Hey Gang! Have you ever wanted to get that nice, clean, single-strum sound out of your ukulele? How about those super-delicious reggae / ska / bossa-nova strums to keep the time? Well this is the UKE MINUTES episode just for you! Here, Aldrine breaks down the simple “Pinky Mute” technique that can help clean up those dirty extended-ringing strums (along with a little rhythm, to boot!). So, hold on to your hats, ’cause here comes the PINKY MUTE!!

Also don’t forget, the Aldrine and the Staff will be riding through your Californian town (starting in 5 DAYS!) for the UU CALIFORNIA TOUR, so please come down to the shows and represent the Underground! We’re looking forward to meeting you all! Don’t live in California?? No fear - we will have footage from the tour online for your viewing pleasure during the next few weeks! So stay tuned!

Hearts Bleeding,
-UU Staff

What’s going on Ukulele Underground!? Hope everyone is enjoying the awesome summertime weather - soaking in the sun and spending that extra time jammin’ with friends. In this episode of UKE MINUTES, we’ve got some super-cool picking techniques for you to try out while you’re chillin’ in the summer heat. Here, Aldrine breaks down for you the “Pull-Off” and the “Hammer-Pull Combination.”

“Pull-offs” are basically the reverse of “Hammer-ons” (For a review of the hammer on technique, check out UKE MINUTES 10 - Hammer Ons). To do a pull-off, put the pointer finger of your left hand on a fret. While holding that fret, put another finger (middle or ring) on a higher fret. Pluck the string, then pull off the second finger to reveal the note your pointer finger is holding. Rinse and repeat.

The “Hammer-Pull Combo” is a technique that combines both the hammer-on and pull off techniques together. Hold a fret with your pointer finger, hammer on to another note with your middle (or ring or pinky) finger, then pull-off again to reveal the pointer finger note.

When reading tabs, hammer-ons are denoted with the letter ‘h’ and pull-offs are denoted with the letter ‘p’.

Alright, have fun with these, and as always, let us know what you think! www.UkuleleUnderground.com/forum !

Love,
-UU Staff

Alright UUers! We have a very special Uke Minutes for you this week, bringing you the quick-and-dirty rundown of CHORD FAMILIES!

Ever wonder why certain chords sound good together? Want to write a song in a certain key, and wondering what chords to use? Well this episode of Uke Minutes was made especially for you!

Step 1: Pick a key. Any musical key you want to play in.
Step 2: Find the major scale. Click HERE to review major scales and how to find them.
Step 3: Number the notes in your major scale 1 through 8

Now, numbers 1, 4, 5, and 8 will be major chords. Numbers 2,3, and 6 will be minor chords. And 7 will be a diminished. That’s it! You’ve got your chord family!

All of these chords will sound good together, so if you are writing a song, go ahead and choose which ones you want and arrange them in a specific order. Once you’ve done that you’ve got a new chord progression to your very own song!

This also applies to figuring out the chords to an existing song. If you can figure out what key the artist is playing in, more than likely, many of the other chords in the song will be taken directly from the chord family for that key.

Have fun with this one guys! Also, Don’t forget to SIGN UP for Next week’s OPEN MIC (Wednesday, June 25 2008 - 3:30 pm HST / 6:30 pm PST). It will be broadcast right here on this page for the world to see! See you there!

XOXOXO
- UU Staff

So here we are again, friends. The time has come for us to hang out together, happily enjoying yet another: UKE MINUTES! This time, we’ve brought y’all some Movable Chord Shapes to play around with.

Just in case you missed that 3-second bubbly image of basic Major Chord Shapes and Minor Chord Shapes, here it is again:

*Remember* This process works for all chord types, too, not just majors and minors. You can use it on 7ths, 9ths, Major7ths, diminshed-ths - whatever you want! Any chord that you know can be moved up or down the fretboard (as far as you fretboard allows). Moving a chord shape up one fret raises the key a half step. Two frets up raises the key a whole step.

For your reference, here are all the note names in half-step intervals:

C | C#(Db) | D | D#(Eb) | E | F | F#(Gb) | G | G#(Ab) | A | A#(Bb) | B

Once you get to the end (B), it loops around back to the beginning (C). For example, if you held a Bb chord (3211) and moved the entire chord shape up a half step - or one fret (4322) - then the chord would become a B. If you moved it another fret up (5433), it would become a C. This fingering would be an “alternate fingering” for your standard C chord (0003).

Thanks a lot, everyone. If you have any questions, comments, ideas, things to chime in, please post away at the FORUM! Let the discussions begin!

Love Always,
- UU Stafff