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Recent Posts
- 100 Days of Ukulele 2025 June 9, 2025
- Orfeo Arpeggio June 8, 2025
- Euridice’s Descent June 8, 2025
- Hemiole Guacamole June 7, 2025
- Mango Tango Ostinato ukulele duet May 29, 2025
- Arpeggio Carpaccio Prego May 28, 2025
- Travel with Travis in the Wind May 28, 2025
- Travel with Travis: Hammer & Pull May 28, 2025
- Alberti Zucchini May 28, 2025
- Arpeggio Curioso for high G ukulele May 27, 2025
- Long, Long Ago ukulele duet May 22, 2025
- What’s It Waltz for high G ukulele May 15, 2025
- Whirlwind Waltz for high G ukulele May 10, 2025
- From lead sheet to chord melody arrangement May 9, 2025
- Suss the Suss for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum Scale for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum Chromatic Scale for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Pick Strum C Major Scale May 9, 2025
- I Hear Ya, Andaluza for high G ukulele May 9, 2025
- Fingerstyle for Fun May 8, 2025
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Recent Posts: Concert Blog
Writing music every day
What happens when you start writing music every single day?
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.
REVIEW: Ukulele Picking Tunes Classical Gems by Paul Mansell
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 […]
REVIEW: Modern Pieces for Ukulele by Paul Mansell
Review of first three pieces from the new book Modern Pieces for Ukulele by Paul Mansell
Tag Archives: chord progression
Puff the Magic Dragon Travis Picking Variations
RIP Peter Yarrow (1938 – 2025) who wrote Puff the Magic Dragon. Practice the seven variations of travis picking on the chord progression from the song on ukulele. Continue reading
Workshop: the Hawaiian vamp
Also known as the Hawaiian turnaround, the famous Hawaiian vamp refers to a short chord sequence that can introduce and end a song, intercede between verses and choruses. The chords depend on the destination key.
Puff, the Magic Dragon
An instrumental introduction sets the tempo, establishes the rhythm, and anticipates the starting note of the melody for a song. Here’s my attempt to capture Peter, Paul and Mary’s version of “Puff, the Magic Dragon” in a key I can … Continue reading
Pachelbel Medley (workshops in Zoom)
For Pachelbel’s Birthday Party, I made a medley of songs that follow the eight-bar chord progression in Pachelbel’s Canon. In selecting the songs, I noticed that most of the 24 songs I had listed did NOT follow the progression in … Continue reading
Easy Beatles Jam Session
As I explore music for ukulele jam sessions, I keep discovering Beatles songs I’ve never heard of before. In London, I chuckled at the politically incorrect “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and the funny “Octopus’s Garden.” George Harrison’s “I’ll Follow the Sun” … Continue reading
Jukebox Piano Class: Stand By Me for Easy Piano
I should call my piano classes “Jukebox Piano Class” because I take requests. Nothing motivates a new musician more than being able to play something he or she likes. Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me” is one of these requests. … Continue reading