Improvisation on the ukulele is great way for students to express their creativity and can be fun! If you’re not sure where to start, this article should help. The ukulele’s rise to fame in recent years has shown the instrument to be extremely versatile in many contexts. Its functionality as both a melodic and harmonic instrument proves to be an asset to many educators and provides an authentic instrument for students to learn from and with. After initial learnings of chords like C, F, G, and Am, educators and students may begin to ask themselves what else can we be doing with this very approachable instrument. Let’s talk about soloing and the uke and how we can introduce it to our students.
All good teaching practice involves consideration of how to scaffold instruction. Soloing, with the ukulele can be a great tool to showcase scaffolded instruction and build learners up, level by level, to a place where they feel confident in showcasing their soloing skills in front of others or in a place of prominence within an ensemble or classroom space. As many popular musicians may agree, notation comes in many forms and is not limited to 5-line, 4-space notation. Popular musicians and modern band advocates rely on other types of notation more commonly found when learning popular music. In this case, visual note patterns are often used when learning scale passages on fretted instruments like the ukulele. The examples found here should get the ball rolling for you and your students. Like many methods in modern band instruction, this activity is meant to engage students up front before a large amount of explanation and theory is brought to the table.
For the following activity, any backing track in the key of C Major or A minor will work with a ukulele in standard tuning (soprano, tenor, concert). Many backing tracks can be found on YouTube by simply searching for “Rock Backing Track in A Minor” or something akin to the style in which your students will learn best. If your students can take the place of the recording, they should be encouraged to do so to provide live accompaniment. Have your students construct a simple chord progression using anything diatonic in the key of C Major (C, Dm, Em, F, G, or Am) and the following activity will work splendidly.
The images below depict notes that work while soloing. Figure 1 represents the lowest of scaffolding levels where students have two notes to play with and Figure 2 expands on that idea to show 4 possible note choices. From there, students can embark on playing a more robust pentatonic scale diagrammed in Figure 3 (interchangeable between major and relative minor). Students can then move on to a more comprehensive understanding of full major and minor scales. An example of the full C major scale is depicted in Figure 4 and, for reference purposes, Figure 5 shows what the scale would look if transposed into D major, starting with the root (green circle) on the 2nd fret. In this case, all notes are fretted and will potentially require different left-hand fingerings. For more advanced players, they can consider an expanded version of the pentatonic scale as well, shown in Figure 6.
The note patterns shown in Figures 1-6 should not be seen as typical ascending or descending scale patterns but rather options for notes that work well in appropriate tonal centers. Students may benefit from playing these patterns in these ways, but it is not a necessity. Students can benefit from a chance to explore these notes with a backing track/live band to better understand what melodic and rhythmic patterns yield the best sound. Beginner tips for ukulele soloists may include concentration on choosing note sequences that have more steps than skips and keeping their rhythm simple (quarter and eighth notes). It may also be beneficial for students to try to solo in ways that are more melodic and less virtuosic, remembering that more notes do not always mean a better solo. Try out some call and response activities so students can gain understanding of what sounds good and patterns they may want to recreate.
These diagrams are a great tool for incorporating music theory into lessons as well with a discussion on what each fret represents (half steps) and how we can navigate the fretboard with an ability to solo in any key with the knowledge of where a scale’s root is found. Happy soloing!
MusicWill.org
Dr. Warren Gramm teaches in and directs the undergraduate and graduate music education programs at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.
