Author Archives: guido
UD#120 Relaxing Chord Melody!
Here is a song that I wrote for a student who worked as a massage therapist. I had plenty of chord melody arrangements that he liked the sound of, but he found them too difficult! We needed to find a balance between playability and musical sophistication. So, I composed “Spa Song”…
UD#119 It’s in the Cards!
Last year, I wrote an article called “The Meridians of the Uke.” In it we focused on four areas of the ukulele neck which I called “Meridians:”
-the open notes, GCEA
-the fifth fret notes, CFAD
-the 7th fret notes, DGBE
-the 12th fret notes, GCEA
As a follow up to the newsletter, I created some quiz cards. Check them out in this lesson…
UD#118 Christmas Waltz for One!
UD#118 Christmas Waltz for One!from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek A quick lesson today! About a year ago, I wrote a little tune called “Christmas Waltz for One.” It’s very simple: just a melody, with an accompanying “bass line.” The melody notes are meant to be plucked with the fingers, and the accompanying notes are meant …Continue Reading
UD#117 Hear the Harmony
UD#117 Hear the Harmony!from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek I like to find musically compelling ways to practice scales with students. Here is an example using a C major scale. Have a listen! The bottom part starts on C and and top part starts on E, a third above. I usually begin with both the …Continue Reading
UD #116 The Meridians of the Uke
UD#116 The Meridians of the Ukefrom Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek A quick question: On a ukulele with GCEA tuning, what note ison the 5th fret of the G string? Sometimes, students feel like they need to memorize the fretboard before they can play anything. I don’t think this is true. However, some knowledge of the notes on the fretboard …Continue Reading