Curt Sheller

Having come to the ukulele from a background as a pick style jazz guitarist, with limited fingerstyle or finger picking chops. I can offer some insight into pick style. I’ve also develop a finger style technique on ukulele over the past few years.

As the uke has traditionally been mainly a rhythm-chord instrument played without a pick (we’ll ingore the felt pick). As soon as picks or pick like techniques are used comparisions to the guitar are drawn.

For fast single note runs as well as double stops passages. Ukulele players use their thumb. Jake Shimabukuro uses his thumb like a flat pick for fast single note runs. He uses the same tech that a virtuoso guitar player might use, picking motion from elbow. He also has the fingerstyle–picking down.

Many virtuoso classical and fingerstyle guitarists can play fast single note runs with fingers but never as fast as most virtuoso flatpickers of the same level. It is far easier for a pick style guitarist to obtain the chops for fast single note runs.

A guitarist that I really love, Tommy Emmanuel, does it all. Finger-style with thumb pick, finger style with a pick and fingers and flat picking. It all depends on the song. James Hill has that single note with a pick down and the fingerstyle as well. The later developed after his Langley stint where they played mostly, if not always with a pick.

I have uke arrangements that I practice using all three techniques and each sounds different. But I have never seen anyone approach the single note speed of flat pickers using picks. Even players using a thumb pick will support the thumb pick with the index finger when doing fast single note lines treatiing it just like a flat pick.

I tell all students that technique is like money. “You want more than you will ever need to be comfortable. You don’t want to come up short going for something musically because of your technique.” You can get the technique easier than the money.

Just do all three: pick, fingers and pick with fingers and let the music determine which one you use.

I fellow I studied guitar with for many, many years is a virtuoso jazz guitarist since his early twenties. He started to expand his repertoire with classicial music and ask Andres Segevio one day. “Being a virtisio guitarist with a pick. How long would it take to get to the same level with fingerstyle?” Segevio’s reply – “Not enough lifetimes.” So he did his classicial album pick style.

So we can get good at various picking and plucking techniques. But to develope all three to a high level is a lot of work.

Some people will say that everyone is different and delevelope you own style. As far as technique that is false. Technique is what is the most bio-mechanically efficient way to pick, play fingerstyle and pick with fingers. If there is no overwhelming musicial reason to play one way or another – there IS effecient ways to play any instrument with minimimal effort and motion.

There is nothing in day-to-day life that automatically gives us good technique for playing the musicial instruments I’m familiar with. It is a learned skill.

Most instruments other than classicial guitar and definitely the uke do not have an established method to do stuff (technique). Pick guitar technique is probally not even 100 years old. Other instruments have centuries of established technique.

Michael Jordan said. “If you practice anything eight hours a day you are going to get good at it. Whether it is efficient or not.”

Throw someone in a pool that can’t swim and they might get out. Their technique won’t look pretty and they are not going to made the Olympic team. But they will probally get by.