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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
click this link to view song...
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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Cartooning, Comics & Catroonists
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Artists, Cartoonists, Illustrators, and more...
- Sergio Aragones
- Robert Armstrong
- Lou Brooks
- R. Crumb
- Stuart Gibbins
- Randy Glasbergen
- Martin Goneau
- Gene Gonzales
- Robin Hall
"The Cartoonist's Workbook" by Robin Hall
- Christopher Hart
- Pete Joison
- Hugh MacLeod
- Scott McCloud
- Mike Peters (Mother Goose & Grimm)
Links
Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Sergio Aragonés is said to be the fastest cartoonist in the world today. He is certainly the most honored, having won every major award in the field, including the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award, and the Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award.
He was born in 1937 in Castellon, Spain but his family soon relocated to Mexico during the Spanish Civil War. In Mexico, Sergio received his education, eventually studying Architecture at the University of Mexico, and also learning pantomime under the direction of Alexandro Jodorowsky. But his heart was always in cartooning, a craft he discovered in the third grade, to the delight of his classmates and the annoyance of his instructors. He contributed to school newspapers and anywhere else he could get his sketches printed and, at age 17, began selling professionally to a wide array of Mexican publications. He maintained a weekly spot for over ten years in Mañana Magazine.
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Links
- www.rcrumb.com
- WidipediA: Robert Crumb
- on facebook
- WidipediA: R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Listing Info
( from their site ) - Robert Crumb was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 30, 1943, to a Marine father and Catholic mother. His family moved frequently during his childhood, and moved to Delaware in 1956 when his father retired after twenty years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Robert’s mother often behaved erratically and was probably manic depressive. Robert was a faithful Catholic until he was sixteen. His biggest influence during his youth was his older brother Charles, who loved comics and who co-wrote many of the comics they produced as children. Crumb was anything but popular in high school and felt alienated.
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Links
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( from listing's site ) - Randy Glasbergen is one of America’s most widely and frequently published cartoonists and humorous illustrators. His freelance and syndicated cartoons are seen all over the world in newspapers, magazines, greeting cards, books, calendars, advertising, blogs, and websites. His work has also been used in projects as diverse as scratch-off cards for the UK National Lottery, refrigerator magnets, boxer shorts, dog raincoats, restaurant menus, public plasma displays, and taxi cab TV screens.
Randy began his professional cartoonist career at age 15 and began freelancing full-time after a year of journalism studies in Utica, New York. Aside from a year spent as a staff humor writer at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City, he has been a full-time freelance cartoonist since 1976. Randy lives in a small town in rural New York State with his wife and an assortment of dogs, cats, guinea pigs and fish. He works at home in a cluttered studio that occupies the third floor of his creaky old Victorian home (formerly a boarding house for local school teachers). When he’s not at the drawing board or computer, Randy enjoys walking his basset hounds and spending time with his family. He is a collector of Popeye, Monkees, and GI Joe memorabilia and a fan of amateur women’s roller derby.
More information available on company's web site.
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Links
I'm a big fan of and have Robin's book, The Cartoonist's Workbook a great book.
Artist Info
( from artist's bio, Amazon.com ) - Started out my working life as a Cartoonist. Since no one buys cartoons anymore I decided to write a book on how to draw cartoons so that I could have some company in my misery. Charles Schulz actually gave my first book a great recommendation and the publishers asked me to write ANOTHER one. I also teach piano and have written a series of ebooks on how to play piano www.pianoforall.com I served some time as an artist and am now training to become a Cognitive Therapist and will hopefully bring music and art to that.
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Links
Christopher Hart is an award-winning and best-selling author whose books have set the standard for art technique, both nationally and internationally, with close to three million copies in print. He lives with his family in Westport, Connecticut.
Artist Info
(from artist's site) - Chris Hart is the author of the award wining book series, “Manga Mania.” His books have sold over 2.5 million copies, in 20 languages. Since 2000, he has had 21 books on the top 50 best-selling list in the overall art category in the nation, according to Nielsen Bookscan. Also according to Bookscan, he has had the number 1, 2 and 3 Best-Selling art books in the country at the same time.
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I just love this style of illustration and art. Check out the Blurburger site for some great icons and wallpapers. I've used Pete's wallpaper on my Mac and as a screen saver. Pete also designed the banners for CurtSheller.com and JazzGuitarResources.com |
More information available on company's web site.
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Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Hugh MacLeod is a cartoonist, who makes his living publishing fine art prints via the internet. His first book, “Ignore Everybody” is published by Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin.
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Links
Listing Info
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Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels “If you've ever felt bad about wasting your life reading comics, then check out Scott McCloud's classic book (Undrestanding Comics) immediately. You might still feel you've wasted your life, but you'll know why, and you'll be proud.” Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons. “BRAVO!! Your Undrestanding Comics is a landmark dissection and intellectual consideration of comics as a valid medium. Its employment of comic art as its vehicle is brilliant. Everyone...anyone interested in this literary form must read it. Every school teacher should have one.” - Will Eisner “...one of the most insightful books (Undrestanding Comics) about designing graphic user interfaces ever written, even though it never discusses the subject directly.” - Macintosh co-creator Andy Hertzfeld |
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Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud |
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Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form |
More information available on company's web site.
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Links
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Max Riffner proudly designs, codes, and illustrates websites and sequential art from the heart of the Midwest in Omaha, Nebraska.
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Charlie Schultz
Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) )
Creator of Charlie Brown and Peanuts
Links
Listing Info
( from listing's site ) - Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000 (the day after Schulz's death), continuing in reruns afterward. The strip is considered to be one of the most popular and influential in the history of the medium, with 17,897 strips published in all, making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being", according to Professor Robert Thompson of Syracuse University. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States, and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $1 billion. Reprints of the strip are still syndicated and run in many newspapers.
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Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Roy Scott is an artist that incorporates digital and traditional media to create illustrations for editorial, advertising, publishing and corporate venues. His work communicates ideas with bold color, rich textures and intricate compositions, pushing the boundaries between conceptual illustration, photo-collage and fine art. Roy Scott’s illustration and design have been featured in many leading publications and corporate communications worldwide.
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Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Simon is an English animator who has a great interest in British wildlife, painting, the great outdoors and of course cats.
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Elwood H. Smith
41 Locust Grove Road
Rhinebeck, NY 12572
phone: 845.876.2358
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Links
Artist Info
( from artist's site ) - Elwood H. Smith was born in Alpena, Michigan on May 23, 1941. He studied art at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and the Institute of Design at IIT in Chicago. After spending eight years learning typography and design as an art director for a small publishing company and several advertising agencies, Elwood began his career as a full-time illustrator.
In 1976, heeding the advice of encouraging friends, Elwood moved to New York City, establishing himself as one of the most highly recognizable and well respected professionals in the field of illustration. His illustrations have appeared regularly in Time, Newsweek, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, to name but a small sampling of Elwood's editorial clients. He has worked with many major advertising agencies world wide. In the field of animation, Elwood has worked on projects with R.O. Blechman and J.J. Sedelmaier at the Ink Tank. He is currently busy developing his own 2D animations using the Flash-based Toon Boom Studio animation program.
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Links
- www.boneville.com
- WidipediA: Jeff Smith
- The History of BONE & Jeff Smith
- The Catroonist, Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics.
- WidipediA: Jeff Smith
- WidipediA: Bone
- WidipediA: RASL
Info
Born and raised in the American mid-west, Jeff Smith learned about cartooning from comic strips, comic books, and watching animation on TV. In 1991, he launched a company called Cartoon Books to publish his comic book BONE, a comedy/adventure about three lost cousins from Boneville. Against all odds, the small company flourished, building a reputation for quality stories and artwork. Word of mouth, critical acclaim, and a string of major awards helped propel Cartoon Books and BONE to the forefront of the comic book industry. In 1992, Jeff’s wife Vijaya Iyer joined the company as partner to handle publishing and distribution, licensing, and foreign language publications. In the Spring of 2005, Harry Potter’s U.S. publisher Scholastic entered the graphic novel market by launching a new imprint, Graphix with a full color version of BONE: Out from Boneville, bringing the underground comic to a new audience and a new generation. In 2007, DC Comics will release Smith’s first non-creator owned work, SHAZAM! Monster Society of Evil, a four-part mini-series recreating a classic serial from comic’s Golden Age. Between projects, Smith spends much of his time on the international guest circuit promoting comics and the art of graphic novels. For more details on Self-publishing and Jeff’s comics career, see The History of Bone and Jeff Smith on the Bone Page
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Links
- WidipediA: Art Spiegelman
- WidipediA: Maus: A Survivor's Tale
These are great books. I even have a HyperCard Interactive CD-Rom of these books. A good reason to keep an old Mac around.
Artist Info
( from WidipediA's site ) - Art Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden to Vladek Spiegelman and Anja Spiegelman (nee Zylberberg), Polish-Jewish refugees. Spiegelman grew up in Rego Park in Queens, New York City, New York and graduated from the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan. Spiegelman attended Binghamton University, called Harpur College at the time. He did not graduate but received an honorary doctorate from there 30 years later. At Harpur, Spiegelman audited classes by the innovative filmmaker Ken Jacobs and became friends with him. Spiegelman has acknowledged being strongly inspired by Jacobs' work and thought.
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Bob Staake
The Bob Staake Studio
274 Main Street
Chatham, MA 02633
Phone: 508 945 0191
(strictly a 9-5 operation)
Links
Info
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The Complete Book of Humorous Art (Hardcover) |
More information available on company's web site.
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Links
Listing Info
( from listing's site ) - Douglas TenNapel (born in 1967 in Denair, United States) is an American musician, animator, Eisner Award-winning artist, and author and writer. He is best known for creating Earthworm Jim, a character that spawned a famous video game, cartoon series, and toy line.
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Favorite Cartoons
Links
- www.capncrunch.com
- Cap'n Crunch FAQ
- WidipediA: Cap'n Crunch
(Ed.) One of my favorite foods as kid and I still love the original.
Listing Info
( from WikipediA site ) - Cap'n Crunch is a sweetened corn and oat breakfast cereal manufactured by Quaker Oats Company and introduced in 1963. Pamela Low, a flavorist at Arthur D. Little and "the mother of Cap'n Crunch," developed the flavor from a brown sugar and butter recipe that her grandmother had served over rice.
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Links
Info
(from WikipediA) The Flintstones, an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, is one of the most successful animated television series of all time. Loosely based upon the 1950s live-action sitcom The Honeymooners, The Flintstones originally ran in American prime time for six seasons, from 1960 to 1966, on the ABC network.
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(from WikipediA) The Jetsons was a prime-time American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, and aired on Sunday nights on ABC from September 23, 1962 to March 3, 1963. Like The Flintstones, it was a half-hour family sitcom projecting contemporary American culture and lifestyle into other time periods. While the Flintstones lived in a world with machines powered by birds and dinosaurs, the Jetsons lived in a utopian future of elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions. Also, the Flintstones represented the contemporary American blue collar lifestyle while the Jetsons were white collar.
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- WidipediA: Quick Draw McGraw
Info
(from WikipediA) Quick Draw McGraw is the name of a fictional cartoon horse, created by Hanna-Barbera and the star of The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Hanna-Barbera's third show produced for television after success with The Ruff & Reddy Show and The Huckleberry Hound Show. The show debuted in 1959; Quick Draw was voiced by voice actor Daws Butler. Michael Maltese crafted most of the episode stories.
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Rocky And His Friends premiered on ABC on November 19, 1959. The series featured a segment called Rocky And Bullwinkle, about Rocky the squirrel and Bullwinkle the Moose going up against Mr. Big/Fearless Leader, who sent agents Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale to deal with the Moose and Squirrel. It also featured segments called Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop And Son, Peabody's Improbable History, and Mr. Know It All in each episode. After 2 years on ABC, the show moved to NBC as "The Adventures Of Rocky And Bullwinkle" (aka "The Bullwinkle Show"), rerunning the original cartoon segments in different order and adding two new segments called Dudley Do-Right Of The Mounties and Bullwinkle's Corner.
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(from WikipediA) The Simpsons is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Network. It became one of the first hits for the network, and is one of the most successful and critically acclaimed television shows in the history of the medium. The television series is a spin-off of a series of animated shorts originally aired on The Tracey Ullman Show.
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Content is always being added and updated. So check-in often. Thanks, Curt
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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If I'm not teaching, I'm working on this site and new lessons, books and goodies.
CARTOONING.PHP | Updated: Monday, 26th March, 2012 @ 08:25am