Hands the daily wake-up
Short loops for the two hands before any music: one finger per fret, a strum hand locked to the click, then the two together. These are not songs. Evenness beats speed — start the metronome near 60. Which of these to play today, and for how long, is on Today.
Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, TAB sits next to the explanation (A string on top · four lines). How to read it: Foundations · TAB. Naming the notes under your fingers is its own lesson: Notes on the neck.
Wake-ups Left hand Right hand Together Method books By style
Play becomes Stop on the same button. Click it again to silence. Tempo follows the metronome in the practice bar.
Wake-ups — four minutes
One fret per finger: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky. Keep unused fingers hovering over their fret. Use Play to hear the model. Under each TAB: LH finger, RH D/U, then the note name. A moving bar follows the sounding note. TAB has A on top (GCEA).
Chromatic 1-2-3-4
On each string: frets 1-2-3-4, G string up to A string. Reverse is 4-3-2-1, A string down to G string. The standard left-hand warmup on four strings.
G → C → E → A · 1-2-3-4 on every string
A|---------------------------------------------------1---2---3---4
E|-----------------------------------1---2---3---4----------------
C|-------------------1---2---3---4--------------------------------
G|---1---2---3---4------------------------------------------------
LH 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
RH D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
G# A A# B C# D D# E F F# G G# A# B C C#
A → E → C → G · 4-3-2-1 on every string
A|---4---3---2---1------------------------------------------------
E|-------------------4---3---2---1--------------------------------
C|-----------------------------------4---3---2---1----------------
G|---------------------------------------------------4---3---2---1
LH 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
RH D U D U D U D U D U D U D U D U
C# C B A# G# G F# F E D# D C# B A# A G#
Spider
One finger per fret across all four strings, then reverse: 1-2-3-4-4-3-2-1 (A→E→C→G). Classical coordination primer for GCEA.
A|---1---------------------------1
E|-------2-------------------2----
C|-----------3-----------3--------
G|---------------4---4------------
LH 1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1
RH D U D U D U D U
A# F# D# B B D# F# A#
Stretch
Index on fret 1, pinky on fret 4 of the same string. No buzz, no collapsed wrist. Walk it G string to A string, then try 5–8 when 1–4 feels honest.
A|---------------------------1---4
E|-------------------1---4--------
C|-----------1---4----------------
G|---1---4------------------------
LH 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4
RH D U D U D U D U
G# B C# E F G# A# C#
Alternate / strum pulse
One open string, down-up-down-up locked to the click. Same pitch every time — the drill is the right hand. Open C is the lowest pitch on high-G uke. Then cross all four strings.
Open C · one bar of eighths · ↓↑↓↑
A|--------------------------------
E|--------------------------------
C|---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
G|--------------------------------
LH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RH D U D U D U D U
C C C C C C C C
String cross · G → C → E → A → E → C → G
A|---------------0------------
E|-----------0-------0--------
C|-------0---------------0----
G|---0-----------------------0
LH 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
RH D U D U D U D
G C E A E C G
Left hand — legato and variants
One finger per fret: 1 index, 2 middle, 3 ring, 4 pinky. Unused fingers hover over their home fret. Even volume beats speed — same primer as the wake-ups above.
Hammer-on / pull-off cell
Pick G string fret 5, hammer 7, pull back to 5. Only the first note is picked. This is the legato seed before melody phrasing — unpicked notes must match the picked one in volume.
A|-------------------------------- E|-------------------------------- C|-------------------------------- G|-5h7p5-------------------------- pick, hammer, pull
Deeper: Classical drills · slurs.
Left-hand variants
Same finger discipline, many shapes. Pick a pattern, string, and starting fret — then Play.
Right hand — mute and feel
The click owns the right hand. Most ukulele paths live in strum and fingers — lock a simple down-up or thumb pulse to the metronome before you chase speed. Island stamina and mute contrast: Island · Folk. Classical right hand: Classical.
Mute / ghost eighths
Soft edge of the hand or left-hand mute on open C, two hits per click. Pitch stays; ring dies. Same contrast as chucks on Strumming and Loop cells · ghost &s.
A|----------------- E|----------------- C|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0- P.M. G|-----------------
Deeper: Folk · the variants below put the mute on any string.
Pick variants
Change the subdivision and the string. The left hand stays out of the way — open string only.
Prefer island and folk pulse on Folk · Island. Mute / ghost cells: Loop cells.
Hands together
The ukulele twin of piano “syncing”: each hand keeps its job while the other does something different. Master each side alone first, then combine at half tempo. See Piano · hand syncing for the keyboard version.
Eighths plus changing fretted note
Right hand keeps alternate eighths on open C (lowest pitch). Left hand holds a fretted note on the A string that changes every two beats: frets 0, 2, 3, 5. Count “1-and 2-and” — the fretted note lands on the numbers, eighths fill every subdivision.
RH C|-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-| ↓ ↑ LH A|-0-------2-------3-------5---|
If the fretted note flams the open string, slow down until they lock.
Boom-chick through G→C→D
Keep boom-chick running while the left hand moves G→C→D. The right hand must not pause for the change. Arrive on beat 1 with at least the bass note fretted.
G C D (right hand boom-chick never stops)
Same loop as Folk · G–C–D — practise here when hands-together is the goal.
Thumb bass + i–m treble
Thumb keeps a steady bass pulse on open C while i and m alternate on E and A. Two rhythms, two registers — the classical independence seed applied hands-together.
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & A|----0-------0--- i / m E|--------0------- C|-0---0---0---0-- p G|----------------
Deeper: Classical · independence.
Method books — ukulele’s daily gym
Piano has Hanon. Ukulele has public-domain studies you open on IMSLP — we name the doors; we do not print the notes. Pair a card from this hub or from Classical with one short study.
- Sor Op. 60 nos. 1–3 — progressive lessons; melody above a simple bass. First-piece door on Classical · first pieces.
- Carcassi Op. 60 nos. 1–3 — melodious etudes; No. 1 in C is the usual door for planted arpeggios.
- Giuliani Op. 51 nos. 1–3 — progressive studies; same right-hand family as the classical pattern library.
- Giuliani’s 120 (1812) — the pattern family for pima, not a study to copy numbered here.
Hal Leonard Book 1 and Berklee lab practice cover the pick / chromatic spine. Resources: method checklist.
By style
Once the hands are awake, each style has its own gym page: a suggested order, the drills, and a practice note. Pick one per session — four focused minutes beats a tour of every door.
Folk
Boom-chick through Travis seed, walk-downs, lok with a change, and a first-pieces map (public-domain folk, Nepali lok, famous titles — chords only).
Fingerpicking
Thumb + fingers, Travis-ish patterns, and classical pima on four strings. See also Classical drills.
Classical
The pima method: two strokes, planted arpeggios, the Giuliani-style pattern family, rest-stroke scales, slurs, independence, a tremolo seed, first pieces, and concert-hall names from Vivaldi to Wagner (IMSLP, no printed notes).
Melody & scales
First-position scales, movable shapes, and short melody walks — fills and intros, not shred boxes.