Learning Ukulele with Curt
The Basics and Beyond with Curt Sheller
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“He’s generous, good-hearted and has empowered countless players to expand their view of the ukulele.” — James Hill
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This Guitar section is mainly for my private guitar students and any ukulele visitors dabbling a bit in guitar. It contains some of the remnants from my first sites, started in 1992 of GuitarResources.com and JazzGuitarresources.com, and `Ukulele Resources.com with some remnants from that first site in 1992.
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Everybody should be able to play a bit of piano.
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Learning the Ukulele — Invest 80% of your learning time in the fundamentals of music, the basics, the principles of music - the chords, the scales, rhythm, etc... Leave 20% for the songs.
Curt’s repertoire consistently stretches the ukulele envelope by incorporating jazz, blues, and pop into a pleasantly entertaining mix.
— Gerald Ross
1959 N. Charlotte St., Pottstown, PA 19464 USA
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Learning Ukulele with Curt
LearningUkulele.com • Live
LearningUkulele.com / Learning Ukulele with Curt and Funky Frets Music Store, in addition to their annual Funky Frets Uke Fest are presenting a series of concerts, workshops, and events throughout the year — Both virtual and in-person.
Keep and eye and bookmark this page for announcements
Workshop schedule will resume January 2nd 2025.
Theses workshops are virtual via ZOOM , so you can attend from anywhere.
If you're a LearningUkulele.com Premium GOLD or FOREVER Member these workshops are FREE .
After your register, we'll send you ZOOM invite/link and password to get access to the workshop the week before the workshop starts.
It is Not As Hard As One Would Think
Thursday, January 2, 2025 @ 8PM EST (2000 -5UTC)This is a FREE workshop to kick off the NEW year, 2025 and Curt's birthday LearningUkulele.com & Funky Frets LIVE.
Memorizing "The Notes of the Ukulele Fingerboard" Is Not As Hard As One Would Think.
Learning the Ukulele Fingerboard — It is astonishing that on any other instrument it would be silly and not accepted to not know the names of the notes and where they are on your own instrument. But — on the ukulele, guitar and most fretted instruments their players do not know the names intuitively — they can figure them out but that takes way too long. Granted it's not as easy as the piano where higher and lower notes move in one direction only, are color coded and even at different heights. Anyone after the first or second lesson can instantly name any key on the piano.
This is one area that gives you the biggest ROI, return on investment. Actually allows to not rely on sooo... many shapes.
Finally, really learning and knowing the notes of the Ukulele Fingerboard is a liberating movement in ones musical development and opens the ukulele up for. It also allows you the flexibility of not having to remember so many shapes. There are simply way too many chords, scale and notes patterns, and shapes to remember. It all comes down the notes.
In this workshop your get proven, time-test methods to actually get a handle on this daunting task. And, it really, really pays off.
All Musicians Should Be Able to Play a Bit of Bass
Thursday, January 9 & 16 @ 8PM EST (2000 -5UTC)Bass, the bottom, the low end. In music, this is one essential musician, always in demand and in short supply. All musicians should be able to play a bit of bass.
This workshop gets you started with being a bass player and the minimum requirement musically to start and fulfill the bass player role. It's a lot easier than you think and the workshop is intended to get you to sound like a bass player and not a ukulele play playing the bass.
Three notes, how hard can that be?
Thursday, February 6, 13, 20, 27 @ 8PM EST (2000 -5UTC)At the heart of just about every chord is a triad. This workshop explores these powerful harmonic and melodic music gems.
We'll explore the traditional major, minor, diminished, and augmented triads and contemporary triads, starting with the triads you already know but don't know you already know. Finally learning the contemporary triads, just what a sus2, sus4, add2, add9 chord is. And, how to use them.
Triads can be used for everything from creating melodies and improvisation with single notes and chords all the way to creating contemporary songs.
Travis, Scruggs Fingerpicking Style for Ukulele
Tuesday, February 10, 17, 24 @ 8PM EST (2000 -5UTC)Exploring Basic Fingerstyle on Ukulele. Classical and Alternating Thumb style fingerstyle technique applied to ukulele.
Fingerpicking for Ukulele - Alternating Thumb Style, focuses on the alternating thumb fingerpicking style through a series of graduated lessons-chapters incorporating your index and middle fingers with the alternating thumb.
For this workshop we'll walk through and explore the Alternating Thumb Style on Ukulele.
The Often Neglected and Taken For Granted Subject of Rhythm
Thursday, March 6, 13, 20 @ 8PM EST (2000 -5UTC)The often neglected and taken for granted subject of Rhythm. Music is Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. We are drawn, initially to music by melody at a very early age, with the instrument of our voice. With ukulele you typically learn chords - the harmony and never really dive into learning rhythm. Unless you're a drummer we take rhythm for granted.
Rhythm has traditionally been taught as a function of math, particularly fractions. Though accurate, this approach has missed one of the most fundamental facts of rhythm. Rhythm is a language and is, as such, phonetic not mathematical. The average student exposed to the math orientation of rhythm has rarely absorbed the essence of rhythm and rarely even becomes proficient at reading rhythm. This often becomes a lifetime barrier to the developing musician.
In this s workshop we'll learn rhythm, just as we learned how to talk. No more counting beats.
There is a strong correlation between the ability to spell and strong fundamentals in phonics. Phonetic skills allow us to “sound out” words, even words that we’ve never seen before! We understand the principle of sound as it applies to phonetic combinations. The "sight" of the letter combination triggers a reflexive "sound"; reaction. If rhythm could be broken down into phonetic units, then rhythm would become an easily recognized aural language.
This workshop covers:
Thinks in rhythm.
Triads can be used for everything from creating melodies and improvisation with single notes and chords all the way to creating contemporary songs.
Don't know what to play or tired of playing the same old down-up-down-up strums?
Thursday, March 11, 18, 25 @ 8PM DST (2000 -4UTC)Don't know what to play or tired of playing the same old down-up-down-up strums? One of the first skills a ukulele player learns is the art and craft of strumming, playing rhythm. This refers to an accompaniment technique suitable for the singer-songwriter or someone who plays a support role for another instrument.
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. It is this 3rd skill that is our focus in A Guide to Ukulele Strums.
Though strumming looks natural to the casual observer, it is anything but natural to the beginning ukulele player. Even experienced players have difficulty in identifying and executing certain strums. Though this is one of those topics that is typically taken for granted, there is much to learn about rhythmic feels, accents, dynamics, strum direction, feel, percussive accents, idiomatic styles and tempo variation.
Using the Big 6, Core 4-part Chords
Wednesday, April 2, 9, 16, 23 @ 8PM DST (2000 -4UTC)If you know these basic open-position chords you have what is needed to start your adventure into jazz
chords.
Exploring contemporary 4-part, a.k.a. "Jazz" chord on ukulele all start with the Big Six, Core Chords. You most likely know the open position chords they're based on.
From the Six core chords that are the Big Six and the principles of chord construction along with learning the notes of the ukulele fingerboard, you WILL be able to create ANY chord you come across just from the name.
These jazz chords are simply 4-part contemporary chords that find their way in a lot of music - not just jazz.
The Big Six Core Chords are: Seventh, Minor Seventh, Major Seventh, Diminished Seventh, Half-Diminished Seventh, Augmented Seventh
From these six core
chords you'll never be at a loss looking for that individual chord you need.
Here area few more workshops that we have planned in 2025.
From simple to complex, it's all about the song — Learning Songs
You Already Know More Than You Think.
Ho`olohe Hou Radio — 24 hour-a-day Internet radio station featuring the 100-year history of Hawaiian music and the entertainment industry in Hawai`i.
At the heart of the station is innovation. Bill Wynne didn’t invent radio, and he surely didn’t invent Hawaiian music. But he saw Ho`olohe Hou Radio
as an opportunity to put the two together in a manner that has never been attempted before. He calls it Hawaiian Music Edutainment
. Instead of spending so much airtime on commercials, a few minutes each hour on Ho`olohe Hou Radio
will be dedicated to educational programming which will help the listener understand the historic and cultural importance of the songs and artists they hear on this unique station.
Forever Access - With Forever Premium Access, you get ALL the benefits of a Premium Access Subscription such as Unlimited 24/7 access to ALL lessons, downloads, songs, play-along jam tracks, videos, email access to Curt, resources, related assets, and ALL books by Curt as FREE downloads. Pretty much everything on the site, and NEVER worry about a subscription or surprise payment again. And jump the queue for responding to any questions.
If you're anything like me (Curt) and getting Subscription overloaded with everything and everybody on-line wanting money from you once a month — I'm with you. For like-minded individuals, this forever plan is a pay once, and you're done.
The price for Unlimited Forever access is right around the cost of a few months of private lessons. I can guarantee there is more than enough material on-line to keep you busy for a long, long time. And, you get all of my books for FREE . That alone is more than the cost of this plan.
Basic Access — A limited selection of basic lessons — ( currently over 140 ) and 100+ songs for ukulele as well as basic general music reference material — FREE
Simply Register/Signup. HOWEVER – I've been doing ukulele and LearningUkulele.com since 2003 and probably have given too much away already - as reflected in my income from the site in relationship to the time spent on the site. So help support this site and its continued development by signing up for one of the below Premium Access Plans or buy a few of my books. - Thanks, Curt
NOTE: Each higher access level includes ALL the benefits of the lower levels. Private Lessons include all the benefits of a Premium Access Plans as long as you remain a student on the schedule.
Just browsing over both books, they look fantastic! I'm a guitarist and uke player for over 25 years and was thinking about writing a ukulele book but you've already written what I think are the best, most comprehensive and thorough books I've ever seen for the instrument. I just might end up buying every book you've written and I'll be giving my highest recommendation for your books to my friends and students. Thank you so much for taking the time to write such great books! — Peter Rhee
Aloha, Curt, All I can say is WOW! What you have accomplished is simply incredible! All the best — Glen Hirabayashi, The Aloha Boys
Folks, if you haven't stopped by Curt's site, do so right now! ..And get his books, they are fantastic. This guy knows his stuff and is able to pass it along too. — Alan Johnson Proprietor, The 4th Peg
I can highly recommend Curt's Uke books — I have four of them and they are excellent. — fatveg — Portland
Want to drop LearningUkulele.com & Learning Ukulele with Curt a nice comment . We always like to know how we are and you are doing. We'll post any comment, quotes throughout the site and you can help spread the word .
Thanks for visiting and checking out the site!
Original Curtie Animation from 1987 for my first web site on a Macintosh II, 37 years ago. Man, does time fly.
“Built for myself (Curt), and sharing with the `Ukulele community!”
LearningUkulele.com has one of the largest collections of lessons, songs, and TABS, Luthiers, ukulele builders, ukulele festival and club information, and, ukulele links on the web. Curt has been on the ®Internet since the early 1990's and This site just never stops growing!!!
Content is added and updated daily — so check back often. I really do need to get out more ;-)
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