes
19 - Sharps and flats
20 - Accidentals in a key signature
21 - Ties
22 - Navigating a musical map

4. Theory without Fear

23 - The major scale is your measuring stick
24 - Intervals are your building blocks
25 - Harmony and chords

5. Old-Time Ukulele and Backing Up Fiddle Tunes

26 - Strum patterns and a tune in G
27 - Accenting the backbeat, the E and E7 chords, and Sally Ann in A
28 - Fiddle tune form and Soldier s Joy in D

6. Old School - The Swingin Ukulele

29 - How to swing
30 - Sixes and sevens and chords
31 - The circle of 5ths progression
32 - The triple strum
33 - The triple burst strum

7. Rocking Out the Uke

34 - The syncopated strum
35 - Adding percussion with mute strokes
36 - Moveable chord forms, or how I learned to be my own chord dictionary
37 - Using moveable chords, left-hand mute strokes, reggae, and soul

8. Taking It Home - Island Style

38 - Aloha Oe
39 - New strums
40 - Hula for Ho opi i

9. Ukulele Blues

41 - The 12-bar blues
42 - The blues shuffle rhythm
43 - The minor pentatonic scale
44 - Transposition
45 - Transposing the blues and the minor pentatonic scale
46 - Blues in a Minor Key

10. Introduction to Fingerstyle

47 - The right-hand position
48 - Arpeggio pattern t, i, m, a
49 - Middle and ring fingers together
50 - Fingerpicking in 3 4
51 - Alternating thumb pattern t, i, t, m

Conclusion

52 - Conclusion
53 - End credits

Bonus Movies

54 - Daniel Ho s ukuleles
55 - Bicycle Holiday performance
56 - Living in Paradise performance