Teaching the ukulele

KAWIKA27

KAWIKA27

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Ok so heres what happend, i was at school and the city park & reck for Pico Rivera was passing out job flyers curious i grabed one they saw the ukulele in my hand asked if i taught, i said no..... then they asked if i would like to? I wasnt to sure so they gave me an app and a phone num to call if i wanted to. How much i get paid would depend on the class size but i dont truly care about the pay check.

Im still not sure if im guna do it but i was woundering what songs would be good for beginers? and i got a feling most would be over there 50's so drop babby probly wouldent be such a good choice.. any suggestions or advice?:confused:
 
I'm on my 2nd batch of students... I started them off with "you don't write" by Ka'au Crater Boys... no picking. Great song to use cuz of the chord changes for the chorus. Not just a usual 4 chord song yknow, and it's a good jam.

eventually, I got them picking the intro for "How Can I get over". Super Simple, but fun for them too.

Hope this helps! :D
 
I took a beginners class recently and you're correct, everyone was probably over 50 except me. The teacher taught songs that used simple chords like C, F, G, Am and G7. We played songs like Five Foot 2, You are my sunshine, Tennessee Waltz, Home on the Range, etc and the students really enjoyed them. I guess depending on who your students are, teach them simple songs that they are familiar with.
 
yea that seems good its just ive never taught a class befor just my little cuz's i couldnt think of where to start.
 
i'm sorta thinking about teaching a bunch of seniors citizens at the local park that i work at. my boss told me that they want a class for the uke but idk what to teach them. i would think they would like more traditional hawaiian songs but i dont know many. let me know how it goes if you decide to do it :D
 
for sure but since im out in cali the traditional hawaiian songs wont work for me, id have to do the other kind. the only old hawaiian songs i could get away with is the hawaiian wedding song and tinny bubbles maby Aloha Oe lol. all i know is i could use the money and this is not a bad way to do it.:D
 
Think about what songs they know-- find chords online. There's some simpler songs that anyone fifty-plus is gonna know-- Five Foot Two, Heartaches by the Number... Find songs that are widely known by people from that age range, and go looking for some of the simpler ones.

The easiest way for beginners to get started is to have 'em play song they know, right? So that they know how it should sound, and they'll get excited when they can do it...
 
Super super easy song: Knockin' on Heaven's door.

G-D-Am-Am
G-D-C-C

Plus, they should know it with Bob Dylan and all (though most of my friends identify it with Guns and Roses)
 
hmm i could do that... i think i am guna just go for it and see what happens, i gota make some calls see what i would need to do.
 
You might consider just picking say 3 songs that are drop dead easy (3 or four chords at the most) and starting them off with those. You'll spend a bit of time on strumming, holding the uke, tuning, what are frets, etc.

I'll bet you will quickly find yourself running out of time on the first group. Anyways, poll your group and find out what ukulele songs they are familiar with. Likely, these songs are why they are interested in learning. From there, now you know what type of songs they are after and you don't have to play the guessing game anymore.

Good luck and have fun, I'm sure you'll do great!
 
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bro, do surf, its the first song i learned, and the first they teach at roy sakumas
 
o and when they get a little better, teach breakdown by jack johnson, strumming only, thats easy too and it teaches a new strumming pattern
 
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