Mango Tango Ostinato ukulele duet

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Anne Ku

The idea for a new composition sometimes starts with a title. The tropical fruit I love so much rhymes with tango, a dance I’d like to master one day. We can easily simulate the tango rhythm with a simple two bar ostinato. As it’s easier to write a duet than a solo piece, let’s see if the high G ukuleles can occupy the same sonic space, i.e. the same register in “Mango Tango Ostinato.”

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Arpeggio Carpaccio Prego

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Anne Ku

Sometimes reading a book published in a distant location makes me hungry for the cuisine of that faraway place. Long overdue, I downloaded and digested the 155-page book summarizing the contents of the first academic conference on the ukulele from the website announcing the third conference which will take place this autumn. There’s so much in there! Can I whet your appetite with my new fingerstyle piece – Arpeggio Carpaccio Prego for high G ukulele?

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Travel with Travis in the Wind

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Anne Ku

A popular variation of the basic Travis fingerpicking pattern is the pinch (twist), hold, then inside, outside, inside strings. The American band Kansas uses this pattern in their hit song “Dust in the Wind.” The melody is contained in the fingerpicking, hence “chord melody.” This accompaniment pattern also works well for Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” Hence, the title “Travel with Travis in the Wind” for high G ukulele.

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Travel with Travis: Hammer & Pull

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Anne Ku

Besides the arpeggio and Alberti bass, the third most important fingerstyle accompaniment pattern is Travis Picking. Named after the American country and western singer and songwriter Merle Travis, the fingerpicking pattern has many variations. To this, I added two left hand techniques of hammer on and pull off for fun, hence “Travel with Travis: Hammer & Pull” for high G ukulele.

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Alberti Zucchini

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Anne Ku

At the final class of the 6-week beginner ukulele course I taught at the Boston Public Library near Harvard University, I led the eight adults to play a duet I arranged, which was the last piece in the Fun with Uke Festive Edition.. The accompaniment was the famous Alberti bass. We were awarded by a homemade “zucchini loaf” which I later coined the new name “Decadent Chocolate Courgette Cake.” The result is this “Alberti Zucchini” to remember the occasion.

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Arpeggio Curioso for high G ukulele

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Anne Ku

The short definition for the Italian word arpeggio is harp like. A longer definition is the individual notes of a chord played in succession. An even longer definition is to play the single notes in succession, either ascending or descending in pitch. If you’re curious about the arpeggio, check out my latest composition “Arpeggio Curioso” for the high G ukulele.

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Long, Long Ago ukulele duet

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Anne Ku

We spent most of our sixth and final one-hour beginner ukulele class playing a duet with Alberti accompaniment, the last piece in the 20-page Fun with Uke Festive Edition. The melody is used for many songs, most famously Alphabet, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Miss Arabella Miller, and Twinkle Twinkle. What else can the Alberti accompaniment used for? The folk song “Long, Long Ago” requires only two chords. You might have heard of it, long long ago.

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What’s It Waltz for high G ukulele

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Anne Ku

As I went through the day in want of sleep, I thought about the “Whirlwind Waltz.” It was a first draft. Why did I start in one key and end in an unrelated key? Couldn’t I have returned to the original key? Could I have made it easier for the beginner by using open strings in the three note introduction? “What’s It Waltz” is very similar to Whirlwind Waltz. Can you tell the difference?

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Whirlwind Waltz for high G ukulele

Posted on May 10, 2025 by Anne Ku

Here’s a short waltz that got me out of bed before 4 o’clock in the morning. Was it the copious amount of homemade chai tea that kept me awake or the buzz of the Long Island Guitar Festival last weekend? I hear notes screaming to get born. I named it “Whirlwind Waltz” because I couldn’t possibly call it “4 O’Clock Waltz” and not get asked why.

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From lead sheet to chord melody arrangement

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Anne Ku

One of the burning questions I get asked is how to get from the melody to chord melody. In other words, how do you create a solo instrumental version from a lead sheet that provides only the melody notes, lyrics, and chord names. With practice, you will be able to play the melody and the harmony together by fingerpicking and strumming with only the bare skeleton of melodic notes and chords. Let’s take the well-known two-chord nursery rhyme “Skip to My Lou” and see the steps required to go from lead sheet to chord melody.

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