Steve Colby is an Atlanta, Georgia-based entrepreneur who guides Pogo Pictures, where he creates impactful ad campaigns for a wide range of brands and vacation locales. A music enthusiast, Steve Colby enjoys playing instruments such as the violin, guitar, piano, and ukulele.
An ideal instrument for beginners that features only four strings and manageable frets a short distance apart, the ukulele has a standard tuning of G-C-E-A. This makes it ideal for songs in the key of G, ranging from traditional Hawaiian tunes to those by songsmiths such as Bob Dylan and Bob Marley.
One aspect of playing that gives the ukulele a distinctive sound is the strumming pattern. One syncopated style that works well with a variety of songs is a downward strum, followed by five down-up-down strum patterns. This is capped with a down-up strum before the sequence repeats.
A popular attraction of standard ukuleles is that they pair well with other types of ukuleles, such as soprano and baritone models. One style that works well in duo settings is to have one player play chords while the other picks a melody line. With practice, players can switch off at will. And if both can sing in harmony, that makes songs even more memorable.
Steve Colby 