Alistair Wood

Barre chords form the basis of many ukulele songs. A barre chord (pronounced "bar") is any chord where you fret more than one string with a single finger. They’re represented in chord diagrams in the same way as conventional chords. The only differences are an arch over the strings you press with the same finger, as in the chord diagram for B flat: If the chord is played a long way up the neck, a number at the top right indicates the fret at which the chord diagram starts.

You play a bend on your ukulele by grabbing the string and pushing it across the neck. This action increases the tension in the string and therefore raises the pitch.To play a bend: Fret the note with your ring finger and also put your index and middle fingers on the same string. The additional fingers act as support.

The ukulele may be the patron saint of whimsical instruments, but there's still thought and method involved when it comes to playing! Read on to learn how to strum your uke like a pro. You use your dominant arm (that is, the right arm if you’re right-handed) to strum your ukulele.

Picking two notes on your ukulele at the same time creates a beautiful shimmering effect. As with regular picking, in simultaneous picking, you pick down with your thumb and up with your fingers. In standard notation, the letters for two fingers stacked on top of each other indicates picking with both those fingers, as shown in this nice picking pattern:To play this pattern, pick the g-string with your thumb at the same time as you pick the A-string with your ring finger, then the E and C strings separately.

The way you hold a ukulele is a vitally important part of making it sound good. The uke is such a small instrument that choking all the sound out of it is all too easy. A general guideline for holding your ukulele is to try to touch it as little as possible. You want to make as little contact as you can manage without sending your ukulele crashing to the ground.

Restringing your ukulele can seem like one of those jobs to put off as long as possible, like homework, exercising, or visiting the dentist. But changing the strings isn’t as bad a job as it seems, and you’ll feel better afterwards (and unlike those other jobs, it adds to, rather than takes away from, valuable ukuleling time).

When you find yourself stuck for a ukulele strumming pattern, the Swiss Army Knife strum is a good one to rely on. It's named after the Swiss Army Knife because its useful for so many different songs. Plus, you can play it fast or slow. In tab, the Swiss Army Knife strum looks like this:A few elements make this strumming pattern more interesting than some others.

To make the most of your ukulele exercises, you need to learn how to play the most common chords on the ukulele fretboard. These chord diagrams show you the 15 most common chords. In each case, the name of the chord is at the top of the diagrams below.

You can use a number of different ways to tune your ukulele, depending on what you have available and who you’re playing with. When you play alone, you only have to be in tune with yourself. When you play with other musicians, you need to make sure that you’re all in tune with each other.In tuning instructions — and in the real world — you encounter a couple of key terms: Open string: A string you play without holding the string down.