Tag Archives: riffs

Body Surfing for easy ukulele

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Anne Ku

Body Surfing is an instrumental solo piece for the ukulele by Herb Ohta that uses the Andalusian cadence and sounds virtuosic when played at a high tempo and up the neck. Continue reading →

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Ukulele Fall 2024 Course

Posted on October 11, 2024 by Anne Ku

Ukulele course in-person and in-Zoom in Boston, Massachusetts Fall 2024 Continue reading →

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Ukulele Course: riffs and more!

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Anne Ku

Besides strumming the chords, what else can you do to accompany a song? Every song has its instantly recognizable riffs, repetitive chord progressions, percussive patterns, and other unique units hidden in the introduction, instrumental interludes, outros, or between verses, refrains, … Continue reading →

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Spooky & scary tune for Halloween

Posted on October 6, 2023 by Anne Ku

Halloween is a big deal in the United States. As soon as the leaves start changing color, houses get decorated with witches, cobwebs, skeletons, and ghosts. Do you know a spooky and scary tune for this occasion? What makes a … Continue reading →

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Brown Eyed Girl double stops in Margaritaville

Posted on September 17, 2023 by Anne Ku

Catchy instrumental introductions hook you in, especially if they return as an instrumental interlude later in the song. Without these intros and interludes, the song seems incomplete. Such is the case of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Jimmy Buffett’s … Continue reading →

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3 Chord Thursday Spicing up songs with few chords

Posted on October 24, 2022 by Anne Ku

On Thursday 17th November 2022, we explore different ways to spice up few chord songs (that have two or three or four chords). Have you ever wondered why some people are able to spice up a three chord song? See … Continue reading →

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Beatles love songs for Valentine’s Day

Posted on November 7, 2021 by Anne Ku

Every year I try to select songs to fit the annual occasions, such as love songs for Valentine’s, Irish songs for St Patrick’s, nature songs for Earth Day, etc. In my deep dive Beatles songs for my ukulele classes in … Continue reading →

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Three Chord Thursday: Famous Riffs

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Anne Ku

Join us on Thursday 6th May 2021 to hear the performers pluck or strum the famous riffs that are instantly recognizable in these songs of Three Chord Thursday.

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Safely dance the safety dance: riffs and meaning in music

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Anne Ku

Still reeling from the high energy ukulele jam of the “Eighties Extravaganza,” I can’t stop exploring the songs we didn’t get to sing. One of these is the one hit wonder by the group “Men Without Hats.”

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