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| Moderated by: Richard Hefner | Page: 1 2 3   |
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| Learning to Pick a Tune with Baritone Uke - Baritone Uke - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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emma Approved 
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Hello, I have had fun playing the baritone uke for several years. I also enjoy singing so I just know how to strum the chords and sing along.  I want to learn how to pick the strings so that the melody will be recognizable. My family is a bit tired of hearing me sing.  I have no idea how to do it, don't know anybody who does and can't find any tutorial on the internet to help. I do see references to picking, tabs or something...but just have no idea what it all means. I feel I am ready to learn something new with the uke and am a bit frustrated because I can't find the help. I hope someone(s) in this forum can lead me in the picking direction. I also hope I find patience folks....when I come back and  post that I don't understand.  Thank you.
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Preston Approved 
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Emma, the "Tabs/Tutorials" section right here on ezFolk is a good place to start. Once you understand how to use tabs, it is easy to play the melody of songs on the uke. I also recommend that you learn the fretboard. A chart is available at http://www.ukulelestrummers.com/Ukefretboard.html I have been playing uke for less than 2 years and can play the melodies of about 30 songs from memory. As you get experience, it gets easier. I can just about pick out the melody of any song fairly easy now without tabs. Also check out the finger picking section on ezFolk. Last edited on Tue Apr 24th, 2007 07:34 pm by Preston ____________________ My EzFolk Page: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1072 |
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emma Approved
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Thank you, Preston. I have now found the picking tutorial offered by this site, I may disagree with you on the meaning of "easy".   But I now have a little idea of what the tabs mean. I guess the examples are with the small uke instead of the baritone but I am rarely on key anyway so that won't matter.I looked also at the fretboard you recommended and hope I can find one for the baritone. I listened to and enjoyed several of your songs and hope to one day pick out those tunes. Nothing comes without practice. I have been playing about 5 years and know how sore the fingers can get. I would often find songs with chords I knew I could never reach. I saved the songs and one day returned to them and could play them. So I am looking forward to trying the picking too. Here are some pages I made of my uke playing. Each pages has 5 or 6 songs. MY OH MY SONG of SONGS I received a PM from someone concerning the topic. I am sorry..somehow I can't receive a personal message. I have notified the forum admin.
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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Emma- If your baritone is tuned DGBE, you can use any standard guitar tab or help, just ignore the 5th & 6th strings. (My understanding is that is how the baritone is tuned. If I'm wrong, others will soon correct me.) Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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sandman Approved 
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banjo brad wrote: Emma- Brad, you're right on all counts! Sandy
____________________ Leap into the boundless and make it your own. Zhuang-zi |
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70sSanO Approved
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emma, I hope this helps and I don't confuse you. Here is very basic and simple way top look at it... ...the melody in buried in your chords. For a baritone to play a simple version of Amazing Grace will require 2 chords, C and F. Think of the melody. Make a C chord. Pluck the open G string, then thumb strum once the C chord, then pluck the open E string. With your fingers still on the C chord, use your ring finger to press down the 3rd fret on the B string and pluck it. With your fingers still on the C chord and then lift your finger off the 3rd fret and pluck the B string. Then thumb strum the C chord. With your fingers still on the C chord, use your ring finger to press down the 3rd fret on the B string and pluck it. Make an F chord and thumb strum it once. With your fingers still on the F chord pluck the G string. Now make a C chord and thumb stum it once. Hopefully your will hear a melody that you accent with chords. More importantly you will may how the melody is buried in the chords. John
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Will Approved 
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Actually, there is a way to play chords to get the melody notes out, called chord-melody or chord solo style. It requires you to play a chord for every melody note, meaning much more frequent chord changes in between the basic rhythm chords; this method takes a lot of practice, but is very rewarding once you get the hang of it. Most tenor banjo players, some autoharp players, some uke players, and some guitar players play using this method. My first string instrument was the autoharp. The autoharp was originally designed to play chords. The only effective way to play melody on autoharp is to work the chord buttons and pick out the melody notes that are not muted by the chord bars. I eventually learned how to do melody picking on autoharp, but it took a few years before I was proficient. I later applied the technique to ukulele and guitar, and I practice new and familiar songs in this style all the time. After a lot of practice, I found that I could play the melody and chords of the entire song; that is, even if you hit more than the melody notes, the other "off" notes harmonize because you were playing a chord. On a baritone uke tuned to DGBE, to play a scale in the key of G, you could use the I (G), IV (C), and V (D) chords: Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do Re G A B C D E F# G A 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 2 G D G C G C D G <--- PLAY THESE CHORDS, but as you go higher up the scale, target the higher strings. For the D ("Fa") melody note, you will need to fret an extra note on the 3rd fret of the E string that is not normally played in the G chord. In most cases, the melody note is found inside the chords you are playing; most of the time, the middle two (2nd and 3rd) string is used; occasionally, the 4th (bass) string or high (1st) string is used. After a while, if you shorten your strum, you can and isolate the melody note while still fretting a chord for each note.
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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sandman Approved
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Will, it looks like Heeday Kimura's method of teaching ukulele. Sandy
____________________ Leap into the boundless and make it your own. Zhuang-zi |
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emma Approved
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Thanks to everyone who answered with suggestions. I haven't quite yet got the AHA yet. I did spent hours and hours today searching on the internet for more information. I don't play with anyone or even know anyone who has a uke...except those on line. So I got out my folder of simple little folks songs and tried just to feel my way through. Those simple little folk songs didn't seem so simple any more.  But maybe I was doing something right as my husband said..Isn't that Red River Valley.... and I wasn't even singing it.  I can't seem to play without humming along though. I did find the guitar tabs Brad mentioned. I have always used those to figure out the chords. The trouble is...I don't know half of the songs given. Rather make that 90% that I don't know.  Plus I have never heard of the artists either. But I still have plenty of songs to work on. 
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70sSanO Approved
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emma, Just keep working at it. You might want to check out some beginning piano books that give the name of the note, A, B, C# etc. along with the music. If you can find something like this, you can locate those notes on your ukulele and that might help playing a single note melody. Good luck! John
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emma Approved
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Encouragement is always appreciated. John, I tried ...my version of your version....  of listening for the melody within the chords. I just sort of let myself move my hands with the tune and felt around for a note that might be a good one to hit. I don't think I ever played a song the same way twice though.I think what I want and probably am never going to find is a tune that says "put your left finger here" "put your right finger here". But I still had fun and was doing something besides just strumming chords. So here are 3 attempts at trying to pick the notes. I think I only used my thumb though. If I start doing somethng the wrong way, I am not sure if I will get out of it. Buffalo Girls East Side Bei mir bist du schön The is just another page of my songs. Everyday of My Life
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70sSanO Approved
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emma, Actually you sing well enough that if you might be able to get the melody off of you recorded singing. Just a thought... There are a number of recorders outther that let you slow down the music without changing pitch. I found a used Reed Kotler Digital Music Study Recorder on that big auction site to help figure out some lead guitar licks. You can playback from full speed all the way down to 1/8 speed. It works pretty good even with a number of instruments on the recording so it should be better with just a voice and ukulele. John
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bobowes Approved
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Hi Will, I would love to learn more about your chord- melody style. I play mountain dulicmer using that style. Being able to read tab very easily I tried to find an instrument that I could use that system with (lute, guitar) and interestly there is alot of melody tab out there for mandolin. I have pitched my baritone to a mandolin tuning and so now have access to more tabs that I can ever play - including some Early and Medevel music.. However, I would like to 'enrich' the melody from time to time using some chords. Perhaps you can help me with that. Are there any tabs out there for a chord-melody style for ukes - either concert ort baritone. Thanks alot. Bruce
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Will Approved
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bobowes wrote: Hi Will, Hi, Bruce: Since I don't read music nor tabs, I would not be able to explain how I play using either of those methods. If you Google "chord melody" in the web, you'll find mostly references to an advanced jazz guitar method that uses complex chord inversions to assure that the highest note of the chord is the melody note. My style of playing is nothing like that; it's more like "chord soloing" on the uke. I'm using mostly first position chords and open strings to find the melody notes; the style works best in the "home" keys of G or D on a baritone uke or guitar. However, since you indicated that you are using mandolin tuning (in fifths) on your baritone uke, look for books with song arrangements for tenor banjo, which is tuned to CGDA but has the same tuning interval (wider than DGBE). I have tried playing a mandolin, but my playing style doesn't work well on instruments with a wider tuner interval. You'll need to learn completely different fingerings for chords in CGDA/GDAE tuning. You may also consider playing a tenor guitar, which is also tuned CGDA. It's bigger than a baritone uke, of course, but that's what I eventually played after learning on the baritone uke, leading up to 6-string and 12-string guitar. Last edited on Thu May 3rd, 2007 08:57 pm by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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emma Approved
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Will wrote: Emma,I may just have to change my goal. But definitely won't give up playing and singing. I like to make little PowerPointShows to entertain my friends. Here is a link to 2 I just made. I tried to keep from just strumming the chords, but still can't just pick the melody. If you can't do what you want to do, just want to do what you can do...or something.. MY SHOWS
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emma Approved
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I have added a few more Power Points to MY SHOWS
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gddeluca Approved 
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I also have a Baritone Uke, and basically use guitar chord patterns and ignore the two bass strings. However, this doesn't work for ALL chords and sometimes doing this gives a real 'clunker' one that simply doesn't fit the music. There's a very good Chordfinder tool at http://www.sheep-entertainment.nl/ukulele/ which will give the correct Uke chord patterns (including alternate fingerings). It also handles the 4 major tunings for the Uke (including Baritone) and can be downloaded and run locally without any active internet access (like I do from my laptop) Have a look. George Last edited on Thu May 31st, 2007 01:37 pm by gddeluca |
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softfingers2 Approved
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Emma, I have listened to your power points songs and must say that you have a great lyrical voice. I have one suggestion however and would like to say that you must slow down your singing. I have the same problem that people tell me. I sing too fast and the rythum is too fast. I have always had this problem, even with the guitar. Your voice will be absolutey beautiful when you slow your timng. Hope you take this the right way. I would say about half as fast as you now sing. I have just traded in my tenor Uke for a baritone Uke and am learning the chords all over. I have put together a song book of about 200 songs, both folk and country and popular. I have all the chords added to each. This helps me when I play them. I am now doing a baritone book and will change the chords for the baritone uke. If you like, I can send you the file and you may pick the ones you might like. They are in MS Publisher. Also, I am from Tyler Tx. regards, Geno Last edited on Wed May 30th, 2007 07:50 pm by softfingers2 |
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softfingers2 Approved
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George, Sorry to say your web page address does not work. Would like to go there if possible. regards, Geno
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