Noteworthy Ukulele Players (surprised at some of these names?)

George Harrison

Tiny Tim

Bill Tapia

Jake Shimabukuro

Benny Chong

Lyle Ritz

James Hill

Troy Fernandez

Abe Lagrimas

Bryan Tolentino

Byron Yasui

William H Macy

Greg Hawkes

Don Henley

Johnny Winter

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ADVANCED TECHNIQUES

Use these simple techniques to add some hipness to your strumming!

What is hip?Now that you’ve mastered the

basic strumming concepts presented in Lesson #1, it’s time to inject some coolness into your comping chops (Wanna sound hip? Say“comping” instead of “accompanying”).

The simple techniques that follow will open your ears and solve a lot of mysteries for you. A fuller, more sophisticated strum and a solid sense of rhythm will improve your solo singing performances drastically. As an accompanist, your jam-mates will

have a lot more fun and when you make it fun for them, you make it easier for them to relax and play or sing in a more inspired way. This is hip.

Be sure to check out the song examples in the following pages to hear and better understand what others are doing and remember - there is no substitute for LISTENING. From jazz to rock to country - all the greats spent a LOT of time sitting by their record player lifting that needle and replaying their favorite parts as they learned how to emulate what

they heard. If they can take the time to do it, so can you.

So dust off those old favorites, revisit them with an open ear, strum along and HAVE FUN!

ContentsLeft Hand Muting 2Right Hand Muting 3Chromatic Slides 4Additional Resources 5

LESSON #2

CJ “Boom” Helekahi. Photo by Oceanfront Photography

Song ExamplesListen closely to hear that scratching sound on the guitars in these songs:

Peace Of Mind (Boston)

One Thing Leads To Another (The Fixx)

What I Like About You (Romantics)

Stir It Up (Bob Marley)

Rock With You (Michael Jackson)

The Long Run(Eagles)

When The Morning Comes (Kalapana)

Left Hand Muting In “Mastering Strumming” (Lesson #1), you learned how to properly count and keep a 4 beat pulse going as you strum. You learned to replace up and downstrokes with “Ghost Strokes” to emulate different sounds.

Simply replace those ghost strokes with the scratching sound you get when you use this left hand muting technique and you will hear those familiar disco, reggae and rock grooves jump out at you.

Let’s start with the B♭ chord at the

first fret. Be sure your index finger is properly covering the 1st two strings and the fingertips of your middle and ring fingers are pressing down the other two

spots. Now strum the strings, making sure you’re getting a nice, clear sound. Notice how all the strings are covered and you are in complete control of the sound.

Now release the pressure in your left hand but keep your fingers in their respective chord positions.

Strumming across the strings now produces a scratching sound.

This is the basis for strumming riffs from countless popular songs. In fact, back in the 20’s as a boy, Bill Tapia may have been the first to use this technique to emulate the snare drums he heard in the parade as the band played “Stars and Stripes”.

Start with a “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” pattern and release the pressure on all the beats except “1”. You want to time it so that by the time you reach “&” after “1”, the strings will have stopped ringing - or, in other words - by the time your strumming finger comes back up.

Now add in different beats and practice these patterns where “x” = “scratch”:

1 x 2 x x x 4 x 1 x x & x x 4 x...and any other combinations

you can think of.This technique works best with

chord shapes that cover all the strings and will take some practice to coordinate the strumming and the letting-go of the pressure on the desired beats. Start out slow and when you have a pattern under your fingers, gradually pick up the tempo.

It’s always a good idea to practice to something that will help you develop a strong sense of rhythm like a metronome, a track you create in Garage Band, or by strumming along to your favorite recording.

On Practice: “It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, ‘cause if you love it, that’s what it amounts to. I haven’t found any shortcuts, and I’ve been looking for a long time.” - Chet Atkins

L-R: Aunty Geri Brigoli, Leokane Pryor, CJ “Boom” Helekahi. Photo by Marsha Aguon

Song ExamplesListen closely to hear the right hand muting/slapping technique in these tunes:

Venus (Shocking Blue)

More Than Words (Extreme)

Run To You (Bryan Adams)

My Favorite Mistake(Sheryl Crow)

Wild Night(Van Morrison)

No Rain(Blind Melon)

Somewhere Over The Rainbow(Israel Kamakawiwo’ole)

Right Hand Muting

This is another technique that works hand-in-hand with Ghost Strokes and is the preferred method when playing open chords (chords that have one or more strings not covered by a finger).

Here we stop the strings from ringing on a given beat by covering the strings with the strumming hand. You can either stop it very lightly with the edge of that hand (depending on how fast you are strumming) or you can actually slap the strings as you stop them to add the percussive effect made famous in the song “More Than Words” by Extreme (he’s not strumming, he’s plucking, but same idea).

Right hand muting is usually done in place of a downstroke as in these examples (x=stop with right hand):

1 & 2 & x & 4 & 1 & x & 3 & x &

When you do the stop/slap with your strumming hand, be sure to stop the strings with the index finger

pointing slightly toward the ground, below the

first (A) string. Why? Because an upstroke will immediately follow and you want that strumming finger to be ready and in position to come right back up.

Try the previous two patterns plus a few you create yourself. Once you’ve played through each one a couple times, stop counting and focus on the sound itself as you assign the movement to muscle memory. Muscle memory is important - at some point you have to stop thinking and start feeling.

Combining different strum patterns with different chord progressions such as C-G7-C, G-C-D7-G, F-Dm-Gm-C7-F, etc. will help keep things interesting and make it even easier to “discover” songs.

Just keep that strumming hand going strong - up, down, up, down. Once you’re consistent with that and have mastered Ghost Strokes and Left and Right Hand Muting, there is no strum you won’t be able to figure out in a matter of seconds - you’ll actually be able to hear it before you even pick up your ukulele!

To best match what “Bruddah Iz” is doing on his version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, use a low G string for the bottom string and emphasize that one string when strumming down on beat one: 1 x 2 & x & 4 &

“A nonmusician is thrilled to be doing music and is quite happy to sit there and plunk one note all day. Nonmusicians really listen sometimes, because that’s the only thing they have available to them” - Brian Eno

stopping the strings

with the edge of the hand

Song ExamplesListen closely to hear examples of chromatic slides in these tunes:

Jailhouse Rock(Elvis Presley)

Talk Dirty To Me (Poison)

Bring It Back Again(Stray Cats)

Summertime Blues(Eddie Cochran)

Roll Over Beethoven (Gene Vincent)

Johnny B Goode (Chuck Berry)

Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys)

Achy Breaky Heart (Billy Ray Cyrus)

Chromatic SlidesHere’s one more gimmick to add to your strumming arsenal, one you

often hear in jazzy swing tunes as well as in a lot of rockabilly music.

Let’s use the G chord for this example (open circle on bottom string is optional). Strum a “1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &” pattern. On “4” slide that whole G chord shape DOWN one fret (your fingers should now be in the 1st and 2nd frets). What would you call this new chord? Who cares? We’ll only be on it for a split second. Now slide back up to “regular” G on beat “1”. Practice both slow and fast tempos. Sounds pretty cool, eh?

Second version: Slide down to the weird G chord on the “&” after “4”. This means you will be hitting that chord on an upstroke and immediately return to the original G chord as you strum down on beat “1”. Notice how just a subtle shift in timing makes a pretty big difference.

Slides, Ghost Strokes and Left and Right Hand Muting are fun, easy ways to instantly make your strumming sound more sophisticated!

Enjoy! - Mitch Chang

Tip:

Watch Video Workshop #4 for ways to apply the concept of chromatic slides to improvising single note ukulele solos - sound like a pro without even having to learn scales!

Bryan Tolentino (L), Jeff Peterson (R) and Pomaika’i Keawe Lyman at the 2009 Aloha Falsetto Festival in Los

Angeles. Photo by Marha Aguon

Visit www.UkuleleWebsite.com for a complete listing of products, including the video companion to this lesson. Plus:

•Advanced Strumming Techniques•Create complete harmony/melody ukulele solos!•A super-easy method to learn chords & keys

Visit www.UkuleleWebsite.com

for a complete listing of products, including the video companion to this

lesson

“Thanks a lot for this explanation. You gave me the keys to being able to figure out strumming patterns with much more accuracy”

“You have been blessed with a talent for clear explanation and teaching.”

About Mitch ChangA graduate of the University of Hawaii music program,

Mitch has been teaching ukulele since 1994. A former student of legendary jazz ukulele musician Bill

Tapia, Mitch’s ability to present clear, easy-to-understand lessons have earned him consistent praise and a loyal following.

WWW.UKULELEWEBSITE.COM

Take Your Skills To The Next Level!The “Big Three” Chords: why you NEED to know them!

How would you like to instantly learn dozens - even hundreds of songs?

Sound too good to be true? Well, the truth is that most any song can be boiled down to these “Big Three” chords. This is a must-know inside scoop that

will have you slapping yourself upside the head saying, “After all these years...I never noticed that!” and “Howcome no one ever taught me this before?”

Here’s what you’ll learn in this lesson:

• How to instantly identify chord changes

• How to easily and instantly transpose a given chord progression into your preferred key

The secret to instantly increasing your chord vocabulary

Did you know that it takes just one finger and the tiny bit of music theory in this lesson to increase your chord knowledge tenfold? Build upon the basic chord shapes you already know and add

interest and spice to your playing.

Breathe new life into those tired old songs you’ve been playing at the club, impress the other members - and have more fun!

Here’s what you’ll learn in this lesson:

• The trick to getting the ukulele fretboard to “light up” for you

• How to use those fret markers the way they were meant to be used

• How to go beyond chord shapes that have had you stuck at the first and second frets for years

Improvising: How to hit the right note every time and sound like a pro!

Does the idea of improvising freak you out? Wish you could throw out some

jazzy licks of your own once in a while instead of just strumming through the whole darn song? Want to be able to hang with the others at the jam session and

actually contribute something? This lesson will fool your friends into thinking you’ve been doing this for years!

Here’s what you’ll learn in this lesson:

• How to play fun, jazzy sounding licks...without knowing a “lick” of music theory!

• How to finally let your imagination and true inner creativity come shining through

Additional ResourcesTreasury of Ukulele Chords (Roy Sakuma)

The Ukulele - A Visual History(Jim Beloff)

Zen Guitar (Philip Toshio Sudo)

Kamaka Ukulele www.kamakahawaii.com

Koaloha Ukulele www.koaloha.com

Nalu Ukulele www.naluukulele.com

Lanikai Ukulele www.lanikaiukes.com

La Bella Strings www.labella.comGet

the video companion to

this lesson! Only $7.95

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DOWNLOAD THIS LESSON

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