# Learn Ukulele — Hands

> Interactive page: [`drills.html`](drills.html)

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](routine.md).

Where a drill is a shape or a picking pattern, **TAB** sits next to the explanation (**A on top**, then E, C, G). How to read it: [Foundations · TAB](foundations.md). Naming the notes under your fingers is its own lesson: [Notes on the neck](notes.md).

**Golden rules:** (1) *Slow first* — only speed up when it is clean. (2) *Metronome on.* (3) *One new motion a day* — not all of them. (4) *Stay relaxed* — shake out tension; never play through pain.


## Wake-ups — four minutes

**Chromatic 1-2-3-4** — frets 1-2-3-4 on every string, G up to A. Reverse 4-3-2-1, A down to G.

**Spider** — one finger per fret across all four strings (A→E→C→G), then reverse.

**Stretch** — index fret 1, pinky fret 4; walk G→A.

**Alternate / strum pulse** — eighths on open **C** (lowest pitch on high-G uke), then 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; the unpicked notes must match it in volume. Deeper: [Classical drills · slurs](drills-classical.md).

**Left-hand variants** — same finger discipline, many shapes. Choose a pattern (1-2-3-4, 4-3-2-1, 1-3-2-4, 1-2-4-3, 1-4-3-2, groups of three, spider shift), a start string and a start 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](strumming.md) · [Folk](drills-folk.md). Classical right hand: [Classical](drills-classical.md).

**Mute / ghost eighths** — soft edge of the hand or a left-hand mute on open C, two hits per click. Pitch stays; ring dies. Same contrast as chucks on [Strumming](strumming.md) and [Loop cells · ghost &s](warmups.md).

**Pick variants** — eighths, triplets or sixteenths on any one open string, ringing or muted. The left hand stays out of the way.

## 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](/sangeet-yatra/piano/exercises.md) for the keyboard version.

**Eighths plus changing fretted note** — right hand keeps alternate eighths on open C; the left hand changes an A-string note every two beats: frets 0, 2, 3, 5.

**Boom-chick through G→C→D** — keep boom-chick running while the left hand changes. Arrive on beat 1 with at least the bass note fretted. Same loop as [Folk · G → C → D → G](drills-folk.md).

**Thumb bass + i–m treble** — thumb keeps a steady pulse on open C while i and m alternate on E and A. Deeper: [Classical · independence](drills-classical.md).

## Method books — ukulele’s daily gym

Piano has Hanon. Ukulele has public-domain studies you open on [IMSLP](https://imslp.org/) — we name the doors; we do not print the notes. Pair a card from this page or from [Classical](drills-classical.md) with one short study.

- **Sor Op. 60** nos. 1–3 — progressive lessons; melody above a simple bass.
- **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.

## 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](drills-folk.md) — boom-chick through Travis seed, walk-downs, lok with a change, variants on any chord, first pieces.
- [Fingerpicking](fingerstyle.md) — thumb + fingers, Travis-ish patterns, *pima* on four strings.
- [Classical](drills-classical.md) — the *pima* method from two strokes to tremolo, first pieces, concert-hall names.
- [Melody & scales](scales.md) — first-position scales, movable shapes, short melody walks.

Today’s plan: [Today](routine.md) · Play along: [songs](songs.md).