Ukulele & Languages

Different countries,
Different cultures
one common language... the ukulele.

Posts Tagged ‘fingerstyle’

Today multi-string-instrumentalist Herman Vandecauter from Belgium discusses the importance of using the little finger when playing the ukulele and illustrates his point with an exercise for ukuleles in GCEA tuning which you can hear and download further in this post.

Here is what Herman says :

I am always impressed when I see good left hand technique on the ukulele. I attach the greatest possible importance on the use of the fourth finger (the little finger or pinky) of the left hand, so often neglected.
Your little finger can become extremely flexible and fast if trained in the right manner.

The 4th finger should be your first choice when you reach the third fret of the first string.

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Discover ukulele instrumentals and fingerpicking at its best with the following selection of fingerstyle videos from around the world.

Whether it be in theme tunes, classical pieces, Celtic tunes, Brazilian music, flamenco and gipsy jazz, rock songs, the ukulele sounds really great. Enjoy this demonstration of the versatility of our favourite instrument !

United-Kingdom

Ken Middleton skillfully demonstrates the campanella technique on Loch Na Garr, a beautiful arrangement which I find very relaxing to listen to.

The arrangement can be purchased in Ken‘s ebook of Celtic arrangements : Celtic Ukulele ebook.

Germany

Jo. Vogel has made a lovely arrangement of a piece by Brazilian

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Today I’d like to take a look at the latest fingerstyle videos and include some useful fingerpicking tutorials.

First a really lovely ukulele duo performed by Herman Vandecauter and one of his students. The piece, arranged by Herman, is called Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) and shows how good a teacher he is!

Relax and enjoy this beautiful piece of Renaissance music. If you’d like to learn to play along, Herman has posted the tabs of the first part here.

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Ken Middleton has just released an ebook entitled 12 tunes for Celtic Ukulele and has been very kind to send me a copy so I’d like to share some information as to what is in the ebook. I haven’t had time to try the arrangements myself yet, but I am looking forward to it.

First things first, let’s listen to Ken himself playing one of his lovely arrangements, Fisher’s Hornpipe.

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I am very briefly emerging from my blog break to dedicate this post to my friend who succumbed to cancer a week ago. Thanks to everyone who sent a word of support, that meant a lot to me.

Here is a selection of  fingerstyle ukulele videos I really like.

Pablo9000 is playing some Henry Purcell on the ukulele and it sounds great :

Jens from Germany plays a Study by Spanish Dioniso Aguado

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Ukulele Beginner ?

You’ve chosen to learn to play the ukulele. Read interviews of skilled ukulele players and find out about tips they are giving. See my posts on useful tutorials and links.
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