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@tbb Sooo chords and scales are interrelated (sounds illegal but it’s not 😂). I tried to explain it.. deleted it.. Then googled it 🙂
I didn’t omit any notes but it does sound better if you start the scale on the note or one of the notes of the chord you are playing. So for example if you are playing the G chord start the scale from any of the notes you are holding down to make the chord.
Theory is 1000% easier to learn on the piano.
@tbb You see everyone ❤️‘s you.
Is it improv. It is… But.. I’m using a certain structure I can use with any chord progression and improvise. This is what I’m doing.
I’m using any chord progression. In this case Am, G, F & E. I finger pick randomly a chord then play the A minor scale. That’s the first bit.
Then I just go higher up the neck and play the same chords in a different position and fill in the spaces with the A minor scale.
There were a couple of variations. I played A harmonic minor where you change a note of the scale to make it sound more Flamenco (I messed that bit up). And I transitioned between the open chords and the inversions of the chords (higher up ones) by picking the notes of C Major (arpeggio).
But basically take any chord progression pluck any chord 4 times then play a scale and that’s it.
@tbb That’s so awesome! It’s a really great buy you will love it and I look forward to hearing some of your loops 👀
Haven’t noticed any odd/troubled behaviour at all.. mind you that’s coming from a guy who looks homeless in his videos 😂😂😂
So, here’s the video again (reposted) I took it down as originally I was joking with a friend about guitar/ukulele players, playing basic chords. I then sent him the video of the same 4 basic chords but played in different positions with scales thrown in. So basically the idea of the vid was to show how you can take 4 basic chords and make them sound more interesting. BUT I think the first bit of the video actually may not be very encouraging to people who have just started learning open chords so I deleted that bit now 🔧
I often feel like I obsessively post so often feel like hmmm am I talking to much haha so haven’t posted much over the last week.
I think (but best to wait for Andrews response) when barring chords instead of doing a complete bar and covering all four strings (which requires more pressure) you can just bar string 3, 2 & 1. So basically you are holding down the C, E & A strings and leaving the G open.
You’re in denial, you are cool 😂
Sooo.. this was just something I sent to a friend and thought it maybe relevant to my 2 year progress. Lots of mistakes but it’s an improv and I couldn’t play it all again if I tried 😂😂😂
Forgot to mention the most important part which is the first chord progression (day 1 progress) is the same chords as the rest of the improv. Just played differently.
@tbb Not going to lie had to look up incongruous 😂😂😂
“I’m not cool” is exactly what a cool kid would say 🕶👀
@tbb When looking for pedals there are basically two styles (from what I’ve seen). There are pedals which look like pedals and then there are mini pedals. The mini pedals have that little metal button/knob which looks like if you put your foot on it, it will impale you but it’s surprisingly efficient.
You can actually get a pedal to plug into the mini pedals via USB but I think the concept behind the mini pedals is that they are compact so take up less space on a pedal board (so by adding a pedal defeats the object). The Lekato Loop Pedal is a mini pedal so you just stomp the metal knob/button/thingy like a pedal.
I’m definitely committed to the looping life 🙂 But definitely would like to add some complex fingerstyle to my repertoire (not that I have a repertoire haha).
I listened to Natalie’s (sorry if I have your name wrong) version of Carless Whisper and it was insane.
That’s super clean with a mellow twist. It sounds simple but to be able to play that in one take without making a mistake is crazy difficult. Definitely my goal 🙂
&tbb it’s definitely worth starting out simple.. Most of the features on the more expensive loopers you don’t need ie. Drum tracks, x100 memory slots, fade in/out, reverse bla bla.
I’ve just checked and the LEKATO loop pedal and it’s under $40 now:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqMYazO
I wouldn’t change the amp if you have one.. the loop pedal will work with any amp. You just need to buy another cable that you have to connect the Uke to the amp as now the looper will sit in the middle.
Looping and Fingerstyle.. if you look at the more complex fingerstyle arrangements on here often it’s as if more than one instrument is playing ie There is a chord melody then there are other notes surrounding it that are being plucked which are not the melody ie.bass notes.. then there is percussion (slaps) + Rythm/strumming… All of it’s happening at once.
Soooo.. when looping you’re breaking down each of those into a single loop for instance you’ll play the chords, then the melody, then add bass, then add percussion. So it sounds fuller like a live band and is simpler as you’ll not trying to do them all at once like a one man band.
But you are right done of the loops do have fingerstyle loops in them as one of my favourite loops (peaches – Justin beiber) I play a really basic chord progression and then the rest of it (at the start) is all fingerstyle.
I do find fingerstyle to be more challenging and my biggest fear is currently someone handing me a Uke and saying “play something..” and I’d have to say … “Have you got a looper 😂😂😂”
@TBB (Just seen this sorry).
Looping Stuff: I posted on one of the posts a small clip of what I use. I just added a reverb pedal which I ordered from Amazon which I have not received yet but my setup is this:
Uke (with MISI pickup) > LR Baggs DI > RC5 Boss Looper > TC Electronic Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal > Fishman Loudbox Mini.
To be honest the sound is exceptional BUT I played for the majority of the time with my cheap Cordoba Uke, $40 loop pedal and the Fishman Amp. Honestly it was more than enough for playing at home.
Best Buy undoubtedly was the Fishman Amp all the rest was fine tuning the sound.
I’m fortunate that I work in the UK but live in a time zone that is two hours behind. Basically it means that I don’t really have to start work until 11 in the morning so I can play Uke, Go surfing or just make time for a cup of coffee at a cafe. Not going to lie this year I’ve not been able to do that as much as I would of liked as my wife has a stroke (from a car crash) & my old friend anxiety made an appearance which sort of made each day like a coin flip haha.
However 🙂 Daily Uke is really a great meditation I genuinely find and with the risk of sounding like I’m going to start chanting “It’s the one place you can lose yourself and find yourself all at the same time”.
Any loop questions let me know 😍
@robinboyd ooooo Robin you’ve kept that singing voice well hidden. Upload more please really enjoyed that and have it on repeat.
p.s @gi_gi_
A couple of things that may help from your list (using the same numbering).
1. Music Patterns. If you Google popular chord progressions you’ll see that the majorityh of songs follow a popular progression. For instance one of the most popular progression is I-V-vi-IV (1, 5, 6, 4 for the rest of us). This means that if you are playing in C Major..
C D E F G A B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7The chords will be C, G, Am, F. In the major scale the 6th Chord is always Minor (you don’t have to know why but I just didn’t want you to wonder why it’s Minor (it just is lets say 🙂 )).
Why is this? Well because there are just certain notes that sound better together. If you look at the circle of fiths (Google it) you will see that notes that are closes together sound better together. So if you see the C Chord in the circle of fiths directly next to it is F&G which means they go well together. There is also the A minor chord which as we know every Major Scale has a Relative Minor which so happens for C to b e A minor. So by looking at the circle of 5ths we can see that the chords that go well with C are Am F & G. Which is usually wny this is the most chord progression. Taking this a step further take any song you don’t know (try any pop song to start) and try and work it out only using C, Am F & G. You will likely be able to do it.
Taking this a tiny step further if you want to change the Key (lets say to G).
G A B C D E F
1 2 3 4 5 6 7You ould just use the number system i.e Use the 1, 5, 6, 4 chord progression.. and it would be
G, D, Em (6 is always minor), C.
Again if you want to change the key again to F.
F G A B C D E
1 2 3 4 5 6 7It would be:
F, C, Dm (6 is always minor), B.
So now we understand common patterns & how to transpose between keys with a pattern. How to work out which key can be easy(ish).
Disclaimer 🙂 This is not an exact scientist and I’m sure a professional musician won’t agree with all aspects of this BUT this is what I do and I can normally work it out quick enough… On the Ukulele (purely talking about Ukes) the most popular keys are C F & G. Just knowing this you literally have wittled it down to 3 keys to guess from 🙂 Usually (and again not always) the first chord in the progression can be the same as the key. For example if we take our ‘popular’ chord progression above.. we can see the number 1 is the route of the key.
Again, if you look at a number of Coldplay songs they don’t follow this and other music does not but…
.. If you are playing with other Uke players>>
>> Ask what the first chord is (or ask what the progression is and the first chord will give you a good indication).
>> If it’s not try the other two haha…This way you can guess your way to working it out.
>> There is a way to work it out each time by ear… But I’ll save that for another day .
2. How to write a Song – Easy now you know the above…
> Chose a popular chord progression (either the one above or Google some), Choose a Key you like, add in a bit of creativity.
3. Improvisation – Easy with the above. If you know a chord progression is in C then all you have to do is play a scale over the top which notes match the chords. The Pentatonic scale always works with everything. Learn the A minor pentatonic scale which will work over any C Major chord progression. Play any notes of the A minor pentatonic when someone is playing a C Major Chord progression and it will work.
Good Luck 🙂
