Fingerstyle Uke - ukulele lessons

Creative Right Hand Arpeggios

Most of the music we play and hear is in 4/4 timing, which means there are four basic beats to each bar:

One Two Three Four

It might seem useful to assign the thumb (T) to the fourth string, the index (i) to the third, the middle (m) to the second and the ring (r) finger to the first:

--------------a----------
----------m-------------
-------i------------------
---T---------------------

However, the standard ukulele tuning has the third string as the lowest note, and often it is good practice to use the thumb on that string. So I very often use the following as a base fingering:

--------------m--------
-----------i-------------
-------T----------------
---T--------------------

These four beats can be subdivided:

One and Two and Three and Four and

So, if you want to play arpeggios over all of these beats, you might use the following:

--------m-------------m-------
------i-----i-----i--------------
---T---------T-----------------
--------------------T----------

or:

-----------a------------a-------
-------m-----m----------------
-----i------------i--------------
--T-----------------T----------

Try making up a few more - they are all valid. Use some chord shapes to provide harmonic interest.

Now, try some triplets. Instead of One and Two and, etc, we have:

One and a Two and a Three and a Four and a

...giving three notes per beat - 12 notes - which could be played this way:

-----m-------m-------m--------m-----
---------i--------i--------i-----------i--
--T----------------T--------------------
-----------T------------------T--- -----

Great fun can be had by accenting these triplets in two groups of three followed by three groups of two. Try clapping the following:

ONE and a TWO and a ONE and TWO and THREE and - which still adds up to twelve notes. Place accents on the thumb notes in the following example:

-----m-------m--------------m----------
---------i--------i------i-------------i----
--T-----------------T------------T-------
-----------T--------------T--------------

Be creative when playing chords and arpeggios. There are many ways to play notes over four beats. I hope this little overview will stimulate you to mix and match and make up your own examples. Use them to transform songs you already play - you might be amazed at the result.

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