RSL rockschool User manual

UKULELE
7 STEP
GUIDE
Rockschool’s beginners
guide to learning the ukulele.
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UKULELE REVOLUTION
#RockschoolUkuleleRevolution

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WELCOME
We are delighted that
you’ve decided to start
learning the ukulele.
The ukulele is one of the most accessible
instruments for anyone wanting to learn music,
regardless of age or music ability.
Here at Rockschool, we are committed to supporting high-
quality music education.That’s why we have recently released
our very rst comprehensive suite of ukulele learning materials,
from our Ukulele Method books (for a complete beginner)
to our fully regulated Ukulele graded music series (Debut to
Grade 8).
We hope this guide inspires your passion for the instrument
everyone loves to play and supports your journey to mastering
the ukulele. Join the Rockschool ukulele revolution.
CONTENTS
A QUICK GUIDE
TO THE UKULELE
STEP 1:
HOW TO TUNE
STEP 2: HOLDING
YOUR UKULELE
STEPS 3 & 4:
PLUCKING, PICKING
& STRUMMING
STEP 5: YOUR
FIRST CHORD
STEP 6: CHORDS
& MORE CHORDS
STEP 7: EXTENDED
UKULELE TECHNIQUES
FURTHER READING

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A QUICK GUIDE
BRIDGE
SOUND HOLE
FRETS
NECK
HEAD
TUNING KEYS
A ukulele looks like a little guitar
with only four strings. In fact, the
playing style is quite similar! Once
you have learnt one instrument
it is quite easy to switch between
guitar and ukulele.
RIGHT, LET’S
GET STARTED.
Time to move
onto Step 1...

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HOW TO TUNE
1
The easiest way to tune a ukulele is to buy an
electronic tuner, or even to download a free tuning
app. Most brands of electronic tuners should have a
chromatic mode so you will be able to easily get your
ukulele in tune. This should apply to most clip-on
tuners and tuners you can get on your mobile phone.
It is nice to understand how your instrument works though, and
ukulele tuning is particularly interesting.
The strings on most instruments start low and get progressively
higher if you play them in order, but the ukulele starts with a high
note before dropping low! This is called re-entrant tuning.
SO DO MI LA
G C E A
GG C A
G = 4th C = 3rd E = 2nd A = 1st
UKULELES ARE TUNED TO:
The majority of ukulele chord charts, tabs and resources
in circulation, including the new Rockschool Ukulele
Method Books and Grade Books, are written with
this tuning as standard.
Remember the order
of the notes with this
unforgettable saying…
“Goats Can Eat Anything”
E

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2
There are many ways you can hold a ukulele when you are playing, but it is important to
be comfortable and that you can use both hands without worrying about dropping your
instrument on the oor.
You play best when your shoulders and arms feel relaxed. Don’t scrunch anything up!
It is a great idea to use a
ukulele strap. Keep the
strap short so the ukulele
head is level with your
shoulder. You can sit
or stand with the ukulele
in the same position.
If you want to sit with
your uke then it is best to
rest the body between
your legs so it feels secure.
Raise your left leg and
point the ukulele head
at the sky.
STANDING SITTING
You should always sit or stand up straight when practising. Keep your back and shoulders straight and don’t position your
neck in an uncomfortable angle
HOLDING
YOUR UKULELE
It is tricky to wriggle your ngers
if your wrists are too bent. Give
it a go! Make sure your wrists
are straight when you hold
your uke. Don’t squeeze your
ukulele’s neck! Rest your thumb
on the back of the neck so you
have room to move your
ngers comfortably.

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3& 4
You can use your uke to play one note at a time, or lots of notes together.
You can try playing with a pick, or you can use your ngers, or even your thumb.
You can play all the strings at once by
brushing or stroking them with your pick,
your thumb or one of your ngers.
You can strum downwards by stroking
towards the oor or upwards by stroking
towards your nose.
Please watch the video opposite for more
information on picking and strumming
techniques, as well as using a plectrum.
STRUMMING
PLUCKING & PICKING
PLUCKING, PICKING
& STRUMMING TECHNIQUES
Rest your forearm on the edge of the uke body.
Make a ‘thumbs up’ shape with your hand and rest
your thumb on string 4. Uncurl your ngers and rest
the tip of your index nger on string 1.
Scratch the string with your nger to make a sound.
Don’t pull the string or it will twang!
Now put your middle nger on the string
and scratch again.
Keep scratching with your index and middle ngers,
one after another. We call this ‘walking ngers’.
1
2
3
4

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5
YOUR FIRST CHORD
Now that you’re holding the ukulele correctly and you’re in tune, let’s get your ngers
playing a chord.A great place to start is the C Major chord because you only need one
nger to play this chord.
READING CHORD BOXES HOW TO PLAY C MAJOR
3
3
We can draw chords with a diagram of the
end of the ukulele neck showing the strings
and frets. Sometimes this shows nger
numbers, too.
The solid black line at the top is the nut on
your ukulele, the point where the strings cross
over from the headstock to the fretboard and
through the plastic nut.The lines going down
the page are your strings (read from left to
right as G, C, E, A) and the lines horizontal
across the box are the frets.
You can see here that the G, C and E strings do
not have any fretted notes, they are just played
open (played without any notes pressed down).
On the A string, there is directive to place your
third nger on the third fret of this string.
Start by thinking about your posture. It is always
easier to play if you are holding the ukulele well.
Keep your thumb on the back of the neck behind
the 2nd fret.
Curl your third nger and press down
the rst string in the third fret.
Strum all the strings.

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6
CHORDS &
MORE CHORDS
2
XO O O
Am
A minor
2
1
XO OO
F
F major
You’re nailing it so far. Let’s learn a couple more chords so you can practise changing between
different nger shapes and hear how playing chords in a sequence will start to resemble the
structure of your rst song.
CONGRATULATIONS ON LEARNING YOUR FIRST CHORD!
ONE AND TWO FINGERED CHORDS
EXERCISE THOSE FINGERS!
We need to learn to change quickly between our chords. The exercise below should help.
Start super slow so you have plenty of time to change chords.
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
A
m
Û Œ Œ Œ
FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G
&4
4Û Œ Œ Œ
C
q=96
Û Œ Œ Œ
AmÛ Œ Œ Œ FÛ Œ Œ Œ G

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CHORD CHART
3
1
2
1
2 1 2
3
1 2 3
3 4
123
1
2 3
D E D7
(Root omitted)
G7
2
1
31 2 3 1
2
3
2
Am Dm Bm Em
C F A G
ooo
o o o o x o
o x o o o
o o o o oo
Now that you’ve mastered your rst chords, these 12 chords will give you the ultimate
introduction to playing a wealth of songs on the instrument and kickstart your journey
towards Rockschool Debut & Grade 1 Ukulele.

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EXTENDED UKULELE
TECHNIQUES
7
As touched upon in Step 1, the Ukulele is in a unique group of
instruments where re-entrant tuning is in the fabric of its design.
This allows us to play sequences of notes using different hand
positions to let the strings ring over each other. This style of
playing is called Campanella.
Campanella, meaning “little bells” in Italian, allows the sounds of notes ring over each other.
So, when the notes are played as part of a sequence, the melody will harmonise with itself.
Here’s a simple example of Campanella using just four notes:
Click the video opposite to see Ashley
Hards explain and demonstrate Campanella,
with a performance of a Rockschool Ukulele
Grade 6 piece –The Beatle’s “Eleanor Rigby”
– that utilises Campanella throughout.
T
A
B
OO3355
22
T
A
B
OO
00
00
66
SINGLE STRING PICKING
CAMPANELLA

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Downloadable
Audio!
Getting Started
Using The Fretting Hand
4/4 Time Signature
and First Chord
Further Pitches and
the 3/4 Time Signature
Further Pitches
TOPIC X
Xxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxx
BOOK
ONE
6 Progressive
Topics
Exercises,
Games & Pieces
Downloadable
Audio
TOPICS INCLUDED:
Syncopation
Songwriting in C
Sharps and Flats
8th Notes and More Chords
Pentatonics and Call
and Response (Jamming)
Styles of Music and
Performance Pieces
TOPICS INCLUDED:
6 Progressive
Topics
Exercises,
Games & Pieces
Downloadable
Audio
BOOK
TWO
RSK200124_Ukulele_Method_Book2-COVER-FINAL.indd 1RSK200124_Ukulele_Method_Book2-COVER-FINAL.indd 1 09/12/2019 16:3009/12/2019 16:30
Book 1
Book 2
Fun Games
& Exercises!
Progressive
Topics!
Preparation
for Debut!
Designed for
Beginners!
Click here
to nd
out more

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The Rockschool Ukulele syllabus has evolved, enabling you to master the ukulele with Rockschool’s rst fully
regulated suite of ukulele grades (Method Books through to Grade 8), regardless of your age or musical ability.
Play your part on the instrument everyone loves to play.
JOIN THE ROCKSCHOOL UKULELE REVOLUTION
UKULELE
Click here
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out more