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Featured Ukulele Lessons
Learning Ukulele Strums - A Recipe for Success
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A strum is the execution of a rhythmic pattern - in a specific style at tempo.
Learning Strums, A Receipe for Success covers how to go about learning the various rhythmic patterns that are strums.
Strumming requires a specific set of skills. They are: 1) Memorization of chords 2) The ability to switch chords smoothly and 3) The ability to choose and execute a suitable rhythmic strum.
This series of lesson's focus is on the execution.
Six Essential Scales for Ukulele
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The six essential scale are: Blues, Major Pentatonic, Mixolydian, Dorian, Aeolian, and Ionian.
There are two scales that can be the memorized and all other essential scales referenced from these two. These two scales are the Major and Natural Minor scales. The Major and Natural Minor scales are traditional scales and common scales in all forms of contemporary music. This lesson explores the Major and Natural Minor scales and their derivations.
From these two scales the Blues, Major Pentatonic, Mixolydiand and Dorian scale can be created.
Core Chords - Creating the Big Six from F7, 1st Voicing
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Taking a movable F7 chord, you can derive each of the 'big six' essential chords. 7, maj7, m7, m7b5, dim7, and aug7.
Featured Books 
Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard - C Tuning
Beyond knowing the names of the open strings most ukulele players find it hard to learn the whole fingerboard.
If your goal is to finally learn the names of the notes on the ukulele fingerboard. Then "Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard" is your answer. "Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard - C Tuning" has a step by step approach to finally mastering the ukulele fingerboard. FREE download.
The Blues Scale
Learn to play the Blues scale on ukulele. Available in "C" Tuning. Scale diagrams in the QuickStart format and chords chart for all keys. This book is a FREE download.
Ukulele Chords
NEW This small (1/2 size) chord book is a great little book to carry with you. Ukulele Chords covers basic open position and basic movable form chords. From these two chord categories a variety of songs and styles can be played.
A Guide to Ukulele Chords
This book is designed as a guide to ukulele (pronounced “oo-koo-lele”) chords. Covering basic ukulele chords that ALL uke players MUST know, movable chord forms, rock uke chords, how to transpose chords, learning the ukulele fingerboard and an introduction to 4-part “jazz” chords and more...
Ukulele For Guitar Players
Ukulele for Guitar Players is a guide to transferring the accumulated experience and knowledge gained as a guitar played to the ukulele.
A Guide to Blues Chord Progressions for Ukulele A to Z
Covers the key of C major and C minor, including a detailed accompanying text explaining the principles behind each progression and the chord substutitions.
Exploring "Jazz" Chords on Ukulele
Exploring "Jazz" Chords takes the core chords from A Guide to Advanced Chords for Ukulele and shows their use over a variety of common chord progressions based on songs from the standard jazz repertoire.
A Guide to Advanced Chords for Ukulele
If your goal is to expand your chord vocabulary, The Advanced Guide to Ukelele Chords Series is your answer. Commonly referred to as "jazz" chords. A Guide to Advanced Ukulele Chords Volume I provides detailed information on voicing 4-part chords.
The Advanced Guide to Guitar Chords
Commonly referred to as "jazz" chords this provides detailed information on voicing 4-part chords.
Harmonic Analysis For Scale Selection And Chord Substitution
Harmonic Analysis is the understanding of the functional sequence of chords. It is the process used to analyze the harmonic structure of a progression, song or composition. This analysis is then used to make scale selections for improvisation and chord substitution.
Ukulele - Reading Music Series
Reading Music in Open Position, Single Note Studies- Primer. Reading music is not as hard as one might think. It may be new and unfamiliar to you but is not hard when you have a proper plan of attack.
Featured Song/TAB
Blue Bossa
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Blue Bossa is an instrumental jazz composition by Kenny Dorham (August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972). It was introduced on Joe Henderson's 1963 album Page One. A blend of hard bop and bossa nova, the tune was possibly influenced by Dorham's visit to the Rio de Janeiro Jazz Festival in 1961. The tune has since been recorded numerous times by different artists, making it a jazz standard.
Includes: Play-along Lead Sheet, Ukulele TAB of Melody, Melody and Chord Ukulele rrangement, example chords and scales for accompanment and improv.
Over 1800 pages of
ukulele, guitar and music content. And 146 lessons for FREE or any donations.
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Amplifiers and Custom Speakers
Links and information on combo amplifiers, heads and speaker cabinets that are being used by my fellow jazz guitarists and ukulele players around the world.
Jazz Tone Tips: - A jazz tone is not too bassy or muddy. It has a bell like quality that is more of a mid range sound. I start with the bass, middle and treble controls flat at 5 or 6 and cut or boost from there. The guitar tone knob is usually close between 7 and 10 and roll it off from there.
My settings for a Clarus IIR amplifier head and custom Raezer's Edge Stealth 12 with a NY One 8 cabinents are to bass, middle and treble set at 12 o'clock with very little spring reverb. The guitar, a Benedetto Benny 7 is set on the neck pickup with the tone at 9 or 10. Depending on the room I have to tweek the settings to roll off the bass for the 7th string. This is the setup that was used for most of the Midnight at the Jazz Cafe CD
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P.S. You may think from the look of it that Curt Sheller Publications is a slick, profitable business, but it's actually not (maybe a car payment a month, cheap car). I spend a lot and time money creating the content, lessons and books for this site (a labor of love), so if you dig my content and want to see more of it. I could use your help by spreading the word and maybe buying a book or two if you haven't already, to help defray the cost of running the site. Thanks in advance for your help. This is a labor of love and I'd do it even if I didn't make a lot of money, hey I don't!
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