Playing and enjoying the ukulele together!
If the teacher is Ralph Shaw you know it is going to be special. This mini lesson is no exception. LIven up your strumming with this George Formby strum.
If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Formby, check out this Wikipedia article.
Click here for the article and music excerpts on UkuleleMagazine.com.
My son introduced his old man to ‘ChatGPT’ (AI or Artificial Intelligence) – https://chat.openai.com/chat
You can type in a question, ask for an essay on ____ or something similar. The results are quite amazing.
I asked it two questions on strumming a ukulele.
Here are the results…
- – How do you strum a ukulele
- – What are some ukulele strum patterns?
how do you strum a ukulele
To strum a ukulele, hold the ukulele in a way that is comfortable for you. Place your strumming hand on the strings near the sound hole. Use your thumb or fingers to pluck the strings in a downward motion, moving your hand from the top of the strings to the bottom. This is called a downstrum. You can also pluck the strings in an upward motion, moving your hand from the bottom of the strings to the top. This is called an upstrum. Experiment with different strumming patterns to create different sounds.
What are some ukulele strum patterns?
There are many different strumming patterns that you can use on a ukulele. Some common strumming patterns include:
Down, down, down, down (also known as “four on the floor”)
Down, down, up, down (also known as “three on the floor, one on top”)
Down, up, down, up (also known as “two on the floor, two on top”)
Up, down, up, down (also known as “two on the bottom, two on top”)
To create more complex strumming patterns, you can combine these basic patterns or add in additional strums. For example, you might try:
Down, up, down, up, down, down (also known as “the heartbeat”)
Down, up, down, up, down, up (also known as “the train”)
You can also try incorporating different rhythms and accents into your strumming patterns to create even more interesting sounds. The important thing is to experiment and find what works best for you.
Pretty good, huh??
Strumming chords and singing is fun but I find that I have the most fun by playing the ukulele as a pianist or an organist would – by playing the notes of the melodies along with the chords. It isn’t near as hard as it sounds. It starts with learning the notes of the fingerboard., This video created by Phil Doleman is great for learning those notes! Give it a try!
NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants) is currently meeting in Anaheim, California. It ends on Sunday, January 19th.
Lots of musical instrument manufacturers and publishers are introducing new products. Among them are these great looking ukuleles from KALA…
“Announcing the new Surf Collection by Kala! These original designs were made in house by the Kala design team and they look totally awesome! 🏄”
“The Surf Uke will be starting at $79.99 and will be available in early March!”
As part of her #30DayUkuleleChallenge ‘Bernadette Teaches Music’ provided a YouTube video listing and demonstrating the most important ukulele chords.
Of course, most of them are the common ones. A few of them , however, are good alternate chords by moving a barr chord up the fretboard (example: moving B flat up to form C, D and E.
Pachelbel’s Canon in D is one of the most famous pieces of classical music of all time. In this lesson, Ukulenny teaches us how to play Canon in the key of C.https://kalabrand.com/products/canon-tutorial
Wow! These Luna Vista Series ukes are going to be some fancy ukuleles!
They aren’t on the Luna Website yet, but the guitar versions are around $725. I’m guessing these will be $595 or so. It will be interesting to see. Like them?
Here is the link to the Website with the comparable guitars are – check them out!
Have you seen the series of ukulele books from Hal Leonard called, ‘Strum Together’?
The ‘Together’ part is cool – each song has the chords for the following:
They are intended for casual jams with friends who play other instruments. Since the purpose of them is to allow people with different instruments who may not have played together the arrangements are not difficult.
They are also great for ukulele classes since they give both the standard ukulele chords and the baritone chords.
The music is on the right side page and the chords are on the left side
I have three of them:
There are a few duplicates among the three books…
I have these marked on and in my books if you’d like to see them.
There are three others…
The series can be found here. The names of the songs in each book are listed there.
I know that a couple of them was arranged by Mark Phillips but I don’t know about the others.
Below is an example of the chords page…
The song is on the right side with the chord names, the melody and the lyrics.
“Raymond Penfield was the father of a London Caberet artist, Holly Penfield and often sang often as part of her act when she was in London or Rome. He passed away at the age of 98. He lived in a small California community and sang locally as often as he could. He also had tried out for America’s Got Talent, and was known for his continuing effort to write and create songs with his son-in-law and daughter’ https://youtu.be/O2GTHFeN4LM