How to Noodle on Ukulele - Isekai Ukulele

A guided approach to noodling on a uke (in G major)

What is noodling and why do it?
1. “Noodling” is basically free form improvisation
  1. In the guitar world, it can be a bit of a derogatory term because it implies being aimless and not diligently working on creative output.
    - There’s a tendency for “noodles” to be of lower quality than carefully and intentionally polished solos.
  2. I find uke players to be much more tolerant of just messing around just for the sake of it.
  3. In my opinion, the only difference between a noodle and an improvised solo is that one is done on stage.
2. It’s a good way to make practicing techniques fun
3. Bonus reasons
  1. It helps gain an intuitive grasp of what motions make what sounds
  2. It can be relaxing to explore sounds without worrying about playing the “right” notes of a song
  3. Its a good way to create find licks to create your own original music out of
  4. We learn to color inside the lines so that we can learn when and how to color outside of them

Disclaimer: This is not for day one beginners.
1. I expect you to know how to hold a uke, play some chords, pluck with pima or a pick, and understand a bit about scales and rhythm.
2. If you need help with that basic stuff, there’s plenty of resources out there. I’d be glad to point you in a direction if you ask in the comments, or better yet come join the Uke Tribe Discord and we’ll be glad to help you out there.
3. These methods will work on both re-entrant and linear tunings. High G and Low G are both ok. It’s just going to change whether some notes are being played in Unison or Octave. I play linear, so that’s the perspective I’m going to present from.
4. Finally the summary for this lesson is up on my website, no cost, no sign ups. I prefer learning by reading instead of videos, so I offer this to you as well.
5. Alright let’s get into it:

Exercise 1: Lifting Fingers
1. We’ll start with the G chord as our “home base”
  1. To make sure we’re on the same page:
    1. G string is open, not fretted
    2. Index finger on D (2nd fret of C string)
    3. Ring finger on G (3rd fret of E string)
    4. Middle finger on B (2nd fret of A string)
  2. We pick a basic picking pattern to use while we explore the various options available to us
    1. Focus on one thing at a time.
      1. If we’re thinking about the left hand, keep the right hand simple and constant
      2. And vice versa
    2. We start by looking at how the left hand can move, so the right hand goes on auto pilot.
      1. I demonstrate with plucking the strings individually from top to bottom, G > C > E > A in full measures of eighth notes at about 100 bpm
    3. Try to listen carefully to each variation. Repeat as much as you need feel familiar with the quality of its sound
    4. Don’t look at your fretboard while you practice this. There’s no need to yet, as the fingers aren’t changing location whatsoever.
      1. Part of the “intuitive grasp of the sound” is not needing to look at your fingers to play the right notes.

Step 1: Play through all the options
1. Play through home base GDGB [0232]
2. Lift the index finger [0032], and pay attention to the change in sound
3. Lift the ring finger [0002], listen
4. Lift the middle finger [0000], listen
5. Place the index finger on D [0200], listen
6. Lift the index and place the ring finger on G [0030], listen
7. Place the index finger on D [0230], listen
8. Lift the ring finger and place the middle finger on B [0202], listen
9. Return to home base [0232]

Step 2: Now we play around to explore the new ideas just examined:
1. Let’s play through the cycle again with measures for each variation, and returning to home base between each one
  1. Notice how each transition has a unique quality. Think about what distinguishes each one, and how you might find it useful.
  2. Technically all the options are different chords. You could learn all the names, and you might recognize a few already.
    1. You don’t need to know that [0200] is an A7sus4 to use it.
  3. Chord names are useful if you want to talk to other people about them, and to identify similar sounds, but not exactly necessary for beginners.

Step 3: Introduce a little more freedom
1. Play through a measure of home base [0232] followed by two measures of any combination of the previous options. Return to home base and repeat.
  1. You can be systematic or sporadic in the exploration, it doesn’t matter. Everyone learns in different ways.
  2. Keep the right hand picking pattern consistent as we focus on changing chords with the left hand

Step 4: Add “licks” into the practice.*
1. A “lick” is a short sequences of notes
2. They’re often played in sequence to create a solo.
  1. If a solo is a sentence, licks are the words that make it up
  2. Its nice when sentences “make sense”
  3. We want our licks to be somehow related to each other so there is a bit of cohesion.
  4. A musical phrase that is repeated throughout a piece can be called a “motif” or “theme.”
    1. These are the licks that make us recognize particular songs.
    2. When you find a theme you like, try to keep it in mind and play around it while noodling.
  5. We can create licks by varying our picking pattern, and the timing of notes in each improvised phrase.
3. Play through a measure of home base, followed by two measures of improvised licks
  1. Keep the home base picking pattern constant
    1. This is a method to create a motif that we consistently return to
    2. You could introduce variations, but it comes at the risk of getting lost!
  2. Only use notes of the G chord and open strings for the moment.
  3. Now that we should be a bit familiar with the left hand options, we can try varying the right hand picking patterns
    1. Think of the left hand chord shapes that create licks to target specific notes.
    2. A good way to start is to think of the target as the note you want to finish the phrase on.
    3. Alternatively, the target could be starting a lick with a sequence of notes then going into variation
    4. Play around and have some fun!
4. Bonus Round: Add a specific technique to practice
  1. Repeat the previous lick creation exercise with a focus on using hammer ons and pull offs.
  2. Consider keeping the right hand pattern consistent again, so you can focus attention on the left hand movements.
  3. If you need a more detailed explanation of hammer ons or pull offs, the One Music School tutorial is pretty good: https://youtu.be/r6RXbzjpbzA

Exercise 2: Unison and Octaves
1. We are going to expand our options with a simple rule: If we have used a note once already, then it is fair game to use again.
  1. Notes before we begin:
    1. You don’t need to know all the notes you’re playing to do this, but it is incredibly helpful.
      1. This exercise can help you learn the fretboard while making fun music!
    2. I mainly play in linear tuning, so I’m going to present in it. If you have a re-entrant uke, just know sometimes your high G will not match what I say.
    3. Unison means the exact same note is played from multiple sources (in this case, strings). Octave means the same note is played in different registers.
    4. I won’t go past the 5th fret for this video, but feel free to explore further at your leisure
    5. Do your best to not look at the fretboard while actively playing. It’s fine to look while we’re adding new notes, but part of the exercise is to train the fingers to know where to go without the eyes.
2. Step 1: Playing with Octaves
  1. Again we start with our G chord, held in the same way as in exercise 1
    1. Index finger on D (2nd fret of C string)
    2. Ring finger on G (3rd fret of E string)
    3. Middle finger on B (2nd fret of A string)
  2. Notice that the open string and the note that the ring finger is holding are both the note G
    1. Play both notes for a little while, and try to hear the quality of the sound.
    2. I demonstrate by using my thumb to hit the low G string and my other three fingers hit the G on the E string in an eighth note pattern.
  3. Next we’ll add the high D on the 5th fret on the A string.
    1. With your hand still in the G chord shape, use your pinky to press the 5th fret on the A string
      1. To do this you need to have good fretboard hand posture: the tip of the left hand thumb should be firmly on the back of the neck
      2. There are reasons to learn how to use this hand shape effectively, but before anyone says no way they can’t and gives up… relax that pinky
        
        This is one potential thing to work on over time, if you decide it will be useful to your playing style
    2. Let’s try an alternate hand position instead!
      1. Because we’re aiming to hold down the D on the A string, we don’t need our middle finger on the 2nd fret anymore.
      2. Start in our home base G chord position. We’re going to transition into a G5 chord [0235] in a specific way:
        
        Lift your middle and ring finger
        
        Shift your middle finger to the 3rd fret on the E string
        
        At the same time, move your pinky to the 5th fret on the A string
      3. This should be much more comfortable
        
        Notice how each finger naturally lines up with four frets.
        
        This is called a “hand position” and is usually labelled by the lowest fret in use. In this case it is the “second position”
        
        One fret per finger is generally a good default state, and informs if you should move your hand up or down the fretboard to play a phrase.
    3. Now everyone should be playing an Octave between fret 2 on the C string and 5 on the A string
      1. Play around with the octave D’s for a bit and get familiar with the sounds
        
        If you accidentally hit a G, no worries. That’s our next step!
      2. Explore alternating between the various D’s and G’s in this position.
      3. If your fingers get tired, rest and shake it out. It takes time to build up these muscles.
3. Step 2: Learning a new hand shape
  1. Practice going back and forth between G5 [0235] and G [0232] playing one measure of each for a little bit.
    1. Go as slow as you need to to make the transition smoothly
    2. Try not to look at your fingers or fretboard while doing this.
  2. Now we’re going to mix in what we did from Exercise 1.
    1. Play one measure of G5 [0235] followed by one measure of G [0232]
    2. Play around freely with the various shapes, plucking patterns, and hammer ons / pull offs for two measures.
      1. The high D on fret 5 of the A string is now fair game!
      2. Notice that you can shift your middle finger to G during the improvisation to make it easier to reach the high D.
        
        This also frees up your index finger to move around
    3. Then return to playing one measure of G5 followed by one measure of G. Play these measures the same way every time you come back
      1. This is your new home base
    4. Repeat the 4 bar pattern

Step 3: Filling in the rest of the notes
1. Notes:
  1. There’s going to be a lot in this section but it’s all based on the same principles. Take your time to digest it all.
    1. It can be a good idea to just add one note in at a time and explore all the possibilities it opens up before adding another.
    2. You don’t need to keep up with me, I’m just trying to keep the video condensed.
    3. I talk about the basic chords (major, minor, 7 and maj7) that can be played as we add notes in the document, but will skip the discussion for the demonstration
    4. Being able to use the open chord notes like this is a special case for the key of G.
      1. Technically we’re exploring two chords that are part of the same key. Am7 [0000] is a naturally occurring (i.e. diatonic) chord in the key of G.
      2. This method of finding unison and octaves to define the scale works with basically any two chords within a given key.
      3. The pattern of finding octave and unison notes is consistent throughout the fretboard.
    5. You don’t absolutely need to memorize the names of the notes as I’m introducing them, but why not try? It’s how musicians communicate these things with each other.
    6. The demonstration uses the form established in step one of this exercise.
      1. Remember to always return to home base every two measures!
2. The first note outside of the G major triad that was introduced was open C.
  1. We have an octave of C on the 3rd fret of the A string
    1. When we add this in, we can get a lot of interesting runs on the A string
    2. The basic C chord [0003] has now been unlocked
      1. “Unlocking” a chord just means it’s a standard chord shape that we can use in our improvisation section.
      2. Whether you like it or it sounds appropriate to use is up to you.
  2. We also have another C on the 5th fret of the G string
    1. This one won’t be as useful until we add the next note
3. The next note we added was the open E string, so E.
  1. We have a unison E on fret 4 on the C string.
  2. This can be played with the pinky while holding the G chord
    1. Again, this is kinda hard, but it has its uses
  3. Alternately, it can be played with the ring finger while the middle finger is on G
    1. This is the standard way of playing Em [0432] which is now fair game. Em can also be played as [0402]
  4. E unlocks the barre chord form of C [5433] and an inversion Cmaj7 [5432] (we already had and used the open version of Cmaj7 [0002]), fun chords but may be hard for absolute beginners
  5. Why would we want to use this note instead of playing the open string?
    1. Everything is a choice, a musical option to be selected to reflect our intent
    2. Unison notes can sound really cool
    3. It allows you to play E and G at the same time, which has a tonal profile
    4. Alternating plucking E and G at the same time sounds different from going between open and fretted
    5. You can’t hammer-on or pull-off from the open string note
4. The final note we added was the open A string,
  1. There is a unison A on the 5th fret of the E string.
    1. See previous arguments for why unison notes are handy
    2. Can be played with the pinky while holding the G chord
    3. Or using the ring finger while the middle is on G
    4. This unlocks an uncommonly used inversion of Am [5453]
    5. This is a good time to mention that any two notes we’ve played can be played together as a “dyad”
      1. Dyad just means two notes played together
      2. These are really common and sound really cool
        
        Try out [x23x], [x45x], [xx32], [xx53], [xx35]
  2. Another A exists on the second fret of the G string.
    1. This unlocks one of the first chords most people learn: Am [2000]
    2. Explore the union/octave of this note and the open A string, and this note and fret 5 on the E string.
    3. If you’re getting tired of G5 > G as your home base, try play around with Am > C, and keep all the other “ok” notes to play the same
5. Last but not least, the note that’s been here all along, B which we played on the second fret of the A string.
  1. We have another B on fret 4 of the G string.
    1. Notice its octave/unisom relationship is basically the same as A, just two frets up.
  2. Its usefulness will vary for our present purpose depending on reentrant or linear tuning, but it is there to be used and explored.
  3. This unlocks some intermediate chords that folk can play with: barre G [4232] and closed Em [4432]

Step 4: The final frontier
1. The last piece of the puzzle is the second fret on the E string: F#
2. Now we have a full picture of the “frets we can reliably press to get notes that are harmonious in the key of G major”
  1. This is your pallette. It’s up to you to craft licks that are cohesive and entertaining
3. If you don’t want to memorize the fretboard, and you don’t want to memorize the scale, you can remember all this information in a simple shape:
  1. A|-|x|x|-|x|
  2. E|-|x|x|-|x|
  3. C|-|x|-|x|-|
  4. G|-|x|-|x|x|
  5. And all open strings are ok,
4. Just to be clear it’s frets:
  1. 0,2,3,5 on the A string
  2. 0,2,3,5 on the E string
  3. 0,2,4 on the C string
  4. 0,2,4,5 on the G string
5. Adding F# to the mix unlocks the Gmaj7 [0222], D [2220] [2225] D7 [2223] [2020] and Bm [4222]
6. The reason I included major 7 chords in this discussion is for this exact moment:
  1. A major 7 chord has a distinct sound to it. The name of the game here is to recognize the properties of this sound, and internalize when to use it.
  2. Learning theory will teach you how and why it works and the “rules of engagement” so to speak, but
  3. You can learn to hear and use this sound without any of that knowledge
7. The same thing applies to dominant 7 chords (often just called 7 chords, like D7 for example)
  1. There is a distinct sound and a set of well defined use cases
  2. You can learn by experience, or you can learn by studying. It’s usually good to do a bit of both.
  3. Does the D7 make you feel like you want to play a specific chord after hearing it?
    1. If you’re familiar with Jazz, you’ll probably want to say D > Gmaj7, because that’s how V I’s work.
8. The major 7th is a half step below the tonic, or root note (i.e. the nite the scale is named after).
9. You can transform a major 7 into a dominant 7 by moving the 7th down half a step. Only a half step separates these two very distinct sounds
  1. In the case of G, you can lower the F# to F to go from Gmja7 [0222] to G7 [0212]
  2. Try strumming D7 > G7 > C. Let’s use this as our home base and noodle around a bit?
10. If you learned Hawaiian style, the answer to where D7 goes is D7 > G7 > C.
  1. This adds the note F to our acceptable notes to play
  2. Notice it doesn’t work as cleanly with every other part of the scale
    1. But adding it also opens new options for sounds
11. I do this to show you are free to start bending the rules and exploring different things.
  1. Now that you know where the lines are, you can start coloring outside of them
  2. Try to find licks that you recognize or different scales for you to play with!

Where do you want to go from here?
1. I demonstrated how you can use this approach to learn a new scale, and to make some fun sounding noise in the process.
  1. You can apply this process to any and every key on the ukulele.
  2. Each key has unique quirks that make them fun and interesting.
    1. You can look up the scales for other keys, learn how to construct scales based on intervals, or just play based on shapes
  3. Chord progressions often show you what key you’re in. Most of the time whatever frets you press are fair game.
    1. Whenever you learn a new song, try explore other directions those chords might take you.
2. This method works for learning chords too.
  1. If you want to learn a new chord, say a barre chord for example, build a noodle around it and have some fun.
  2. Make getting those repetitions of forming the new hand shape part of hearing how the chord fits into music too.
3. We incorporated practicing a specific left hand technique (hammer ons and pull offs) into the practice.
  1. You can do this with any new technique you’re trying to learn to intentionally focus on developing it, while not getting bored to tears.
  2. Slides are fun. Fan strokes are fun. Bossa style plucking is fun. So many things to explore!
  3. Check out https://ukuleletechnique.online/ for an endless bag of techniques to choose from
4. Noodling can be used simply for meditation and relaxation, or as a path to develop your own original compositions. String enough licks together and you get a song!
I hope I was clear enough in explaining how this all works for you to be able to pick it up and start exploring. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know. Happy noodling!