Back to that familiar place

I fall under the sad and lonely position many solo musicians encounter; we have no one to play with.

Insert sad face.

The biggest problem you have when there's no one to play with, is you, or at least I, tend to just play the same things over and over and over again. Though it really fine tunes what I can play, it doesn't challenge me to learn the way playing with others does.

I've mentioned this before, but the best option for folks who don't have anyone to play with is to find tutorials and suggestions and so on online. And that's the part where I'm back to that familiar place; I don't have the accountability or energy to think of what to play next.

I'm always looking for song suggestions, but I tend to do much better when other people suggest songs I should learn how to play. Maybe I never will, but there's a certain accountability that way.

Long story short, does anyone have any song suggestions, or songs you want to learn? Let's learn together!

Cheers.

Fun Ukulele turnaround

Here is a quick tutorial for a fun blues turnaround. I show you how to play A7, D7 and E7. It's a twelve bar turnaround:

|A7---|----|----|----|              (four bars of A7, each bar is four counts)
|D7---|----|A7---|----|          (two bars D7, two bars A7)
|E7---|D7---|A7---|E7---|    (one bar E7, one bar D7, one bar A7, back to one bar E7)


A7

D7

E7

As always, keep practicing, and get into playing. For a comprehensive list of chords, tips, tricks, techniques, etc, I recommend Ukulele For Dummies. Check it out.

How to learn the 'ukulele for free

I found myself wanting an 'ukulele about one year ago. I needed one. I desperately wanted to find one, and learn how to play it, and made plans to get one, and tour the world with it.

The day came when I bought one. My approach was simple: I wanted an instrument around $100 because that's what I could afford. I didn't want a toy, which cost anywhere between $25-$60. I couldn't afford, nor would I be guaranteed to like the instrument if I paid more than $250. I ended up spending $99 on my Cordoba concert ukulele, and it met all expectations I could have possibly had, which were honestly quite low at the time. I literally shopped for it while carrying my sleeping child, and bought it without strumming it. I'm still amazed that I bought a decent uke with the amount of effort I put into it.

The big kicker though was that I didn't have money leftover to pay for lessons. Being how I was obsessed with something and could only afford $99, I wasn't about to spend another dime on someone teaching me how to play it.


Let me be clear, if you want to learn the ukulele, or any instrument, take lessons. You'll learn tips, tricks, techniques, songs, theory, etc. in a fraction of the time and effort. This post is more for organic learning, teaching yourselfers, who don't have two nickels to rub together, yet have access to the internet.

The good news is that we live in the age of information. The internet can be used as a tool. I didn't know this until I started using it to learn, and lo and behold, it was there to teach me.

Let's start with online instructors. If you want to learn the ukulele, go to YouTube, and find Ukulele Mike. He is hands down the best ukulele instructor on YouTube. He has tons and tons of videos for FREE that teach you strumming, theory, songs, songs, songs, and more songs. His videos are great because he does play/sing alongs with the chords, which helps anyone who is trying to learn.

It's easy to get your fill of Mike though, so look for other instructors on YouTube. I like Ukulele Underground, and Hawaiian Music Supply, but there are many more, each catering to the likes of YOU, a viewer interested in learning the uke. You are, of course, allowed to be picky. Find the instructors that are right for you, and subscribe to them. Simple enough. You get weekly emails telling you what's new on your channel. Pretty cool.

Next, you're going to want to learn theory, different chords, different techniques, etc. You're best resource for any kind of ukulele information is ukulelehunt.com. It's the best. Truly. There's other great sites, but this is the best place to start. There you will find instructions on reading music, tablature, songs, technique, and all sorts of stuff in between. There are plenty of resources on the website that are FREE, so go for it!

Do you like books? Do you feel you would learn from a book on how to play the ukulele? Go to your local library! Who goes to the library anymore, right? Seriously, I hadn't been to one in years. But I went, and they let you borrow books for FREE!! What a crazy concept. I recently checked out "Learn to Play the Ukulele: A simple and fun guide for complete beginners." The book has a CD in it, so you can listen to the instructors be nerds and teach you strumming technique, blues progressions, and a variety of songs to play. Super fun! This isn't the only book you'll find at the library though, so go and check it out. You might find something even more amazing.


The thing is, you have to practice if you want to get better. The beauty of the ukulele is that it's light, portable, and at least mine is surprisingly hardy. My two year old plays with it, I drop it on the floor, it takes a beating every day. But it's out, and played every day. Use the tools available to you to get ideas of where to go, but then practice on your own whenever you have a minute.

And that is my expert advice, because I'm obviously an expert on not spending a dime to learn something important to me. The stuff I have on my blog is free, too. See what I have available and let me know what you want to learn!

Daily ukulele

Greetings to the ukulele players of the world. I recently came across this deal: The Daily Ukulele - 365 Songs for Better Living- Ukulele Songbook is on sale for about $25 on Amazon right now (normally $35).

I've heard that this book is fantastic because it can be used as a textbook for an ukulele class. You can get together with a group, and do a new song every time you meet. Even if you met every day and learned one song, you wouldn't have to repeat anything for an entire year. That's pretty rockin' bad.

So anyways, I was curious to know if anyone out there has used this book, and whether it was worth it. I'm going to dig into my piggy bank to acquire it, and then try and set up a ukulele class.

Does that sound crazy? Probably. I'm aware of how crazy that sounds.

Anyone ever done anything like this? I'd love to know what tips and tricks are out there to set this kind of thing up.

New year reso-uke-tions

I can't help the corny title. I'm a corny kind of guy. Speaking of, with the start of a new year, it is hard to not get caught up in reflecting on the past year, as well as think about things we want to accomplish in the coming one. Especially considering the apocalypse came and went without too much of an actual apocalypse, I'd say there's no better time to hone in on the things that will make us happy, inside and out.

Of course I'm leading up to playing the ukulele. If you want to take your aggression out on an instrument, maybe drums or a trombone will get you there. But if you want to find inner piece, and elevate your surroundings to the oasis in your mind, pick up a ukulele.

But what then? We all only know what we only know, so how do we break through the plateau we constantly find ourselves on when we are trying to learn something new. I for one feel like I can always improve, but I don't. I sit at the same playing level for a really long time, and then I get together with someone, learn something new, and my skill level jumps all of a sudden. So how do we propagate those jumps in skill level? I mean honestly, my inner circle of friends like music, but we rarely play music together. I don't go out and play for people, or attend meet-ups, or take any sort of action to socialize and improve my musical skills.

The answer is simple: get off your lazy duff and do those things listed. Meet people. Reach out to your surrounding community. Look online for ukulele jam sessions, open mic nights, etc. This will give you a flavor of other people's skill levels, it will help enhance your social skills, and push your own limits.

Meanwhile, when you're at home and wondering how to improve, search for lessons and tutorials online,  get a book (I personally like Ukulele For Dummies even though it makes me feel silly walking around with it, it's actually really helpful), listen to new music, and make sure you take time to practice playing the thing. I like to comment that the ukulele is highly portable, and therefore you don't have a good excuse not to carry it around everywhere you go.

These are my own personal thoughts, but I like to think that if I think this way, maybe there are folks out there in a similar train of thought. Happy new year to all! I hope to see you out strumming.

Unlocking the shuffle strum

I wanted to break down a few options you have while working on the shuffle strum. This is the strum most folks will use when learning the ukulele, and you have no excuse not to learn it. Once you get it, it all gets easier. But maybe it doesn't. 

Jingle Bells on ukulele for beginners

A quick little tutorial of how to play jingle bells on the ukulele. This is a beginner course. Have fun!

If you're feeling saucy, instead of a G, play a G7. It sounds more ukulele-ish. Okay, ready go!

Ukulele tutorial: In the Jungle (the lion sleeps tonight)

Here is a very quick tutorial using the chords we know: C, F and G. There are other "a wee-ma ways" to play it, but this is a good starting point.

Keep practicing!

Learn to play you are my sunshine

A fun song to learn for a beginner: You are my sunshine.

I use the following chords: C, F and G. Other respective combinations include, but are not limited to:

G, C and D

E, A and B

A, D and E

D, G and A

I've been focusing on playing major chords. With this song, and many others, you can replace the last chord in the sequence with a major 7th. So for example, in the video I focus on playing C, F and G. You can replace the G with a G7. It sounds a little closer to the mark.

Okay, that's all.

12 Bar Blues on the ukulele

In case you're wondering, I'm not the only person who provides a tutorial on the 12 bar blues. I hope my tutorial is clear enough to keep you from running away.

The video will help you count out this progression, but let me just write it out real quick.

What's a bar? A bar is a measurement in a song. I think most "popular" songs have a four count, but occasionally you'll find a song with a three count. Three counts are most commonly recognized in a waltz. There are other counts, but you're not going to see those in any music I'm going to teach.

We are focusing on a four count bar, and of course, the "12 bar blues" is going to be 12 counts of four. Make sense so far?

To start the practice, focus only on downstrokes, and count it out. "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 . . ."

Using the chords C, F and G, the progression goes:

C: 4 bars

F: 2 bars

C: 2 bars

G: 1 bar

F: 1 bar

C: 2 bars

repeat.

You can do this progression with these other major chords (respective to C, F and G):

E, A and B

G, C and D

A, D and E

D, G and A

The benefit of playing the songs with different chords is how high or low your voice can go.

A few examples of songs with this progression:

Can't Buy Me Love
Hound Dog
Great Balls of Fire

There's more examples, so let me leave it up to you to tell me what they are.

Chord Learnin'

It is important at some point that we learn all the major chords, whether you are planning on using them or not. Spoiler alert, you will use all of them all the time. Get over it.

Tutorial number 1: learn D and E. the funny thing is, these chords are identical, just on a different fret. Cool.

Tutorial number 2: Learn A and B. Guess what, these chords are also identical, only less obvious for the casual observer.

So what else truly needs to be said after such great knowledge has been dropped? Nothing. Watch these videos, practice, and remember me when you sign your record deal.

Practicing Chord Changes

A challenge we all face when learning an instrument is making it sound good when we change chords. Personally, I enjoy songs that have one or two chords in them, and you don't have to change very often at all (reference a Johnny Cash song).

Here's the bad news, even the most popular songs (often the easiest songs to play) have more than one chord in them, so you need to practice chord changes. So here is an exercise you can work on with the four chords we all know by now: C, G, A minor and F.

Start with C and strum, then change to G. Then go back to C. Then to G. Back and forth, forth and back.

Next go from G to F and back again. Back and forth, back and forth.

As you do this, your fingers are going to start remembering what the chord feels like, and you won't have to think about it nearly as often.

Personally, my goal when changing chords, is to change my finger positions between strums. In other words, the strings from my playing a C will still be ringing as I change to the G. The transition sounds much smoother that way.

Remember, start slow, practice lots, and soon you'll forget how hard you worked when you're rocking the uke in front of billions of adoring fans, or whoever your intended audience is.