Here is a quick 1-2 mins warm up for you to try at the start of your ukulele practice.
You will play a D major scale, then 2 D major arpeggios, then 2 different D chords. Then you will repeat this until you have played it 4 times around.
Tag: ukulele scales
Warm Up Tabs for Guitar, Bass & Ukulele – Scales & Arpeggios
We’re still in lockdown in Wales (UK), and we can only travel 5 miles. I’ve been busy teaching online lessons and also have done a lot of DIY projects around the house. I thought I would have had loads of time to update my blogs but I’ve been too busy! However, my students that have carried on have been burning through their grades and practicing more than ever. Here are a few scales warm ups I’ve been adding to their new practice plans, which I’ve been writing with google docs and sending the parents a link to so they can see updated practice notes whenever I add new things to it.
At the end of the post, there is also a bonus chord exercise challend for you to try.
These scales, arpeggios and chords exercises are good for any beginner or intermediate player that has been learning guitar for a while and has the ability to read tab. You might be used to reading proper sheet music, like on the rest of the website, but the tab is essentially the same. You have 6 lines (4 for ukulele), and the top line is the bottom string on the instrument. So the bottom line on the tab is the thickest string on the guitar. You’ll see tab elsewhere on the internet like on ultimate-guitar.com, so hopefully everyone will be able to read these.
Hopefully you can find these an enjoyable way to warm up whilst stuck at home. Run through all of these as a warm up so you’re not neglecting your scales, and then go and learn something else like you would in a guitar lesson. Perhaps learn a song or maybe some chord progression exercises or learn to play a guitar solo from a song you like.
Scales & Arpeggio Warm Ups – Guitar
4X forwards and backwards for each one
E Blues scale
———————————————–0–3–
—————————————0–3———-
—————————-0–2–3——————
———————0–2—————————-
———-0–1–2————————————
–0–3———————————————–
A minor pentatonic scale
Fret 5 = 1st finger, Fret 6 = 2nd Finger, Fret 7 = 3rd finger, Fret 8 = 4th finger
————————————–5–8——
——————————–5–8————
————————–5–7——————
——————5–7————————–
———-5–7———————————-
–5–8——————————————
G major scale
———————————————————5–7–8–
———————————————5–7–8————-
———————————-4–5–7————————
———————–4–5–7———————————–
————3–5–7———————————————-
-3–5–7———————————————————
A major arpeggio
Fret 4 = 1st finger, Fret 5 = 2nd Finger, Fret 6 = 3rd finger, Fret 7 = 4th finger
————————–5—-
———————-5——–
——————6————
————–7—————-
——4–7———————
–5—————————-
A minor arpeggio
Fret 5 = 1st finger, Fret 6 = 2nd Finger, Fret 7 = 3rd finger, Fret 8 = 4th finger
————————–5—–
———————-5———
——————5————-
————–7—————–
———-7———————
–5–8————————–
Scales & Arpeggio Warm Ups – Bass Guitar
4X forwards and backwards for each one
E Blues scale
——————————————————
———————0–2—————————-
———-0–1–2————————————
–0–3———————————————–
A minor pentatonic scale
Fret 5 = 1st finger, Fret 6 = 2nd Finger, Fret 7 = 3rd finger, Fret 8 = 4th finger
————————————————
——————5–7————————–
———-5–7———————————-
–5–8——————————————
G major scale
———————————-4–5–7—9—11–12—-
———————–4–5–7——————————–
————3–5–7——————————————-
-3–5–7——————————————————
A major arpeggio
Fret 4 = 1st finger, Fret 5 = 2nd Finger, Fret 6 = 3rd finger, Fret 7 = 4th finger
——————————-
————–7—————-
——4–7———————
–5—————————-
A minor arpeggio
Fret 5 = 1st finger, Fret 6 = 2nd Finger, Fret 7 = 3rd finger, Fret 8 = 4th finger
——————————–
————–7—————–
———-7———————
–5–8————————–
Scales & Arpeggio Warm Ups – Ukulele
4X forwards and backwards for each one
C minor pentatonic scale
——————-1–3———-
———–1–3——————
—0–3————————–
———————————
C major scale
———————-0–2–3—-
———–0–1–3—————
—0–2————————–
———————————
D minor scale
——————-3–5———-
———–3–5——————
—2–5————————–
———————————
D major scale
———————-2–4–5—-
———–2–3–5—————
—2–4————————–
———————————
E natural minor scale
—————————5–7——-
—————5–7–8—————-
—4–6–7—————————-
————————————–
Bonus Chord Exericse
How many times can you play these chords in 1 minute?
Set a countdown timer for 1 minute. Strum each chord once and then repeat when you have done all 3 chords. Count how many times you go around them in 1 minute.
Challenge 1: A, D, E.
Challenge 2: E, A7, B7.
Challenge 3: A7, D7, E7.
Challenge 4: Am Dm7 G.
Challenge 5: C F G.
(PREMIUM) – First Ukulele Book – Easy Reading Scales & Melodies
A Guitar Version is also available.
This easy reading Ukulele book has been created using Adobe Illustrator so that the basics of song melodies, scales, arpeggios and warm up exercises can be taught, learned and read in the easiest and clearest way possible for beginners of all ages.
- Songs, Scales, Arpeggios and Warm Up Exercises.
- Easy to read for all ages
- Printable PDF ebook.
- 20 pages.
- Also includes 3 blank templates for writing your own exercises.
Contents
4. How To Read The Music
5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (FREE)
6. Happy Birthday
7. Ukulele Warm Up 1
8. London Bridge
9. Sheet 1 – Scales (FREE)
10. Morning Has Broken
11. Ukulele Warm Up 2
12. Amazing Grace
13. Arpeggios & Chords
14. Can Can
15. Camptown Races
16. Frère Jacques
17. Sheet 2 – Scales
18. Sheet 3 – Scales
19. Sheet 5 – Scales
20. Sheet 6 – Scales
People that might find this book useful
- Beginner Ukulele students of any age group.
- Ukulele teachers can print the book or single sheets for their students.
- Get used to the basics with this easy to read book before moving onto standard tab and notation.
- Parents may be able to teach their children with this book.
- Some may be able to teach themselves the basics with this book.
About the book
This easy reading ebook is a compilation of 3 and a half years of preparation work teaching ukulele to a wide range of abilities and also from 9 years of teaching guitar, which has influenced and helped my teaching and playing of the ukulele.
I tested some of these sheets over the last 6 months until I was ready to create the rest of the book. I have found that the format that I have created takes away any unnecessary distractions in order to teach the basics without distractions and confusion. I believe it solves problems with reading the music for beginners of any age, but particularly for young beginners.
I decided to create this range of sheets like this one to make both my life easier and to help my students get to grips with reading tab quicker for playing scales, public domain songs, traditional songs, arpeggios and warm up exercises. I have created the sheets using Adobe Illustrator.
The finger suggestions are a guide to what I recommend to my students. There are different ways of playing the scales so it’s ok to do what works for you. Just don’t use 1 finger for all of it! Younger players think it’s faster at first, but it’s really not in the long run.
Ukulele teachers can use this ebook in their own teaching and they are welcome to print physical copies for their students.
Sheet 1 – Easy Reading Ukulele Scale Exercises
Over the last few years of teaching ukulele (and 9 years of teaching guitar) I have noticed young beginners in particular struggle to get to grips with reading tab, but it’s sometimes any age. They get confused over which string the top line of the tab is. Usually they think it’s the 4th string at the top of the tab because it’s at the top of their ukulele when they look at it, and they find it hard to get over this being the other way around at first!
Also, students often get distracted by other things on the sheet music and often ask questions like; “what does TAB mean”, “do we play 4 4 at the start?”, “what do these notes mean? (pointing to the notes above the tab), or say things like “the numbers are too small”, “I keep getting lost” (again with regards to the numbers being small and getting lost because they have taken a while looking down at their instrument trying to find fret 2 on the 3rd string, for example).
So as a teacher I decided to create a range of sheets like this one to make both my life easier and to help my students get to grips with reading tab quicker for playing scales, melodies and exercises. I have created the sheet using Adobe Illustrator. I intend to post more of these sheets and similar ones for playing chord progressions, and I will release one or two ebooks based on these. There are also be guitar ones.
How to read the sheet
- On exercise 1, read all 4 strings at once from left to right.
- You will play in this order: Play the open string (that is the 0) on string 3 and then press down on fret 2 of the 3rd string and then play that string to make the note.
- Then in a similar way play 0 1 3 on string 2, then 0 2 3 on string 1.
- Next, do all of this in reverse.
- Finally, repeat all of this a further 3 times so that you will have been around 4 times in total.
- Play exercise 2 – 4 in the same way.
Related: This sheet is featured in the premium ebook First Ukulele Book – Easy Reading.
Related: Sheet 1 – Easy Reading Guitar Scale Exercises.
(PREMIUM) – Guitar & Ukulele Basic Beginners Book 1
Since writing this ebook, I have developed some ‘Easy Reading’ guitar and ukulele scales and melodies ebooks, so although this page says ‘Book 1’, you might want to take a look at those easy reading books first, especially for younger players.
2 for 1: The premium download includes 1 book for guitar and 1 book for ukulele.
People that might find these books useful
- Guitar & Ukulele teachers can print the book or single sheets for their students
- Students can teach themselves to learn the basics if they have some reading knowledge
- Supplementary learning material for students that have guitar lessons
- Beginner ukulele players and guitarists looking for some easy songs or exercises to get started with
Contents Highlights
17 topics of study for guitar and ukulele that is aimed at complete beginners. The book has a mixture of public domain songs, easy scales, easy melody exercises and easy chord exercises.
Teaching Notes
The books are designed so that even age 5 or 6 could play some of the pieces and exercises, so it starts off very easy with simple melodies such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, that almost everyone can play to some extent in their first lesson. There is however content for all ages in this book and the majority of content is designed to be played by all ages.
The book also takes a while to move onto chords. Like I said at the start of the post, I have developed some ‘Easy Reading’ books recently and at the time of updating this page for a new website launch (Jan 2019), I also have some ‘Easy Reading Chords’ ebooks in the pipeline, which have worked really well with my students. Check out the ebooks section and look for the Easy Reading Chords books – they’ll probably be available by the time you read this.
Example Page from the Guitar ebook:
Full Contents
3. Contents
4. Introduction
5. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
6. Ice Cream
7. Canon in C – 2 sections
8. Silent Night in C – melody
9. 4 finger note / string / fret exercises
10. C major and A minor scales for beginners melodies
11. Canon in C – 3 sections
12. 2 melody exercises in C major
13. 2 melody exercises in A minor
14. Autumn Leaves
15. One Drop
16. Em and Am Chord Exercises 1-12
20. 5 Easy Chord Progressions with E, A, D, Em, Am, Dm (Free Preview)
21. Robin Reddocke – chords
22. C major scale practice with chords
23. Silent Night in C – chords + melody
24. Melody Exercises – A minor scale
About the book
The book is designed for use with teaching students with reading from as early as the first lesson if they are capable. All of the sheets are supposed to be achievable fairly quickly and easily by guitar and ukulele students of any age. Even students from the age of 5 or 6 could play some of these sheets. A teacher using this book would need to gauge the ability of the student. Often having something written down helps the student so even if they cannot read much of the music, they will be able to understand fret numbers and hopefully chord boxes too.
The best thing about these books is that the guitar and ukulele versions are compatible so if you happen to have beginner guitar and ukulele students in the same group, then you will be able to use these books to play along together. I don’t have many of these groups and they don’t always have a lesson together, but sometimes it works really well to have guitar and ukulele students playing together or learning in a group.
Final Thoughts
I hope that this book helps people get started quickly with learning guitar or ukulele and playing along to songs with others. The aim of this book is to progress quickly through it and to provide satisfaction through achieving. I hope to break down the barriers to getting started with learning guitar and ukulele with this book.