This week I want to look at the ukulele, in particular the melodic ukulele. A lot of students assume the ukulele can only be used for strumming, and indeed the ukulele is a wonderfully rhythmical instrument that can be played at many social occasions. All depending on the accompanying voice of course! Very few however fail to realize the melodic potential of the ukulele as a solo instrument. This I will address by examining 2 charming Scottish folk songs. When in the borders do what the borderers do 🙂

Scottish folk songs

The ukulele has unusual tuning known as reentrant tuning. This basically means that the pitch of the strings are not tuned consecutively (from low E to high E as a guitar would), but are tuned essentially out of order (high G to Low C and then to High A). This gives the texture of the music a harp like quality, with notes ringing out and overlapping, as demonstrated with the introduction of ‘Annie Laurie’ below:

The technical term for this texture is campanella, which is a Italian for little bell. This does not mean that the ukulele cannot produce an equally attractive effect using full chords. As shown below full chords played on the 1st and 3rd beats can drive the rhythm by emphasizing the melody with harmonic notes in between:

The introduction to ‘Farewell to Tarwathie’ also demonstrates how a simple chord approach can be used to bring out the melody of the song. Please note though that in bar 1 the G is found on the 4th string and also the 2nd string, This again is an example of campanella, in the that the open G can ring on (like a little bell) and enhance the sound of the fretted G:

The full campanella effect can be demonstrated however when the theme is reintroduced, take full advantage of the reentrant tuning that is so distinctive and which gives the ukulele its beautiful flowing sound:

I hope these examples have demonstrated that the ukulele is more than just a strumming instrument. Due to its unique tuning the melodic ukulele can provide wonderfully expressive and unique sounding tunes. Now sit back, have a wee dram and listen to the full version of ‘Annie Laurie’ and then ‘Farwell Tae Tarwathie’ as played myself. Kilt on of course 🙂

Annie Laurie

Farwell Tae Tarwathie