Five Ukulele Rating!
I’m not sure which feed brought it up, it was probably Amazon, and it linked to the Creative Guitar Poster. I poked around and tried to find an ukulele version, but was unsuccessful. So I asked the question. The response was pretty quick, within a couple hours, and provided a link to the ukulele version. It looked like something that would help when I was teaching and had lots of features, including being Dry-Erase with room to circle and make notes. I responded with a thank you and ordered one.
I got a message on The Ukulele Dude’s Facebook page indicating that they had added one of their Ukulele Reference Posters at no charge, and would I consider providing a review of the two charts.
So here we go!
The Ukulele Reference Poster is great! I’ve got several different chord books, fold out charts, and one page charts, but this gives you 216 chords neatly laid out in rows and columns that can be found quickly without having to break out the reading glasses or flip through pages. Shipped in a tube and printed on 100# glossy paper, the poster measures 24″ x 36″ and it should last a long time.
At the top, laid out horizontally, is the fret board with all of the notes through the 12th fret marked on it. I much prefer having a horizontal format like this, I think it is easier to translate to the actual fret board, particularly for a new student. It also helps put things in line with the standard ukulele tab format. The other feature is a couple of tables in the upper right corner. One shows the formulas used to create chords. It goes a level or two deeper than the table on page 56 of my Unlock Your Ukulele. The second table shows the formulas for the various scales and modes. I am familiar with some of them, but there ones I’ve never heard of, but now have a quick reference for when I get that far in my musical studies!
I am happy to have this posted right beside my desk as a great reference!
The Creative Ukulele Poster is a great tool (picture is at the top)! The dry erase ability is extremely helpful for a mobile teacher without a permanent classroom! I used it when teaching at the Great Lakes Recreational Leaders Lab in May. I could circle the chords we needed and lay out alternatives.
Like the Chord Poster, the top of the chart is the fret board laid out horizontally with all of the notes marked on it, this one going out to the 15th fret. The left side contains the same chord chart as the Chord Poster, all 216 of them. The right side is where things get interesting!
There are six separate sections on the right side. It has the same chord formula chart, but also has a scale chart of the complete note sets for all the major and minor keys. Instead of having the formulas for the various scales and modes, the chart provides the fret board layout of the notes for six of the most common scales, Major Pentatonic, Minor Pentatonic, Major Blues, Minor Blues, Ionian and Natural Minor Scales There is also a chart of the Chord Progressions.
In the center of the poster is a blank circle of 5ths style diagram that can be used to show what chords are going to be combined and how they fit together. The last section contains blank chord boxes, with two rows of blank music staffs complete with tab lines below them, perfect to use when noodling out a piece of new music.
For the solo player or someone doing one-on-one or small group teaching, these are perfect. Looking up at a chart on the wall helps keep your head up and posture right. But at only 2 feet by 3 feet, it is too small to be seen by everyone in a larger group or a typical classroom.
I’ve been working with BestMusicStuff.com and they are about to issue a new poster with larger sized chord diagrams. It will have ‘only’ the most commonly used 120 ukulele chords on it! And they are now offering a ‘set’ that will have the new poster with my book, Unlock Your Ukulele! It will come with some instruction to help you use the chord chart and leverage both of the items together.
These posters get a full 5 ukulele rating from The Ukulele Dude!
