Improvisation Lessons
Welcome to the section on ukulele improvisation. The lessons in this category focus on use of scales, modes, and arpeggios to improvise (or make up) music over chord progressions. This could also be referred to as soloing. One of the ukulele players jobs in many forms of music is to solo or take a lead in the section of a song where he or she has free expression of melody. These lessons will focus on these concepts and give you specific licks you can use to build your vocabulary.
Improvisation 101
In this lesson you will apply the pentatonic minor scale in C to improvise over a standard blues progression. This is a simple introduction to musical improvisation on the uke. So have fun with it!
Improvising Using Chord Tones
In this improvisation lesson, we will talk about the importance of using notes that are part of the chord to anchor your improvised melody to the chord changes of the music.
Major Pentatonic Improvisation
In this lesson we are going to start improvising using the C major pentatonic scale. Bryan helps me do this by playing some chords while I go through the major pentatonic scale and show you how it sounds. Now you can try this using the provided jam track.
Using 6th Intervals
In this lesson we will be learning about 6th intervals and how they can be used to create melodies or spice up your rhythm playing.
Chord Tone Mapping
In this lesson we are going to learn about a concept called Chord Tone Mapping. This concept is very useful in learning the notes of chords being played in an effort to play better, more tasteful solos. We will be using a 12 Bar Blues and mapping out the chord tones for each chord.
Pentatonic Position 2
In this lesson we will be learning the 2nd pattern of the pentatonic scale. These positions allow you to play in the same key all over the neck.
Applying Pentatonic Position 2
In this lesson we will discuss and learn how to apply the 2nd position of the pentatonic scale to your improvisation. We will be using a 12 bar blues to solo over.
Blues Turnaround
The turnaround is one of the most important parts of the 12 bar blues progression. Navigating this successfully can make you sound like a pro. It helps to have a few in your repertoire. In this lesson we will study one specific turnaround for the blues.