Tag Archives: ukulele lessons

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More Note-Reading Units

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Since I’m continuing to focus on Guitar/Ukulele Karate, I worked on anything that is needed for the first couple of belts (White Belt and Yellow Belt). For both Guitar and Ukulele I split Note-Reading Unit 1 (The Key of C Major) into two parts to make it clear for the students what is required (part 1 is for White Belt, part 2 is for Yellow Belt). Also for both Guitar and Ukulele I removed any songs that have 8th notes, and I will eventually be including all of those exercises and songs (as well as others) in a later unit. I also made some adjustments/updates to Ukulele Note-Reading Units 2 (The Key of G Major) and 3 (The Key of F Major), and then created Unit 4 (The Key of D Major). Also, on Friday January 24th I awarded my first White Belt to one of my guitar students. She is well on her way to testing for her Yellow Belt, and I have a few students who should be able to get their White Belts soon.

I have a xylophone student who is coming to the end of Unit 3 (The Key of F Major), so I wanted to make sure that Unit 4 (The Key of D Major) will be ready for him. I also realized that when I am choosing melodies in a particular key, there are melodies where tonic/Do is the lowest note and the notes of the melody ascend from there (sometimes even reaching the higher octave tonic/Do), and some melodies have tonic/Do in the middle descending to the notes below (usually down to the dominant/Sol) as well as ascending to the notes above (sometimes to the high dominant/Sol). For ukulele I usually have to choose one or the other because the range of the ukulele is so small (and I’m not dealing with different hand positions moving up the neck yet), but since most mallet instruments span multiple octaves, I wanted to make sure I included both types of melody ranges (in multiple octaves). I added any “missing” exercises and melodies to Units 1, 2, and 3, and then created Unit 4 with the same format.

A few weeks ago I had the idea to restructure my Snare Drum and Drum Set method books. In my Snare Drum book, I’ve tried to teach all of the new rhythms in various meters, but it occurred to me that maybe I should introduce every new concept in 2/4 time first, then have two lessons in 4/4 time with plenty of variations, then have a lesson in 3/4 time. This way, all of the core rhythmic concepts and their variations can be simplified by dealing with only two beats at first. Then stretching those ideas out to 4/4, which is still very symmetrical, familiar, and comfortable, and also having two lessons in 4/4 time to really give the concepts an opportunity to settle into the students’ muscle memory. Then finally give them a challenge with the less-familiar/comfortable 3/4 time, before moving onto the next concept. In my Snare Drum book this is still a work in progress, so it will be a little while longer before I post them, but I was able to implement this concept in my Drum Set book. I had already followed that concept of 2/4 then 4/4 then 3/4, however, I only had one page in each unit devoted to 4/4. In each unit I added a second page of drum set beats in 4/4 with the snare drum is on beat 3 (instead of beats 2 and 4 like the initial 4/4 pages). I also added a unit with Bass Drum Variations in 2/4, 4/4 (both versions), and 3/4, which is now Unit 3. Four Measure Phrases are now Unit 4 and everything else is also pushed back a unit.

PDFs of all of these materials can be found under the FOR MY STUDENTS tab, on the GUITAR, UKULELE, MALLETS, and DRUM SET 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.

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Ukulele Karate and Guitar Karate

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With the start of the new year, I wanted to implement something new with my students. Over break I learned about Recorder Karate, created by Barb Philipak, which is a system of awarding different colored strings (representing the different colored belts awarded in Karate)  to recorder students as they progress through nine songs of increasing difficulty. I loved this idea, so I wanted to try it with my students.

Philipak also created “Ukulele Karate”, but I couldn’t find a pre-existing “Guitar Karate”. After looking into her Recorder Karate and Ukulele Karate systems, I decided that I wanted to create my own version. First of all, after looking into the order in which her belts are awarded, as well as looking into other martial arts systems that award belts, I decided on the order: white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, red, brown, and black. I bought a package of embroidery floss in these colors, and I will be cutting them to a length that can be tied around the headstock, near the nut, behind the strings (or worn as a bracelet if the student prefers). Also, instead of focusing on an individual song as the requirement, I wanted to really challenge my students and hopefully push them past what they might normally work on. My requirements for Ukulele/Guitar Karate incorporate my method books, and focus on chord-strumming, note-reading, and music theory. My hope is that this will give students the motivation to become more well-rounded musicians.

In my Ukulele Karate and Guitar Karate systems, the White Belt requirements focus on the first half of Unit 1 of both the Chord-Strumming and Note-Reading Method Books, and the Yellow Belt requirements focus on the second half of Unit 1 of those same books. The music theory requirement is to memorize the notes of the chords and scales they learn in these lessons. After those two belts the requirements will become increasingly more difficult. For example, the Orange Belt requirements will include all of Unit 2 of both the Chord-Strumming and Note-Reading Method Books, and by the Black Belt, there will be multiple units required. Also along the way I will add additional concepts and techniques such as different strumming rhythms, scales, riffs, finger-picking, etc.

A PDF of my requirements for White Belt and Yellow Belt as well as Note-Reading Unit 1 (part 1 for White Belt, part 2 for Yellow Belt) can be found under FOR MY STUDENTS on the UKULELE and GUITAR pages.

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End of 2024 Lesson Materials

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Happy New Year! Here is an overview of all of my lesson materials that I worked on for the last few months of 2024 (aside from my Christmas Songbooks).

I took my Strumming Rhythms Index out of my guitar and ukulele books (originally I was planning on having it as an appendix in those books) and made it into its own book. After the first page of rhythms in 4/4 time using quarter notes and 8th notes, I added a page of strumming rhythms in 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8 time also using quarter notes and 8th notes (dotted quarter notes in 6/8 time). The next 15 pages incorporate rests on various downbeats (students can either not strum on the rests, or if they are more advanced they can actually muffle the strings on the rests). Originally I didn’t include rhythms that had a rest on beat 1, but I added those rhythms to this new version. I added a section with rests on various downbeats in 2/4, 3/4, and 6/8 time (also including rhythms with rests on beat 1). I also added a new section incorporating what I call “Selective Strumming” which is halfway between strumming and picking, which many guitarists do. Instead of strumming all 6 strings, or picking only one string at a time, I first divide the strings into two sections (three strings each) to create “low” and “high” sounds (notated on a two-lined staff), then in later pages I divide the strings into three sections (two strings each) to create “low,” “middle,” and “high” sounds (notated on a three-lined staff).  To make it simpler, I didn’t add rests to these exercises (for now). Reggae Strumming Rhythms will eventually be a part of this book, but for now it is a separate document. The new Strumming Rhythms Index can be found on both the “Guitar” and “Ukulele” pages under “For My Students”.

I added some introductory pages to my Guitar Beginning Riff and Solo Exercises, to give an explanation for where major pentatonic scales come from and how they are played on guitar and why we use specific finger patterns. I also showed where all of the natural notes are along the low E string (up to the 12th fret) so the students can see where to start any major pentatonic scale. The rest of the unit has exercises playing four-measure phrases using a I IV V progression and 12-bar blues in various keys. I added more riff rhythms (some in different meters), so now there are two pages to go through in each of the keys (the second page incorporates leaps in the beginning or middle of the measure). The new Guitar Beginning Riff and Solo Exercises can be found on the “Guitar” page under “For My Students”.

In my Guitar Chord-Strumming and Bass Guitar Chords method books, I decided to swap Units 3 and 4 so that sus chords are introduced in Unit 3 followed by 12-Bar Blues in Unit 4. I made this change in the Guitar Chord-Strumming book, but I haven’t updated it yet in my Bass Guitar Chords book, so I just removed the old PDFs from the “Bass Guitar” page.

Like my Christmas Songbooks, I started preparing my Guitar Chord-Strumming and Ukulele Chord-Strumming books for publishing and to sell. Guitar Chord-Strumming Book 1 includes Unit 1: Major and Minor Chords, Unit 2: Common Chord Progressions, Unit 3: Sus2 and Sus 4 Chords, and Unit 4: 12-Bar-Blues (23 lessons). Ukulele Chord-Strumming Book 1 includes Unit 1: The Key of C Major, Unit 2: The Key of G Major, Unit 3: The Key of F Major and Unit 4: The Key of D Major (25 lessons).

Finally, I did an arrangement of Amazing Grace in the keys of C Major, G Major, and F Major. PDFs can be found on my “Guitar,” “Mallets,” “Piano,” and “Ukulele” pages under “For My Students”.

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.

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Christmas Songbooks

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I’m finally putting the finishing touches on my Christmas Songbooks and getting them ready to sell! Originally they were intended for my ukulele and guitar students, and a rough draft had been available on my website. Now I’ve separated the songs into two books, and both are available in the key of C Major and the key of G Major. For beginners I recommend the C Major version for ukulele students and the G Major version for guitar students, because they use the easier chords that are initially learned on those instruments. For intermediate students who have gone on to learn even more chords, I recommend the opposite keys (G Major for ukulele and C Major for guitar). Coming soon, there will be bass clef versions of both books, available in the same two keys, and possibly an alto clef version if there is enough demand for it. In the rough draft there were also two Hanukkah songs, but I took those two songs out and they are available separately for free (under “For My Students” on the instrument pages). 

All of the songs are arranged in the same way: with the melody and words in the top staff, and the chords with basic rhythm slashes in the bottom staff, which allows for the songs to be played in a number of ways. The initial way I intended is to stem the chords in the written rhythm, while singing the words and melody. If a student has started working on different strumming rhythms (from my Strumming Rhythms Index or from other resources) they could strum one of the other rhythms they learned in place of the written rhythm. If a student has learned to read the notes on the staff, they could play the notes of the melody (as long as the melody is within the range of the instrument). If the student has learned finger-picking, they could do finger-picking patterns for the chords instead of strumming them. If the student has started learning scales, they could play major and minor pentatonic riffs/solos over the chords.

There is also the potential for the books to be used for other instruments as well. If a piano student knows chords, they could play the melody in their right hand and play the chords in their left hand, or they could sing the melody, play the chords with their right hand and play the bass notes with their left hand. If a piano student doesn’t know chords, they could still play the melody with their right hand and play the bass notes with their left hand, or just the melody by itself with their right hand or both hands. (For piano students, I recommend C Major for beginners and G Major for intermediate students.) Voice students could sing the melody while they or their teacher plays the chords on piano as accompaniment. Any melodic instruments that read treble clef like flute, violin, mallet percussion instruments, etc. could also play the melody while their teacher plays the chords on piano. Instruments or singers that read bass clef like cello, string bass, bass guitar, bassoon, trombone, tuba, etc. could play the melody from the bass clef version of the books. (If enough viola students are interested, I will make alto clef versions of the books.) They could also be used to put ensembles of instruments together where some instruments/voices are playing the melody, others are playing the chords, and others a playing the bass.

The prices will soon be finalized once I finish assessing the printing costs, but they will all be reasonably priced. Book 1 is slightly shorter because it has 24 easier, mostly one-page songs, so it will be slightly less expensive. Book 2 is slightly longer with a few more songs than Book 1 and most of them are more difficult and two pages long, so it will be slightly more expensive. Soon there will be links to purchase all versions of the books on the instruments pages on my website.

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August Lesson Materials

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In my Ukulele Chord-Strumming Method Book I changed the order in which the initial chords are introduced. Originally I introduced CM and FM in Lesson 1, then GM in Lesson 2, Am in Lesson 3, and Dm in Lesson 4 (before introducing G7 in Lesson 5). I liked the idea that the students would learn CM, FM, and GM right away so that they could potentially play a number of songs after only two lessons. I have noticed however, that many students struggle with GM (it requires three fingers), so I decided to introduce the chords starting with the easiest ones instead, even though they might not be able to play as many real songs until after Lesson 4. Now, I introduce CM and Am (both only use one finger) in Lesson 1, FM (uses two fingers) in Lesson 2, Dm (three fingers) in Lesson 3, then finally GM in Lesson 4. I’ve seen some other books and teachers introduce AM early on because it also uses only two fingers, which I don’t do because I still wanted to keep Unit 1 in the key of C Major (CM, Am, and FM, are much more likely to be used in songs with Dm and GM than with AM).

I wanted do create still more Supplemental Piano Exercises to use with my piano students, so I did Unit 7: Reading Notes on the Staff in C Position, and Unit 8: The Grand Staff in C Position and Slurs.

In my Drum Set Method Book I added three units dealing with compound meters (6/8, 12/8, and 9/8). Unit 5 deals with how to play beats in those meters, and Unit 6 shows how to play four-measure phrases with fills in those meters. Unit 7 brings back the Four-Measure Phrase Song Form to practice a variety of beats and fills in those compound meters. I also added an additional page at the end of Unit 4 and Unit 7 that has drum beats with the bass drum playing either on all the downbeats or playing constant 8th notes (in most of the drum beats I use in the book, I don’t have the bass drum playing at the same time as the snare drum).

For my Guitar Chord-Strumming Book, I was looking forward to taking a break from bar chords, so I worked on Unit 11: Dominant 7 Chords. After I finished it, I was on a roll, so I went ahead and did Unit 12: Major 7 Chords and minor 7 Chords.

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.

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June Lesson Materials

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Lately I have been working on extensive additions and edits to my Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar Method Books. I wanted to add more familiar songs to my Note-Reading Method Books for Ukulele, Guitar, and Bass Guitar, so I added Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb/Merrily We Roll Along (both without  and with the high note), Ode to Joy, London Bridge, Ring Around the Rosie, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, French Song, Old MacDonald, Yankee Doodle, and Happy Birthday. I added these songs at appropriate points throughout the lessons, all in various keys (mostly in C Major, F Major, and G Major, but a few of them are also in D Major and Bb Major). I also changed the name of my original Ukulele and Guitar Method Books to “Chord-Strumming Method”, in order to better differentiate it from the “Note-Reading Method”. I added and updated PDFs of all of these lessons on the “Ukulele”, “Guitar” and “Bass Guitar” pages.

In my Mallets Method Book, I added the same songs to Unit 1 (The Key of C Major), Unit 2 (The Key of G Major), and Unit 3 (The Key of F Major) and also updated the PDFs on the “Mallets” page.

For Bass Guitar, I also started a method book, which I am calling “Bass Guitar Chords Method Book” (for lack of a better name). This book parallels my Guitar Chord-Strumming Method Book, and is meant to teach a bass player what to play in order to follow the guitar player. It teaches the bass player what the root, 3rd, 5th, and octave is for each chord, so that they will know what their options are. My Guitar and Bass Guitar Method Books could be used together as a sort of “Rock Band Method Book” if a teacher needed material for guitar and bass students to play together. PDFs of the “Practice Instructions and Fretboard”, “Unit 1: Major and minor Chords”, and “Unit 2: Common Chords Progressions” of the Bass Guitar Chords Method Book can be found on my “Bass Guitar” page.

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.

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May Lesson Materials

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In May I focused on two projects. In my Guitar Method Book I wrote Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String. I also put together a separate document called Progressions Using Only Three Chords.

For Unit 10: More Bar Chords with the Root on the E String, I added BbM, BM, CM, and Bm. I had previously added these chords as bar chords played with the root on the A string, but sometimes they are played with the root on the E string, depending on the rest of the chords in the progression. This is my longest unit by far, and it will be my last unit focusing on bar chords. I haven’t covered every single possible bar chord, but I’ve covered the most common ones that will allow students to play progressions in the most common keys, and hopefully at this point they could extrapolate how to play any additional bar chords that they might come across (like F#M, Cm, etc.).

I also had the idea to focus on all of the different progressions (within a four-measure phrase) that could be created using only three chords. Since there are many songs that only use three chords, I thought it might be a good idea to focus on exercises that (1) teach students who want to write their own songs how much variation they can have, even if they are using very little material, (2) show ukulele students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 2, (3) show guitar students that they can play a lot of music with only three chords once they finish Lesson 4, (4) show students how common it is to have progressions using I IV V when they start to recognize that those chords are used in the songs they know, and (5) give advanced students who are learning scales, modes, and riffs more variations to practice over. In the composition/songwriting version (Progressions Using Only Three Chords, found on my Composition/Songwriting page) I only used the Roman Numerals below the staff, so that it is left open for them to choose whichever keys they prefer. For guitar, I focused on the key of G Major, so in addition to the Roman Numerals below the staff, I also added the chord symbols (GM CM DM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Guitar, found on my Guitar page). For ukulele, I focused on the key of C Major and also added the chord symbols (CM FM GM) above the staff (Progressions Using Only Three Chords for Beginning Ukulele, found on my Ukulele page).

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.

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January Lesson Materials

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Throughout the month of January, there were many resources for my lessons that I worked on. They can all be found under the recently-streamlined “FOR MY STUDENTS” tab.

I started work on a method book for mallets. So far, I have unit 1 which is note-reading exercises in the key of C Major, unit 2 in the key of G Major, and unit 3 in the key of F Major. On the topic of note-reading, I started a ukulele note-reading method book and a guitar note-reading method book. Also for guitar, I created “Beginning Finger-Picking Patterns”, “Beginning Riff and Solo Exercises”, “Which Pentatonic Scales and Modes to Play Over Chords”, “Common Chord Progressions”, and “Reggae Strumming Rhythms”.

I also made a big addition to my Composition/Songwriting page. I included “Which Pentatonic Scales and Modes to Play Over Chords” and “Common Chord Progressions” from my guitar page, and also added staff paper of varying sizes, staves, and orientations. I created an entirely new document, “Composing Phrases, Periods, and ABA Compositions” so that I have a workbook to use with composition students, teaching them how to use common chords progressions found in major and minor scales and modes.

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.

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Wrapping Up 2023

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Here’s a summary of all of the projects I worked on at the end of 2023.

In my Guitar Method Book I added Unit 7 (Minor Bar Chords, Root on the E String) and Unit 8 (Major Bar Chords, Root on the A String). I also started working on some basic riff exercises which I will post once I’ve tried them out with some of my students and revised them. In my Ukulele Method Book I added Unit 6 (The Key of A Major), Unit 7 (The Key of E Major), and Unit 8 (Progressions in Minor Keys). I also started working on a Bass Guitar Method Book with a focus on note-reading.

With my previous set of Practice Tracks, I realized there were two problems: (1) it was taking me forever to make them since I had to be very specific about the bass guitar part so that it would exactly match every chord progression, and (2) if the tempo was too fast for a student then they couldn’t use them at all. In my new Practice Tracks I used just drum set (no bass guitar) so that any chord progression can be played with them. They are organized by number of measures, so you just have to find the right amount of measures and the right musical form for the exercise or song that you want to play with them (four-measure phrases with repeats, 12-Bar Blues with repeats, and even full songs like Jingle Bells which is 32 measures in AABB form). To better accomodate a student’s gradual progress throughout the week, each Practice Track is now at seven different tempi, from slow to fast: 60, 75, 90, 105, 120, 135, and 150 beats-per-minute. I recommend starting with the middle speed (105 BpM), then adjusting from there (if it’s too fast, go to the previous one and if it’s too slow, go to the next one). Also, they used to be on separate pages (one for ukulele, one for guitar) but now they are all on the PRACTICE TRACKS page in the FOR MY STUDENTS drop-down menu, because they can be used with any instrument (ukulele, guitar, piano, bass guitar, etc.).

My big end of the year project was to create a songbook of winter holiday music. Since all of my private students celebrate Christmas it is mostly Christmas songs, but there are also two popular Hanukkah songs. There are 50 songs total, and each one is in both the keys of C Major and G Major (to accommodate ukulele and guitar chords as well as different voice ranges). Eventually I am going to split it into four separate books (easy songs in C Major, intermediate songs in C Major, easy songs in G Major, and intermediate songs in G Major), but for now it is just one big book. Even though it was originally intended for ukulele and guitar, it can be used by anyone who knows how to read notes on treble clef and/or anyone who knows chords. It can be found on the METHOD BOOK pages for guitar, ukulele, and piano.

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.

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Strumming Rhythms and Practice Tracks

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I recently made some changes to the layout of the “For My Students”  page. It now has a drop-down menu so that you can select the specific instrument that you are looking for.

I started creating Practice Tracks for guitar and ukulele using bass guitar and drum set. You can find them in the new drop-down menu under “For My Students”. Go to the Practice Tracks page for your instrument, look for the lesson you are working on, and match the chord progression from your book to the corresponding audio file. The drums will give you a two-measure (eight-beat) count-off, and then you start playing. So far I have added all of the lessons from Unit 1 (in both books), but I will keep adding more weekly, so keep checking back once you’re caught up.

I also made some changes to my Guitar Method Book and my Ukulele Method Book. I simplified the strumming rhythms throughout the lessons, but I added a Strumming Rhythms Index in the appendix, so that each student can learn new rhythms at their own pace. These advanced rhythms can be applied to previous lessons that they’ve completed, current lessons that they are working on, or any songs they are learning or writing outside of the method book. (If you previously printed the Strumming Rhythms Index for Ukulele, this is an updated version. You don’t need to print the whole thing all at once, maybe just the first few pages to start off with.)