Solos on the cuatro

Content

If you have studied and practiced the theory and techniques introduced in the previous chapters you will be in a position to approach the performance of the solo cuatro. This chapter introduces additional concepts for this purpose.

In these pages we will deal only with elementary techniques for the elaboration of simple arrangements, the elaboration of sophisticated solos requires knowledge that goes far beyond the fundamental concepts studied in these pages. However, the above will give you an idea of the details involved in the production of solos. We will base our elaboration of solos on a simple idea: the chords of the arrangements must "support the melody". What this support consists of will be made clear by studying the examples in this pages. However, from the point of view of practice, the elaboration of arrangements for the solo cuatro requires complete familiarization with the limitations imposed by its limited number of strings and its reentrant tuning. The description of how to overcome these limitations constitutes a considerable part of these pages.

A solo can be produced by simply plucking each of the notes that constitute the melody of a musical piece using the fingertip of the thumb; however, in most cases this simple technique alone does not achieve a remarkable aesthetic effect. You can improve this simple execution by also using your thumb to quickly strum the chord notes that allow you to clearly hear the note corresponding to the melody and give greater harmonic richness to the solo; this is the technique we will study first. The second technique incorporates not only the use of the thumb but also the index , middle and ring fingers of the right hand. The use of these four fingers allows greater expressiveness and speed in the execution of the melody, and also the use of arpeggios to achieve a more interesting arrangement.

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Chord Melody

In this section we will deal with the first technique described in the previous paragraph, the second will be studied in the next section. This method, which we will call chord melody, is based on the following.

When perceiving a rapid succession of notes the ear privileges:

• The highest frequency note.
• The last note issued.

According to this, the main idea of the proposed method is to replace whenever possible the melody notes with chords whose highest note is this melody note, and if this is not possible that it is the last note issued; the importance of this rule can be appreciated by comparing two versions of the same piece in which the part of the melody is suppressed and only arpegiated chords are used in rapid sequence:

Listen to the next recording and try to identify the melody that corresponds to this sequence of chords.

You may have been able to identify the melody, as it is a well-known composition. However, the fact that this version uses only chords in the first position and that they do not always contain the note corresponding to the melody may make this identification task somewhat more difficult.

For comparison purposes with the arrangement we will make later, the score-tablature of this recording is presented, in which the R that accompanies the conformation of each chord means that this chord is executed in an arpeggiated form from top to bottom, from the fourth string to the first:

If you look closely at the conformation of the chords used, you will notice that their highest notes do not always correspond to the melody note, nor does the last note emitted (first string), desirable conditions for a chord melody arrangement. A more satisfactory arrangement is presented below, in which the melody has been transported from D major to G major to facilitate that the chords meet these two essential requirements for a satisfactory chord melody arrangement.; the second condition is very difficult to fulfill in a four with standard tuning, since both the first and fourth strings are low in relation to the second and third strings; partial strokes should be used.

Listen now to a second version of this same arrangement, which contains the same sequence of chords as the previous file (transported seven semitones upwards) but employs inversions of these chords whose highest note corresponds to the melody. Try again to identify the melody using this new version.

It is very likely that you consider this second version to be much more satisfactory. Although in it the melody note is not the last note emitted in each chord. One way to make that both conditions are met is not to press the first string, but then the seventh chords would be incomplete and should be replaced by major chords.

Here is the score-tablature of this arrangement:

The elaboration of the previous arrangement did not present major difficulties. However, the standard reentrant tuning of the four, in which the B3 note of the first string is lower than the F#4 note of the second string and equal to that of the second fret of the fourth string, poses some difficulties in making arrangements using this chord melody technique. The most serious difficulty is that if we want to use only chord inversions whose highest note corresponds to the melody it should be restricted to the fifteen notes produced by the second string, which range from the F#4 note produced by this open string to the G#5 note located on its fourteenth fret, some of which can also be fingered on other strings. But if it is desired that each of the melody notes be accompanied by their respective chord, this set is reduced to twelve notes, since a margin must be left for chord fingering on the 12th to 14th frets. The following figure illustrates this situation; it has been omitted to show the sustained notes because they would result in a fairly congested figure, which would make it difficult to display the notes on the fingerboard.

Since a limited range is available, if it is intended to arrange a melody that is available in standard musical notation, it is convenient to verify that it does not extend over more than these fourteen notes and will probably have to be transported to locate it within the region valid for chord melody arrangements for the cuatro. The following stave, which indicates the different fingering possibilities of each of the notes of a fourteen frets cuatro, facilitates this identification. This is a figure that is convenient to have on hand when making transcriptions and arrangements for the cuatro from a score.

Alternating notes and chords

If you had heard it before, you probably had no trouble identifying the previous melody as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in the chord inversion arrangement. In this arrangement each of the melody notes is the highest note of the corresponding chord. Below we present a new arrangement of this melody in which chords and melody notes alternate. This example will show that it is not necessary to replace each note of the melody with a chord to have a satisfactory arrangement; what's more, alternating notes and chords slightly breaks the monotony of an arrangement that involves only chords.

Extended range

The extension of fifteen notes of the second string indicated on the fretboard and on the staff may be insufficient to accommodate all the notes of some known pieces. If in a chord melody arrangement we give up replacing each note with a chord we can take the liberty of extending this region to the first four notes at the top of the third string and the first five notes from the top of the fourth string, which will allow twenty-four notes (two octaves) to prepare the arrangement.

Due to the importance of the theme, we will introduce a method to generate chordal melody arrangements. But before addressing this presentation we will discuss a point that is vital to consider before the application of the method.

Choosing a key for a chord melody solo

Before describing the steps for the elaboration of an arrangement that uses chord melody, it is important to examine a fundamental difficulty posed by the reentrant tuning of the ukulele and its limited register: the choice of an appropriate tonality to generate a ukulele solo. Suppose you have the following score-tablature of "Greensleeves"", melody that we already consider when studying the natural minor scale and the extension of the families for minor tonalities, and wish to make an arrangement for solo interpretation on the cuatro:

If we review this score-tablature, we will see that in this A minor tonality the melody extends from the note E4 corresponding to the second fret of the third string to the note G5 corresponding to the thirteenth fret of the second string (see the staff shown above this same section). This covers a range of 16 notes, four more than the number of notes contained in the 12-note region that allows all of them to be replaced by complete chords in a standard 14-fret four. If we use a standard four and limit the location of the melody to the second and third strings, then we can choose the tonality to be used among those that range from the A minor tonality used in the score-tablature given to the C minor tonality. We will use the A minor tonality.

Since, as we will see, the work of elaborating a single one by chords is quite laborious, the time dedicated to the election of the tonality to be used minimizes the possibility of the loss of time that would originate from having to abandon this work by encountering a unforeseen insurmountable difficulty.

Method for producing melody through chords

The proposed method is briefly described below, in order to give a general idea of it. The example that follows this description considers the details of its application.

Paso 1. . Determine the melody notes and their harmonization. The notes can be determined in the tonality of the score or recording that is available for the piece, and the harmonization can be simple, with only the basic chords in the first position. In the rest of this description these chords will be called accompaniment chords, while the definitive chords that suggest the melody, and that in some cases could coincide with the accompaniment chords, will be called singing chords.

Paso 2. Determine the breadth of the melody register. If the register is 15 notes or less, the piece is a good candidate for an arrangement of melody by chords; if the register is greater than 15 notes, use the techniques of fingerpicking of the next section to complement the solo with fingerpicking.

Step 3. Choose the appropriate tonality. Assuming that in step 2 it has been determined that the melody can be accommodated within the register of the second and third strings, use the highest note and its corresponding chord to choose a tonality that allows the fingering of this chord.

Step 4. In this step three tasks are executed:

• Identify the piece.
• Register the details of the tonality to be used, including the notes of its chromatic scale indicating its degrees and its fingering on the second and third strings using a number in which the first digit corresponds to the string and the following digits correspond to the fret. Cross out the data of the notes that do not correspond to the scale (major or minor) used in the piece.
• Register the details of the accompaniment chords: their names and the notes that make them up.

Step 5. Identify musical phrases in the melody. Preferably, phrases of no more than sixteen notes should be chosen, but not too short. Care should be taken to identify similar phrases; if they were long phrases, they should be placed one below the other, to better appreciate their coincidences and differences.

Step 6. For each musical phrase:

• Register the names of the accompaniment chords above the corresponding syllables of the melody text.
• Register the names of the notes below their corresponding syllables in the text. Indicate with an asterisk the names of the notes that do not belong to the corresponding accompaniment chord.
• Under the name of each note, enter the numbers that identify the string and the fret for its fingering.The first digit of this number corresponds to the string, and the following digits correspond to the fret.These string-fret numbers allow you to quickly identify the inversion for the singing chords.Indicate with an asterisk the numbers corresponding to the notes that do not belong to the accompaniment chord.

Step 7. Select and draw the singing chords for each note of the melody. This selection depends on whether the note is part of the accompaniment chord:

• If the melody note is part of the accompaniment chord, the singing chord will contain the same notes as the accompaniment chord, but in an inversion such that the melody note is its highest note. The fret on which this inversion is fingered in the first or second string is indicated by the string-fret number set in the previous step. The visualization of the resulting chord fingering is greatly facilitated if the chord fingering domain has been achieved over the entire fretboard; see the subsectionChord inversions. Chord Equivalences last of the sectionUkulele/Acompaniment. As long as this domain is not achieved,the chord manual contained in Appendix A-X can be of great help.
• If the melody note is not part of the accompaniment chord, it can be treated as an added note or as an altered note. The theory of the subsectionsAddition of notes to a chord yAlteration of notes of a chord of sectionUkulele/Accompaniment will then be used to decide the chord to be used;the diagram in Appendix A-X will be helpful in this task. Write the names of the chords above their diagrams.

Example. The steps of the method in the creation of a chord melody arrangement for "Greensleeves" in A minor are illustrated below. Some of the observations contained in this example were already made in the introduction to the method, but they are repeated here so that the exposition of the example is complete; also to strengthen the concepts involved.

Step 1. Determination of the melody notes and their harmonization.

The notes of the melody and the accompaniment chords of "Greensleeves" in A minor were already given in his score-tablature.

Step 2. Determination of the amplitude of the melody register.

In the discussion about the choice of the tone of a melody it was already determined that the melody of "Greensleeves" covers an interval of 16 notes.

Step 3. Choice of tonality.

Also in the discussion about the choice of the tone of a melody, it was determined that the tonalities ranging from A minor to C minor are appropriate for chord melody arrangement for "Greensleeves" in a fourteen fret cuatro, and it was decided that the tonality of A minor would be chosen.

Step 4. Introduction of general data.

The identification of the piece, the details of its tonality and those of its accompaniment chords can be registered as follows:

Title: Greensleeves

Tonalty: A minorr

Accompaniment chords:

Step 5. Identification of musical phrases.

The melody can be divided into the following four musical phrases:

A-las my love, you do me wrong to cast me off dis-cour-teus-ly. (18 notes)
And I have loved you so long de-light-ing in your com-p'ny. (19 notes)
Green-sleeves was all my joy. Green-sleeves was my de-light, (17 notes)
Green-sleeves was my heart of gold, and who but my la-dy Green-sleeves? (17 notes)

Steps 6 and 7

The analysis of the first musical phrase is organized as follows:

Note that, as stated in the method statement, string-fret numbers allow you to quickly determine the appropriate inversion for the singing chords.

Continuation of the example. The results for the selection of the rest of the singing chords for “Greensleeves” are provided below.

Second phrase:

Third phrase:

Fourth phrase:

As you can see, playing a solo by the exclusive use of singing chords requires, depending on the tempo of the melody, great speed in the execution of the progression of these chords. In this short version of the elaboration of the “Greensleeves” arrangement, the chord diagrams show the fingering of the chords that, in the author's opinion, are more convenient for a quick performance, but you will decide whether or not to use barres depending on what is easier for you.

Next, the score-tablature of the complete arrangement of "Greensleves":

In order to practice this arrangement, you should familiarize yourself with the following recording:

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Cuatro fingerpicking

In the previous section we saw that it is not possible to generate an arrangement through the exclusive use of singing chords for pieces whose melody cannot be executed entirely on the second and third strings; in this case we will have to combine fingerpicking notes and singing chords.

The use of the punctuation allows a greater expressiveness in the ukulele execution by means of the use of execution techniques also used in the execution of the guitar, such as ligating, glissing, vibrato, tremolo, bending and campanella.

Although the introduction of the fingerpicking allows to overcome the limitations of the melody method, the limited number of strings of the four and its reentrant tuning continue to pose some difficulties that must be overcome. The register of a four standard fourteen frets cuatro with reentrant tuning extends over a range of two octaves that begins in note A3 that produces the open fourth string and extends to note G#5 that produces the second string in the fourteenth fret:

The following staff, which indicates the different possibilities of fingering each of the notes of a fourteen frets cuatro, facilitates this identification. This is a figure that is convenient to have on hand when making transcriptions and arrangements for the ukulele from a score.

In general, the lowest note that can be used in a melody to be performed in a four with standard tuning is the A3 note corresponding to the open fourth string, this note determines the lowest tonality at which this melody can be performed. The highest note that can be performed on a four with fourteen frets is the G#5 note corresponding to the fourteenth fret of the second string. The length of the interval between these notes is 24 semitones; thus, the range of tonalities, RT, in which a melody whose range is of RN notes can be played is 24 - RN + 1.

Take the case of the melody "Greensleeves", considered in the section corresponding to the technique of chord melody. This melody covers a range of 16 notes, which in the A minor tonality goes from the note E4, which can be obtained by pressing the third string on the second fret, to the note G5, which can be obtained by pressing the second string in the thirteenth fret; therefore in a four of fourteen frets this melody can be executed in the 24 - 16 + 1 = 9 different tonalities that go from D minor (A less seven semitones) to A# minor (D plus 8 semitones). The tonalities that go from B minor to C# minor are thus excluded. This represents a greater flexibility than that available for chord melody arrangement

What has been studied in the two previous paragraphs allows us to determine in an exact way the range of possible tonalities to elaborate an arrangement that can be interpreted using a four as a solo instrument; however, it is not about choosing a suitable tonalitiy for this arrangement. The selection of an appropriate tone is not a process as rational as the previous one, and there are several factors to take into account to make this choice; below we will mention some of them. Our "Greensleeves" arrangement using the chord melody technique reveals important aspects to take into account. The A minor tone was appropriate for the arrangement of this piece by chord melody, since in it the melody can be typed entirely on the second and third strings; however, this arrangement, due to the lower separation between the frets in the lower part of the fretboard, poses some difficulties in the execution of inversions of the chords in the lower frets; in fact, for the C_13 chord the C5 note must be picked on the upper body of the instrument. The choice of the G minor tonality reduces these difficulties and results in an easier execution arrangement; however, the melody will now contain notes D4, E4 and F4, for which no singing chords can be generated.

The arrangements considered for "Greensleeves" illustrate that in general the arrangements in low tonalities facilitate the execution, as long as they include a majority of chords in first position (with open strings), but restrict the number of singing chords for the low notes; while the arrangements in high tonalities are more difficult to execute, but they allow to incorporate a greater number of singing chords for the high notes. You can (and should) experiment with intermediate tonalities to achieve the solution that suits you. There is another aspect, subjective; which will become evident when performing this experimentation: because each of the tonalities uses different inversions for the chords, there will be some that, for the same melody, will produce a sound that will seem more pleasant than that produced by the others. This will be a factor that may be the one with more weight in the final choice. In fact, there are melodies that seem to come alive when executed in a specific tonalitie in the cuatro.

Consider now the melody "When The Saints Go Marching In". This is an appropriate melody to illustrate the method to generate an arrangement for the ukulele in which fingerpicking is primarily used, since it is a short melody, with a non-extensive note record, and also that lends itself to use different rhythms. Although it is easy to get scores and tabs for this melody in the C major and D major tonialities, suppose we have the tablature-score in G major given below:

This melody covers a range of only 7 notes, which in this G major tonality goes from the G4 note which can be obtained by plucking the second string on the first fret, up to the D5 note, which can be obtained by plucking the second string on the eighth fret; therefore, in a fourteen frets cuatro this melody can be played in all tonalities (24 - 7 + 1 = 18). As we have mentioned previously in this section, when using a cuatro for the solo interpretation of a melody we would like, for greater ease of execution, to use chords in the first position as much as possible. Now, an obvious fact of this score-tablature in G major is that this tonality has not the easiest fingering, since many of the melody notes are located below the region of four frets in which first position chords are fingered. It is necessary to transport the melody to a lower tonality; a little essay reveals that the D major tonality lends itself better to the solo interpretation of this melody: it allows a better distribution of work between the fingers of the left hand and uses profusely the C4 and E4 notes of the open third and second strings; it will be the tonality used for the arrangements of this melody in this section. Below is the score-tablature of "When The Saints Go Marching In" transported to the D major tonality:

The melody notes located on the open third string or on its first two frets cannot be suggested by singing chords; therefore, if you want to make profuse use of singing chords, you may want to use the G major key previously considered and use chord inversions. Remember: the creation of arrangements has no rigid rules; in this work a set of techniques have been provided that will help in its elaboration, but the decision on how a particular arrangement will be structured is entirely yours.

Procedure for making a fingerpicking arrangement for the ukulele

A systematic procedure to develop an arrangement for solo cuatro is suggested below. In this task, everything studied in this chapter will be used to produce a method in the style of the method for the generation of chord melody arrangements. The reader is expected to have assimilated the concepts of these pages so as not to need the repetition of concepts or detailed explanations.

Step 1. Verify that the melody chosen can be performed within the range of ukulele notes.

Step 2. If the melody fits within the range of ukulele notes, proceed to select an appropriate tonality. Use as a guide what was studied in the previous point.

Step 3. Separate the melody into musical phrases of preferably not more than twenty notes, but not too short. Care should be taken to identify similar phrases; which should settle one below the other, to better appreciate their coincidences and differences; The idea is to facilitate not only the creation of the arrangement, but also its memorization.

Step 4. On a sheet of paper or on the computer, and following a format similar to that used in the example that follows this description of the procedure:

• Identify the piece.
• Register the details of the tonality to be used, including the notes of its scale with indication of its degrees and its fingering.

Step 5. Harmonize the melody.

• Start with a simple harmonization through basic accompaniment chords.
• Register the details of the accompaniment chords: their names and the notes that make them up.

Step 6. For each musical phrase:

• Write down the names of the accompaniment chords above the corresponding syllables of the melody text.
• Register the names of the notes below their corresponding text syllables. Indicate with an asterisk the names of the notes that do not belong to the corresponding accompaniment chord. These notes are candidates for the re-harmonization of the melody.
• Register the names of the notes below their corresponding text syllables. Indicate with an asterisk the names of the notes that do not belong to the corresponding accompaniment chord. These notes are candidates for the re-harmonization of the melody.
• Under the name of each note, enter the numbers that identify the string and the fret for its fingering.The first digit of this number corresponds to the string, and the following digits correspond to the fret.Indicate with an asterisk the numbers corresponding to the notes that do not belong to the accompaniment chord.The melody notes fingered on the third string cannot be emitted by singing chords. If you wish to make profuse use of singing chords, you should take this into account.
• All the notes entered on the second string are candidates to generate singing chords. If the note belongs to the accompaniment chord, the singing chord will be the same accompaniment chord in its appropriate inversions; if the note does not belong to the accompaniment chord (it was indicated by an asterisk),the corresponding re-harmonization chord should be sought using the concepts studied in the subsectionsAddition of notes to chords andAltering the notes of a chord of the sectionUkulele/Accompaniment.

Here are some additional considerations concerning step 6.

It must be decided in which sections of the sentence singing chords will be used. Usually, in an arrangement based on fingerpicking, these are limited to the points at which a chord change occurs. Below the dividing line between the part of the melody and that of the chords, write down the names of the notes of the singing chords, preferably in the order of strings 1, 2, 3, 4, and draw the chords with indication of their name.

For notes that are not accompanied by singing chords, at the height of the text line corresponding to the indication of the first string, write down the names of the possible accompaniment notes.

• It may be desirable to register the notes, and the diagram and its name, of some accompaniment chords,which will act as a guide to the fingering of the melody and will serve as preparation for the fingering of the singing chords.
• Sections that include several singing chords one after the other are candidates to perform them by strumming and take advantage of the great rhythmic possibilities of the ukulele.

Example of arrangement

Next, everything studied is used to produce an arrangement for solo cuatro of “When The Saints Go Marching In”, in the key of D major. The importance of this example is not in its aesthetic result but in that it illustrates a methodology that can be useful in the elaboration of your own arrangements.

Step 1

In the section that deals with the selection of a tone for the elaboration of an arrangement, it was pointed out that the melody of “When The Saints Go Marching In” extends over the record of 7 notes, which in the tonality of D major goes from the D4 note of the open third string to the A4 note on the second string in its third fret; therefore it is feasible to create a cuatro solo for this melody using a fourteen fret ukulele.

Step 2

Since the melody of “When The Saints Go Marching In” encompasses a register of only 7 notes, an arrangement can be created for it in any major tonality. In the previous exploration that we did in the section dedicated to the selection of the tonality for an arrangement for solo ukulele by means of punctuation we conclude that the tonality of D major leads to an arrangement of easy execution, and this will be the one that we will use in this example.

Step 3

If the similarities are taken into account, “When The Saints Go Marching In” can be separated into the following four musical phrases:

Oh, when the saints go march-ing in; (8 notes)
Oh, when the saints go march-ing in. (8 notes)
Oh, Lord, I want to be in that num-ber, (10 notes)
when the saints go march-ing in. (7 notes)

Step 4

The identification of the piece, the details of its tonlality and its basic chords are as follows:

Piece: When The Saints Go Marching In

Tonality: D major

Step 5

The accompaniment chords are those corresponding to the family of basic chords for the tonality of D major:

Step 6

First musical phrase:

Observations:

• The part corresponding to the melody is annotated above the dashed line; that of harmony below.
• The first to third and fifth to seventh syllables are sung by notes. The fourth and eighth syllables are sung by the singing chords.

Second musical phrase:

Observations:

• The D major chord in parentheses is shown to indicate that it comes from the previous sentence.
• To adjust it to the melody, the fourth syllable ("saints") uses the inversion of the chord D constituted by the fingering B in the third fret.
• This second musical phrase is practically identical to the first: the melody only differs in the last two notes and in that there is now a change from chord D to chord A7 in the harmonization of the last note.

Tercera frase musical:

Observaciones:

• The A7 chord in parentheses is shown to indicate that it comes from the previous sentence.
• In the sixth syllable, "be", the preparation of the G chord could be suggested by also plucking the A4 note of the D7 chord on the first fret of the first string; although this implies a small modification of the melody.
• Although in general the chords are executed at the time of their appearance, in this arrangement it has been preferred to defer the emission of the G chord to the last syllable, "ber", because the G4 note is extended until the first beat of the next measure.

Fourth musical phrase:

Observations:

• To adjust it to the melody, in the third sentence ("saints") the inversion of the D chord based on Digitation B on the third fret is used.
• To get a fuller sound, in the last syllable the first three strings are plucked in the emission of the chord C. Although the note that corresponds to the second open second string is F#4, the fact that note of the melody is present on both the openthird string and the open first string makes that the chord insinuates the melody.

As can be seen from the example just considered, the proposed procedure is laborious, but does not require the necessary knowledge to create a score; therefore it is appropriate for amateurs.

Below is shown the score-tablature of this arrangement of "When The Saints Go Marching In". It is an extremely simple arrangement, but it will serve as the basis for more interesting arrangements.

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Fingerpickering arrangement embellishment

In this part we will take the "When The Saints Go Marching In" arrangement we elaborated in the previous section to illustrate some basic ways to add interest to an arrangement. All of them modify the measures of the arrangement in which there are notes with a duration longer than a half note to introduce notes or chords that complement the basic melody.

Incorporation of strumming in a fingerpicking arrangement

The cuatro is an instrument that lends itself a lot to the rhythmic accompaniment of melodies. One way to add interest to a ukulele fingerpicking arrangement is to introduce portions in which the emphasis momentarily passes from fingerpicking to strumming. The following illustrates a second arrangement in which strumming is interspersed at points where a melody note is extended by more than a quarter note:

Incorporation of arpeggios into a fingerpicking arrangement

A second arrangement is illustrated below, in which arpeggios are used with a sequence 4132 of eighth notes occupying half a measure (see the subsection Rythm by arpeggios for 4/4 measures on section Cuatro/Accompaniment.

Incorporation of scale notes into a fingerpicking arrangement

In this subsection we will see the introduction of notes of the scale corresponding to the tonality of a piece that lead to one of the notes of a chord used in its harmonization.

Note that in each of the boxes the same idea has been used: one of the notes of the chord used in the following measure is chosen as the objective and a sequence of notes is introduced that start from a note of the D major scale greater lower than this objective note and goes up the scale until it exceeds the objective note, then returns to a note located a tone or semitone of it; that is, it prepares the continuation of the melody.

Incorporation of low notes into a fingerpicking arrangement

Although the possibilities of using low notes in a ukulele with standard tuning are very limited, in the fourth arrangement that follows, the lowest note of its register, note A3 corresponding to the open third string, is used repeatedly to implement a completely different rhythm from that of the previous arrangements:

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Adding introduction, interludes and conclusion

In the previous sections, instructions were given on how to make different arrangements of a musical piece. The examples considered focused on the arrangement of the melody and harmony of each of its different phrases, without considering the inclusion of an introduction, interludes and a conclusion; a way to enrich an arrangement is to add some of these elements, especially the introduction. Unfortunately, most of the available score collections do not include such additions, so if you wish to enrich your arrangement you will have to develop them. However, before proceeding to give some suggestions to perform this task it is convenient to point out the following: although, like the main parts, the introduction, the interludes and the conclusion consist of musical phrases and the arrangement of then can be made following the same procedures as for the main phrases, it has been preferred in these pages to first present the arrangement of these main parts of the melody. This is more convenient for the beginner, because only through the cuatro arrangement of the melody of the main body of many pieces will he be able to achieve enough skill to tackle the creative part of the elaboration of the attachments to it. In addition, as we will see in the following, from the work with the melody of the main body you can extract material for such attachments. Here are some ideas for making them.

If you have recordings that include introduction, interludes and closing for the piece you want to interpret, you can use them as a model to generate these additions to your basic arrangement of the piece; but due to the limitations in the cuatro registration, what is heard in the recordings cannot always be executed in it, so adaptation work will be necessary.

Incorporation of an introduction

The preparation of an introduction requires special care. Recordings are not always available from which satisfactory ideas can be extracted for it; or you may have them, but you want to add your own conception to enrich your basic arrangement. If this is the case, you should ensure that your introduction catches the interest of the listener and serves as a preparation for the main body of the piece.

A relatively simple way to catch interest is to start the introduction with a low volume and increase it to the level at which the main body of the piece will be executed, or start with a slow tempo and increase it until reaching the tempo with which The main body of the melody will be executed. Another way to add interest, and that must be handled with care, is to start the piece in a different tonality than the one used in its main body.

Another way to create an introduction is to conceive it as a presentation, perhaps with some variations, of the themes that appear in the rest of the sections of the piece, in particular the chorus.

The first four measures of the following score-tablature constitute a possible introduction to "When The Saints Go Marching In". It is shown in conjunction with the first four measures of the arrangement that uses scale notes, but can be used with any of the other arrangements:

Incorporation of interludes

Although they do not raise the crucial problems of the introduction, interludes also require careful conception. Often an interlude is used to connect two sections of the piece and therefore is subject to them; but on other occasions it is not related to them and serves to temporarily move away from the musical “landscape” of the piece.

Incorporation of a conclusion

The conclusion, or outro, of a piece can be carried out in different ways. One of the most common forms is the repetition of the chorus with less and less volume until practically silence. Another form of conclusion consists in the repetition of the introduction, perhaps with slight variations. On the other hand, you can do without conclusion and finish a piece in an abrupt silence.

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