Do Ukulele Players Need to Learn Scales?

Playing the ukulele is a lot of fun. I remember shortly after acquiring my first ukulele when my beautiful wife danced around with my two daughters. She played the uke and made up nonsense, Hawaiian-sounding, words. She has no idea how to play the instrument, but it was a lot of fun. Now, add the practical application of chords and strumming techniques and  you start playing the ukulele rather than playing with it. I've been teaching ukulele for a number of years now. Most of my student learn some basic chords first and we work through "Somewhere Over The Rainbow". More serious students begin learning the notes of the treble clef. Soon they learn the "C" major scale. After we learn our first scale, we don't really apply it directly into their other playing. It ends up being another exercise in a long list of exercises. Which begs the question, Do ukulele players need to learn scales?

The Case For:

Of coarse ukulele players need to learn scales. Scales are the backbone of music. Scales are the building blocks of the chords that we play. For example: the major chord is build from the 3rd and 5th intervals in the major scale in addition from the root. To make that chord minor, you take the 3rd interval and lower it a half step. Also, scales are great from writing and improvising melodies. My approach to guitar solos and melodies was mostly trial and error before learning and understanding how to use scales. Needless to say, there were many times I hit a very wrong note at the very wrong time. Scales are also useful for creating interesting note patterns when playing chords. Changing from chord to chord sounds much more impressive by running up or down the appropriate scale to accent the next chord. In short, scales take to guess work out creative playing.

The Case Against:

Scales are a useful tool for many musicians. Knowing scales can help a musician do many things, but when applied to the ukulele, one can argue that the application might not be worth the work. It is true that the majority of the iconic sound of the ukulele comes from chords and strumming. When considering the soprano, the smallest ukulele, it is easy to see where single note melodies might take a back seat. The soprano's sound is almost percussive in sound. There is little sustain in the soprano because of the low mass. This is not to say that single note melodies or small runs in between chords are not employed by some, but they are less prominent in traditional ukulele music. There are many things to learn and practice. Scales may not directly apply to useful skills when playing the ukulele.

The Conclusion

If someone, who is interested mostly in strumming and singing with the soprano ukulele, were to ask me if they need to learn to play scales on the ukulele, I would say that they should focus on other techniques first. Conversely, If someone, who came from playing the guitar and was interested in playing blues on the baritone ukulele, I would say that scales were a very important part of their practice. Scales are a very useful tool that any musician could benefit from learning.