Lesson Objective

• To learn about tuning a Ukulele
  
• To learn how to play the basic chords on the ukulele

Task 

A Ukulele is tuned to GCEA which is equivalent to these keys on the piano

Getting started with basic chords and strums,

 You should be able to get to grips with basic chords in a very short space of time. Once you have got C, F and G sorted, you can play a whole host of two- and three-chord songs. C is the best chord to start off with: It doesn’t really matter what finger you use to fret a C chord, although most people use their ring finger, as this gives greatest flexibility for moving to and from other chords.

Make sure you are stopping the string cleanly and just behind the fret (i.e. towards the pegs), and check that your left thumb is curved around the neck of the ukulele, not supporting the neck from the back. 

You can strum a ukulele in any number of ways, but the easiest and cleanest way is with your index finger. Point at yourself (as though you were singing ‘Me, a name I call myself’) and then reinforce your index finger by laying your thumb across it. Then use the nail of your forefinger for the down-strum, and the pad for the up-strum, making sure you are hitting the strings roughly where the neck meets the body of the instrument, and not over the sound hole. This method is the least likely to result in blisters. To start off with, get used to a basic up-down-up-down strum, making sure you make contact with all four strings, and that the rhythm is even. Once you have got this far, you can begin to practise playing and singing at the same time straight away: it is a good idea to make singing and strumming natural companions right from the start. 

F is the next chord to learn: When teaching students to read chord diagrams, you will need to point out which lines are the frets, and which are the strings, as there may be some confusion at first. Some teachers put coloured dots on the fretboard: yellow for C, two green for F, red for the other two needed for G.

 Row Row Row Your Boat and Frère Jacques both work as one-chord songs. Practise changing between C and F: a good drill is to do eight strums on each, then reduce this to six, four, then two and then one. You can then tackle some two-chord songs in the key of F. If you’re feeling bold, you might like to add C7 to your repertoire to spice things up a little:

 G and G7 come next, and involve three fretting fingers: You can practise moving between the chords in a similar way to before. A whole host of three-chord songs are now available to you. Tried and tested ones include: „ 

• Three Little Birds „ 
  
• One Love „ 
  
• Don’t Worry, Be Happy „ 
  
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight „ 
  
• I Have a Dream „ 
  
• Bad Moon Rising „ 
  
• Swing Low „ 
  
• Surfin’ USA
  

Homework;
Sign up to Quizlet

8.1 https://quizlet.com/join/fyR5RWH38
8.2 https://quizlet.com/join/mfhVyZvzv
8.3 https://quizlet.com/join/Xsnvj4trP

Revise the different types of Ukuleles https://quizlet.com/_4j0g3

C Chord and hand position

C7 Chord

F Chord 

Writing a simple song. 

Most Songs use only a 3 or 4 chord pattern.

Write your own pattern. Experiment with different chords and how they fit together. 

In pairs or groups write your own song with lyrics to perform in front of the class.

• You have to write the song on the theme of "Sunshine"
  
• You have to have a verse and a chorus
  
• You have to record the song on video.

Using the websites or the ukulele songbooks in the classroom. You are to learn a song as a pair or a group to perform in front of the class. To remind you of the websites 

www.scorpexuke.com has a library of over 1100 songs, all clearly and accurately presented in a printable format, with chord diagrams. It is easy to search, and shows the number of chords in each song, to make choosing for beginner and developing players easy. Highly recommended, although there are not too many really up-to-date songs. „ 

www.ukutabs.com as mentioned above, has really accurate chord charts, which are clearly presented if you are reading off the computer screen: less good for putting into a printable format. The ever-growing range of songs includes up-to-date pop songs that your students will love playing. There is even a really handy transposing facility. „ 

www.ukulelehunt.com is a comprehensive ukulele website that features chord charts and tabs for song arranged by genre and by difficulty.

Homework, 

Watch this video,

Finger picking

Finger picking For some songs, it works really well to have a break from strumming and do some fingerpicking instead. This suits ballads particularly well. The co-ordination required to get fingerpicking, chord changes and singing all going together, however, may take some time to acquire, although it is well worth the effort. Here are a couple of good fingerpicking patterns. The first is for music with four beats in a bar, and works particularly well with I Have a Dream. Remembering that the strings are numbered 1-4 from your toes to your nose, pluck the strings in this order: 
 
3 4 2 4 1 4 2 4 

The strings in bold come on the beat, so overall the pattern is quavers, with the fourth string, plucked by the thumb, coming between every other note (which you can play with the finger(s) of your choice). The way to practise this is to get the 3-2-1-2 pattern going on the beat first, and then add in the fourth string in between each one. The second pattern is for music with 6/8 or 12/8 time signatures, and works particularly well for 12/8 ballads such as Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. 4 3 2 1 2 3 Again, the movement is in quavers, and the arpeggio pattern that you would expect is of course altered by the re-entrant character of the ukulele’s tuning. Use your thumb on the fourth string and your first three fingers on the others. 

This a tutorial strumming the song Can’t Help Falling In Love With You. Try the strumming or the finger picking with whatever you feel comfortable with.

Homework,

Watch this video 

Lesson Objective,

• To learn and develop chords
  
• To develop the rhythm styles
  

Learn these chords and explore these websites as a group. Look at the songs you would like to learn.

www.scorpexuke.com has a library of over 1100 songs, all clearly and accurately presented in a printable format, with chord diagrams. It is easy to search, and shows the number of chords in each song, to make choosing for beginner and developing players easy. Highly recommended, although there are not too many really up-to-date songs. „ 

www.ukutabs.com as mentioned above, has really accurate chord charts, which are clearly presented if you are reading off the computer screen: less good for putting into a printable format. The ever-growing range of songs includes up-to-date pop songs that your students will love playing. There is even a really handy transposing facility. „ 

www.ukulelehunt.com is a comprehensive ukulele website that features chord charts and tabs for song arranged by genre and by difficulty.

Explore playing with the rhythm of your playing. One common way is 

Homework 

Revise the chord diagrams - https://quizlet.com/_gzl5u

Lesson Objectives

To practise and learn songs from last lesson and to perform in front of the class. The choice of songs include 

• „Three Little Birds „ 
  
• One Love „
  
• Don’t Worry, Be Happy „ 
  
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight. https://ukutabs.com/t/the-tokens/the-lion-sleeps-tonight/
• I Have a Dream
  
• Bad Moon Rising
  
• Swing Low 
  
• Surfin’ USA
  

Use websites like ukutabs to find the chords or video tutorials like this one.

Work in pairs or in groups and you are expected to perform your son at the end of the lesson.