Introduction 1Part 1: Getting Started with the Ukulele 5Chapter 1: Exploring the Ukulele 7Chapter 2: Tuning Up to Sound Great 19Chapter 3: Discovering How to Handle Your Ukulele 29Part 2: Starting Out with Chords and Strumming 39Chapter 4: Playing Your First Ukulele Chords and Songs 41Chapter 5: Drumming Up More Strumming Patterns 59Chapter 6: Meeting the Chords and Their Families 79Part 3: Picking and Single-Note Playing 99Chapter 7: Coming to Grips with Tabs and Notation 101Chapter 8: Discovering Fingerpicking Patterns 117Chapter 9: Combining Melodies and Chords When Playing Solo 131Chapter 10: Picking Up Some Soloing Techniques 141Part 4: Discovering Genres and Styles 157Chapter 11: Rocking Out with Your Uke 159Chapter 12: Playing the Blues to Lift Your Spirits 167Chapter 13: Saying "Aloha" to the Hawaiian Style 185Chapter 14: Jazzing Up Your Uke Playing 193Chapter 15: Strumming Up the Jawaiian Style 201Chapter 16: Getting Classy: Classical Masterpieces for Ukulele 207Chapter 17: Ukuleleing the Holidays 217Part 5: Buying and Looking After Your Ukulele 223Chapter 18: Weighing Up Your Options When Buying a Ukulele 225Chapter 19: Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories 233Chapter 20: Restringing, Maintaining, and Adjusting Your Uke 241Part 6: The Part of Tens 251Chapter 21: Ten Ukulele Players to Know 253Chapter 22: Ten Ways to Get Involved in the Ukulele Scene 259Chapter 23: Ten (or So) Tips for Improving Your Playing 265Chapter 24: Ten Greatest Ukulele Chords 271Part 7: Appendixes 279Appendix A: Chord Charts 281Appendix B: Reading Standard Musical Notation 285Appendix C: Audio Tracks 291Index 297
Alistair Wood is a ukulele player, transcriber, and arranger who owns the popular ukulele site ukulelehunt.com. He first picked up a ukulele at the age of 16 and has since been sought out for his ukulele wisdom by The New York Times, The Guardian, the BBC, and many other media outlets.
