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- Instrumental Halloween tunes for ukulele October 29, 2024
- Ukulele Fall 2024 Course October 11, 2024
- Ukulele Exercises Series (books) September 26, 2024
- Nutmeg Ukulele Festival 2024 August 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Rest of the Year Pass August 27, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Hunter’s Full Moon August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Holiday Songs August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Sad but beautiful songs August 21, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Disney August 12, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday television August 12, 2024
- Borrow ukulele from a library August 7, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday NAMES July 29, 2024
- Fun with Uke 2024 July 23, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Dance! June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Hooked on Classics June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Relaxation June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Colorado Songs of John Denver June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Parody Parade June 25, 2024
- 3 Chord Thursday Across America June 25, 2024
- C chords for ukulele June 6, 2024
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November 2024 M T W T F S S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 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: ukulele
Annie’s Song in C for ukulele
When I was growing up on the island of Okinawa, I listened to John Denver whose songs of love, nature, and beauty described my childhood. I took a personal interest in “Annie’s Song” identifying myself with the name. When I … Continue reading
Easy peasy ukulele duet on open strings
After arranging music for easy piano solo and duets for several years, I am now developing material for teaching the ukulele to complete beginners. It’s an eye-opener to observe how quickly, after a short introduction to this four-stringed instrument, one … Continue reading
Opus: Live is Life for ukulele
On my first trip to Europe, I heard a song in the Greek islands that roused me to get up and dance. Because I heard it everywhere, it became the single defining song of my first backpacking trip as an independent solo … Continue reading
Happy Birthday chord melody arrangement for ukulele
A chord melody arrangement is one in which the melody (of a song) is embedded in the chord. While you can play the melody separately from the harmony, the idea is that the notes you need for the melody is … Continue reading
Most commonly used chords for ʻukulele
The common chord progression assignment I gave to my beginning music theory class caused an uproar. It was the secret formula that explained the Pareto Rule of Pop Music: 80% of pop music used only 20% of the chords. “You mean, … Continue reading
Chord shape thinking from guitar to ukulele
In my forthcoming paper on teaching yourself to play the ʻukulele, I venture into similarities between guitar and ʻukulele chords. If you already play the guitar, thinking in intervals and chord shapes will give you a head start to playing the … Continue reading