Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Part I: Introducing Ukulele Basics 7 Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele 9 Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great 21 Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele 31 Part II: Starting Out With Chords and Strumming 41 Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs 43 Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns 65 Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families 87 Part III: Picking and Single-Note Playing 111 Chapter 7: Getting to Grips with Tabs and Notation 113 Chapter 8: Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns 131 Chapter 9: Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo 147 Chapter 10: Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques 157 Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles 175 Chapter 11: Rocking Out With Your Uke 177 Chapter 12: Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits 191 Chapter 13: Saying Aloha to the Hawaiian Style 209 Chapter 14: Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing 217 Chapter 15: Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style 227 Chapter 16: Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele 235 Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele 249 Chapter 17: Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele 251 Chapter 18: Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories 259 Chapter 19: Restringing, Maintaining and Adjusting Your Uke 267 Part VI: The Part of Tens 277 Chapter 20: Ten (Plus) Ukulele Players to Know 279 Chapter 21: Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene 285 Chapter 22: Ten (Or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing 291 Part VII: Appendixes 297 Appendix A: Chord Charts 299 Appendix B: Reading Standard Musical Notation 303 Appendix C: Audio Tracks 315 Index 323

About the Author

Alistair Wood is a ukulele player, transcriber, arranger and the owner of ukulelehunt.com, one of the most popular ukulele sites on the Internet.

Reviews

'packed with tips, technical advice, easy-to-follow illustrations and rhythms' The Sun