Category Archives: Jamming
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
UD#20 Never Jam Alone ep. 2 – FUNKY MINOR BLUES
UD#20 Never Jam Alone Episode #2 – Funky Minor Blues from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek Here is a funky little song to jam along with. It’s called “The Thrill is Gone” by B.B. King. It’s a minor blues which means that it uses mostly minor chords as opposed to major chords and 7th chords like most blues songs. Here is the progression. | Cm | Cm |Cm |Cm | | Fm | Fm …Continue Reading
UD#16 Never Jam Alone Episode 1
UD#16 Never Jam Alone Episode 1 from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek I’ve often heard students say this: “I don’t understand what happens. I practice the songs at home and when I come and play them with you in class I make all sorts of mistakes! What’s that all about?” Playing by yourself is fundamentally different from playing with others in one very important aspect: timing. When students practice at home they often take a little bit more time playing tricky parts of a song and speed through the parts that they can play easily. When you play …Continue Reading
UD#6 Lost in Progressions? (Hearing Chord Patterns)
UD #6 Lost in Progressions? from Ukulele in the Dark w/Guido Heistek A student came up to me and asked me this question: “I can hear the chords changing but I loose track of where I am in the progression. I can’t tell where the progression begins and ends and I get all confused. How can I work on that?” We had been working on a simple song in class. The tune was “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” by Bob Dylan. It has a repetitive chord progression that goes like this: G Am C G 1 2 3 4 …Continue Reading
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