PLUC Member’s Choice 2013 – Katrin

Bentley and uke. (Photo credit: ohthecuteness)

I don’t really have a ‘favourite’ yet, but I’ve recently discovered Ukulele Underground and its forums. I’m a sucker for message boards and can easily waste my whole day on them, so I’m resisting jumping right into the community, and just lightly lurking for a while so I remember I still have a life. Looks like some fun and valuable stuff on there, though!

And if anyone in the group is also into knitting or crochet, Ravelry has a few uke-related forums.

Katrin

 

December 2013 Club Nights

Ukulele Holiday Gift Tags (papercraft freebie) (Photo credit: Buz Carter)

Please note the following arrangements for our club nights around Christmas:

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Yhancik’s LastGraph – Rainbow Music Soundwaves (Photo credit: yhancik)

Try Hooktheory’s daily ear training challenges to see if you can identify the notes or chords in a song. There are three levels: beginners, intermediate & advanced. See if you can top the leaderboard for solving the puzzle accurately & quickly.

Other PLUC music theory postings.

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher; PLUC Weekend Workout – Fretboard Master Game; PLUC Weekend Workout – Guitarator Chord Quiz; PLUC Weekend Workout – Vocal Match Game; PLUC Weekend Workout – Open University Intro To Music Theory

 

PLUCking Ukes – Ten Minute Practice Tips

Transposing Chart  – Guitar (Photo credit: ljguitar)

Over the last few weeks, both Chris & Simon have mentioned how useful it can be to play the same song in a number of different keys, to expand your repertoire to learn the full range of chords. It is also a good way to start understanding more about music theory; to see how chords relate to musical keys & begin understanding how transposing works (ie putting tunes in another key).

Doctor Uke has a good selection of songs on his site in multiple keys: Five Foot Two; Amazing Grace; Why Do Fools Fall In Love; Tiptoe Through The Tulips & It’s A Blue World. You’ll soon spot that some keys are easier to play on the uke than others. Going through one of these sheets until you can play all variations easily will give you a good workout.

If you look on several song sites, such as Chordie or Tontonremy & find a song you want to play, there are options on the page to trranspose it, so with a quick press of a button, you can have the song in a new key. Or you can use the PLUC Transposing Tool to work it out manually.

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

We’re often asked questions in club nights about music theory. There are already a number of useful articles on our website &, recently, I spotted that the Open University offer this free introductory course An Introduction To Music Theory on their Open Learn site.

 

PLUCking Ukes – Ten Minute Practice Tips

Over the last few weeks I’ve had a number of different discussions about how people go about practicing – where to find the time; what people do; how to keep it interesting etc.

Stopwatch: Creative Commons  sheko.ru

One of our new members contacted me to say that he would be too busy over the Summer to attend club nights but would return in the Autumn, adding that he’d then hope to have time to practice & keep up with things. Particularly as he’s a beginner, I suggested he try to fit in some regular daily practice,

I know it’s hard when things are busy but if you can, try your best to do just ten minutes to keep your hand in. Pick a time you can make every day for having a quick strum on the uke (eg first thing in the morning before you get busy, while you’re waiting for dinner to cook, when the TV adverts are on etc). Some folk set a timer!

 

PLUC Tales – It’s Been A Year – Part 2

WordPress (Photo credit: Huasonic)

So, today is exactly a year since I took on the PLUC webmaster role & made my inaugural post.

The site had been running since Dec 2010, with a handful of posts, 6 followers & under 5,000 hits. After a quick makeover & a healthy dose of bad puns picked by me, we now have 79 followers, close to 39,500 hits and are numbers 81 & 28 in the Top 50 & Top 100 ukulele sites respectively.

 

PLUCking Ukes – Key Facts

Keys. (Photo credit: Bohman)

Two different people asked me about musical keys this week.

A key is a collection of notes in a particular pattern. If you start singing a song on one note & then sing the same song but begin it on a different note, it’s still the same song but is in a different key.You’ll also have to play different chords to make it sound right.

Here are two different versions of The Kinks’ Lola – one on Ukulele Boogaloo & one from Richard G’s Songbook. You’ll notice the difference when you play them – you might find the chords easier to play in one version or that you can sing along better on one.

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

Ukulele (Photo credit: morberg)

Play the Fretboard Master Game to learn the notes on the fretboard. Just configure it for a four-string uke, with the strings G – C – E – A (or the appropriate tuning for your instrument), then choose your difficulty level; whether to name the note or find the note; & if you want to play a timed game.

Jeanette

Other useful music theory postings: Learn Uke Notes Without Fretting;

Other quizzes include: A Question of Uke – TV & Movie Themes; PLUC Weekend Workout – Flashcard Machine Ukulele Chords; PLUC Weekend Workout – Theta Music Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – memrise on-line courses; PLUC Weekend Workout – Speak Ukulele Challenge!; PLUC Weekend Workout – On-line Ear Trainer; PLUC Weekend Workout – EarMaster Reference Songs For Intervals; PLUC Weekend Workout – Music Tech Teacher; PLUC Weekend Workout – Guitarator Chord Quiz; PLUC Weekend Workout – Vocal Match Game

 

PLUC Weekend Workout

I’ve been enjoying the BBC Two series Howard Goodall’s Story Of Music – in six parts, covering the origins of music from the Stone Age until the Digital Age. It’s being shown on Saturday nights until 23 Feb (with episodes available on the BBC iPlayer for around a month after broadcast). It’s a good way to put the theory into context with different types of music you hear & play.