Fingerstyle Solos for ‘Ukulele
Learn to play Fingerstyle Solos for ‘Ukulele by Mark Kailana Nelson
When I first saw this book I envisioned it as something that it isn’t. I guess my first instict that it was a sort of recipe book for creating ukulele solos, it isn’t. What it is however is a great instructional book offering 27 arrangements in the fingerpicking style.
The book is written for the intermediate player or aspiring beginner. By intermediate the author means “..that you already know how to play a number of songs using basic chords, you have a few strums under your fingers and you are ready to move ahead and play chords and melody up the neck.” The outline of the book is great. It starts off slowly with some easier arrangments, adding difficulty with each page. Each arrangement builds on the previous one and there are sometimes multiple arrrangements of the same song, adding various techniques that spice it up as your skills progress.
Each arrangement is written in standard notation and tablature with chord names above. In addition, there are performance notes for each song. These provide details to the reader about the how’s and why’s of the arrangement. The author points out new things you’ll come across in each measure and suggests how to play them in the most efficient manner. Also as the author points out, these are mere suggestions, what is more important is that you interpret it how you want, and play it the way that you feel is best.
The book contains a variety of Hawaiian standards and other’s you’ll find recognizeable. Ahi Wela, Hilo March, Aloha ‘Oe, and E Ku’u Morning Dew are some of the fingerstyle songs taught in this book. Other’s include Greensleeves, Danny Boy and a nice arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s funny how many times a song will show up in a variety of different books. Take Greensleeves for example, I’m not sure how many different arrangements there are for this song, but I’m sure it’s more than I’d care to know. I’m not sure if others are like me, but once I learn a song a particular way, I find it difficult to want to learn another arrangement of that same song. Because of this, I end up skipping past alot of songs in different books as sort of a subconcious protest against anything new. There are 9 arrangements in this book that fall under that category for me.
The book also contains a CD, that I just listened to for the first time. It should be a priority when learning a new song, but sometimes I find it difficult to set aside the time. If you want to cut your learning time in half, give it a listen, especially if the song is played directly from the music your learning!
Many of the songs are played as a duet with a guitar on the CD, which does not interfere with the sound of the ukulele as some do. However, I wish the author would have included the tablature for the guitar parts as most of these songs sound great as duets. I tend to prefer the sound of different instruments in a song, especially when the song is specifically arranged for those different instruments. There’s alot to be said about having a diversity of sound in music and I’ve heard alot of people complain about the non-acceptance of ukuleles by guitar players, but I’ve had a completely different experience. A guitar playing friend of mine hosts an ‘open mic’ and always requests I come down to add a different sound to “the room full of guitars”.
Anyway, got a bit off subject. This is a great book for transitioning from strumming to fingerstyle ukulele playing. It is well written and has some very nice arrangements that will surely get you stoked on the ukulele, if you weren’t already that is! Sit down and listen to the CD while following along in the book. Then pick up your ukulele and immerse yourself in whatever song strikes your fancy!
You can buy the book at www.ukewarehouse.com.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I would rate this book a 4!
