Anne Ku

Ukulele exercise for waltz accompaniment

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Anne Ku

Triple time, triple meter, or three beats to a measure is a characteristic of the waltz as well as other dance forms. Accent or emphasize the first beat. What else can you do to accompany a waltz?

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged accent, accompaniment, chords, emphasize, exercise, repeat, repetition, uke, ukulele, waltz | 2 Comments

Strum & Fingerpick Exercise in 3/4 Time

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Anne Ku

Is it easy to switch from strumming to fingerpicking? Here’s an exercise that will get you to do both. When we strum, we are referring to block chords. However, it’s also possible to fingerpick a block chord. Similarly, it’s possible to strum a broken chord. Curious? Read on.

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Posted in ukulele | Tagged accompaniment, block, broken, chords, exercise, fingering, fingerpick, fingers, harmony, strum, uke, ukulele, waltz | 5 Comments

Accompaniment exercises in 3/4 time for low G ukulele

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Anne Ku

This blog post is about a fingerstyle ukulele exercise for low G ukulele in the key of A minor. The time signature is 3/4 which means a count of three. The exercise supports the song “Feed the Birds” in a previous blog post.

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Posted in ukulele | Tagged accompaniment, accompanying, chords, exercises, fingering, fingers, fingerstyle, low G, minor, notes, patterns, practice, practise, repeat, repetition, support, uke, ukulele | 5 Comments

Accompaniment in 3/4 time for high G ukulele

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Anne Ku

So far in my daily music writing project I have arranged two pieces in 3/4 time. Both pieces are in minor keys. Both can be accompanied as a waltz or lullaby or ballad. What does this mean for playing on high G ukulele?

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged chords, exercises, fingerpicking, fingerstyle, flexibility, hands, independence, minor, related chords, repeat, repetition, switching, transitions, uke, ukulele | 5 Comments

Feed the Birds with ukulele

Posted on January 6, 2025 by Anne Ku

Where do I get my ideas for arranging music? Sometimes it’s a song that reminds me of something. Sometimes it’s a national day. For “Feed the Birds” from the movie Mary Poppins, it’s both and more.

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Posted in travel, ukulele | Tagged accompaniment, accompanying, bird, children, chord melody, chords, Disney, film, instrumental, introduction, lead sheet, London, melody, movie, music, practice, practise, song, songs, uke, ukulele, waltz | 8 Comments

Auld Lang Syne in F for low G ukulele

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Anne Ku

The experience of writing for low G ukulele is entirely different from writing for high ukulele. Playing the arrangement is also something else. I daresay Auld Lang Syne in F on low G ukulele is easier to play than that my version in G major on high G ukulele. They sound different, too.

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged arrangement, chords, handouts, high G, instrumental, instrumental solo, low G, music, recording, samples, song, songs, uke, ukulele, version, video | 6 Comments

On Top of Spaghetti in C for high G ukulele

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Anne Ku

The first thing I read after I got up this morning was whatever was on the dining table. It threw a curve ball at me. Instantly, the tune entered my head. The only way to get rid of that ear worm was to write it down. January 4th is National Spaghetti Day.

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged accompaniment, arrangement, ballad, chord, chords, fingerstyle, high G, music, notation, notes, parody, song, songs, tablature, uke, ukulele, video, waltz | 12 Comments

Left Hand Techniques for ukulele

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Anne Ku

Left hand techniques refer to the different ways to produce sound with the fretting hand. In addition to preparing the pitch, these left hand fingers can also be employed to produce sound by sliding, bending, hammering on, and pulling off. We explore exercises for the high G ukulele, as applied to Auld Lang Syne for high G ukulele.

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged arrange, arrangement, catalog, fingerpicking, fingers, frets, hammer on, left hand techniques, notation, pull off, skills, slide, strings, tab, tablature, tabs, uke, ukulele | 15 Comments

Auld Lang Syne for high G ukulele

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Anne Ku

Between New Year’s Eve and Burn’s Night is the best time of the year for Auld Lang Syne. This time last year I ran several workshops in Zoom to explore different ways to play and accompany this popular song. Revisiting what I had arranged, I discovered even more, if not, better ways to play it — for high G ukulele specifically.

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Posted in sheet music, ukulele | Tagged arrange, arrangement, Auld Lang Syne, chord melody, chords, high G, instrument, instrumental solo, lead sheet, left hand techniques, request, sheet music, solo, uke, ukulele | 18 Comments

Andalusian Cadence

Posted on January 2, 2025 by Anne Ku

The chord progression that accompanies the first section of Greensleeves (What Child Is This) is a common chord progression known as the Andalusian Cadence. You might have heard or played it in the song “Hit the Road Jack.” Can you think of other songs that use it?

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Posted in ukulele | Tagged access, accompaniment, Andalusian, arpeggio, cadence, chord, chords, dominant, dominant seven, exercise, key, minor, progression, songs, uke, ukulele | 19 Comments

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Recent Posts
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Recent Posts: Concert Blog
REVIEW: Discovering Fingerstyle Ukulele Songbook by Colin Tribe

Colin Tribe’s new book offers new possibilities for ukulele players who aspire to fingerpick their way through thirty of the most popular songs of all time. These chord melody arrangements show a variety of ways the high G ukulele can be used for instrumental solo or duet (such as chord accompaniment and melodic fingerpicking) . […]

REVIEW: Piano Animals (duet) by Heleen Verleur

This 31-page book of four hand piano music is sheer FUN with a capital F. The composer Heleen Verleur knows just what pianists love playing: music that is easy to read, sounds hard to play, but is so much fun that you don’t want to stop until it ends.

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This 40-page book is the latest contribution to the ukulele repertoire by the UK-based ukulele and guitar composer Paul Mansell. Guitarists who play the ukulele are few and far between, for many adult learners pick up the ukulele without knowing the guitar. Yet it takes a guitarist who understands the possibilities of the re-entrant tuned […]

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Introducing my group piano class online: Group Piano Class in Zoom. The first series of seven weekly one-hour class started in June 2021. The second (continuation of the first) started in October 2021 at alternating weeks, until end of December (seven sessions). The third series of 16 consecutive weeks started at the beginning of 2022. […]

Anne Ku

Ukulele exercise for waltz accompaniment

Strum & Fingerpick Exercise in 3/4 Time

Accompaniment exercises in 3/4 time for low G ukulele

Feed the Birds with ukulele

Auld Lang Syne in F for low G ukulele

On Top of Spaghetti in C for high G ukulele

Left Hand Techniques for ukulele

Auld Lang Syne for high G ukulele

Andalusian Cadence

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Recent Posts: Concert Blog

REVIEW: Discovering Fingerstyle Ukulele Songbook by Colin Tribe

REVIEW: Piano Animals (duet) by Heleen Verleur

REVIEW: Ukulele Picking Tunes Classical Gems by Paul Mansell

REVIEW: Modern Pieces for Ukulele by Paul Mansell

Group piano class in Zoom

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