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Kent Knorr of N.C. Ukulele Academy in Wilmington presents a great showcase of ukulele music on Sunday mornings. You can listen live at

http://983thepenguin.com/home/streaming

. Can’t listen ‘live’, you can record it and listen to it later at http://dar.fm/ To see the great variety of the songs on Kent’s shows you can take a look at past shows on his ‘Ukulele Holiday‘ Website. The show features a broad sampling of eras, styles and musicians and occasionally Kent will include one of his own recordings. Check it out! It’s a lot of fun!

Here is the first in the series –
Check out the rest – http://www.youtube.com/user/jimdville/videos While you are on Jim’s channel, be sure to check out his ‘3 Questions Interviews’. They are always enjoyable.

Kala is my favorite brand of ukulele. Makala is a less expensive line of Kala. http://pinterest.com/kalabrand/ I particularly like their ‘Interesting Uke Lessons’ board – http://pinterest.com/kalabrand/interesting-uke-lessons/ Check out their other Pinterest boards!

Congratulations!  You made a great choice!  You’re going to love playing the ukulele.

I’m sorry but I am not currently teaching classes.  Don’t despair though,  It is real easy.   Start with these videos and resources.

http://www.playingukulele.com/p/ukulele-books-dvds-and-resources.html

Also, here is a good 5 minute lesson –

“A GROUP of ukulele-playing actors, including musical star Gary Wilmot, surprised shoppers with an impromptu performance in the city’s Westfield shopping centre.

Awesome!

Jim D’Ville is a master ukulele teacher.  Check out his great Website – http://www.playukulelebyear.com/

The Circle of Fifths is a not an easy concept but will help your playing tremendously if you grasp it or at least part of it.   Here are some notes I made while watching.  Hopefully, they will help you pick it up.

Take your time.  Watch it as many times as you can.

All the examples are in the key of C (beginning on the letter ‘C’).  You could do the same beginning on any letter.   If you were in the key of D you’d use the following line as ‘D=1, E=2, F=3, etc.)

C  D  E    F   G  A  B    C
1   2   3    4   5   6   7     8
i  ii iii  iv  V  vi vii  viii (usually written this way)

C > G = a fifth (five steps/letters)
G > D = a fifth
D > A = a fifth
etc.

Home – C
5th up – G
Dominant 7th – G7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chord
Home – C

The above chords are…
1 – v7 – 1  or
i – V7 – i

D    G7  c
ii7  V7  i

Hawiaan Turnaround ii7 V7 i

C A7  D7  G7 C
i vi7 ii7 V7 i (Alice’s restaurant)

C  E7   A7  D7  G7 C
i  iii7 vi7 ii7 V7 i (Five Foot Two)

Here is a great story and video about a middle school teacher, Sara Ricciardi, in Lancaster, Pa. and her desire to interest students in music…A wish for ukuleles: granted

Check out the neat analogy of this video on how to strum using the fingernails.

Remember, it takes time and practice to have nice smooth strumming – don’t sweat it!  Just have fun on the journey!

Happy Strumming!