Category Archives: Workshop Information

Classic jazz and swing tunes. Expect 10-20 chords per song!

This play-along will feature songs that include a little something extra – an unusual strum or special chord pattern – that will lift them out of the ordinary.

Budd Snell will lead a group of easy play-along songs to help you find your ukulele goove.

Learning your chords is one thing but it’s just as important to learn how to strum your ukulele. This workshop will teach you the basics of strumming and how to improve your rhythm. Some topics we’ll cover include the “island strum”, various rhythm patterns, “chunking”, and triplets.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Group Play for the Ukulele. Have you ever been in a Ukulele Play-Along group where it just sounds like one loud ukulele? Why do some groups sound harmonized and “groove” better? The difference can be just a few simple tricks! Learn how to play well with others by using substitute and alternate chords as well as various strumming and other creative techniques.

Learning roll patterns is a great way to become familiar with right hand technique when playing bluegrass music on the ukulele. Using the C, Am, F, and G7 in standard tuning, we will show you this lively new way of playing the ukulele. After teaching you how to retune your uke from a 1st string A down to a G in “slack key tuning,” we will show you a simple picking pattern called the “forward reverse roll” which we will use in playing the song, “Worried Man Blues.” A basic understanding of how to read ukulele tablature is recommended. For those students unfamiliar with tablature, it will be included in this workshop. Students can take the “Next Steps” without taking the “Intro” class. It is preferable that the student has a high “G” (fourth string). However, they can learn the techniques with a low “G” (fourth string).

Most of us began our ukulele journey strumming, but fingerpicking on the ukulele opens up a whole new way of accompanying a song as well as playing solos. If you know the C, Am, F, and G7 in standard tuning, you are on your way to learning this exciting new way of playing the ukulele. A basic understanding of how to read ukulele tablature is recommended. For those students unfamiliar with tablature, it will be included in this workshop. In this workshop, we will teach you how to retune your uke from a 1st string A down to a G in “slack key tuning.” From there we will teach you a simple picking pattern (alternating thumb) which will help you learn your first bluegrass song, “Skip to My Lou.”

How to find and use alternate chords up the neck with just enough theory to be dangerous. How to use these to add the “frosting” to any jam session.

You know the basic Island Strum, and maybe a little “chucking”.  Now where? We’ll explore a couple more complex strums, including 3/4, and 6/8 time, as well as a basic “Travis” fingerpick, and figure out how and when to use them to compliment what others are doing.