A Note From Your Teacher...
It’s my great pleasure to impart a multitude of musical skills on a wide variety of students of all ages, backgrounds, and musical inclinations. There’s no subject in music we can’t cover and no person is beyond the reach of musical growth. I help you put one foot in front of the other, always meeting you where you are at and leading you to the next level in your musical journey. It’s easy when we work together going Step By Step!
Sincerely,
Alex Atwood
Welcome to the Island Sound!
If you're new to playing music, Ukulele is a great place to start! It offers the lowest barrier to entry of any stringed instrument. The strings are softer and more widely spaced than on a guitar, making it much easier to learn to play chords. And while you can get very fancy with right hand strumming technique, it's also very simple and intuitive to get started.
Because of its simplicity, Ukulele lets you focus on learning the fundamentals of music rather than struggling with the instrument itself: basic string technique, rhythm, timing, changing chords, strum patterns, and fingerpicking. This clears the path to strengthening your confidence and overall musicality.
Learning Ukulele
Like most things I teach, I like to teach ukulele through songs. No, I don't sing to you about how to change chords (trust me, nobody wants that!). You learn by learning to play songs, but it's not about leaning the songs themselves. It's about learning how to approach a song: how to find the beat, pick a pattern, and choose chord voicings. We can play one of the hundreds of songs in my digital library or you can bring your own. Either way, you'll be learning songs and gaining important musical skills that will transfer to any instrument or musical style.
"It's about learning how to approach a song: how to find the beat, pick a pattern, and choose chord voicings."
Complete Ukulele Curriculum
Everything you always wanted to know
about ukulele but didn't know to ask...
The Essentials
Practice
Practice routine
Making goals
Dedicating time
Warm-ups
Memorizing music
Ukulele Anatomy
Neck, frets, inlays
Bridge, saddle, body
Headstock, tuning pegs
Which way is “up?”
Techniques
Basics
Left hand efficiency
Strumming options
Fingerpicking
Chords
Open chords
Bar chords
Melodic additions
Scales
Primary patterns
Alternate patterns
Position changes
Position shifts
The E-string "vortex"
Cool Stuff
Slides
Hammer-on, pull-off
Grace notes
Harmonics
Theory
Scales
Major and minor
Modes
Synthetic scales
Scale degrees
Octatonic, whole tone
Chords
Arpeggios
Triads
6th & 7th chords
Suspended chords
Extended chords
Inversions
Voicings
Alternate bass notes
Harmonic Analysis
Identifying keys
Roman numerals
Diatonic function
Harmonic function
Secondary dominants Extended dominants Substitute dominants
Modal interchange
Contiguous ii-Vs
Non-functioning dominants
Deceptive resolution
Delayed resolution
Melodic Analysis
Chord tones
Non-chord tones
Melodic motion
5-to-1 resolution
Transition notes
Voice leading
Ostinato
Rhythms & Reading
Rhythms
Finding the beat
Underlying rhythms
Counting in
Triplets and swing
Syncopation
Odd timing
Reading Music
Formats
What to ignore!
Phrasing
Repeats and Codas
Staves and clefs
Schedule a Lesson!
Schedule Now, Pay Later.
Seriously.
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