In depth uke lessons

Aloha everybody, somebody mentioned lessons in another thread and it got me thinking about taking some (again).

Anyone know where to find good in-depth lessons on O'ahu? I'm looking for something that focuses more on theory than on just teaching you how to play songs.

A few years back I was looking into the Troy Fernandez school (is he still teaching btw?). I was pretty excited about it, since Troy was the reason I started playing the uke. But then, I was talking to my friend's uncle (who had also checked it out) and he told me that it's mostly just Troy teaching you how he plays his songs...which is great, since he's my uke idol (haha), but its not really what I'm looking for.

I also looked at the Sakuma school, but after seeing some of the material (from my friend's girlfriend) it looked like they pretty much just teach songs...again, not what I'm looking for

I talked briefly with Herb Jr at a workshop, and it sounded his school would be a good way to go, but (at the time anyway) he wasn't taking any more students (he and Daniel Ho had just released their second CD and the first book)...anybody have any idea if he's taking students again?

On a whim, at the beggining of this semester I enrolled in Leeward Community College's uke class (figuring that it would be a more "academic" approach) but I cancelled that as soon as I bought the book because it looked way to basic for me (there were songs like "On Top of Old Smoky")...again, definitely not what I was looking for

I'm kinda worried (and pretty sure) that I'll probably need private lessons to get what I'm looking for, but that gets pretty expensive...any ideas?

Ya, I kind of regret taking that class at LCC... its nice fun playing with other people but the material is just too simple.... BUT i did learn how to read actual music haha. I plan on taking the second course which goes more in-depth about improvising and what-not. The only thing i wont like about the class is performing haha.... but i want to get better at playing so i think i'll just go with it.

At one point, i was thinking of checking out bruce shimabukuro's school, Ukulele Essence. It's in Kaimuki. I would expect that they would be good but I have no actual experience or stories about them.

tripl3thr33 said:

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At one point, i was thinking of checking out bruce shimabukuro's school, Ukulele Essence. It's in Kaimuki. I would expect that they would be good but I have no actual experience or stories about them.

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Yea, I thought of that one too. Last year a kid from his school performed at the Aloha Festivals uke contest at Aloha Tower, and he was good...lightning fast and really technical playing, but I wasn't sure if they were really going to be what I was looking for. I should check them out though, because thinking about it now, I kinda wrote em off initially (due to some really unfair and unjustified assumptions on my part )...

Have you thought about just looking into whether the local CC offers music theory courses?

It won't be customized to the uke, so it'll require a little extra effort and thought on your part, but if you're pretty into and comfortable with the instrument, it shouldn't be TOO bad...