Ukulele course: James Hill or Rockschool course?

ht852

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Aloha from sunny Singapore again~ I have been proactively self-learning ukulele for about 9 months. With some music knowledge from younger age, and plenty of good free resources online and books, I was able to learn chords and basic skills myself.

3 month ago I started to attend weekly 30min individual classes which help to resolve queries that I come across from books. As my teacher is originally a guitar teacher who was able to teach ukulele, I feel my ukulele queries sometimes not fully answered. I often come to here for answers! Thanks to the community.

I feel my passion for ukulele will grow less and less if I don’t improve my skill in the coming year, after a year of playing. So my new year resolution is to take up a reputable ukulele course and learn constructively!


** James Hill Ukulele in the Classroom Course or Rockschool Ukulele Course??? **


With busy work, I only have about 1 hour to practice 6 days of a week. Rather than myself learning from books and online courses (that takes discipline and patient to find answers elsewhere when sucked), I wanna make the most with the limited time I have. Physical classes are the most helpful for me. I enjoy the causual strum and sing with song book with friend occasionally. I also love the beautiful finger picking, which takes more effoord to learn. Finger picking is something that I find it harder to structurally learning by myself. sometime i didn't realise i picked songs that was too hard for my skill, etc. I like classical songs but mostly modern.

I am hoping in a year I can master some seemingly impressive skills from those who doesn't play music. Able to finger pick well, than just strum and sing. Hoping in about 3 years time I can play popular classical or pop songs impressively for real and know enough to be aware of what I am playing. And hopefully in 3-6 years time to have impressive skills even for those who plays music. I am not aiming to be a professional. Also not particular about creating music but would like to learn the msucic langauge or manner of music that is exisitng better. But I also get board easily -.- Just ukulele was so satifying and achiable in the past year to learn that kept it going. Almost every 2 weeks I can sing and play a new song~

Would like some advice on which course to would help to learn ukulele constructively. These are the only 2 internationally recognised course available here in this Lion city~ thanks for reading this long message.
ALOHA!
 
I believe the James Hill course, The Ukulele Way, would suit you well. It is self-paced and geared toward adults. James often directly answers questions you might have about a particular lesson.

And it is inexpensive. First thing is to try the sample lessons on the site. It includes a video of him teaching the nuances and playing the piece along with the printed sheet music (most in standard notation with tabs). There are six books of lessons with around nine lessons in each book. If you like it (or are even unsure), sign up as it is billed monthly at $9 Canadian dollars or about $7 US. Move at your own pace, jumping around and skipping some if that suits you.

I have been using the site for a few months now and am very happy with the lessons and my progression. Focus is on chord/melody, mostly strumming with the thumb though he does get into fingerpicking with the thumb and three fingers in the latter books.

I checked the Rockschool site and it looks very regimented with specific course dates and exams at each level. Ouch... I could not stand being tested to move on to the next lesson. You might like that but their video shows only very young (six or seven years?) taking the course. So I have not tried it and never will.
 
James Hill is an excellent teacher.

You might also want to check what Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel have to offer.
 
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do u do the online course or taken an acutual class? :)

'A day without playing uke is a day not well lived.' i cannot agree more......... but i got a bit lost since i forced to stop when travelling with family 3 weeks ago. now i m a bit hesitant where to start again~ I guess picking a course and structurally learning could be productive!
 
do u do the online course or taken an acutual class? :)

'A day without playing uke is a day not well lived.' i cannot agree more......... but i got a bit lost since i forced to stop when travelling with family 3 weeks ago. now i m a bit hesitant where to start again~ I guess picking a course and structurally learning could be productive!

I am doing the James Hill course online as he lives in Canada. Private in person lessons seem to range from $50 to $150 (USD) for one hour whereas his course is about $7 per month and done on my own schedule without having to travel.
 
I have tried both taking the online course. I tried the free version of rock101 and paid for the online course with James hill for a few months. Unfortunately I had to cancel the subscription as I had to rehearse specific songs for a specific performance. It is about time i restarted something structured myself as I have plateaued.

The two online courses are similar and it really depends who you like better.

James Hill advantages:
I felt James Hill had a better handle on what the lessons were trying to achieve in the long run. The course is slightly better structured in the way it builds from tune to tune. The tunes are short and a good length for learning a new idea or skill. Structured around certificates which is useful if you want to say you are a James Hill certified ukulele instructor in the distant future. Has versions of each tune for linear and reentrant tuning.

Disadvantages:
James Hill is more of a musicians musician so the tunes are obscure and may not appeal. Not very responsive to online questions but he was probably touring when I asked.

Rock 101 advantages:
Engaging On line forum and community, very responsive to forum posts and questions. Extra tutorials such as how t set up your computer to record your playing. More popular and Contemporary music. Monthly competitions with give away.

Disadvantages:
I found the tunes a bit long, I had Learnt the point of the lesson and was ready to move on before I had mastered each tune as a performance piece. The competitions are a distraction and stopped me progressing through the structured course - I would avoid them to start with. Course is still being built so structure not perfect yet. The free versus paid structure is frustrating - just pay and get all the resources.
 
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Thank you for a good comparison. I never would have even considered Rock 101. Now I may.
 
Aloha from sunny Singapore again~

Hello and thank you for posting this question HT. I am an early beginner Uke player. I would love to try the James Hill course now that you have introduced me to him.
I hope you do not mind me asking a question to the general population in your thread. Its my first post here so I hope I am not doing anything wrong.

Would I be ready to start the James Hill course. I started learning almost 4 weeks ago. I have probably eight or nine 3 finger chords learned with reasonable speed changes and am getting used to timing some simple strum patterns.
The pre requesite for the Ukulele Way course mentions doing Jim D'Ville 26 basic uke lessons first. I do have some understanding of music theory before I started the Uke. Here is the meat of my question.

I got to lesson 20 of JD's course and then he introduced the Bb Major chord. I think that chord will take me months to master. Is the Bb Major chord required to start the Ukulele way course?
I really want to find an effficient method I can follow but I don't want to start the course if I am not ready.

thank you.
 
Disadvantages:
James Hill is more of a musicians musician so the tunes are obscure and may not appeal.

I appreciate the discussion as I've considered trying an online course.

Can you, or anyone else, comment on the specific tunes used in the James Hill course? I looked at the www site and looked at the content of a couple of the books and it was not clear to me what the tunes are. If it is some stuff that I like, great. If it is stuff that I hate, I think it is very unlikely that I would continue with the course.
 
Is the Bb Major chord required to start the Ukulele way course?

No. The Booster Uke level is a very well done set of lessons for very beginner players. And even once you're ready to move onto The Ukulele Way, it stays pretty simple for the first bit, gradually working you up to harder material.

I appreciate the discussion as I've considered trying an online course.

Can you, or anyone else, comment on the specific tunes used in the James Hill course? I looked at the www site and looked at the content of a couple of the books and it was not clear to me what the tunes are. If it is some stuff that I like, great. If it is stuff that I hate, I think it is very unlikely that I would continue with the course.

The songs are mostly traditional pieces. Here are a few:

Shortnin' Bread; Acadian Lullaby; All Night Long; Roving Gambler; Take This Hammer; Long, Long Ago; Streets of Laredo; Au Clair de la Lune; Donkey Riding.

IMO, if you're taking The Ukulele Way expecting to learn songs you "like," you're kind of missing the point and it's probably not for you. What James teaches are CONCEPTS and how you can apply them to any song you want to learn. From what I've seen, Rockschool focuses on the hip songs, but less on the concepts.

"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for life." James Hill definitely teaches with the intent of making people self-sustaining musicians and players.

...

That said, as a teacher (and former admin for TUW), I think it's a total no-brainer to spend your money on James' stuff. Nothing against Andrew, but, really, James is teaching what people SHOULD be learning, not what they THINK they should be learning.
 
Brad thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful. I'm more interested in the learning of concepts, for sure. What gives me pause is the advice I got from a couple of players in my group who cautioned that I should not work on songs that I don't like as I'm going to have to practice them so much the "not like" part would get counterproductive. I see their point as I don't think I could play Shortin' Bread more than twice without a gun held to my head! But I also see that basic concepts are more easily learned with simple songs and Bohemian Rhapsody does not fit that bill.

Anyway, it is something that I'll have to ponder but I do appreciate your giving the additional info!
 
Brad thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful. I'm more interested in the learning of concepts, for sure. What gives me pause is the advice I got from a couple of players in my group who cautioned that I should not work on songs that I don't like as I'm going to have to practice them so much the "not like" part would get counterproductive. I see their point as I don't think I could play Shortin' Bread more than twice without a gun held to my head! But I also see that basic concepts are more easily learned with simple songs and Bohemian Rhapsody does not fit that bill.

Anyway, it is something that I'll have to ponder but I do appreciate your giving the additional info!

I signed up for The Ukulele Way over a year ago and stayed with it for about six months. It is really good to learn chord/melody. Your friends' caveat does not apply here. You will be playing the song during the video to learn the concept. After a lesson or two, you then go back to playing whatever pleases you until the next time you take another lesson.

The cost is in Canadian dollars. So you can try some of his free lessons first. If okay, pay the $7 or so for a month. If you like it, renew. Not very many better deals around.
 
What gives me pause is the advice I got from a couple of players in my group who cautioned that I should not work on songs that I don't like as I'm going to have to practice them so much the "not like" part would get counterproductive. I see their point as I don't think I could play Shortin' Bread more than twice without a gun held to my head! But I also see that basic concepts are more easily learned with simple songs and Bohemian Rhapsody does not fit that bill.

It's all in what you ultimately want. If you just want to learn the songs you like and have fun, you can learn those songs specifically and be done with it. But if you want to get into the constructs of the song and then apply them to others to broaden your own musicianship, this is a good way. The way I look at it is that Hill isn't trying to teach me these songs but rather what goes into making those songs. Like a math example: the ultimate goal isn't to teach you what the specific answer to a problem is, but rather how you can use the process to solve any problem that's similar.
 
That said, as a teacher (and former admin for TUW), I think it's a total no-brainer to spend your money on James' stuff. Nothing against Andrew, but, really, James is teaching what people SHOULD be learning, not what they THINK they should be learning.
From the student side, James' course structure is clear and well paced - it builds slowly and steadily. I always feel like I'm learning but not over my head. Even from the beginning levels there's enough there to take to independent study on modern songs that I'm more interested in. Highly recommended.
 
Thanks to all who made additional comments. Very helpful! It sounds like a trial of The Ukulele Way would be a good investment.
 
No. The Booster Uke level is a very well done set of lessons for very beginner players. And even once you're ready to move onto The Ukulele Way, it stays pretty simple for the first bit, gradually working you up to harder material.

Thanks for your reply Brad.

I actually decided to sign up for the Ukulele Way a couple of days after I posted. It starts out at pretty much exactly where I need to be. The content of Book 1 requires me to focus, practice and learn but so far there is nothing that is too overwhelming (just not too easy). (;-).

Looking through the course material, Bb Major, does not come up until book 3 so I have lots of time to improve my bar chords by then (hopefully).

I also signed for Booster Uke after reading on the uke way community forum. The material is not hard but it seems to be full of useful concepts that I might not have picked up as easily or as quickly if I had not signed up. I am having so much fun playing Mary Don't You Weep at the minute. :D

So Ukulele way for strict practice and Booster for relaxing.

Anyway that is my early opinion of those courses with the limited experience I have to give such opinions.
Regardless, for me personally I feel I now have a good way forward to approach learning uke. I just need to apply dedication and practice. :)

thanks everyone.
 
Great opportunity. This is actually a very good course, as James Hill is a real professional teacher. Since you have very little time for training, I think that it is worth choosing this course. Cool that there are studying courses and resources like these. I think that with regular practice, you can achieve your goal. It’s good that you have realistic studying expectations. And you understand that it takes time.
I agree with you, I was also struck by the material of this course. I find it very helpful. Moreover, this training course is popular not only in our country. When I was looking for help for students in South Africa https://assignmentbro.com/za/ I was surprised that among other study materials I found links to the course. It is also a wonderful opportunity to prepare for exams if you have such a goal.
 
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I have tried the Rockschool exam (not the course) and found the materials a bit guitar-ish, though it can be useful getting an internationally recognised qualification.
 
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