Lesson Archive
March 26, 2024
Song Circle Jam
No Lesson. New Songbook!
March 19, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Awesomeness: Great Britain Ukulele Orchestra, paste in browser: You Don't Bring Me Flowers - The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Lesson: Kicking Off a Song!
Video: How to Kick off a Song (sorry, no link)
Practice: Introducing a song with play-only of last two lines of verse/chorus (whichever you’re starting with)
Suggested Song Picks:
The Rainbow Connection G-10 (Work on Bridge)
Can’t Help Falling In Love C-8
Five Hundred Miles G-3
Hallelujah (With Metronome)
Over the Rainbow C-7
Summertime Am4
Stumble through:
Bridge Over Troubled Water G9: Bridge Over Troubled Water
NEXT Week: Song Circle
March 12, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Lesson: Chord Change Strategies
Chord Change, Fast, with Aldrine Guerrero Chord Changing
Chord Change, Slow, with Cynthia Lin Cynthia’s C-F-G
Handout: Chord Change Strategies
New Song Play Through: Stand By Me, Audio Clip
Suggested Song Picks:
The Rainbow Connection G-10
Can’t Help Falling In Love C-8
Five Hundred Miles G-3
Over the Rainbow C-7
Stand by Me C-4 Stand By Me
Summertime Am-4
The Swimming Song
March 5, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Lesson: Putting your pinky finger to work on your ukulele.
Aldrine Guerrero: Pinky Exercise #2: pinky exercise #2
Table-top Pinky Pushups (Susan)
New Song Play Through: The Rainbow Connection G10 The Rainbow Connection
(notice the chords on the end verses vs. the beginning verses. One whole step higher.)
Suggested Song Picks:
Blowin in the Wind G3
Blue Bayou G5
Can’t Help Falling In Love C8
Hey Good Lookin’ C4
Jambalaya C2
Over the Rainbow C7
Summertime Am4
Three Little Birds C3
February 27, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Lesson: Lesson: Adding Variety to Strums.
Bernadette Teaches Music: Picks, Strums, & Mutes
See what happens in a song (Austin Ukulele Society) I Can See Clearly Now
Handout: Understanding right-hand technique in ukulele.
Bonus: Gentle stretches: Starfish and pinky pushups.
New Song: (second half) The Rainbow Connection, The Rainbow Connection
We started this last week, and learned chords for the first half of “The Rainbow Connection” . . . after singing along with Kermit. This is a “written for the movies” song, so in spite of its seeming simplicity, the chords are numerous, mostly because it changes key in the middle.
The Rainbow Connection is in 3/4 time, so it has 3 beats per measure. We’ll continue to do one strum/measure this week, and learn the chords for the second half of the song.
When you’re ready for a strum that fits better, I’d suggest and very delicate “mini strum” in the “D DU DU” pattern
Suggested Song Picks:
Five Hundred Miles G3 Five Hundred Miles
Can’t Help Falling in Love C8 Can’t Help Falling
Blowin’ in the Wind G3 Blowin’ in the Wind
Jambalaya C2 Jambalaya
Paradise C3 Paradise
February 20, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Leaving on a Jet Plane
Lesson
Practice the Island Strum ( D DU U DU), strum, #7 on our 7 Strums Handout.
Video: The Island Strum “Bernadette Teaches Music”
New Song: The Rainbow Connection, The Rainbow Connection
“The Rainbow Connection” singalong with Kermit. This is a “written for a movie” song, so in spite of its seeming simplicity, it’s a good idea to get the feel of it before tackling the chords.
I’m pretty sure that the original key was A, and our song sheet is in G, so I’m also going to show you how to use a capo so we can play it in G and have it sound good with Kermit.
The Rainbow Connection is in 3/4 time, so it has 3 beats per measure, rather than the four beats that are typical of most of the songs. We’ll start with one down-strum per measure. The chord changes are a bit much.
When you’re ready for a strum that fits better, I’d suggest and very delicate, so I’d like to introduce a “mini strum.” D DU DU
Suggested Song Picks:
Five Hundred Miles
Hallelujah
Can’t Help Falling
Jambalaya
February 13, 2024
No class due to COVID.
February 6, 2024
Kick-Off Song: Black Socks
(See January 30 lesson for “Rounds” sheet and links to a fun version of “Black Socks.)
Lesson
More on the metronome, video from All For Uke.
Songs:
Black Socks (Scratch Garden) Black Socks
Take It Easy (Eagles) Take It Easy
Dream Baby (Roy Orbison) Dream Baby
Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) Wonderful World
January 30, 2024
We will be meeting in the Fireplace Room, just for today.
WHY ARE WE MEETING IN THE FIREPLACE ROOM: The theater group that usually meets in the fireplace room needs to do a dress rehearsal in a big space.
PLEASE BRING: Please bring your ukulele and shaker. I’ll have extra shakers if we need them. We won’t be using music stands. I’ll provide handouts for discussion and singing.
HERE’S WHAT IS PLANNED
HOW TO PRACTICE: I’ll present some approaches and generally accepted advise about how to practice without it being something you have to make yourself do. I’ll also share examples of “practice journals” and pros and cons about using one. PLEASE REMEMBER: PRACTICING IS NOT A REQUIREMENT FOR ATTENDING THE TUESDAY CLASS.
METRONOME DEMONSTRATION. We’ll try playing along with a metronome.
DIFFERENT RHYTHMIC STRUCTURES: Talk about 4 different rhythms (time signatures) that are likely to be encountered in the type of music we play. Then we’ll play some short examples.
TIMING ISSUES: Look at timing issues that can get in the way of keeping together when we’re playing and singing.
ROUNDS: Sing some rounds, discuss whether we can find one or two that would fit in our repertoire.
Resource: a Rounds Song Sheet with lyrics for example song links below.
January 23, 2024
Kickoff Song: Jambalaya
Lesson: Getting Ready to Play: An Agility Warmup called “the Caterpillar”
Resource: Ukulele Web Cam Sessions (Ep. 8) - Warm Your Fingers with the Caterpillar
Extra Practice Resource: Pegeen pointed out a one-hour “Over the Rainbow” practice loop. To find this video on YouTube, copy this string of words into your browser: “Somewhere Over The Rainbow - What A Wonderful World - IZ Kamakawiwo'ole - 1 HOUR LOOP Lyrics Español”
Helpful Handout: Home base for fingers and instructions for “the caterpillar.” (I’ll bring this to class.)
SINGING
WORK ON: Big Rock Candy Mountain
NEW SONG PLAYTHROUGH: Stand By Me
SONGLIST (We may not get through all.)
Leavin’ on a Jet Plane
That’s Alright Mama
Teach Your Child
Five Hundred Miles (G, simplified)
Bad Leroy Brown
Blowin’ In the Wind
Dream Baby
January 16, 2024
Kick-off Song: Jambalaya
Lesson: Apply a particular strum to a particular song. Applying Strum #5 from last week’s lesson:
D DU D DU—to a 4-chord “Over the Rainbow (Iz)
Online Resource: Search “Somewhere Over Rainbow made EASY! YouTube.” (JJ Milare, musician)
SONGS
WORKED ON
Over the Rainbow
SANG
Can’t Help Falling (Elvis)
Three Little Birds
Take It Easy
Hotel California
January 9, 2024
Kick-off Song: Jambalaya
Resource: Uke Like the Pros online video: The BEST 7 Easy #Ukulele Strum Patterns for Beginners!
Helpful Handout . . . 7 Easy Ukulele Strum Patterns (with general strumming advice).
Song Nominations
A song you really like. Because that’s what you like to sing.
A song you think other people like. Because we want to share the ukulele with people
A Song you think is easy. Because leading a singalong is harder than singing in the shower.