Table of Contents

Introduction 1 Part I: Getting Started with the Ukulele 5 Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele 7 Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great 19 Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele 29 Part II: Starting Out with Chords and Strumming 39 Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs 41 Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns 61 Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families 81 Part III: Picking and Single ]Note Playing 101 Chapter 7: Getting to Grips with Tabs and Notation 103 Chapter 8: Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns 119 Chapter 9: Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo 133 Chapter 10: Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques 143 Part IV: Discovering Genres and Styles 159 Chapter 11: Rocking Out with Your Uke 161 Chapter 12: Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits 169 Chapter 13: Saying `Aloha' to the Hawaiian Style 187 Chapter 14: Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing 195 Chapter 15: Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style 203 Chapter 16: Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele 209 Chapter 17: Ukuleleing the Holidays 219 Part V: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele 225 Chapter 18: Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele 227 Chapter 19: Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories 235 Chapter 20: Restringing, Maintaining, and Adjusting Your Uke 243 Part VI: The Part of Tens 253 Chapter 21: Ten Ukulele Players to Know 255 Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene 261 Chapter 23: Ten (or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing 267 Chapter 24: Ten Greatest Ukulele Chords 273 Part VII: Appendixes 281 Appendix A: Chord Charts 283 Appendix B: Reading Standard Musical Notation 287 Appendix C: Audio Tracks 293 Index 299

About the Author

Alistair Wood is a ukulele player, transcriber and arranger who owns the most popular ukulele site on the Internet, ukulelehunt.com. His expertise and the continuing ukulele boom has led to media hits that include The New York Times, The Guardian and BBC News.