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Recent Posts
- 3 Chord Thursday Farewell April 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Freedom April 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Multi-Lingual Songs April 26, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday 70s 80s Favorites April 26, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday ART April 5, 2024
- Birthday Bash April 5, 2024
- Leap Year Special 2024 March 1, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday 4th Anniversary February 13, 2024
- Workshop: Happy Birthday February 13, 2024
- Arrangements for easy piano February 8, 2024
- Guitar orchestra concert in Boston – free February 5, 2024
- Chinese tea dyed eggs or marbled tea eggs January 23, 2024
- Ukulele Accompaniment Course in Zoom January 18, 2024
- Workshop: Ode to Joy January 13, 2024
- Workshop: the Hawaiian vamp January 13, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Poems & Parodies January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Irish January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Island Tunes January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday: World Ukulele Day January 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Thesaurus January 11, 2024
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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.
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
Group piano class in Zoom
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. […]
Tag Archives: tablature
Workshop: Auld Lang Syne
It’s THAT time of the year when everyone bursts out singing “Auld Lang Syne.” This popular tune is also sung on Burns’ Night. Here’s an opportunity to explore different ways to make this song interesting, a useful skill applicable to … Continue reading
Brown Eyed Girl double stops in Margaritaville
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
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Who wrote the original tune to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? The same melody used in the alphabet song “A, B, C, D, E, F, G”? The popular nursery rhyme “Baa, baa black sheep, have you any wool” also uses this … Continue reading
3 Chord Thursday: instrumental ukulele (Ode to Joy)
On Thursday 24th March 2022, we introduce instrumental ukulele, what is fingerpicked, plucked, or known as fingerstyle ukulele. We welcome other instrumentalists to join us because you can always play along muted. We have the chord diagrams so you can … Continue reading
Three Chord Thursday: Famous Riffs
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.
TAB & PLUCK
Do you already play the ukulele but don’t know how to fingerpick or read from tablature? Alternatively, you want to be able to read the tabs a little faster and know which fingers to properly create the sound you want?
Pluck and Strum: authentic replication
Ever wanted to play the intro riff that makes a song so recognizable? To replicate a song authentically, in the way we know it from the artists that made it famous, often we need to use both plucking and strumming … Continue reading
Low G Ukes Unite! a.k.a. Fingerstyle Ukulele
Most beginners learn to play ukulele that’s tuned such that the G string is pitched higher than the next string – C. This so-called re-entrant tuning is what makes the sound of the ukulele so special.
Ukulele curriculum: useful blanks
For every hour I teach, I probably spend two hours developing the content (ukulele curriculum) and preparing the material (sourcing, printing, copying, etc). To save time, I’ll log what I’ve found useful and free for teaching music via the ukulele … Continue reading
Ukulele repertoire: song sheets for amateur music making
Ever since getting introduced to the ukulele on Maui, I have been curiously witnessing and participating the rituals of ukulele groups and clubs in Maui, Boston, London, and Amsterdam. The ukulele allows self-accompaniment for singing without a conductor or leader. … Continue reading