Live 'Ukulele

It’s been kind of slow around here, so I thought I would post some things you can do here on Live ‘Ukulele.

Comment. I love hearing from readers, and if you have any requests for lessons and (maybe) tabs, it is a good way to let me know. It would be cool if we could get some discussions going on too, so don’t be afraid to add your opinion.

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Add a tip. The user-contributed tips page has been pretty quiet as of late! Visit the tips page and leave your own tip in the comment box.

Check the weather in Honoka’a. The 404 (not found) page has a weather report for Honoka’a, Hawai’i, where I’m currently running the site from. I’d love to add to the 404 page and make it a lot of fun. Any ideas would be appreciated (I’m thinking jokes, surf report, etc… kinds of things).

Visit the top post. My list of Easy Beginner ‘Ukulele Songs is the most visited post on the site (followed closely by none other than Super Mario!)

Visit the top page. By far the most visited page on Live ‘Ukulele.com is the tabs page.

Subscribe to my Youtube channel. Not really on the site, but related, stay up to date on new videos I make.

Link, Stumble, FB, etc… Again, not on the site, but I always appreciate links and “hey, this is cool”s.

Hilo boy Kris Fuchigami played a variety of Jake/Pure Heart songs, a couple originals, and a nice arrangement of Journey’s “Open Arms”.

Lei making class.

‘Ukulele class.

The “how it’s made” booth.

The crowd wasn’t as big as in previous years, but it was any okay turnout nonetheless.

Ohta-san and Nando Suan.

Richard Teanio from Ho’okanipila was playing the tiple.

Left to right: Aaron Agres, Russell Mauga, and Richard Teanio are Ho’okanipila.

By taking a normal ‘ukulele scale and working up or down through successive notes, you can create patterns and note groupings that make for great finger exercises and melodic ideas.

The idea is simple: take a basic scale – how about C major – and play up a number of notes. Lets try going up a 3rd to start with: C D E (1 2 3) - C to E. Okay, now move the starting point from C up a note to D: D E F – D to F. Then start from the next note up: E F G – E to G. Etc, etc… So you would end up with this:

It still gives the impression of the scale, but now it’s not so boring.

Instead of skipping the second note of each group, add it in. C D E, D E F, E F G, etc… And you have another sequence:

What if you go up 4 notes? C D E F, D E F G, E F G A, etc… 5 notes? What if you skip up to the 4th note? C to F, D to G, E to A, etc… Now try it with the other major scales! And with the minor scales!

What about going down with a major pentatonic scale? Lets try an E major pentatonic descending in 4 note groups starting on the E note, 7th fret, bottom string. E C# B G#, C# B G# F#, B G# F# E, etc… Looking like this:

There are endless possibilities, so take this idea and run with it. If you want some more melodic patterns, check out: http://www.zentao.com/guitar/patterns/. It’s for guitar, but if you can read music it should be easy to figure out. And if you don’t read music, the tab shapes on the bottom 4 strings are the same for guitar as ‘ukulele.

Jerry C!

If Jerry has fallen off the face of the Earth, I’ll draw another winner in a week or two. Thanks to David at Ukelounge for donating the DVDs for me to give away, and thanks to everyone who entered!

Read the Jazzy Intro and Outros lesson

Read the intro/outro lesson

KOHALA COAST, Hawaii-the Big Island—Waikoloa Beach Resort will present the 10th^th Annual Great Waikoloa `Ukulele Festival, Saturday March 6, 2:00-7:00 p.m., throughout Queens’ MarketPlace. With Hawaii’s “Ambassador of Aloha” Danny Kaleikini as Master of Ceremonies, the Festival spotlights ten different performances on two stages, a free workshop with ‘ukulele master and protégée of Roy Sakuma, Nelly Toyama-Baduria, and chances to win top of the line ‘ukuleles from KoAloha, Kala and the ‘Ukulele Festival-Hawaii.

Toyama-Baduria is one-fourth of the all-girl group “Joy” (“Living in Paradise”).  A musician since the age of 5, she studied with Hawaii’s foremost ‘ukulele teacher Roy Sakuma, and with his group “Super Keikis” performed in Hawaii, Disneyland, Japan and around the world.

Other headliners include celebrated musician Ohta-San, side by side with jazz guitarist Nando Suan. In his long and prolific international career, “Ohta-san” has compiled over 100 albums and 6,000 songs ranging from sweet Hawaiian sounds to pop, rock and “bossa nova jazz.” Also onstage will be Na Hoku Hanohano Award winner Troy Fernandez, formerly one of the Ka’au Crater Boys. Joining Troy on stage are his two daughters Tory (11) and Tia (9). Both daughters are now part of the group “Troy Fernandez & TNT.”

Schedule:

• 10:00 a.m.-12:00 noon.  ‘Ukulele Workshop with Nelly Toyama Baduria.  BYOU (bring your own ‘ukulele).  Free.

In the Queen’s MarketPlace:

• 2:00-6:00 p.m.  ‘Ukulele Making Demonstration by Bob Gleason of Pegasus Guitars & ‘Ukuleles
• 2:00-6:00 p.m.  ‘Ukulele Lessons with Auntie Marjorie Spencer
• 2:00-6:00 p.m.  Lei-Making

Island Gourmet Markets Stage:

• 2:00 p.m.  Ho‘okani Pila ‘Ukulele Ensemble, directed by B.J. Soriano
• 3:00 p.m.  Ohta-san and Nando Suan
• 4:00 p.m.  Auntie Lani Lee & Na Kupuna O Kona Ali’i
• 5:00 p.m.  The Kupuka’a’s

• 2:00 p.m.  ‘Ukulele Workshop Students
• 2:15 p.m.  Kris Fuchigami
• 3:00 p.m.  Kanu O Ka ‘Aina New Century Charter School
• 4:00 p.m.  Uncle Willie Perreira & ‘Ukulele Lehu Lehu
• 5:00 p.m.  Ohta-san and Nando Suan
• 6:00 p.m.  Troy Fernandez & TNT

Read the slides lesson.

What should I include in future video lessons? Please choose a level and then one or two things you would be most interested in seeing. Feel free to leave other ideas as a comment on this post – I’ll add them to the poll.

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Here it is! I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time and I just finally took the time to put it all together. Without further ado, here is my first Live ‘Ukulele video lesson – hammer-ons and pull-offs.

Read the original lesson: Hammer-ons and Pull-offs

Any feedback would be appreciated.

This is the second of two giveaways. Doug won the first one. As long as you are not Doug, feel free to enter again for a second chance.

In the Ukelounge video, the British ‘ukulele artist Steven Sproat guides you through various techniques to add to your playing. One of the main things Steven focuses on is strums. Simple strums, triplet strums, Hawaiian strums, and more. There are also lessons on finger picking (arpeggios) and chord inversions. You probably want to have a little bit of experience before you jump into these lessons – I think a real beginner would get lost after the first couple videos. David has noted that the DVD is now in NTSC format for the USA viewers.

To win:

All you have to do is comment on this post (look for the Comment on this post » or [#] Comment(s) – Leave your own » link down below). Entries will close next Wednesday (the 3rd of March). David has agreed to ship anywhere, so all of you from the far corners of the world, drop your name in the hat! I’ll draw the winner a day or two after that. If you feel like it, please give me input on what you’d like to see on the site.

Promo code:

If you would like to buy the DVD, you can use a special promo code to order straight from the Ukelounge site. The promo gets you 10% off the $23.50 price (includes shipping to US) and expires March 3rd March 10th.

• Order Straight from Ukelounge site
• Promo code (case-sensitive): liveukulele2010

Contest Rules