For the second half of April and all of May, I spent a lot of my time finishing a number of my method books. For Ukulele I have Chord-Strumming Books 1 and 2, and Note-Reading Books 1 and 2. For Guitar I have Chord-Strumming Books 1, 2, 3, and 4, Note-Reading Books 1 and 2, and Riff Exercises (formerly “Beginning Riff Exercises”) Book 1. I also completed Strumming Rhythms Index Books 1 and 2 which can be used with Ukulele and Guitar.

I also overhauled my Guitar and Ukulele pages, partially because I removed all of the books which are now for sale. On both pages I added “How to Tune…” PDFs, updated the Karate Belt requirements to include pages from the Strumming Rhythms Index, and on the Guitar page I added the Blue and Purple Belt requirements. I removed all of my Chord-Strumming materials, except for the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard” pages (in case anyone loses theirs and needs to print a new copy) and “Unit 1 (part 1)” (so that any student can work on their White Belt requirements, even if they haven’t bought the book yet). On both pages I added Chord-Strumming Recital Songbooks (which I will talk more about later) and kept the Progressions Using Only Three Chords, so that students who are having a difficult time learning new chords can make the most of the chords they do know. I removed the Strumming Rhythms Index except for page 1, so that students can still sample it for free before deciding if they want to buy the book, and on the Guitar page there are finger-picking exercises. Like with the chord-strumming books, I removed all of my Note-Reading materials, except for the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard” pages  and “Unit 1 (part 1)” (also part of the White Belt requirements). Both pages still have PDFs of Two Hanukkah Songs and Amazing Grace, and the Guitar page has a sample of Riff Exercises and all of my Advanced Exercises.

My new project last month was to create Recital Songbooks for Guitar, Ukulele, and Drum Set (with Piano and Bass Guitar Recital Songbooks coming in the future). These will be ongoing and I will continue to add more and more songs as time goes on. The initial idea was to provide songs for beginners to be able to play in a recital, even if they only know a few basics. I use standard short song form (to also teach them about verses, choruses and bridges) and follow along with my method books to incorporate new concepts (chords, rhythms, etc.) as they are learning them, so no matter where they are in the book, they are able to utilize what they know in a musical context.

I finished my Mallet Instruments (Treble Clef) Book 1 and it is now ready for sale, but Unit 1 (part 1) is still available to print for free as a sample. Unit 5: The Key of B-Flat Major is also done and available to print, and I also started working on a Bass Clef version (Level 1: The Key of C Major is available to print).

Throughout all of my method books, I made a conceptual change and now instead of referring to each section as a “UNIT” I know use the word “Level” (there may still be use of the work “Unit” in older PDFs). I talked with a few colleagues about it to get their opinions and we all agreed on the switch. Some of their thoughts were: “Unit sounds like a chore. Level sounds like when I get to the end, I’m closer to reaching the candy in the top shelf of the cabinet.” “Unit seems like a larger chunk that may be overwhelming to try and accomplish. I think of level as just one more step or rung of the ladder to get to that new skill.” “…level in reference to video games.” “UNIT just signifies a section (and sounds like homework) but LEVEL implies improvement and ascending.”

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR, UKULELE, DRUM SET, and MALLETS pages. As always, please let me know if you use any of these teaching materials with your students, and if you find them helpful, or if you have any questions or comments.