Finding the Beat for Percussive Ukulele

 

              As I’m exploring percussive ukulele, I’m working to develop a systematic approach that will help me. Eventually, I hope to turn that systematic approach into a system that will help others. The basic unit (in terms of rhythmic ukulele) is a strum pattern. My initial plan is to build percussive strum patterns that are based on common strum patterns and drum patterns—a toolbox of techniques I can use to make music.

              However, the strum pattern isn’t at the foundational level of the beat. The strum pattern rests upon the foundation of the beat. Gloria Estefan would be proud because the rhythm is going to get me!

The Beat and Barre

              The foundational unit of rhythm in music is called a barre. You could think of it as a short rhythmic sentence. Each barre has a number of beats. But, how many? Fortunately, music is written in a way that tells us. It’s called the time signature. The time signature looks like a fraction that sits on the left end of the musical staff (all those lines and spaces). The top number in the fraction tells us how many beats are in each barre.

              The most common number of beats is four. You may have heard of four-four time or common time. That is the most common time signature in Western music. For now, we’re not going to worry about the bottom number in the time signature fraction.

              Each beat can receive a different amount of emphasis—HI, MID, or lo. So, with four beats we generally have the following pattern:

One                     Two                    Three                 Four

HI                         lo                      MID                    lo

              This pattern of HI, lo, MID, lo keeps repeating throughout the song. It forms the rhythmic spine upon which the notes and percussive sounds are built.

How Are Beats Emphasized

              You may be wondering, “How do I distinguish between the HI, MID, and lo emphasis?” One way is by volume. We do this when we’re speaking, don’t we? We naturally emphasis certain syllables in a word. The same is true of music. One syllable (beat) can be louder, softer, or somewhere in the middle. If you listen to lyrics, you may notice some lyrics really don’t sound the way someone would write. The words may be in a little strange order (at least when looked at solely as writing). Or, phrasing may be a little unusual. Yet, when you sing it, it sounds great. Why is that? The person writing the lyrics needs to line up the ordinary emphasis of the syllables of the words with the normal emphasis of the beats of the music. Obviously, this isn’t always a one-to-one correlation, but certain ways to organize words just sound more musical or poetic—and that’s because the emphasis of the syllables has a musical rhythm to it. The lyric writer at times may be doing this unconsciously, but they must write with a sense of beat.

              Percussive sounds can also provide different emphasis to beats. A bass drum (some sort of kick drum or concert bass drum) grabs the ear’s attention with a thunderous sound. Just imagine The 1812 Overture with those earth-shaking cannon blasts. Low frequency sounds tend to grab our attention more than the snap of a hi hat or cymbal. If you’ve ever heard a pipe organ live, the visceral feel of the pedal tones gives a satisfying feel to the music.

              Ever notice that many drumbeats are based around the kick drum, snare, and hi hat. Why is that? The kick provides a HI emphasis with its low-end rumble. The snare provides a MID emphasis, with its clean sound. The hi hat gives a lo emphasis with its tsk sound.

              There are other drums we could look at. The djembe and cajon base their sonic palette around three sounds: bass, tone, and slap. Hmmm? That sounds familiar. Bass: HI, tone: MID, and slap: lo.

              Please, if you’re a drummer, don’t be offended by this discussion. I’m aware drums are capable of an enormous range of sounds and I’m oversimplifying your craft. I’m in the process of figuring out how to make percussive sounds on an ukulele, which has a much smaller array of percussive sounds than a drum kit, djembe, or cajon. So, I must simplify the drum sounds. Thinking in terms of using the three main sounds of HI, MID, and lo emphasis is fitting for the percussive limitations of an ukulele.

              Another way to emphasize is by the grabbiness of a sound. Some sounds just grab our ears. More cowbell, please!

              So, we have three ways to emphasis beats: volume, frequency, and grabbiness. Can you understand why many bands have a bass player and drummer? They help to create the beat, which provides a rhythmic foundation for music. With percussive ukulele, we’re not trying to exactly duplicate the sounds bass and drums create. What we’re trying to do is to play in a way that helps to reinforce the beat.

The Offbeat

              Let’s consider the word “ukulele” for a moment. Listen closely to how it sounds. In general, the first two syllables—“uk” and “u”—are spoken in a way that each syllable lasts about the same amount of time. But, those last two syllables, “lele”, take up about the same amount of time as the “uk” syllable or the “u” syllable. What is happening is the word is broken down into three beats with that final beat broken down into two quick syllables.

Beat one                          Beat two                          Beat three

Uk                                   u                                       le-le

              The same thing happens in music. A beat can be broken down into subdivisions. The most common subdivisions would be two, three (called a triplet), or four. Let’s look at our four beats with subdivisions.

One      and       Two      and       Three   and       Four     and

HI                     lo                      MID                  lo

              The second subdivision in each beat (the and’s) are called the offbeat. Now, here’s where things get a tad confusing. When we break down a beat into a two-part subdivision, we call the first part the “beat” and the second part the “offbeat”. So, the term “beat” can be used to refer to the entire syllable or the first subdivision of that syllable. It’s not super confusing, but you do need to understand the context for the term “beat”.

Understanding the beat and offbeat is foundational to ukulele strumming. In general, the down strum is on the beat and the up strum is on the offbeat. It’s most common in the beat-offbeat subdivisions to put a little more emphasis on the first subdivision. In terms of ukulele, it may be more helpful to think in terms of down strum and up strum as opposed to beat and offbeat. The down strum in general is a little more forceful sound than the up strum.

              When investigating music, there really aren’t absolute rules. There are general guidelines and often those guidelines vary between musical styles. So, is it possible to down strum on the offbeat and up strum on the beat? Can one put a more emphasis on the offbeat than the beat? Of course, you can! What you’ll find is that all of a sudden you’re transported to the Caribbean and you just want to listen to some Bob Marley. Emphasizing the offbeat gives the music a Reggae feeling. And, who wouldn’t want to strum their ukulele on some warm Caribbean beach?

              So, let’s recap before we move on. The foundational rhythmic unit for music is called a barre. A barre is broken down into a number of beats. So far, we’ve looked at four beats per barre. Each beat can be further broken down into subdivisions. What is common in ukulele strumming is to break each beat down into two subdivisions: beat and offbeat.

              Beats and offbeats can be given HI, MID, or lo emphasis by varying their volume, frequency, and grabbiness. How emphasis is used can give the music a different feel and different styles of music and different cultural heritages emphasize beats differently.

Take Me to the Waltz

              Instead of four beats, let’s base music off three beats. Let’s try the following emphasis pattern:

ONE                    two                     three

              If you just start speaking the pattern in a repeating loop, you should feel like you’re about to dance a waltz. ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three, ONE, two, three. Can you feel it? Can you feel yourself gliding across the dance floor?

              Now, imagine singing Amazing Grace to that rhythm. Once you find the Waltz swing it kinda works, but it just doesn’t feel quite right. It’s not really a song you want to dance to. Amazing Grace is built on three beats, so let’s change the emphasis. Instead of ONE, two, three, try ONE, TWO, THREE, ONE, TWO, THREE, ONE, TWO, THREE, ONE, TWO, THREE. Ah, there you go! Now, it seems to work. By compressing the amount of emphasis between the downbeat and the other beats, the song takes on the dreamy quality of dancing with the Lord.

              I just introduced the term “downbeat”. The downbeat is the first beat in a bar. It's usually emphasized more than the other beats. I say usually, because there are no absolute rules in music—only guidelines.

Let’s Start Marching

              Two beats are sometimes used in music. So, you can have a ONE, two emphasis, which is how I would generally emphasize something with two beats. You could also have a ONE, TWO emphasis.

              Let’s stick with a ONE, two emphasis. I want you to imagine the ONE being played on a kick drum—DUM— and the two being played on a hi hat—tsk. DUM, tsk, DUM, tsk, DUM, tsk, DUM, tsk. Keep it going until you can really hear it. Do you want to march? A two-beat barre creates a marching feel. Just imagine that poor kid in marching band that must lug around that bass drum. If they’re playing a song that has a marching feel to it, he’s going to have to feel that ONE, two, and strike the drum on the ONE. He probably won’t find the beat, because he’ll be distracted by the girl who decided bagpipes are a marching band instrument, and her daddy is a lawyer!

              So, the number of beats and how we emphasize the beats really create the feel for music. Simply by changing up those variables, we can create an extreme amount of variability in the sound of music. While two, three, and four beats are most common, one can theoretically use any number of beats. If you want to write some music based on seventeen beats, go ahead! Just don’t expect me to help you.

Let’s Go to the Dark Side

              While I’m not going to look at all the possibilities when it comes to the number of beats and how to emphasize, there are a few others worth a short investigation. Let’s briefly get into the dark side of five, six, and nine beats.

              Five Beats. So, we’ve already established that the strongest emphasis is generally on the downbeat (the ONE). How are we going to emphasize things with five? We could break things down into subdivisions of two plus three, or three plus two.

ONE                    two                     three                  FOUR                  five

Or,

ONE                    two                     three                  FOUR                  FIVE

Or,

ONE                    two                     THREE                four                     five

Or,

ONE                    two                     THREE                FOUR                  FIVE

              If you say these, you can hear each one sounds a little different and conveys a different feel. There’s another trick that’s done with five beats. That’s creating music that has two long beats (one and a half beat X two = three beats) and two short beats. The Mission Impossible theme does this. What the composer is doing is basically writing a four-beat song composed of two long beats and two short beats. The time signature is designed to write music where each beat is equal length, so the composer must figure out a way to write the music in a way others can play it. Basically, it breaks down as follows:

How it feels

O-----N-----E                    t-----w-----o                     THREE                FOUR

How its translated into musical language

ONE      and       two       AND     three    and       FOUR   and       FIVE              and

              If you don’t quite follow that explanation, find a recording of the Mission Impossible theme and listen to it. Sometimes music theory doesn’t make any sense until you hear it.      

              Six Beats. When you get into beat numbers that are divisible by three, it’s helpful to think in terms of groups of three. So, class, what is six divided by three? If you answered two, well done. If you answered something different, you may have trouble with music theory.

              So, which beat is going to usually get the strongest emphasis? If you answered the downbeat, you’ve been paying attention. So, we have the downbeat followed by beats two and three, which will make up our first group of three. Beat four starts the second set of threes. So, it’s probably going to be emphasized, but not quite as strong as the downbeat. So, we’ll give beat four a MID emphasis. That MID emphasis won’t sound emphasized unless beats two, three, five, and six are given lo emphasis. So, we have the following pattern with six beats:

ONE                    two                     three                  FOUR                 five                     six

              As we discuss all these beats and variations, is it getting confusing? I know I’m confused and I’m writing this! It really helps if you have a metronome that plays different time signatures so you can hear what they sound like—particularly one that allows you to adjust how beats are emphasized. We’re not going to talk about the bottom number in that time signature equation, but you could use the following time signatures to hear what the number of beats sounds like:

Four beats: 4/4

Three beats: 3/4

Two beats: 2/4

Five beats: 5/4

Six beats: 6/8

Nine beats: 9/8

              Nine Beats. So, we’re again thinking of a multiple of three. So, it’s helpful to bring things down into sets of three. How many sets of three? Someone in the back of the room says three. Good, we’ll go with three. Now, where are we going to put our strongest emphasis? The downbeat! Yes, I see someone has been paying attention.

              The second set of three begins with beat four; the third set of three begins with beat seven. So, it seems logical to give them MID emphasis. Everything else we’ll give a lo emphasis. So, we have:

ONE      two       three    FOUR     five     six        SEVEN    eight    nine

Summary

              Phew! We’ve covered a lot. Music can be broken down to a basic rhythmic unit called a barre. A barre will have a number of beats. We looked at two, three, four, five, six, and nine beats. But, any number of beats is theoretically possible.

              Each of those beats can received a different emphasis: HI, MID, or lo. These emphases are achieved by varying the loudness, frequency, and grabbiness of the sounds.

              The first beat in the barre is called the downbeat and generally receives the strongest emphasis. Beats can be further broken down. For ukulele strumming, it is common to break a beat down into two subdivisions. When strumming, the down strum is generally put on the first subdivision and the up strum on the second subdivision.

              The number of beats and the emphasis given to each beat create a basic rhythmic feel to the music. It gives us a rhythmic foundation upon which to build our strumming and percussive playing.

Ukeleling with the Right Hand

I’m on a journey learning the wonders of the ukulele. It’s only four strings, but it’s capable of a wide breadth of rhythmic, melodic, and percussive sounds. I like to think of the ukulele as the simplest instrument capable of complex music. Imagine anything less? Three strings! Well, that limits the ability to do more complex chords. What about five or six strings? That makes playing and fretting much more complex. Sure, it adds some range, but there is a point of diminishing returns. The ukulele is at the golden apex for strummed stringed instruments—not being more complex than necessary, but also not being so simply that it can’t make complex music.

As I’m investigating percussive sounds, a great starting point is to just figure out what the ukulele can do without all those taps, bumps, scrapes, and other drum-like sounds. What can the right hand do to vary sound without becoming a drummer?

Index Finger Flick

The Index finger flick is a common way to strum an ukulele. And, it’s effective! It gives a nice, crisp sound and is great for strumming at a quick pace. It’s my preferred way to strum.

Thumb Strum

The thumb strum sounds a little more mellow—at least to my ears. This has to do with getting more meat on the strings. When I index finger flick, I’m getting more nail into the string. When I thumb strum, there’s more flesh. I’m developing the blister pad to prove it!

The technique is often used in chord-melody style. It’s fairly easy to strum down and come to rest on a string rather than play it. In terms of chords, this means chords can be played on the G, C, and E strings without bringing in the A string. Or, one can start at the C string and strum down (C, E, and A strings). On a low G ukulele this is a huge advantage. I can pick a higher pitched strum and the instrument sounds like a high G instrument. Or, I can pick a lower pitched strum. Strumming three strings also can reduce the work the fretting hand needs to do, which at times can significantly simplify a difficult chord.

Flicking and Strumming with Fingers

Another useful technique is to use multiple fingers for strumming. If the hand is fanned, this gives the effect of rapid back-to-back strums. Or, without fanning one is simply getting more finger into the strings which gives a louder sound. This is great for emphasizing a beat or adding some variety to a strum.

I’ve seen some videos of people using these types of strums to play ukulele Flamenco style. Honestly, I’m not there yet, but I’m learning.

The Pluck Strum

I generally do this using my thumb, index, and middle finger. I pluck three strings while giving a clockwise twist with my wrist. This can be done on four strings by adding in the ring finger, but I generally like to do it with three. This gives the same advantages of playing on three strings mentioned for the thumb strum—simplified fretting and the ability to make a low G ukulele sound like a high G instrument.

The pluck strum has a little different sound quality. To my ears, it sounds pure and bell-like. This gives one more tool to provide some variety.

The Tap

This technique is a fun one. One rings out a chord by tapping the hand on the strings between the sound hole and the bridge. It does take a little finesse. The hand has to bounce off the strings. Without the right bounce, the chord doesn’t ring out brightly because the fingers mute the sound. While I would categorize this as a strumming and plucking technique, it does have a percussive sound. If done correctly it has a hi hat or cymbal like quality to it.

Summary

So, there you have it—five techniques to add some variety to the strum without even looking into all the percussive sounds the ukulele is capable of. The ukulele may be a small instrument, but it’s a mighty one!

William Writer and His Eight Friends

            William Writer, a brilliant scientist, sat at his desk in deep thought. There were so many ideas in his head, but he didn’t know how to explain them to others. He decided he would make eight friends–Iggy Interjection, Vinnie Verb, Alvin Adjective, Angie Adverb, Nancy Noun, Priscilla Pronoun, Clark Conjunction and Penny Preposition–to help him share his ideas. He created these friends out of ink and called them “words”. He decided he would place these eight friends on paper to create what he called “sentences.” These sentences would help him share his ideas with others. Each sentence was a thought. By creating and combining these thoughts, he could share his ideas with others.

            Iggy Interjection was the loudmouth of the group. He would always scream out words like, “BAM!”, “WOW!”, or “COWABUNGA!” Iggy Interjection was very emotional and always shared his feelings.

            Vinnie Verb was a man of action. He was often running, jumping, walking, playing or swimming. However, at times he would sit by himself and stare into space. When asked what he was doing, he would reply, “I just want to be. I want to exist. Is that so wrong?”

            Alvin Adjective and Angie Adverb were brother and sister. They were into detail. They liked to describe things. Alvin Adjective was in love with Nancy Noun. At times the two were inseparable. He described her using words such as “pretty”, “stable” and “kind”. Alvin Adjective also liked to spend time with Priscilla Pronoun.

            Angie Adverb was in love with Vinnie Verb. She loved describing how “quickly” he ran, how “nimbly” he walked and how “gracefully” he swam. She just loved words that ended in the letter “l” followed by “y”. When Vinnie Verb would just sit and stare into space, she would often sit down right next to him.

            Nancy Noun was a magic being. She could change her shape and become many different things. Sometimes she would be a person. Sometimes she would be a place. Sometimes she would be a thing. Sometimes she would try to become something that only existed in the mind. That was difficult.

            Nancy Noun had a jealous sister, Priscilla Pronoun. She would often try to take the place of Nancy Noun when William Writer decided to make sentences. Sometimes William Writer felt that Priscilla Pronoun did things better than Nancy Noun, but Nancy Noun did have unique skills. Nancy Noun was more precise than Priscilla Pronoun. Because of this, Nancy Noun was often used first when William Writer made sentences. Priscilla Pronoun usually played second string, coming in to replace Nancy Noun.

            Clark Conjunction was the clingy one of the group. He would often lock arms with others–one with his right and the other with his left. By doing this, he joined things together.

            Penny Preposition was the last word that William Writer created. She was created after Nancy Noun married Vinnie Verb. Sometimes he needed to connect things to them as a couple. Clark Conjunction just didn’t work well for this task. He worked when William Writer wanted to connect something to one of them, but when he wanted to join something to them as a couple he needed another word. Penny Preposition was the woman for the job. The thing–or object–she connected was called the “object of the preposition”. She not only connected her objects to the married couple, but in doing so helped to answer who, what, where, when, why or how the object was connected.

            William Writer called his process of creating sentences “writing.” He soon found it was very difficult. Although his eight characters were powerful, they just could not get the job done. He decided to make families of each character. So, he created families of Interjections, families of Verbs, families of Adjectives, families of Adverbs, families of Nouns, families of Pronouns, families of Conjunctions and families of Prepositions.

            Each member of the family looked different, but they all shared common traits. All the Interjections were emotional and liked to share their feelings. All the Adjectives liked to describe things and hang out with the Nouns and Pronouns. All the Adverbs liked to describe things and hang out with the Verbs. All the Pronouns were jealous of the Nouns and tried to take their places in sentences. All the Prepositions helped to connect things to the marriage between nouns and verbs. These things were called the “objects of the preposition.” The Prepositions answered who, what, where, when, why or how their objects were connected to the married couple.

            The Verb family was a little strange. Some of the Verbs were always active. Some of the Verbs liked to sit, stare out into space and mutter “I just want to be. I want to exist. Is that so wrong?” Some of the Verbs acted both ways.

            The Nouns were the most diversified family. Some of the Nouns decided to be people. Some of the Nouns decided to be places. Some of the Nouns decided to be things. A few of the Nouns decided to become things that only existed in the mind. This was difficult to do.

             William Writer created so many words, that he needed a place to store them. He decided he would put them in a big book. He called this book a “dictionary”.

            William Writer now had all the friends he needed to convey his thoughts, but he found writing was hard. He just could not put the friends together in any order. When he did this, things did not make sense. He stared out his window to try to come up with a solution. Across a field, he could see two football teams playing. He noticed that the teams used formations. While each play was different, there were only a few ways they lined up to begin the plays. There were set patterns they used to organize their plays. “There should be patterns I can use to organize sentences,” he thought.

            He was intrigued by the running back. He noticed that he did not do the same thing on every play. On one play, he ran with the ball. On one play, he blocked so another player could break free. On one play, he passed the ball. On another play, he faked while his teammate ran the other direction. Although he was one player, he often took on different roles. “Perhaps,” he thought, “if each of my words could take on different roles then they could be more effective at making sentences.” These various roles he called “parts of a sentence.”

            William Writer went to work. Every sentence had to be about something. William decided to call that something a “subject”. Being the center of attention, subjects could become selfish. “Selfish subjects,” he thought. “It just doesn’t seem right.” He was a bit of a romantic so he decided to marry the subject to a verb. He decided a subject always needed to be married to a verb. Being married, the subject could not become too selfish. He also decided that on rare occasions the subject could serve as the invisible partner in the relationship: there, but not seen. This would also stop the subject from becoming too self-centered. This union would form the basic structure of a sentence. Nouns or pronouns generally played the role of being the subject. Verbs were verbs. They were so important that the role they played in the sentence was just being themselves.

            William Writer soon found that the union of subject and verb was not enough to convey his thoughts. At times, simple thoughts could be conveyed with just these two parts. For example, the sentence, “William ran.” It was quite simple, but did express a complete thought. However, sometimes there seemed to be something missing. For example, the sentence “William takes.” But, what does he take? That was a big question that needed to be answered. The subject was performing the action of the verb, but what was receiving the action? William Writer decided that certain actions needed to be done to someone or something. He decided to call this the “direct object.” He called it “direct”, because it directly received the action of the verb. He called it an “object”, because he had to call it something and “object” seemed to fit just as well as anything else. He now had another basic sentence structure: subject plus verb plus direct object.

            However, at times the verb was not a verb of action. At times the verb just wanted to be. It wanted to exist. And, in the verb’s defense, was that so wrong? However, this brought about confusion when the verb was married to a subject. For example, consider the sentence “He is.” William Writer thought about this sentence. “What is he?” It just didn’t make sense. He had to be something. The thought could be completed with an adjective. For example, “He is handsome.” Or, the thought could be completed with a noun. For example, “He is a boy.” He decided to call both of them a “complement.” In these type of sentences the verb acted like an equal sign. He equals handsome; or, he equals a boy. All of William Writer’s friends jokingly called the complement a “complete-ment”, because it completed the thought. He now had another sentence structure: subject plus verb plus complement.

            William Writer soon realized that it was not only the married couple, subject and verb, that needed a complement. As he wrote sentences, he realized that at times a direct object needed a complement: for example, the sentence, “Jill considers Jack.” It just didn’t seem right. It seemed to be missing something. What does Jill consider Jack? William Writer finished the sentence, “Jill considers Jack a friend.” Now it had a complement and made sense. He had another sentence structure: subject plus verb plus direct object plus complement.

            One day William Writer was writing a sentence. He wrote “Jack gave water.” He sat down and thought about it for a while. “Who did Jack give water to?” was the question on his mind. He had a subject, a verb and a direct object. However, this just didn’t seem sufficient. At times, the direct object was given to someone or something. In this case he decided to give the water to Jill. So his sentence read, “Jack gave Jill water.” He called the person, place or thing that received the direct object the “indirect object.” Now he had another sentence structure: subject plus verb plus indirect object plus direct object.

            William Writer soon realized there was another way to finish an idea when he joined a subject with a verb that just wanted to be or exist. The verb did not always need to function as an equal. Sometimes things made sense when he just added some detail to the verb. Since it added detail, it was similar to an adverb. He called this an adverbial. The sentence, “They are.” does not make as much sense as, “They are on the bus.” So he had his final, basic sentence structure: subject plus verb plus adverbial.

            These basic sentence structures were like the trunk of a tree. They provided basic support, but much could be added. Two trees could have similar trunks, but look very different. The same is true of two sentences.

            As William Writer began to write, he found people did not understand his ideas. All his sentences ran together. They just did not seem to flow smoothly. He thought about the football game he watched. The game had referees. These referees helped to maintain the flow of the game. Without them the game could easily break down into chaos–just like his sentences. He decided he needed to make referees for his sentences. He called these referees “punctuation marks”.

            William Writer created three punctuation marks to use for ending sentences–the period, the exclamation mark and the question mark. The period was the simplest way to end a sentence. Because it was simple, William Writer decided to make it a simple dot. Its function was simply to end a sentence. However, there were times when he wanted a sentence to convey strong emotion and to make a point forcefully. He decided he would keep a dot, but put a line standing tall above it. The line stood tall because it was making a bold statement. He called this an “exclamation mark”. At times he wanted to ask a question or state something he was unsure about. For this he created a “question mark”. Above the dot he made a loop with a short line at the bottom. It looked a little like an ear with an earring on the bottom. He thought this was appropriate, since it reminded him of his mom’s ear. She was the one that listened when he asked questions.

            William Writer now had the basic rules he needed to convey thought. Having accomplished that task, he was really tired. He slipped off into blissfully slumber–his mind filled with well-organized thoughts.

Figuring Out Percussive Ukulele

 

I’ve been starting to dabble in percussive ukulele. I’ve watched some videos as well as been beating on my ukulele to figure out what sounds it can make. What seems to be lacking is a systematic approach to this mysterious art. People seem to share a particular strum technique or demo a pattern one can use, but that really isn’t a system. While I haven’t figured out a system, writing helps my thinking process. Plus, maybe others will see this and engage in some discussion.

 

The Ukulele is NOT a Drum Kit

Many of the videos and resources I’ve seen compare the ukulele to a drum kit. While there is some logic to approaching percussion by thinking like a drummer, have you seen a drum kit? A basic drum kit has a kick drum, snare drum, floor tom, mid tom, high tom, hi hat, crash cymbal, and ride cymbal. Many of those pieces can be played in different ways to produce different sounds. How many basic sounds are there? It’s hard to say, because I’m not a drummer. But, I can say that the percussive sounds an ukulele is capable of do not correlate well to a drum kit, which has too many sounds. Could I take something written from a drum kit and play something that correlates on an ukulele? Obviously no!

 

We Need a Simpler Drum

So, to me it seems more logical to correlate an ukulele to a simpler set of drums. But, what would that be? As I’ve been doing some research and thinking things through, it seems the most logical drums would be the cajon (box drum people sit on) and djembe (large African goblet drum). The beats of these drums are based around three basic sounds: bass, tone, and slap. Obviously, there are other sounds and techniques, but the core of their beats focuses on three sounds. The bass is the deepest sound. The tone is a middle sound. The slap is the highest sound. So, we have lowest, middle, and highest sounds. If you want to correlate this to a drum kit, the most logical correlation would be kick drum (lowest), snare drum (middle), and hi hat or some sort of cymbal (highest). So, this three-tone scheme does correlate to drum kit—at least if the drum kit is extremely simplified.

 

Can I find those three sounds on an ukulele? While I’m still playing around and figuring things out, the simple answer is yes! So, at least in theory, I should be able to take most drum parts written for a cajon or djembe and play them on an ukulele. Now, I’m thinking like a drummer, and I’ve picked the right drum!

 

Strum and Drum

But, things aren’t that simple. While playing an ukulele solely like a drum would be useful in some sort of ukulele performance group, what if I want to play solo? So, ukulele drum! Playing it simply like a drum gets boring. If all I want to do is drum, why not just get a djembe or cajon? Either sounds better as a percussive instrument than an ukulele.

 

I don’t just want to drum. I want to drum and strum. But, here’s the catch. Listen to some music. You’ll find it common for a note or chord to be played simultaneously with a percussive sound. This does make sense—at least if you’re listening to some musicians who have some sense of the beat. You may also hear a chord, note, or percussive sound played by itself.

 

Things Become More Complicated

While magical things can be done with an ukulele, in general it makes one sound at a time—a chord, a note, or a percussive sound. Now, I’m asking it to multitask, and I now need eleven sounds if I want to play chords, notes, and percussive sounds together. Let’s look at the eleven sounds I want:

·       Bass by itself

·       Tone by itself

·       Slap by itself

·       Bass + Chord simultaneously

·       Tone + Chord simultaneously

·       Slap + Chord simultaneously

·       Bass + Note simultaneously

·       Tone + Note simultaneously

·       Slap + Note simultaneously

·       Chord by itself

·       Note by itself

Let’s Focus on Nine

Playing chords, singles notes, or multiple notes on the ukulele are basic strumming and fingerpicking techniques. So, I really don’t need to focus on figuring those out to develop a percussive ukulele system. That leaves me with nine sounds and some blisters and sore fingers!

 

Let’s Add in the Fretting Hand

If I’m going to play percussive sounds by themselves, I’m going to need to mute the strings with my left hand. If you play around and beat on your ukulele to figure out percussive sounds, you’ll notice that the strings ring out. In some cases this is loud enough to be heard as a chord, but in most cases it’s just extraneous sound that muddies up the percussive sound.

 

I’m going to talk about my fretting hand as my left hand. I am aware there are left-handed players that fret with their right. So, if that happens to be you, you may need to think in mirror for this discussion.

 

If I want a percussive sound by itself, I’m probably going to have to use my left hand to mute strings. But, there’s a catch. What if I want a percussive sound to play after a chord has been played and is still ringing out? Muting the strings would stop the chord from ringing out. However, at least for the percussive sounds I’ve been playing around with, the percussive sound doesn’t seem to interfere with a chord that’s already ringing out. So, I’m hoping as I play around this doesn’t become a problem.

 

What is a problem is making a percussive sound at the exact same time as a chord is being strummed or a note is being plucked.

 

Plucked or Strum is the Same Thing

Wait, no it’s not! I know a plucked string and strummed chord are not the same thing. But, I think it might be the same thing for your strumming hand when you’re playing a plucked note or strummed chord at the same time as you’re making a percussive sound. In such a case, you really need some sort of technique that performs the percussive sound at the same time as you strum the strings—or somehow cause all the strings to ring out simultaneously. Here’s where the left hand would come in—to mute strings so only the proper note, notes, or chord ring out.

 

Left and Right

So, now I’m starting to develop a systematic approach to percussive ukulele. I obviously haven’t figured out how my fingers are going to do everything, but I have system for my left and right hand.

 

My left hand is tasked with fretting chords, muting strings, or fretting some strings while muting others. While I haven’t totally figured that out, I have four fingers and four strings, so many combinations of muting and fretting should be possible.

 

My right hand no longer must learn nine new things (because my left hand is now doing some of the work). My right hand must do six new things:

·       Bass by itself

·       Tone by itself

·       Slap by itself

·       Bass + Chord simultaneously (with left hand muting if single notes, dyads, or triads are needed)

·       Tone + Chord simultaneously (with left hand muting if single notes, dyads, or triads are needed)

·       Slap + Chord simultaneously (with left hand muting if single notes, dyads, or triads are needed)

 

Where to Go From Here?

The obvious place to go from here is to grab my ukulele and begin playing around. Hopefully others will read this, and it will spur their thinking and some dialogue. But, if not, it’s been a useful thought process for me. Basically, to really play percussive ukulele like I see it being played, seven techniques need to be added to the common chord and melody techniques common on ukulele:

·       The ability to combine muting and fretting simultaneously with the left hand.

·       Bass by itself

·       Tone by itself

·       Slap by itself

·       Bass + Chord simultaneously

·       Tone + Chord simultaneously

·       Slap + Chord simultaneously

Seven! While I know it won’t be easy, at least I have a place to start my journey.

Sue and Stu

 

In a time long ago
Kids were good
Kids were bad
Kids were happy and laughing
Kids were squealing and glad
 

In a time long ago
Kids could do what they want
They could run ‘round in traffic
They could eat a croissant
 

All the kids thought this bliss
Oh so happy were they
Until one horrid mess
Happed on one horrid day
 

A cute girl, name of Sue
And her kitten named Stu
Were out playing in traffic
What was mother to do?

Come get out of the street
Now come play in the yard
Before someone gets hurt
Yelled her mother real hard
 

But Sue just would not listen
As her mother did scorn
It was dark; it was foggy
Then they heard a truck horn
 

The horn blasted and blasted
Mother screamed turning blue
The truck screeched to a halt
Only inches from Sue
 

Sue stood still—frozen stiff
As tears flowed from her eyes
And her mother was frantic
As she let our her cries
 

Mother ran to her child
Checking arms, legs and nose
Yes, she scanned every inch
Checking fingers and toes
 

Mother spoke to her child
When I yell and I blurt
It is not out of anger
I just don’t want you hurt
 

Mommy, mommy cried the child
I should heed your command
I was selfish and unwise
I did not understand
 

The two hugged and embraced
In a huddle of two
Then a thought of great terror
What had happened to Stu
 

The truck driver was screaming
Screaming with all his might
Crying what could he do
Asking if all was right
 

Mom said Sue would be fine
To not be all alarmed
There was no injury
Not a person was harmed
 

In a moment of terror
Came a scream out of Sue
On the side of the road
Lay her kitten named Stu
 

Stu lay silent and limp
And his chest was now heaving
So, mom scooped him up softly
And yelled, come we are leaving
 

In the car Sue sat silent
As they rushed to the vet
Tears of sorrow flowed down
Out of love for her pet
 

The vet did what she could
Then in soft words she said
I am sorry to tell you
Little Stu is now dead
 

There’s a lesson to learn
From this story of Sue
That you listen to mom
When she says what to do

Count Those Calories

 

              I’m in the process of losing weight. It’s not easy for me. I'm about 40 pounds lighter and am learning how to manage things. For anyone trying to lose weight, I think it’s important to count calories.

Weighing the Options

              The first benefit of counting calories is that it provides a tool to consider options. Let’s take a real-world example. I love Chipotle. My go-to meal is the burrito bowl. It’s a glorious trough of food! They have a nutrition calculator online where I can build a bowl and see my calories. I can also see which ingredients really add up calories quickly. I’ve been able to build my "diet" bowl with a side drink that is 780 calories. While certainly not low calorie, it’s an extremely satisfying, filling meal that I’m able to fit into my weight loss goals.

              What if I went hog wild and ordered the most fattening bowl and drink I could? Even for someone with my voracious appetite, it’s a meal that would leave me feeling sick and sluggish afterward. But, how many calories do you think it would add up to? It would be 2,400 calories! For me, trying to lose weight, that means I could only have that one meal for an entire day.

              What if I went the other extreme? What if I tried to build a super low-calorie bowl? I could skip some of the higher calorie components I love like the rice, guac, and roasted chili-corn salsa. It is possible to build a 260-calorie bowl based around beans, salsa, and veggies. That would be a complete waste of 260 calories. I would be a hungry, surly bear roaming the kitchen within a half hour. Bleh!

              By counting calories, I know the cost. The cost of eating a satisfying meal at Chipotle is 780 calories. It takes some effort to hunt down and figure out calories, but I’m fat and I don’t want to stay fat. I’ve also put together a 650-calorie meal at Denny’s. Sure, I could probably order a side salad with no dressing and have less calories, but 650 calories is my cost to eat something satisfying at Denny’s.

Learning Your Budget

              As I’m tracking calories and monitoring my weight, I’m learning my budget. By budget, I mean how many calories I can afford. I know it will take several months to really nail down a realistic number, but right now it looks like I’ll maintain weight at around 2800 calories and can lose weight efficiently if I keep things around 2000 calories or less.

              How do I know that? Let’s say I track calories and find for a given week I average 2,000 calories a day. Let’s say I lost 1.6 pounds for that week. To get solid numbers, you need to track for several weeks. I recommend your official weigh in is at the same time each week and under the same conditions. For example, if you weigh yourself after using the restroom one week, you should do that every week. You should also weigh yourself at approximately the same time and day of the week. In general, I do my official weigh in on Monday morning before I’ve eaten or drank anything. I wouldn’t recommend weighing yourself after breakfast—unless you’re precisely weighing each meal. Also, be aware that one week really doesn’t count to figure out your calorie budget. My weight can fluctuate five pounds or more throughout the course of a day. So, it’s going to take several months of tracking to get consistent numbers and find my calorie budget.

              So, my calories were 2,000 per day (2,000 X 7 = 14,000) and my weight loss was 1.6 pounds. A pound of fat is about 3,500 calories. So, that’s a 5,600-calorie deficit (1.6 X 3,500) or 800 calories a day (5,600 ÷ 7 = 800). If I take my 2,000 calories per day and add in the 800 calories per day I lost, I can estimate I would maintain weight at about 2,800 calories a day. Obviously, this isn’t perfect. I could have lost some water weight. I could have put on some muscle from working out. So, it’s only an estimate, but at least it gives me some numbers to base things around.

              Also, be aware as you lose weight that your calorie budget goes down. A smaller car burns less fuel than a bigger car. The same is true with your body. As you lose weight, you need less calories to move around. So, your calorie budget at your ideal weight is going to be less than your calorie budget at your chubby weight—unless you move around more with that newer, fitter body to make up the difference!

              What if I add in exercise? I am exercising intensely, and it does increase calories burned. You can go online and find calculators that estimate how many calories a given activity will burn. Realize, those calculators are estimates. So, you still need to track your calories and weight.

              Let’s say I want to eat that super fattening 2,400 Chipotle burrito bowl? How long would I have to run at a quick pace (10-minute mile) at my current weight to burn it off? I would have to run a little over 2 ½ hours. That means I would be running over 15 miles.

Ugh! Here’s the truth about exercise and calories. If you’re able to spend 30-60 minutes a day doing something of moderate to high intensity, you’re likely not adding much more than 300-500 calories burned (maybe less for a smaller person). That activity is subtracting at most about a pound of fat burned per week. I’m not saying you shouldn’t exercise. The benefits of exercise are tremendous and is part of a healthy plan to lose weight. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking, “I worked out hard this morning. I can enjoy a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke!” No, no, no. You can’t! If you’re like me, you’re taking their offer to biggie size. Suddenly that 300-calorie workout is dwarfed by that 1,320-calorie meal! Do I spend 2/3 of my weight-loss calories for the day on McD’s? Or, do I go for my 780-calorie bowl at Chipotles? Or, my 650-calorie burger at Denny’s? Or, do I use McDonald’s nutrition calculator to see where I can shave some calories? Or, do I decide I’ll run for over an hour tonight? Okay, I already worked out this morning, so who am I kidding? I’m not going running tonight. I have a new episode of The Orville to watch!

Establishing Lifetime Changes

              One of the biggest benefits of counting calories is one begins to get a sense of what to eat and what not to eat. Am I opening that bag of chips? Or, am I breaking out the hot air popper and having some popcorn—with some yummy seasoning! Do I want that buttermilk-based ranch dressing? Or, is a low-calorie mustard-based dressing just as satisfying? Obviously, I better read some labels, because that mustard-based dressing may have a lot of hidden calories and may not be as low-calorie as it should be. Plus, I better keep an eye on portion sizes.

              Calorie counting allows one to develop more of a sense of what to eat and what to avoid. It also helps one to figure out those lower-calorie alternatives that may be just as satisfying as the higher-calorie alternatives.

              I’m going through the process of figuring out what works for me—in terms of eating and exercising. Calorie counting is a tool to help do that. It helps me to figure out my calorie budget for the day and to spend those calories wisely. I think it's an important component of a weight loss journey.