Standard Ukulele Tuition Services

So you want to Brush up on your ukulele Skills or learn from scratch? Click the video above OR keep reading for information on how we can help you with our 1-1 tuition programme for beginner ukulele players using a three step programme for self improvement.

Step One: Brushing up existing skills or learning from scratch.

The first stage will be looking at what you can already do and making sure that it is optimised for quality and precision, as well engaging in supportive discussions and coaching to deal with confidence issues that people may have around playing music privately and publically. If you have no skills on the Ukulele yet then that is fine we will start from the beginning and teach you how to tune up, learn the basic chords and start strumming.

If you already have some basic skills on the Ukulele, then we will work together to optimise your pre-existing playing for quality and precision. Throughout this section we will discuss and agree the kind of direction you wish to take your playing in depending on your musical interests.

Step Two: Developing a more personalized tuition plan.

The second stage will involve establishing what your interests are and how to achieve your future goals and aspirations with the instrument. This can involve discussing your interests with regard to musical genres or styles as well as discussing what you want to do with the instrument.

For example, are you interested in playing in a band? Are you interested in performing solo? Do you just want to learn some things to play when you get back from work and want to unwind? Together, will establish drills, and practice regimes to get you there in the quickest possible time and to the highest level.

Step Three: Realizing the dream.

Please bear in mind it doesn’t all finish here, scroll down to see further avenues of learning such as songwriting and advanced styles or pay more for premium services like learning music production and performing live. However, this section involves realisation of the goal that you set at the beginning.

This will depend largely on what your aim was for example, if you want to play at family gathering, it will involve exposure to performing in front of people at a pace you can manage. If you wanted to learn some basic skills on Ukulele it will involve for example, finishing learning those scales and adding fancy bits so you can solo to your favourite musician or playing bar chords to make sounds at different tonalities. If you wanted to learn covers this stage will mean making sure those covers are completed so you can seemlessly play them.

So you already have some skills on the Ukulele and would like to learn some more advanced skills? Click the video above OR continue reading to find out about how we can help you with our 1-1 programme for more advanced players.

Step one: Tightening up existing skills.

Individuals who already have a basic level of proficiency on ukulele will begin by having a few assessment sessions to work on things like dynamic ranges (if needed) and to discuss and establish a direction in which their playing will take. Dynamic ranges means learning to vary ones playing to play loudly and softly when required and developing a good mastery of the instrument. We will then engage in discussions around the kind of direction tutees want to go in will ascertain the direction of the next stage.

Step two: Developing advanced skills on ukulele.

At this stage we will establish what styles of playing and skills the tutees are interested in pursuing and develop drills and practice regimes to get them there. This can include latin styles, percussive styles bar chords, alternative strumming patterns and muting techniques as well as learning to sing and play or scales to work on soloing. Tutees will have have access to teaching in any or all of the techniques outlined above and many more and will have the freedom to determine the direction their lessons go in based on their interests.

Step three: Obtaining a new skill set on the ukulele.

This stage will include the completion of a new skill set on the ukulele and the finalizing of new techniques. The tutees will be able to proficiently apply the new techniques that they have learnt to either songs or covers.

So do you find that you want to learn to write songs on the Ukulele but get writers block every time you try? Read this three step section or watch the video above if you are interested in developing your skills as a song writer.

Step one: Working on your pre-existing skills.

To start with we will establish where you are as a Ukulele player and start to expand your skills so you will have more to skills to use in the song writing process. If you are a beginner on the uke we will get you learning a handful of styles that are consistent with your musical preferences.

We can also offer some basic assistance with singing and point you towards some resources that will help you develop your skills in this area but we do not offer specialist singing assistance so I encourage people to seek that out themselves and practice singing along side ukulele learning.

If you can already play a few tunes and just want to make that leap to songwriting then this section will not take that long and will involve sharpening up your pre-existing skills and introducing a repetouir of new chords and styles consistent with your musical tastes.

Step two: Establishing the structure of songs.

Once we have established some basic skills we will begin to establish chord patterns that fit with the structure of the type of music you like. Traditional chord structures include an intro, a verse, a bridge, a chorus and space for solos or breakdowns, however other genres of music surfice with just a hook as a chorus. Depending on your musical interests we will develop a song structure together and start to build a melody.

Step three: Building and completing a song.

The final section of this tuition programme will include the completing of a song. By this stage you should have a clear idea in your head about the structure of the song and have a bit of a melody established. Finally, we will start to develop lyrics and a singing style consistent with your musical interests. This will include one to one tuition on how different rhyming patterns are popular with different genres of music and how to develop a theme for a song and stick to it.

If you have always dreampt of getting up on stage and performing but have never quite had the knowledge or confidence to approach performance then this course of study will be perfect for you. Using a technique of gradual exposure to performance and careful cultivation of stage presence we will work through the confidence issues that arrise around performing at a pace that you can manage.

Step one: Getting three songs to performance standard.

A standard short set at an open mic will include three songs, so the first stage will be getting songs to a performance standard. Alongside this we will be discussing what it is that makes a good ukulele performer and how they can captivate an audience with a carefully cultivated stage presence. This will include wider discussions around famous ukulele performers and how their stage personas work with the audience.

Step two: Gradual exposure to performance.

During this stage we will encourge participants to play the instrument in a situation that they feel slightly nervous about such as a family gathering or an event in which their friends are round. This will be accompanied with an extensive coaching session on how to deal with the emotions that arrise both prior and during performances and how to mitigate those emotions, help manage them and harness them to propel you as a ukulele performer. It is important that the choice of performance location is both just outside of the prospective Ukulele Performer’s comfort zone and not too overwhelming that tutees get put off.

This will be accompanied with a discussion around the kind of equipment that will be used for a live performace if you choose to go down that route. Furthermore, we will begin preparation by introducing the equipment into your rehersal regime.

Step three: Performance in a live environment

This can be anywhere like a pub open mic night or a charity event but it will include the first performance in a live environment. Extensive coaching for the event will be available before and after.