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chord practice and more picking

4/30/2014

Practice the second page of finger picking exercises (Attached below). Also the great little UBC practice Sheet Song that I got from Rod Higuchi from Seattle SUPA (also attached).
This is a great opportunity to learn new chords, and work on moving smoothly through the progression. Remember to find the most efficient way to move from chord to chord. Break it down into sections and plan your finger choreography….. But first you have to know the chord shapes! As you learn the shapes remember to make your non-dominant fingers go to it's place first and then your dominant fingers will follow more easily.
We can continue the Tuesday skills workshop through May. Please remember to pay me next week ($40.00) if you plan to come.
Thanks, Gail

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ubc_practice_sheet.pdf
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Fancy fingers

4/23/2014

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Here is the link to Gerald Ross' videos on getting a swing sound with barre chords and dampening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YafhDexY6I
After running through The Garden Song playing arpeggiate chords we practiced a couple of new finger picking patterns - Forward Roll (inside-outside), and Backward Roll (outside-inside).
We then then picked out the chords for Country Roads (in C) which includes using a "relative minor" (Am).
After picking out the chords for Country Roads, try applying the two new finger picking patterns to this song.

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Play by Heart

4/16/2014

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Continue working on the barre chords and the left hand dampening in order to play a reggae strum and we will run over The Middle again next week.
Also - continue working on the arpeggio picking on The Garden Song. Slow it down until you can play it. During some part of your practice, work with (the evil) metronome to keep a steady beat. It is very easy to speed up with arpeggio. We will work on another finger picking pattern next week.
Finding chords and Playing by Ear - Think of Chords as harmony. Choose your favorite familiar song. Play your chord of choice to give you a starting point, sing the melody and when the melody and chord (harmony) no longer sound good, find a new chord, using your melody note as the base and bulding the chord around it. Clear as mud - we'll work on this more next week.
Registration is open for the Langley Ukulele Workshop October 4-5
https://www.ukuleleintheclassroom.com/tutti2014/

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Singin' the Blues

4/9/2014

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Try another Reggae song using the strum we worked on last week. Remember The Middle? You can also use your closed chord shapes for this song.
Just Strum and sing Singing the Blues - Have fun
Try the finger picking pattern below with The Garden Song

A __________________________________X__________ ring finger
E_________________________X____________________ middle finger
C________________X_____________________________ pointer finger
G_______X______________________________________ thumb

Here is Richard Mytling's website for SUE with lots of music charts on it.
http://www.seniorukeensemble.com

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Inch by inch

4/1/2014

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I can see improvement with the barre chords. Keep up the practice and use the two songs we played today for that:
Three Little Birds (in the Daily Ukulele) uses barre chords to dampen the strings and create the reggae rhythm. You really can't get this strum without dampening and the easiest way to do that is with your left hand.
Whenever you release the pressure on the strings (chords) the sound stops. That is what I mean by dampening. So... right after the down-up on beat 2, and the down on beat 4, release your grip on the chord and the sound will stop. There is no strum on beats 1 and 3
The strum is:
rest down up rest down,
1 2 3 4
The other song we practiced is below. The Garden Song. These chord changes come pretty fast so slow the tune down until you can make them. Also try picking the melody.

I WILL CONTINUE THIS SKILLS WORKSHOP through April and May if I have interest. There is another option, too. I have a Book 2 class that will start an 8 week session on April 15 and go through June 4. We are about 60% through Book 2 and I plan to finish by June. You can join this class as an alternative to the skills workshop (or in addition to). This class will meet on Tuesdays at 6:30. It is a very good and lively class and I have supplement a great deal of the material to the James Hill Books in this class. Let me know if you are interested in this class. The cost is $100.00 for the

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chord practice and more picking

Fancy fingers

Play by Heart

Singin' the Blues

Inch by inch

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