Hey Brad,

there’s nothing wrong with learning things that interest you, but we do suggest at least taking a look at the fundamentals and basics. If you have solid fundamentals, it should be easier to build upon them and learn more complex techniques and skills. To learn the fundamentals, we always like to suggest Ukulele 100:

Ukulele 100

That being said, don’t force yourself to go through it. Watch what you can, take breaks if you feel yourself getting bored, and you can always come back to it later.

We’ve had other members who have been playing for several years say that watching Ukulele 100 helped them realize some of the the things that they overlooked, and helped with their overall playing. It’s a really basic course, so I’m sure you’ll already know some of the things in it, but if you learn one thing from Ukulele 100, I would suggest focusing on having good playing posture. Most people’s difficulties with chords stem from incorrect posture, and some people even injure their hands because of it.

Another thing we like to suggest is for people to learn 2 songs every week. Spend a week learning as much as you can of the 2 songs, but after that week is done, move on to a new 2 songs. It’s great that you have a solid goal, and that you can play Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, but we find that a lot of people burn out if they focus on just one thing too much. I would suggest keep Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas as your main overall goal, and return to practice it every so often. At the same time, you can build up your repertoire, and learn new techniques by checking out a couple songs every week. While you can always return to songs that you may have not fully learned in the week, we like to suggest people wait about a month before returning to older songs they learned. Learning new songs, and getting more comfortable with the ukulele should help with songs or particular techniques that you might have had problems with in past songs.

We have over 300 song lessons in our song library, so there should be something there for you:

Song Library

You don’t have to narrow it down to skill level either; try a wide gamut of different songs. If you learn one new thing from any song, or if you just have fun learning a new song, then that in itself is great.

Like I said before fundamentals are important, but having fun and being interested in learning new things is equally as important. Feel free to look around, and find things that peak your interest. If you run in to any difficulties, you can always message us, join the live coaching, check out the podcast, or book a private lesson, and we would be happy to help you out.

Aloha,
-Kahai (UU Staff)

Songwriting Challenge #33

Guideline:
Key of A
Chords in the Key of A: A, Bm, C#m, D, E, F#m, G#dim

Topic: Juicy Fruits

Bonuses:
Hats and Clothes
Duet
Big Warm Sunny Day
Ghost Peppers

Due Dates:
August 5th for UU Team
August 19th for everyone else

Songwriting Challenge #32

Guidelines:
Key of F
Use a 7th Chord (Major, minor, Dominant, any)
Unity

Bonuses:
Doo Wop
Marley Style

Due Date: April 1st

Pokemon – Route 1

• This reply was modified 8 months, 2 weeks ago by kahai.

Hey Jwieties,

those are some great points! If you haven’t seen it already, we answered Simon in this podcast:

No Right or Wrong, Just Possibilities | The Ukulele Underground Podcast #37

we pretty much echo your answer though. Whenever someone ask us about alternatives to holding chords, we tell them, that as long as they aren’t hurting themselves, it’s ok, but they should still try to hold it the “conventional” way. There’s usually a reason why a chord is taught to be hold in a standard way, and you never know when a song might need you to hold it like that in particular. I’m glad that even though this is old, you added your own insight.

Aloha,
Kahai

Hey Guys,

we’re bringing back the Secret Santa Song Challenge. I know it’s not even November, but it’s always crazy for us towards the end of the year, so I figured we could get a head start. If you want one of us (or even another UU+ member) to write you a song. Leave Song Prompts below. You can leave anything, but we’re asking for everyone to leave a few prompts each (ie, chords, key, genre, time signature, groove, topic). You don’t have to make too much, but if you give us some “options” for prompts, it will make it easier to write you a song. When we get enough prompts, we’ll throw them in to a hat, and pull one out for each of us. Maybe next week, we’ll thrown in some of our own prompts, so you guys can write songs for us. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve done this, so if you want to see our songs from the last time, check out this Live Lesson:

TLL Podcast #88 – Who’s Your UU Santa?

We look forward to hearing from you guys. You can give us easy prompts, or really challenge us (please don’t go too crazy).

Hey Bavoso,

your request did go through. You should have been sent an automatic email confirmation from wordpress. You might want to check your junk, spam or promotions folders in your email. Because it’s an automated email, sometimes it gets sorted in to the folders. You should also receive an email reminder on the day of your Lesson. If you want to check the date and time of your appointment, you can always message us by clicking on the green message icon in the lower right hand corner of your screen

or you can email us at Questions@ukuleleunderground.com.

Aloha,
-Kahai (UU Staff)

Hey Guys,

we figured out why the old room wasn’t working and switched it back. You should still check your emails for the link just to be sure. Sorry for any confusion.

Aloha,
-Kahai (UU Staff)

Pretty Cool Renee!

Hey Taro,

great answer! To add on, if you google metronome, google has one built in to the search:
Google Metronome

It seems to be relatively accurate. When I need to figure out the BPM of a song, I use this metronome:
https://www.justinguitar.com/tap-tempo-bpm-tool

Of course, like Taro said, there are free apps that should work just as well. Good luck James!

Aloha,
-Kahai

Hey Skip,

I’m so excited for this question! I feel like this is an OG Thursday Live Lesson (what the podcast was called before) question that we haven’t had in a while. I’ll try to make sure we answer this question on this week’s podcast, but if you can’t wait till Thursday here is a podcast where we explain the pros and cons of different kinds of straps and straps in general:

TLL Podcast #21 – The Book of Jake

I think another reason I got excited is because I’ve thought about using this exact question (To Strap or Not to Strap) as a title of a podcast. I ended up going with this:

TLL Podcast #107 – Do Straps Make the Player?

but it instantly brought up memories of these particular podcast. I hope our answers on this week’s podcast are helpful.

Aloha,
-Kahai

Songwriting Challenge #30

Guideline:
Write an Intro Theme Song

Bonuses (Optional Prompts):
90’s TV Show Intro
Key of D

Chord Prompts:
I V vi IV
D A Bm G

I V
D A

UU Team Deadline: September 16
Members Deadline: September 23

• This reply was modified 1 year, 1 month ago by kahai.
• This reply was modified 1 year ago by kahai.

Hey Guys,

we’re going to have Mike back on the podcast next week, August 5th. I’m reviving this thread in case anyone wants to leave questions for Mike. Mike can handle them all, but if you have any questions theory or jazz related, he is the go to guy. Feel free to leave questions even if you can’t watch the Podcast Live. We’ll try to ask all the questions, and you can see Mike’s response in the replay. Hope to see you guys next Thursday:

Live Classroom

Aloha,
-Kahai

P.S. You can also join our Discord Server and leave a question there or ask Mike Live on Thursday:
https://discord.gg/zEfEEFDErP

Songwriting Challenge #29

Guideline:
Write about Food

Bonuses:
Make a “Happy” minor Song, or a “Sad” Major Song
Key of F

Chord Prompt Suggestions:
I IV V
F Bb C (Key of F)
Dm Gm Am (Key of Dm)
Fm Bbm Cm (Key of Fm)

Soft Deadline:
July 15th

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by kahai.

Zelda: