Learn to Play the Tremolo Technique on Ukulele

Posted by Daniel Ward

Excerpted from a lesson in the No. 19 Winter 2017 Issue of Ukulele Magazine

The tremolo technique, as it is played on nylon-stringed instruments like the classical guitar, flamenco guitar, and yes, the ukulele, is very special technique of single-string repetitions that is usually combined with a thumb arpeggio outlining the harmony. When played smoothly and with just enough speed, this pattern creates the illusion of a duet, where the quickly picked melody sounds as a sustained note and the accompaniment bounces between the other strings, played with the thumb. The result is a magical sound that can resemble a voice, or an instrument like an oboe that sings above the harmony arpeggio of the thumb.

One of the most famous tremolo works is Recuerdos de la Alhambra, a classical guitar piece by Spanish composer Francisco Tárrega. It’s worth watching and listening to a video to get a feel for what this mysterious technique can sound like.

I love to unravel technical mysteries and in this lesson we will examine a complete breakdown of the tremolo technique and then look at an easy way to practice it so you can add it to your toolbox of picking styles. Even at very slow speeds, this kind of work will add tone, agility, and smoothness to your playing.

THE BREAKDOWN

Let’s start by focusing on just using your picking hand on the open strings. Example 1 shows the open-string pattern. Play the fourth string using your thumb, and then play the three consecutive first-string notes using your ring, middle, and index finger very slowly. (See the sidebar for information on the picking-hand notation.) The thumb plays the strings in a 4–3–2–3 pattern, with each note followed by three notes played on the first string with a ring-middle-index arpeggio. Play this over and over and don’t try to speed up yet. Just get used to the feel of the single-string repetitions and the moving thumb in between.

Picking-Hand Notation

Because classical guitar pieces can be demanding for both hands, lessons and music will often contain suggestions about which fingers the player should use to perform the piece. The fretting hand is given numbers 1 through 4 for the index through pinky fingers. By contrast, the picking-hand recommendations are each given a lowercase letter taken from the Spanish words for each finger: pulgar, indicio, medular, anular, and chiquito. (p) Thumb, (i) Index, (m) Middle, (a) Ring, (c) Pink

Practicing

There are two ways to get a solid tremolo going. Patience is the real skill needed for both of these, and for any new technique you are working on. One of the best lessons I ever learned was when a great teacher told me “the slower you practice, the faster you become.” So the first technique is to play the pattern over and over in a slow, steady rhythm. This way you will orient the tips of your fingers to the strings in a deep, kinesthetic way that never leaves once it is established. The second way to master tremolo is a fancy trick I picked up from flamenco and classical guitar artists.

This way of practicing is called “prepared picking.” What you do is play each note and immediately stop it short by placing the finger that’s about to play next on the string. This mutes the ringing and makes the sound very short. With this pattern, play the thumb’s note and put the ring finger on the first string. When you play the note with your ring finger, stop the sound as quickly as you can using your middle finger. Then play with the middle and stop the sound short with the index. The sound from the index will ring as you now play the next thumb note and start the pattern over. It will sound something like: Bong-Bip-Bip-Bee-Bong-Bip-Bip-Bee. The thumb and index tones will sound long and the ring and middle will be very staccato.

Excerpted from a Daniel Ward lesson in the No. 19, Winter Issue of Ukulele Magazine: