Category Archives: Jamming
UD#106 Wipe Out!
I love to teach Wipe Out to my students. One of the great things about it is that the main melody of the song uses melodic patterns that repeat again and again with variations. I like to show my students the notes in the patterns and the shape that these notes make on the fretboard. Then, we learn the melody by ear, a little at a time. If that sounds fun, read on! Or, if you prefer, you can jump to the end of the lesson and grab the tablature there.
UD#94 Send a Song!
UD#94 Send a Songfrom Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek Moving to Zoom… When the pandemic hit, I pictured myself shutting down the teaching studio and being forced to find some other way to make a living. I am so grateful that I have been able to continue teaching online. I’ve been surprised at how well it works. In fact, for practically all of my students, this period has brought significant growth. There is, however, one serious drawback to online lessons: I can’t play with my students. This is because of the delay or latency in the system. What …Continue Reading
UD#89 A Holiday Duet for 2 Ukes
UD#89 A Holiday Duet for 2 Ukes from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek When I was a kid, the Peanuts Christmas special would come on every year. There was such a strong mood that was evoked by that short TV program. I think that, along with the animation and story, it was the beautiful music that helped create such a special feeling. Today I’d like to share with you an arrangement of “Christmas Time is Here,” which was one of the main musical numbers from the program. Here is a link to the song as originally performed by …Continue Reading
UD#75 Broken Harpsichord to Ukulele Orchestra!
Broken Harpsichord to Ukulele Orchestra! (UD#75) from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek I want to start with a little story… I studied music at Concordia University. My principle instrument was guitar. One of the first things that they did with the guitar players in the program was figure out who could read music well and who couldn’t. I didn’t do so well in that test! If you were a good reader you got to go to an ensemble where you were the only guitar player. Nice! But, if you failed your reading test, like me, you got put …Continue Reading
UD#43 Another Round? (DONA NOBIS PACEM)
UD #43 Another Round? from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek Learn a beautiful new round to play and sing with your ukulele group! In UD #32 we talked about rounds. I introduced “Jubilate Deo” a beautiful 12 bar round. It was so wildly popular that I’ve been on the look out for a follow up ever since. Happily, one of my students at Ruby’s Ukes introduced me to this gorgeous round, Dona Nobis Pacem. If you are not familiar with musical rounds, please go take a peek at UD #32 and come right back. Here is …Continue Reading
UD#38 Sixteen Beat Strum: Steal My Kisses
UD#38 Sixteen Beat Strum: Steal My Kisses (Ben Harper) from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek OKAY, let’s look at Steal My Kisses by Ben Harper. The song has three chords in it: G C6 and D6. Here are the chords in open position on the uke: And here are the chords “up the neck”: NOTE: The D6 up the neck needs to be played at the 5th fret. There’s a little 5 there at the top of the diagram that is hard to see. The progression goes like this: | G | C6 | D6 | G …Continue Reading
UD#33 Mr. G7 Goes West: Low-Rider! (G7 in 4 positions)
UD#33 Mr. G7 Goes West: Low-Rider (Play a G7 in four different places on the neck) from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek THE INVERSIONS OF G7: First things first. Let me introduce you to my favorite one chord song. Lowrider by War. You can strum along with this song with one chord: G7. Give it a go and come on back and we’ll look at some different funky ways of playing G7. Please find a fretboard chart on the right which you can use for reference as you go along through the lesson (click for printable version). …Continue Reading
UD#32 The Thrill of Accidental Harmony (Jubilate Deo)
UD#32 The Thrill of Accidental Harmony (Jubilate Deo) from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek Singing or playing in harmony is one of the most thrilling things to do in music. This week I want to introduce you to a type of composition called a round. A round is kind of melody composed in such a way as to allow different groups to start at different points. When the melody is “staggered” in this way it creates harmonies. Here’s a recording of some of my intermediate students from Ruby’s Ukes singing a beautiful round called Jubilate Deo: Some simple …Continue Reading
UD#29 Stay Together Everybody!
UD#29 Stay Together Everybody! (Staying in Time) from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek This week I want to talk about playing together as a group. We are all familiar with the topsy turvy sound of a group of musicians who are not really playing together in time. I think this happens in large part because the members of the group are not listening to each other. Each individual is making their own playing more important then the playing going on around them. The other day I tried an experiment with a class to see if I could get …Continue Reading
UD #27 SOLOING ON HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
UD#27 SOLOING ON HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek This week’s newsletter, the last in a series of lessons on soloing, will be on the minor pentatonic scale and how we can use that scale to solo on tunes in a minor key like: BB King, The Thrill is Gone in C minor. St. James Infirmary by Louis Armstrong in D minor. Runaway, Del Shannon. A minor and A major! House of the Rising Sun by the Animals in A minor. We’ll focus on House of the Rising Sun and you can take …Continue Reading
UD#26 Never Jam Alone – Episode 3 (Major Pentatonic)
UD #25 The Major Pentatonic Scale: Solo Anyone? from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek Last newsletter we looked at how to play a Major Pentatonic Scale on the ukulele. This scale is very useful for soloing over Folk, Pop or Jazz progressions that are in a major key. The Major Pentatonic Scale is easy to learn and very useful. It’s a big help to have some notes under your fingers that you know will sound fine. This way you are free to explore your creativity by playing with rhythm and phrasing without having to worry about hitting …Continue Reading
UD#25 The Major Pentatonic Scale: Solo Anyone?
UD#25 The Major Pentatonic Scale: Solo Anyone? from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek When I was starting out as a player I loved to play blues music. I would play along with blues recordings for hours and hours. I used to jam with my uncle and we’d take turns accompanying each other as we took solos. What a blast! My main soloing material came from the Minor Pentatonic Scale which was first shown to me by my father. This worked great for blues songs and some songs in minor keys but I noticed that the Minor Pentatonic Scale …Continue Reading
UD#21 Soloing on the Blues
UD #21 Soloing on the Blues from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek THE MINOR PENTATONIC SCALE: Blues and rock musicians from Howling Wolf to Jimi Hendrix use this very simple scale for soloing. Here is a recording of a C Minor Pentatonic Scale: Play the recording a few times and get the sound of the scale in your head. Sing along with the recording. Try to sing the scale without the recording. Generally, make friends with the scale. NOTE: It’s called a pentatonic scale because it only has five notes as opposed to most scales which have 7 …Continue Reading
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