Ukulele tutorial: Amazing Grace

A campfire song we can all hum along to; Amazing Grace. I have put together a quick tutorial of how to play this song. Enjoy!

Ukulele tutorial - Taking Back Sunday's "Cute without the E"

Here is a tutorial of how to play Cute Without The 'E' (Cut From The Team) by Taking Back Sunday on the ukulele.

This was requested by someone, and was not a song I would have pictured to be popular on the ukulele, but who can argue? I mean, in many ways the song can carry more meaning from the uke because it's quieter, and a little more, oh what would be the best word? Intimate? Passive-aggressive? Rather than in your face rock-n-roll!!

Whatever the case may be, here is my tutorial:

Many of my lessons reference a variety of ukulele chords. You can get a grasp of all of them here: Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Find (Google Affiliate Ad)

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.

Ukulele tutorial - Escape (Pina Colada song)

I recently got a request for the Pina Colada song or "Escape" as people seem to prefer to call it. When I first heard this song, I couldn't help picturing a guy with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, greasy hair, polyester suit, and . . . well, I don't know. Picture musician in a dive bar in 1979. 

Me = judgmental. 

Guess what, I'm right. Guess what, in 30 years, I'll be the creeper. 

Here is a quick tutorial of a SUPER EASY way to play this song. There is a complicated way, but guess what, it's a silly way to play the song. No offense to the talented musicians out there, but it is super unnecessary to play it more complicated than the two chord progression. Um, doy. A number one song gets its place through lyrics alone; the solo is what musicians get a charlie for. It's science.

Let me know if this is helpful to anyone interested.

Ukulele Tutorial: Neon Trees "Everybody Talks"

I consider myself to be a mainstream, pop-punk listener. I feel that I should have shame in mentioning this, because the whole reason to like punk music is to be counter-cultural, against all authority, etcetera, etcetera. Popular punk is an oxy-moron. It's true.

Spoiler alert, I'm a pop-punk fan. The fact is, I like music that's rockin', but I also like music that follows a formula, has good singers, etc, and today's song definitely fits that mold. 

Neon Trees is a fun band; their songs are great, they have a lot of character and I'm going to be honest, I've got a thing for female drummers. She is fantastic.

Today's song tutorial is "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees, although everyone probably recognizes this song from "...It started with a whisper!!!" 

Take a look at the tutorial video.



Structure of the song:

Count is 4/4, which means that a bar is four counts (yeah, like that makes sense). I will describe a bar as |----|. So if I say |D---|, that means play D for one bar. Simple. D for two bars is |D---|----|.

Strum pattern: up, down/up, chuck, up, down/up, chuck. Down strums are on the odd count (1 and 3) and up strums are on the even count (2 and 4). If this is too complicated, stick to a shuffle strum: down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up.

Intro: |D---|D---|D---|----| for 3 bars, then hold for one bar.

Verse: D 2 bars, G 2 bars; repeat three times. A for three bars then hold one bar.
|D---|----|G---|----|
|D---|----|G---|----|
|D---|----|G---|----|
|A---|A---|A---|Hold---|

Chorus:
|D---|----|G---|----|
|A---|G---|D---|----|
|F#m---|----|G---|A---|
|D---|----|


Second verse: Same as first, only two rounds of D and G.
|D---|----|G---|----|
|D---|----|G---|----|
|A---|A---|A---|Hold---|

Chorus

Bridge:
|G---|----|D---|----|
|G---|----|A---|----|

Solo:  Hold D for 8 bars.
|D---|----|----|----|
|D---|----|----|----|

Third verse:
|D---|----|G---|----|
|D---|----|Hold---|

Chorus

Outro: (everybody talks, everybody talks)
|D---|----|G---|----|
|A---|G---|D---|----|

|D---|----|G---|----|
|A---|G---|D---|----|

I'm confident this makes no sense. I'm also confident if you're in my brain, it does. Good luck and hope this helps!

Side note: this follows a very common song formula, not only in the progression, but the entire formula of the song. If you figure out how these chords interact, you'll conquer many, many songs out there.

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!