UD#84 The Ultimate Scale Practice (Use all your fingers) from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek Do you have reluctant pinkyitus? It’s common among guitar and ukulele players. I am recovering from it myself. When I was just starting out, I only used my first three fingers on my left hand. My pinky felt weak and unreliable, so I avoided using it. I was encouraged when I learned that Django Reinhardt, one of the greatest Jazz guitarists of all time, played with only two functioning fingers. But, then, eventually, I came around to this thought, “Well, if …Continue Reading
UD#81 Where Do The Melodies Live? from Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek When I was in university I had to stop playing guitar for a year or so because of tendonitis in my left hand. When I was getting back to playing guitar, I was advised to play very little at first: 5 minutes a day for a while, then 10 minutes a day for a while, and so on. The idea was to slowly build up my endurance for playing. It was really frustrating to play for such a short time. And, I found it …Continue Reading
UD#47 Wine Tasting for the Ears (Ear Training Made Easy) from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek This week’s photo is from Drinks of the World by James Mew and John Ashton, 1892 SOURCE: openclipart.org “I don’t understand how musicians can hear a song and then be able to play it. How do you do that?” It’s really tough for me to answer a question like this. When I was young and learning to play guitar I was lucky enough to discover that the notes I heard on recordings were “findable” somewhere on my guitar. I loved to work away …Continue Reading
UD #41 CHROMATIC Wrap-up: Applying the CHROMATIC SCALE Ukulele in the Dark with Guido Heistek Use the chromatic scale to: CREATE SCALES, MOVE CHORDS UP THE NECK, LEARN THE FRETBOARD AND MORE! I ended off my last news letter with a list of uses for the chromatic scale. Here is a little expansion on each point and answers to the questions associated with each point. (Please check out last week’s newsletter if you haven’t read it: https://ukuleleinthedark.com/ud-40-chromatic-walk-in-the-park/) 1. Movable chord shapes Question: How many frets up the neck do I need to move a C chord for it to become …Continue Reading
UD#37 Horse First Then The Cart: One String Melodies from Ukulele in the Dark w/ Guido Heistek LETTING THE INNER MUSIC LEAD YOUR FINGERS: I remember being amazed by this experience when I was a kid: I used to listen to the same album again and again. I became so familiar with the songs on the record that when one song finished, the next song would “pop” into my head before the song had even started. This always seemed magical. Have you ever had a similar experience?This effect is one of the most magical things about music making: When …Continue Reading
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 #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? 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#22 Moving Scales up the Neck – Blues in All Keysfrom Ukulele in the Darkw/ Guido Heistek NOTE: It will be useful to have a fretboard chart for this lesson. Here is a link to to a fretboard chart in case you don’t have one already. https://ukuleleinthedark.com/filesUD/ukulele-fretboard-2.pdf Last week we looked at using the C Minor Pentatonic Scale to play a solo on a blues in the key of C. But what happens when we play a blues in a different key? Like G, A or D? A GRAPHIC INSTRUMENT The great thing about a ukulele or a guitar …Continue Reading