Play along

The hard skill is not the melody — it is keeping the right hand honest while you breathe and sing. We never print lyrics or tunes here.

1. Pick a loop you already know cold (start with Three-chord or Island vamp).
2. Strum one bar alone with island D–DU–UDU. Do not sing yet.
3. Hum the root of each chord on beat 1 (see Tools · Ear training).
4. When that is steady, sing or hum a tune you know from memory over the same loop. If the strum collapses, drop the melody and rebuild from step 2.

Open player Tools · Ear training Island strum

Progressions only — public-domain doors and famous-title recognition. Island right hand: D–DU–UDU.

Island vamp — C · G · Am · F

The classic four-chord Hawaiian / campfire colour in C. Load Island vamp in the player.

| C          | G          | Am         | F          |

Aloha turn — F · C · G7 · C

Public-domain door for Aloha ʻOe harmony (Queen Liliʻuokalani) — chords only, no melody. Load Aloha turn.

| F          | C          | G7         | C          |

Recognition (chords only)

Folk drill twin: Folk · Hawaiian first pieces.

Hal Leonard treats a song as changes you can count, not a recording you copy. Method-book lab adds one rule: the right hand stays on the click while the left hand changes. A “lesson” here is a map — verse, chorus, or 12 bars — written as letters and counts. Still no melody.

Four-chord song — I – V – vi – IV in G

One loop is the whole song. Verse and chorus use the same four bars. Count 1 2 3 4 on each chord, pattern D-DU-UDU when the left hand is honest.

| 1  2  3  4 | 1  2  3  4 | 1  2  3  4 | 1  2  3  4 |
| G          | D          | Em         | C          |

Load Four-chord song in the player. Capo 2 if the singer’s Sa wants A; capo 3 for a B♭-ish film key — same shapes.

Ghar loop — I – IV – V in G

Original campfire loop (no existing song). Home, away, away-more, home. This is the three-chord backbone Hal Leonard starts with, written as a Nepali-friendly ghar / home cycle.

Verse / chorus (same):
| G          | C          | D          | G          |

12-bar blues in G

Hal Leonard Book 1 introduces the 12-bar as the first long form: four bars of I, two of IV, two of I, then V – IV – I – V. Still only G, C, and D.

| G | G | G | G |
| C | C | G | G |
| D | C | G | D |

Three-chord in A / E

Same I–IV–V job as Ghar, new letters. A · D · E, or E · A · B7. Capo 2 on Ghar sounds like A–D–E if you want the old pictures.

G–Am–D folk

I – ii – V in G. The Resham Firiri / Chari Maryo (capo 2) teaching map. Still no melody.

Am–F–C–G

The Nepali pop workhorse once F is honest. Adhuro Prem, Nepali Thito, and a pile of film verses share the letters.

Am courtyard — original

i – iv – V – i. Am · Dm · E · Am. Not a named song — a courtyard cadence for practising Dm next to Am.

Four-chord in C — needs F

Same numerals, teaching key C. Intermediate because F is a barre. Load Four-chord in C.

| C          | G          | Am         | F          |

G with Bm — needs the A-shape barre

I – iii – IV – V. Bm is the chord G-major songs were missing. Load G with Bm.

| G          | Bm         | C          | D          |

12-bar with 7ths (advanced)

Same map, dominant 7ths. The pull is the lesson — G7 wants C7, D7 wants G.

| G7 | G7 | G7 | G7 |
| C7 | C7 | G7 | G7 |
| D7 | C7 | G7 | D7 |

Quick-change 12-bar (advanced)

IV arrives in bar 2. Hal Leonard / blues-method “quick change.” Still G, C, D — the hard part is the early shift.

| G | C | G | G |
| C | C | G | G |
| D | C | G | D |

These songs share the loop. Titles are a recognition aid — not a transcription. Usual ukulele teaching key is G or C plus capo (method-book habit), not always the recorded key.

I – V – vi – IV

I – vi – IV – V (50s / ballad)

I – IV – V

vi – IV – I – V

Nepali titles (chords only)

Same rule: letters and a loop, not a transcription. Teaching keys below are the ones beginner ukulele charts use — capo if the singer’s Sa sits elsewhere. Cadd9 on those charts is our open C.

12-bar blues titles (Hound Dog, Johnny B. Goode, and the rest) share the G map above — change only the key with a capo. No jazz turnarounds here.

Keep the G shapes. Move the capo so the open G chord matches the singer’s Sa, or sits in a comfortable film / lok key. Method books teach the capo for this exact job — do not jump to barre just to change key.

The Lok pulse and Am campfire loops are original — not a named song. Use them when you want a minor or 6/8 feel without learning a recording.

A is the top line (GCEA) — the same orientation as the neck on this site. Numbers are frets, not fingers. A lead-sheet count under the letters is the “standard notation” of the change: one bar, four beats. Full staff notation waits until a page earns a real score.

Four-chord song in G — left-hand seats, not a melody:

   G                 D                 Em                C
A|--2----------------0-----------------2-----------------3--
E|--3----------------2-----------------3-----------------0--
C|--2----------------2-----------------4-----------------0--
G|--0----------------2-----------------0-----------------0--

Ghar loop:

   G                 C                 D                 G
A|--2----------------0-----------------0-----------------2--
E|--3----------------1-----------------2-----------------3--
C|--2----------------0-----------------2-----------------2--
G|--0----------------2-----------------2-----------------0--

First-pieces maps (titles and harmony, no printed tunes or riffs) live on Folk, Classical (and concert-hall names), Island strum, and Fingerpicking. This page keeps two public-domain / original doorways so classical / fingerstyle also appear as harmony loops:

• Open-string study in Em — thumb on the beat, i–m on the treble strings. Pachelbel’s Canon (1694, IMSLP) is the famous I–V–vi chain; we do not print his melody. Play the Em campfire loop, then take the same right hand to Classical drills.
• Thumb + brush on Ghar — folk fingerstyle seed. Same G–C–D–G map, thumb takes the bass, fingers brush the top. Build it on Folk drills.

Carcassi, Sor, and Giuliani (IMSLP) are the trusted spines when you want a named study. Do not copy a numbered exercise onto this page.