By Peter Edvinsson
In this ukulele lesson you will learn to play an easy American melody. You will not need to know sheet music but instead you will learn to use easy ukulele tab notation. I will show you how to put your fingers on your ukulele!
Ukulele tablature will help you to put your fingers on the right frets in order to play a melody or something else on your ukulele. In an ukulele tab notation staff you will find four lines representing the four strings on your ukulele.
The top line shows you the first string with the highest pitch. It will be the bottom string when you play on your uke. Here is an example of an ukulele tab staff with the string numbers written out:
1. ------------------------------
2. ------------------------------
3. ------------------------------
4. ------------------------------
On these lines you will find numbers telling you which fret to press down to play the notes in the melody.
We will start with the first line of lyrics and the corresponding ukulele tablature notation:
In a cavern, in a canyon
1. ---------0-0-0---
2. -1-1-1---------1-
3. -------0---------
4. -----------------
The number 1 on the second line means, play the first fret on the second string. The number 0 on the third string means that you are to play the open third string, that is, play the third string without pressing down a fret.
Let us continue with the melody:
excavating for a mine
1. ---0-3-3-1-0---
2. -1-----------3-
3. ---------------
4. ---------------
Try to use your left hand index finger to play the notes on the first fret, your middle finger for the notes on the second fret and your ring finger for the third fret. This will maybe feel a bit awkward at first but will help you a lot when you get used to it.
Time for the next line of lyrics
Dwelt a miner, forty-niner
1. ---0-1-1-0---0---
2. -3---------3---1-
3. -----------------
4. -----------------
And his daughter Clementine
1. ---0-----------
2. -1---3---0-3-1-
3. -------0-------
4. ---------------
In the refrain you will use the same melody so you only need to repeat the melody above. I will notate the melody for your convenience:
Oh my darling, oh my darling
1. ---------0-0-0---
2. -1-1-1---------1-
3. -------0---------
4. -----------------
Oh my darling, Clementine
1. ---0-3-3-1-0---
2. -1-----------3-
3. ---------------
4. ---------------
Thou art lost and gone forever
1. ---0-1-1-0---0---
2. -3---------3---1-
3. -----------------
4. -----------------
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
1. ---0-----------
2. -1---3---0-3-1-
3. -------0-------
4. ---------------
I guess the best way to learn this melody on your ukulele is to practice one line at a time, learning it by heart.
If you are interested in learning two easy chords that you can use if you want to sing the melody or play it together with someone else I suggest that you use the F-major chord and C7 chord. I will show you the chords by using the same notation as I used previously. The only difference is that you are to strum the four notes in the chords together. :
F C7
1. --0--1--
2. --1--0--
3. --0--0--
4. --2--0--
You can start with the F-major chord as you sing the lyrics and change to C7 when you come to the word "mine". Then you change back to F-major when you come to "tine" in Clementine.
The name of the chords depends on how you tune your ukulele but this does not matter as long as you do not play together with other instruments.
If you want to tune your ukulele according to the chord names your first string should be an A, your second string an E, the third string a C and the fourth string a G.
When you play the chords you can use the same fingerings that I mentioned for the melody.
If you could find someone else to play ukulele together with you I guess you will have an even nicer time!
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. He invites you to download your free sheet music and ukulele tabs at http://www.capotastomusic.com