The Art of Arpeggios

Transcription

1 2 Se 2 The Art of Areggos The Lttle Book of Rght Hand Technque for the Ukulele by Saantha Mur 2 exercses for the develoent of the rght hand. Wth detaled fngerngs and study notes.

2 2 Se 2 Index. Front Cover 2. Index. Introducton. The Rght Hand Fngers 6. Study Notes. Exercse and 2. Exercse and 2. Exercse and 6. Exercse 7 and 8. Exercse and. Exercse and 2 6. Exercse and 7. Exercse and 6 8. Exercse 7 and 8. Exercse and 2 2. The Lttle Book Seres 2.About Me The Lttle Book of. seres of ebooks for ukulele focuses on nstruental arrangeents of classcal and tradtonal tunes. Booklets of eces by Carull, Sor, Carcass, Gulan and Songs and Sea Shantes are avalable to urchase as dgtal downloads fro Guroad and Payh. Vdeos of the eces can be seen on YouTube by vstng SaMur Ukulele. For ore nforaton lease vst htt:// 2/ If you want to contact e: sauke@cloud.co 2 Saantha Mur All Rghts Reserved All Photos 2 Jose Elas 2

3 2 Se 2 Introducton As I contnue y ukulele journey I fnd ore and ore layers askng how to develo fngerstyle ckng technques. Havng arranged sx books of solo eces for the ukulele I now realse that I have robably been uttng the cart before the horse. What s really needed s a ethod that focuses solely on rght hand develoent. The frst exercses n ths book were wrtten for students who knew how to stru chords and now wanted to learn how to fnger ck. I needed to fnd a sle and secfc way of gettng students to focus on what ther rght hand fngers were dong. After creatng a few sle rght hand exercses I realsed I had the akngs of a booklet to share wth other ukulele layers. Whether you are a colete begnner who has never cked, or cked u, a ukulele before, or an advanced layer lookng for soe exercses to hone your ckng technque I hoe ths booklet wll hel you. The concet behnd ths bookelt s sle: n order to rove rght hand technque t s best to focus totally on the rght hand. So, t s te to gve your left hand a holday. Send t to the Bahaas! The exercses n ths book are all wrtten for oen strngs. Ye! That eans no left hand fngers needed. You wll be focusng % on whch rght hand fnger you are usng for each strng. The left hand would be a dstracton. The rght hand drves the rhyth, creates the sound and artculaton, controls the dynacs and enables rojecton. Your rght hand s your voce. There are twenty exercses n ths booklet. It s just the t of the ceberg! There are so any cobnatons of strngs and fngers and so any rhythc varatons the ossbltes are alost endless. All twenty are n / te. (Don t worry, art two n / te s cong.) I regard these exercses as soethng to nclude n your daly ractse routne. It would be rather undane to only work on rght hand execses every day. Plus, your left hand s just havng a holday not gong nto retreent! Choose one or two exercses a day and send fve to ten nutes of focused ractse on each. Don t overdo t. The ortant thng s not how long you ractse but how regularly you ractse. To start wth you wll just be worred about gettng the correct fnger on the correct strng but wth reetton uscular eory wll take over. As you feel ore relaxed wth the techncaltes you wll becoe ore aware of the sound. If you re not akng a good sound then don t blae your ukulele. By workng on these exercses you can start to take resonsblty for your sound. It s ossble to ake a relatvely chea ukulele sound beautful. A for fluency, evenness and rojecton. Learn to see through your fngers. By ths I ean learn to becoe aware of whch fnger s layng whch strng. Muscular eory s good but don t let your ractse becoe ndless.

4 2 Se 2 One of the ost ortant thngs I ever learned was durng a classcal gutar asterclass gven by the great John Wllas. Talkng about technque, John sad ost eole thnk technque s all about the fngers (and he wggled hs fngers to deonstarte) but, he contnued, technque really begns here he was ontng at hs head. R eeber - the bran s also a uscle. Start by ractsng really slowly. Sayng the fngerng out loud s helful. Ths encourages the bran and fngers to co- ordnate. Gradually exerent by ncreasng the teo. Everyone wants to have seedy ferret fngers so see how fast you can go. Once you have got that out ot your syste return to a slow and even teo. Make the sound as beautful as ossble. Is ths all too dsclned? Isn t the ukulele suosed to be an easy and fun nstruent? Is ths all just too uch lke a classcal straght- jacket? W ell, I fnd I a havng the ost fun when I a layng well. When I layng well I relaxed and totally n control of what y fngers are dong and when the fngers get theselves n a tangle (whch they do fro te to te) I can untangle the wthout losng the lot and feelng lke a uet. Playng well takes te and dsclne. There s no agc forula for nstant vrtuosty. Practsng for 6 or 8 hours a day s not a guarantee for success you ay just over- stress your hands and end u wth an njury. W hat y ou ractse and how you ractse are absolutley crtcal. I beleve that short and sle exercses are the ost effectve. I regard ractse as a fun way to learn and rove, not a chore. Havng a good technque gves e freedo to chose what I want to lay and how I want to lay t. Reeber: Your rght hand s your voce.

5 2 Se 2 The Rght Hand Fngers a = ulgar or thub = ndces or ndex = edo or ddle a = anular or rng fnger The a Syste Ths syste has been used by classcal gutarsts for any years. Orgnatng n San, the hoe of classcal gutar, the letters used to dentfy the fngers are taken fro the Sansh language. It s a fast and effectve way to code whch fnger s requred. It also avods confuson wth the left hand fngers whch are referred to by nubers, 2,, and. All of the exercses n ths booklet use the a rght hand fngerng syste. I luck the strngs usng both flesh and nal of the fngers but only the flesh of the thub. I refer a relaxed, alost sde- on hand oston wth a straght wrst (slar to lutensts) as I fnd ths roduces a fuller sound and allows greater freedo of oveent. I have exerented wth lantng the nky on the fngerboard. I would avod dong ths, however, as t sees to restrct fnger oveent. But, f you are new to fngerckng t can be stablsng a bt lke tranng wheels on a bcycle.

6 2 Se 2 The Correct Order of Strngs Strng G (the strng closest to your jaw) Strng C Strng 2 E Strng A (the strng closest to your feet) Study Notes Exercse Ths exercse uses 2 areggo atterns. Pattern : Bars and 2 are a sle areggo attern across strngs, 2 and. Pattern 2: In bar and the attern changes so that the fnger s now lays strng, now lays strng 2 and now lays strng. Pattern : Bar Pattern 2: Bar 6 Pattern : Bar 7 End: Bar 8 thub lays dotted n note (worth crotchet beats or quarter notes) Ths exercse requres a subtle shft n the hand oston fro attern to attern 2. Practse ths exercse untl the fngers ake the shft cleanly and accurately. Avod lookng at your hand. Learn to feel, or see through your fngers. Exercse 2 The notes and areggo atterns are exactly the sae as exercse. The only dfference s the rhyth. The st beat n the bar s a dotted crotchet or dotted quarter note (worth and a ½ beats). Ths long note s followed by a short note or quaver (eghth note). I have wrtten n the countng. If you are unsure then cla the rhyth before tryng to lay t. The effect s long short long (but not as long as the st beat!) Ths s a good exercse n rhythcal control. I recoend usng a etronoe. The etronoe wll kee your rhyth honest and even. The other advantage of the etronoe s that you can start slowly and gradually ncrease the velocty whle keeng t rhythally tght. Reeber: the st beat of the bar should have a slght accent. Exercse Mns (half notes) and crotchets (quarter notes). Once agan the rhythcal effect s long short long short. Although sle, ths creates a rather retty Caanella elody. A for a full, legato (sooth) sound. Allow the n to rng on for ts full 2 beats. The drvng force s the thub whch oves fro the rd strng to the th and back agan. Exercse Crotchets (quarter notes) and quavers (eghth notes). Bars, and all follow the attern. There s a slght varaton n bar wth the thub ovng fro rd strng to th strng. Bar 2 uses the sle attern n crotchet beats. Bars, and return to the attern. In bar note how lays the rd strng and then, on the next note also lays the rd strng. Avod the tetaton to just reeat the rd strng note wth the thub. Reason: The thub creates a heaver st beat whle the quaver oveent s ore suted to beng layed wth the ore agle. In bar the thub changes fro rd strng to th and then, n bar 6, back to rd. 6

7 2 Se 2 Exercse Rhythcally straghforward n 2 crotchet beats (quarter notes) er bar. Ths areggo attern starts wth the fnger. The attern s a back- to- front. Make sure the st beat of the bar (layed wth ) s strongest note. Ths s acheved by accentng the stroke. The (thub) ntaurally has the ost weght so ake sure the notes are lght. In bars and the attern begns on the 2nd strng. Make the change as sealess as ossble. In bars and 7 the and lay strngs and 2 whle has to lay to strng. Ths shouldn t be a roble but ake sure you are layng the th, and not the rd strng. Exercse 6 Ths exercse has the sae areggo attern as Ex. but wth a rhythcal varaton (slar dea to Ex. and Ex.2). The notes are not exactly the sae. The long dotted st beat followed by the quck quaver (eghth note) 2nd beat requres control. Make sure you count. I recoend clang the rhyth st. Once the rhyth s establshed n your head you can focus on the fngerng. Exercse 7 An exercse n fluency. The constant quaver oveent should be even and whlst the usc needs to flow t should not sound rushed. Put ore weght on the st beat of each bar. Ths hels to kee the eter even. These fast and flowng reettve areggos have a tendency to seed u so a etronoe s recoended. I always have a etronoe handy when ractsng. Whle you don t want to end u soundng lke an autoaton s a good dea to occassonally check your teo and evenness. It s also soetes qute a fun challenge to test yourself by ncreasng the teo. Exercse 8 There are 2 areggo atterns at work here. Pattern : a n bars,, and. Ths s the st exercse to use the a (rng) fnger. Pattern 2: n bars, 2 and. The attern also shfts strngs fro,2, to,,2. Be careful of the rhyth. The natural nstnct s lay as 2 trlets, but the rhyth s stll The change fro attern to attern 2 s trcky but a good exercse s engagng bran and fngers! One suggeston for ractsng ths exercse s to start by focusng on the st attern. Just reeat bar over and over untl cofortable. Then, do the sae wth. When confdent wth both atterns try uttng the together. Exercse The attern s a reeated areggo wth a strng shft after the st attern. Agan the rhyth s ostly quaver oveent. Kee the ¾ feel and be careful not to let the sound lke a trlet attern. The crotchets (quarter notes) n bar wll hel to kee the eter even. It s ortant to develo the feel of changng fro quavers (eghth notes) to crotchets (quarter notes) and back agan. Exercse Trcky! Ths attern doesn t feel natural a. Although awkward each fnger s assgned a strng so there s no strng shftng nvolved just concentraton. The fnger lays the st beat of each bar - whch should be layed wth a slght accent. Start very slowly and only ncrease the seed when the areggo feels cofortable. 7

8 2 Se 2 Exercse Ths exercse also starts each bar wth the fnger. The attern s a reeated a. Once agan each fnger s assgned a strng. Ths attern certanly feels ore natural than Ex.. You should be able to buld u the velocty of ths attern farly easly. One suggeston for ractsng s to st n front of a rror and watch what your rght hand s dong. Thngs to thnk about: - Does your hand look relaxed? - What s your lttle fnger dong? If t s stckng out then ths wll ndcate tenson. Soetes awareness s enough but t s good dea to sto and gve your hand a shake and do a few lght stretches. - Is your hand bouncng? If t s bouncng a lot then you are usng too uch hand and ullng the strngs. Try to ake your fngers ove fro the an knuckle. Rather than ullng u to luck at the strng, try to swee the fngers n the drecton of the al. The word luckng s actually very sleadng. Pluckng creates an age of ullng and ths s the best way to create the worse sound! Pullng the strngs akes t ove n an u and down oton and ths causes a twangy sound. But, f the fnger swees across the strng creatng a sdeways oveent the sound s fuller and ore sonorous. Exercse 2 Another back- to- front attern. Ths te the areggo s. The fnger now has the resonsblty of creatng a heaver st beat. There s also a strng shft fro,2, to 2,,. Make the notes as legato (sooth and attached) as ossble. The beauty of areggos and caanella technque s that the notes can rng on over each other. Ths can be a very effectve way to create extra resonance and s artcularly ortant gven that the ukulele s a ostly bass- less nstruent. Exercse If the attern used n ths exercse was just reeated on the sae strngs t would be relatvely easy. But, the attern shfts strngs each bar and ths ncreases the dffculty. So, fro strngs 2,, 2,, 2, (bar ) the attern shfts to strngs, 2,,,, 2. As each bar begns wth t s a challenge for the ndex fnger to ake sure t lands on the rght strng. The rest of the fngers should follow once the change of strng has been navgated. If you are fndng the constant shft for each bar trcky then start by reeatng each bar tes. As your confdence bulds you can then start changng bar by bar. Exercse Te to ractse the dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) rhyth agan! Ths te the dotted crotchet s followed by quavers (eghth notes). The effect s rhythcally leasng a long note and then short notes. The attern should be falar by now so focus on gettng a nce rhythcal feel. Make the long note sng whle the short notes coe n rather lke an answer. No need to rush, just enjoy the sound. Exercse Trlets! The reeated attern lends tself to layng n trlets (grous of ). I thought I would ake lfe ore nterestng by constantly shftng strngs fro, 2, to,, 2 and back agan. One technque to try s fnger lantng. Ths has nothng to do wth gardenng! The dea s to lace the fngers on the strngs before luckng the. So, start wth on the rd strng, on the 2nd and on the st. Once lanted luck the strngs n successon. Ths exercse requres a good deal of control. When you lay the next trlet set reeat the dea of ostonng the fngers on the strngs before layng. You wll notce that ths stos the strngs fro rngng on. The sound s not as leasant but t s a good exercse. It also facltates very rad layng once grased, leadng to a blur effect. 8

9 2 Se 2 Exercse 6 A workout for and. The ehass s on constant strng shftng. Ths s an exercse n accuracy and care should be taken that the correct strng s beng lucked. Lutensts were very fond of alternatng and and often layed scale assages wth ths cobnaton. I notce a lot of to ukulele layers lay a lot wth ther thubs and t s defntely worth develong a strong and agle thub technque. (I do fnd y lttle fnger tends to want to rest on the to when layng ths exercse.) Exercse 7 A workout for the thub and ndex fnger. Note the constant oveent across the strngs. After the frst ar of notes where the thub lays the th strng and the ndex lays the rd strng the thub then oves down a strng to lay the rd strng whle the ndex lays the 2nd strng. Ths attern s reeated wth the last ar of notes. Thub now oves to strng 2 and ndex lays strng. A good exercse for recson luckng wth the thub alternatng and then strng changng. Bar offers a bref reste wth a sle areggo n crotchets. Reton s a good way to ractse but t also ortant to be able to break the routne (as n bar ) and then resue. Muscle eory s all fne and dandy but once the attern s astered the bran often swtches off. It s ortant to kee the bran engaged. Exercse 8 A reverse areggo usng an attern. A bar of crotchet beats (quarter notes) s followed by a bar of quaver beats (eghth notes) effectvely requrng the fngers to double ther seed. The quaver beat bar s followed by a bar of crotchets. Ths attern of slow then fast contnues throughout the exercse. The a s to be able to change fro crotchets to quavers fluently and evenly and then back agan. Kee a steady beat and be careful not to lay the quavers too fast. They should sound controlled and owerful. Exercse A a exercse. Each fnger s assgned a strng. P has th strng; has rd strng; has 2nd strng and a has st strng. Kee the hand oston steady and ake the fngers do the work. Make sure the hand s not bouncng as you luck the strngs. If your hand s bouncng then you are ullng the strng u rather than sweeng the fnger n the drecton of the al. Focus on ovng the fnger fro the an knuckle. The rhyth s broken 2 etc n ost bars (bars and 7 are the excetons) wth constant quaver (quarter note) oveent. The layng s bascally slow fast fast slow; slow fast fast slow. Agan the ehass s ental and hyscal control over urely uscular and echancal eory. Bars and 7 break the attern wth constant quaver (eghth note) oveent and an extenson of the attern to a. The fngers ove u and back across all strngs. Exercse 2 Ths exercse follows the sae rhythcal structure as exercse but wth a dfferent rght hand attern a. A good ntroducton for ractsng treolo as ths s the sae rght hand fngerng attern for layng treolo. The dfference s that when layng treolo the a fngers lay reeated notes on the sae strng. Pay attenton to the connecton between and a. The thub s naturally stronger than the weaker (and ore td) a. One suggeston for ractsng s to accent the a notes. Ths hels the bran to regster the often forgotten a! It also hels to strengthen the fnger. YouTube Playlst of the exercses htts:// RUFaVqv_

10 2 Se 2 2 Exercses for Rght Hand Develoent by Saantha Mur Exercse Exercse 2 œ œ j œ œ œ j œ œ œ j œ œ œ j œ J 2 + J 2 + J 2 + J 2 + œ œ j œ œ œ j œ œ œ j œ J J J etc. Coyrght Saantha Mur 2

11 Coyrght Saantha Mur 2 Exercse Exercse Saantha Mur œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ellenha@gal.co 2 Se 2

12 2 Se 2 Saantha Mur Exercse œ œ œ œ œ œ Exercse 6 œ œ j œ œ œ j j œ J J J œ œ j j œ 2 + J 2 + J 2 2 Coyrght Saantha Mur 2 2

13 2 Se 2 Exercse 7 Saantha Mur Exercse 8 a a a a a Coyrght Saantha Mur 2

14 Coyrght Saanatha Mur 2 Exercse Exercse Saantha Mur a a a a a a ellenha@gal.co 2 Se 2

15 Coyrght Saanatha Mur 2 Exercse Exercse 2 Saantha Mur a a a a a a ellenha@gal.co 2 Se 2

16 2 Se 2 Saantha Mur Exercse Exercse œ œ j œ j œ j œ j œ œ J J J J œ œ j œ j œ j œ œ J J J Coyrght Saanatha Mur 2 6

17 2 Se 2 Exercse Saantha Mur œ œ œ + a 2 + a + a + a 2 + a + a Exercse 6 œ œ œ Coyrght Saanatha Mur 2 7

18 2 Se 2 Saantha Mur Exercse 7 Exercse 8 Coyrght Saantha Mur 2 8

19 2 Se 2 Exercse œ œ œ Saantha Mur a a a a œ œ a a a Exercse 2 œ œ œ a a a a a œ œ a a a a Coyrght Saantha Mur 2

20 2 Se 2 The Lttle Book Seres for Ukulele. The Lttle Book of Carull htts://ayh.co/b/dcma htts://guroad.co/l/carull 2. The Lttle Book of Sor htts://ayh.co/b/ob htts://guroad.co/l/sor2. The Lttle Book of Carcass htts://ayh.co/b/ow7 htts://guroad.co/l/carcass. The Lttle Book of Songs Sea Shantes htts://ayh.co/b/ums htts://guroad.co/l/zdmmw. The Lttle Book of Gulan htts://ayh.co/b/qce htts://guroad.co/l/gulan 2

21 2 Se 2 About Me I a a rofessonal classcal gutarst wth any years exerence as a teacher and erforer. I only started layng the ukulele n 2 but t was not a dffcult transton fro one to the other. The ukulele s, afterall, a sall gutar. Or, should I say the gutar s a bg ukulele! Much has haened n those two years. I have created a seres of ebooks called the Lttle Book of Seres for ukulele whch s a collecton of arrangeents of ostly classcal gutar eces for ukulele. Peces by Carull, Sor, Carcass and Gulan work surrsng well on the ukulele. Whle soe of the eces are challengng they are all fun to lay. I never ut eces n y booklets whch I don t enjoy layng yself. The collecton s steadly growng so do kee an eye on y webste for ore ttles. I a also delghted to have been nvted to do a book of Scottsh Folk Tunes for Ukulele (wth CD) ublshed by Schott and due for release n July 2. I run y own ukulele grou n Sherborne, Dorset, UK called the Sherborne Ukulele Noodle. It s a bt of a uke grou wth a dfference as we focus on nstruental enseble layng rather than strung and sngng. As a classcal gutarst I have recorded three CD s. The ost recent CD, Ala Aaxonada, (Passonate Soul) was released n May 2. Please check out y webste and YouTube channels to lsten to sales. My gutar channel s: htts:// My ukulele channel s: htts:// My webste: htt:// Thank you for downloadng ths booklet. I hoe the exercses hel you on your ukulele journey! 2