Play Ukulele in 5 Minutes (Or Less)!
By: Kevin ManieriGeorge's Music
Guitarists, have any of your friends or bandmates turned up with a ukulele yet? Want to amaze them by being a competent player the first time you pick one up? I can show you how!
Disclaimer: this method is sort of a cheat its no substitute for learning to play ukulele the right way, its simply a quick way to get started. Visit a Georges Music store for books and DVDs from professional players! I bought a ukulele in 2002, long before their surge in popularity. I had no idea how to play it, but I got it in tune and started trying my hardest. What I found was that although the tuning was different from a guitar, some of the chord shapes were very similar. In fact, if I just pictured the ukulele neck as the highest 4 strings of a guitar, and then played guitar chords on the ukulele (mentally cutting off the bottom 2 strings of a guitar), I could get a few songs down. By playing this way, I was ignoring the fact that the ukulele was tuned a fourth higher than the guitar, so I was technically playing songs in the wrong key. But hey, I was playing! Heres an example to make this more clear:A very common progression for the guitar is G-Em-C-D. Those chords look like this on a guitar neck (in tab form):
|-----G-----Em----C-----D------------|e-----3-----0-----0-----2------------|B-----0-----0-----1-----3------------|G-----0-----0-----0-----2------------|D-----0-----2-----2-----0------------|A-----2-----2-----3------------------|E-----3-----0------------------------|
If I wanted to play the same progression on a ukulele, using my approach, I would simply ignore the bottom 2 strings, and I would have something that sounds close. Here is the progression on a ukulele neck (in tab form):
A-----3-----0-----0-----2------------|E-----0-----0-----1-----3------------|C-----0-----0-----0-----2------------|G-----0-----2-----2-----0------------|
The only problem is, since the ukulele is tuned differently, those four chords are no longer G-Em-C-D. They are actually C-Am-F-G (everything transposed up a fourth). This method is really just pretending that there is no key change. I found this to be the easiest way to play all of my guitar songs on ukulele, and then I made the transpositions later.So there you have it! You guitar players are now ukulele players, even if youve yet to pick one up. Play guitar chords, minus the two lowest strings, and youre on your way. It works for open chords, major, minor, even barre chords. Enjoy!