Over the Rainbow/What A Wonderful World
  Bellingham Ukulele Orchestra
  • Zoom/Roster
  • Music Library
  • Online Opportunities
  • Recipes
  • Orchestra Blog
  • About
  • Photo Gallery
  • Exercises
  • Links
  • Set Lists
  • Classes
  • Contact us
  • Gail and Pat Asia adventure 2020
  • Re-Ukables
  • YouTube Videos

Who says you can't play Blues on the Ukulele? 

11/14/2013

0 Comments

 
Super Ukers:

Blues Stay Away from Me demonstrated the 12-bar blues pattern.  That and All My Loving are songs to add to your repertoire if you like them.  We won’t play them again in class.

We practiced The Theme from Abdelzer which has gotten pretty good.  We won’t be doing that piece again.  It is a challenge, but feel free to continue practicing this piece and any other that you want to perfect.

There was not enough time for In the Hall of the Mountain King so we’ll try it briefly next week.

 Jingle Bells sounds great – you should practice each part.  Again, we will be joining the other class to play it at the December BUG meeting.  Next week parts will be assigned when we know who plans to be at that jam.  You can let me know then if you plan to be there.  In the meantime, practice all these easy, peasy parts.

Woolly Boogie is an easy piece; just don’t let the notation intimidate you.  It’s a perfect piece to memorize as it is just a series of chromatic scales.  Played in a slow, syncopated style, it will really sound impressive to your friends and family.

For homework, practice the March from the Anna Magdalena Notebook (Book 3, p. 42) using a pick.  This familiar piece is played in March tempo – start slowly until you get the fingering and then see if you can speed it up.  Don’t, however, play it any faster than it can be played correctly.

Please refer to the link to Michael Gonzalez’ website for a list of what he intends to tech at the November 16 Blues Workshop and a list of chords (you know them all!) that will be featured.

See you Saturday if you’re at the Blues Workshop..

0 Comments

Jingle Bells - and so much more

11/7/2013

0 Comments

 
You will find Pdf files and Mp3 audio files for the arrangement for Jingle Bells here.
Super Ukers:

We started with Blue Hawaii (another song to possibly include in your personal repertoire) with a shuffle/swing strum.  That’s the same strum used on Jingle Bells and for the blues, albeit in a more syncopated form.

Practice The Theme from Abdelzer (the picked part) and listen to the recording to be sure your timing is correct.  And, it’s a good idea to practice the Bb scale first.  Using the fingering for that scale, you can develop fingering beyond first position as some of you have already done.  Then, practice the chording with an on-beat strum – some of the chord changes occur 3 times within a measure, but the tempo is slow.

We may try In the Hall of the Mountain King again next week, so practice that Eb piece.  Again we’re looking for crisp notes.  The tab for that piece places notes in the first position, but for a challenge you can play those notes up the neck.

Practice those deuced pentatonic scales to prepare for the blues workshop November 16.  If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so on the website or at The Bug Jam THIS SATURDAY (upstairs at St. James’). There will be something for every level of playing ability.

I think the big band arrangement of Jingle Bells takes that ho-ho-ho humdrum holiday classic tune to a level that is more palatable.  We will be joining the other class in playing this piece at our December BUG meeting – parts have not been assigned yet, but be prepared to play any of the three.  And that should keep you busy for this week.

We ended with another repertoire piece, Greensleeves.  This piece would be really sweet played in a chord melody style.

See you Saturday.

0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    Gail MacDonald

    Archives

    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed