Up to 19! Please give me your recommendations.

Ukejenny

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 6, 2013
Messages
2,851
Reaction score
8
Location
Alabama, USA
I now have 19 people listed in our ukulele club and we usually have 12 at meetings. We are now meeting every two weeks, as requested by members who don't want to wait a month between meetings. Lots of music, and we are talking about strumming, left hand placement, and all the nuts and bolts.

The majority of our members are beginners and have bought their first ukuleles, so we are going slow and working on the basics for a good foundation.

I need some ideas, and I am asking for your help.

1. What are some easy, very recognizable folk songs that you like to play - three chords and under?

2. What are the main basic technique pointers you would give a beginner? I'm talking about holding it, making chord shapes, getting a good strumming sound and similar basics.
 
This is a good place to ask but you can also find all this very easily in a simple internet search. Best of luck with your group. Sounds like fun.
 
I understand that you're not conducting a class, but may I suggest checking out my Boot Camp Practice Sheets
to help get strummers up to speed RE: learning a few unfamiliar chords and practicing changing chords in a group setting? (link below)

I'm currently teaching a series of classes (4, 4-week classes, Jan thru April) at a local Community Center in Edmonds,
WA, and we just completed 2 Series involving the 5 keys of the Boot Camp. We'll be focusing on Finger-Picking and Inversions for Series #3, then Transposing and 'Faster Songs' in the final Series :)

You're welcome to use and duplicate any of the materials on ( ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com ) for educational purposes, free of charge. :)

keep uke'in', and growing! :)
 
In our uke club people post the songs they want to work on at the next meeting. What I am noticing is the more beginner players (liek me) post the easier songs and the more advanced players post the hard ones. For me it gives me an opportunity to try out harder songs with better players. That seems to work for me.
 
You might look into the Daily Ukulele books. They cover a wide variety of songs and difficulty levels. With 365 songs at your fingertips (366 in the leap-year edition), the group will have something to "grow into".
 
On his website, UU member Jim D'Ville has a "Three Chord Club," with a very, very long list of three chord songs with videos and some instruction. While the site doesn't provide sheet music, it offers a wealth of songs to play, and you should be able to find a lot of the sheet music online by performing a search that includes the name of the song and the word chords.

http://www.playukulelebyear.com/category/3-chord-club/

There's also a bit of instruction on other topis, and you might want to pass the link along to club members for some work on their own at home.
 
Tom Dooley is a favorite of mine that most people will recognize.

It's a great song about murder and mayhem, too - perfect for the ukulele...
 
This is a good place to ask but you can also find all this very easily in a simple internet search. Best of luck with your group. Sounds like fun.

Believe me, I've done quite a few searches. I was hoping to get some personal "best tips" kind of things that people on UU have picked up.
 
I understand that you're not conducting a class, but may I suggest checking out my Boot Camp Practice Sheets
to help get strummers up to speed RE: learning a few unfamiliar chords and practicing changing chords in a group setting? (link below)

I'm currently teaching a series of classes (4, 4-week classes, Jan thru April) at a local Community Center in Edmonds,
WA, and we just completed 2 Series involving the 5 keys of the Boot Camp. We'll be focusing on Finger-Picking and Inversions for Series #3, then Transposing and 'Faster Songs' in the final Series :)

You're welcome to use and duplicate any of the materials on ( ukulelebootcamp.weebly.com ) for educational purposes, free of charge. :)

keep uke'in', and growing! :)

I have been using your resources and want to thank you for providing them to all of us. They have really helped me and I hope they will also help the other folks in the group.
 
In our uke club people post the songs they want to work on at the next meeting. What I am noticing is the more beginner players (liek me) post the easier songs and the more advanced players post the hard ones. For me it gives me an opportunity to try out harder songs with better players. That seems to work for me.

Great idea - let them put their song names on a sheet. Thanks.
 
Tom Dooley is a favorite of mine that most people will recognize.

It's a great song about murder and mayhem, too - perfect for the ukulele...

Love Tom Dooley (grew up watching Andy Griffith) and I hope the two preachers' wives won't object! Going to go look for that one right now.
 
Our group meets every two weeks also. We divide up in two groups at the beginning of each session. My wife teaches the beginners and I and another person work with the more advanced players. Both groups work on the same songs, with different parts, to match the level of the player. After 45 minutes or so, we all get together and play the songs we have been working on.

I like this method, because the beginners don't get so frustrated trying to keep up with the more advanced players and the experienced ukers get to push themselves a bit.
 
Thanks guys, for taking the time to share some of your ideas. I love the ohana spirit at UU.
 
You might also get what you're looking for at www.doctoruke.com
There are over 1,000 songs with chord diagrams and just chords, all levels of complexity. The easiest are marked with a "s". Doc has some tips on the site too. Jim Rosokoff is the director of our group, it's his site.
 
Dr. Uke is a great site. It's where I taught myself to play when I was just starting out.

You might also get what you're looking for at www.doctoruke.com
There are over 1,000 songs with chord diagrams and just chords, all levels of complexity. The easiest are marked with a "s". Doc has some tips on the site too. Jim Rosokoff is the director of our group, it's his site.
 
Our uke club has a 'Beginners night' every Wednesday where one of the leaders presents basic chording and simple strum patterns for 3 chord songs to get people going. This avoids intimidation at the regular weekly get together and they can slip into the main group as they get comfortable. It works well.

Regards,
Bill
 
I would recommend getting Aaron and Nicole Keims book, it has folk songs in two three and four chords and takes u from holding the uke how to strum, and is linked to You tube play alongs. I am teaching my husband with it. It is handwritten in large clear format and moves on to tabs and fingerstyle. It is proving a good starting point for a complete beginner. The ukulele handbook. A small book but it has got him started.
 
Well, that's three votes so far for www.doctoruke.com.

I use his song pdf's for a beginning class, and just started an "Easy Jazz Uke" meetup and will be using 6-8 of the tunes he's transcribed. Best part is that if you're not quite sure how a tune should be played or sung, he has an audio file for each tune. Very useful!
 
I remember this thread from way back! Thanks for keeping the good recommendations coming. I love doctoruke... So many good things on that site! Again, many thanks, friends!!! I have gotten a lot of great ideas from you all.
 
Top Bottom