Rock & Roll 101

June 23rd, 2020

I missed Lacy today. I assume she's not coming now. Have a great summer, and don't forget to keep playing your Ukulele over the holidays!

June 16th, 2020

Lacy wasn't able to come today.

June 9th, 2020

I didn't do a lesson with Lacy today until I hear about the outstanding balance. If funds are tight, I understand, but please reach out to me.

June 2nd, 2020

Hi Lacy, good lesson today. Don't forget that I'm still waiting for payment - I have it at $570 owing to date.

We went through I Hope and then added a new song, Speechless by Dan+Shay:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkXIpQkFCWA&ab_channel=JobLyrics

May 26th, 2020

Last week was Photograph by Ed Sheeran, and I hadn't written it down.

Lacy learned Gabby Barret's I Hope - it's pretty repeating, so easy to learn. Capo on fourth fret.

Don't forget payment. :)

May 19th, 2020

We had some trouble with Internet to start - but got going eventually.

I showed Lacy how to slow the video down in YouTube, .75 is 75% of the regular speed.

She played through it twice for me, and we're going to keep working on it one more week.

May 12th, 2020

Lacy did well on Shallow... she sang it through for me and played it at the same time.

We then added Photograph by Ed Sheeran.

May 5th, 2020

Today in Lacy's lesson we played through Happier, and then added a new song, Shallow, from A Star is Born.

A beautiful song!

April 28th, 2020

We added Happier by Marshmello:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE87rQkXdNw&ab_channel=Marshmello

I wrote out the chords for the uke and put it in the Google Drive.

April 21st, 2020

Lacy did well today - she played through Please Never Fall in Love by Ollie MN, and then we added a new one, Clay by Grace Vanderwall.

April 14th, 2020

Lacy must have forgotten the new time today.

April 7th, 2020

March 31st, 2020

Lacy went through Let It Go for me, and we talked about making something sound musical and emotional, partly by varying the volume and intensity of the notes, and not playing them all with the same strength.

We then added Ocean Eyes by Billie Eilish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viimfQi_pUw

March 9th, 2020

Lacy did really well today, she'd learned the intro to Let It Go (and we found out afterwards, that there are two intros and two different versions of that song!!).

We wrote out the rest of the song, and she played it through really well. I think by next week we should be ready to move on.

She should think of another song to learn next.

March 2nd, 2020

We went through both Beautiful People, and Circles before adding a new one by James Bay,
Let It Go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDD_JOxFy28&feature=emb_rel_end

February 24th, 2020

Lacy did a great job on 10,000 hours - after going through it together (and adding the bridge - D minor part), we added two new songs:

Beautiful People by Ed Sheeran,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74yb9E3WY1I

and Circles by Post Malone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sca9FP6zl8

February 10th, 2020

We went over the chord changes together until Lacy had the chords perfectly - I think we got up to 80% speed, so try to get to 100% by next Monday.

If you do, come ready with a new song.

February 3rd, 2020

She nailed I Don't Know My Name, so we added a new song by Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber called 10000 Hours:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnHZ7_1_LVE

This is a challenging song, because it adds at least four new chords we've never encountered before: Bb, Bbsus, Eb, and G minor.

It'll probably take a couple of weeks to work through this song - but I'd love it if you surprised me and nailed it! :)

I let Lacy work on these chords for the last 10 minutes, since that's the hardest part of this song - we'll continue working through bridge next week.

January 27th, 2020

Lacy did a pretty good job playing through Moonlight, so we added a new song for this week, called I Don't Know My Name, by Grace V too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGlKvBtoWjI

It's pretty straight forward, so probably only one week is necessary to get a good handle on it. Please plan on learning a new song next week too (think of one).

January 20th, 2020

Lacy and I went over Moonlight - there was some difficulty with the intro, but we worked it out.

We also added the bridge, which we hadn't done until now, and that required adding C minor, which is easy... and now in her book!

Next week, try to remember to bring your iPad so we can video the parts you're having trouble with, and that might help with remembering when you forget.

January 13th, 2020

Reivewed song by Grace V., worked on the problem areas - she's very close, she had been a bit confused by the song here and there, so

I hope we've been able to work it out.

January 6th, 2020

Lacy decided to do a song by "Grace Vanderwaal, called Moonlight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swTki-Klk3g

It's nice and challenging!! I'm so glad she picked it!

We worked through the first half of the song or so, focusing on the intro/instrumental section, and then the chords.

It moves pretty fast, so just work on it at slower speeds until you're able to play the chords.

December 30th, 2019

Lacy is at a friends for night, so will be missing lessons this afternoon.

December 23rd, 2019

Lacy is at a Christmas Dinner today so cannot come to lessons.

December 16th, 2019

We went over I Want a Hypo for Christmas. She really has nailed it! I'm impressed with how fast she's learning now, and picking up new chords. It might be time to up the anty a bit, and try some challenging songs, if she's up for it. Maybe in the new year, when we're done with Christmas songs!

Oh, I forgot to say we added the rest of the song, and I suggested she pick a new song for next week.

December 9th, 2019

We went through the 12 Days of Christmas together, and then added a couple of more songs: Silent Night, O Christmas Tree, and I Want a Hippopottamus for Christmas.

We kind of ran out of time before finishing the last one. Work on all of them, and we'll finish up Hippo next week.

December 2nd, 2019

We went over Riptide again at the start of the lesson - it wasn't really up to full speed, we could only get to 75% of the full speed, and Lacy still struggled with keeping up, and knowing where to change the chords. I asked her to keep working on this one over the next number of weeks, to improve it, even though we're going to move on.

We added the 12 Days of Christmas, and I printed it out - I asked her to copy it into her book so everything is in one place.

November 25th, 2019

We kept working on Riptide this week, especially focusing on the little lead part in the middle. It's fast, and it's a little hard, and Lacy didn't quite have it down - so another week of this song before we move on to another.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdsdgL4_wuY

November 18th, 2019

Lacy worked on strumming in time with drum beat at 95 bpm

Here's that drum beat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hWQyEQhChE

You can try speeding yourself up by finding drum beats that are faster than 95bpm on YouTube (just search). Try getting up to 120 bpm.

By the end of the lesson, she was really getting it (albeit at slower speed than the recording). Work on getting it up as fast as you can.

Great job, Lacy!

November 11th, 2019

Lacy practiced every day this week but one! and it showed! SHe did great!

We added a new song, called Riptide by Vance Joy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdsdgL4_wuY

Great job! See you next time.

(Sending again after depositing cheque)

November 4th, 2019

Lacy said she hadn't practiced more than about 3 or 4 times, so I encouraged her to try to make a habit to practice at the same time every day, maybe right after school, or while she's waiting to catch the bus, or something similar.

We reviewed the songs she's learning, and noted some problems with getting to her A7 and G chords quickly. We worked on that switch a bit.

She can "race" herself, by putting her hand on her knee, and then seeing how fast she can get to the chord.

October 28th, 2019

Lacy is doing great! We reviewed last week's song, and then added two new ones, just in time for the holidays: Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

With this came a couple of seventh chords, as well as talk about bars and beats. I've asked her to practice this with the second strum pattern from her first lesson.

October 21st, 2019

Lacy remembered all the names of the parts of the uke, and the first 3 chords she had down perfectly.

We added the chords G, A, and D.

She had a list of songs to learn, so we worked through one of them (I think Mary Had a Little Lamb?)

Good job!

October 7th, 2019

Lacy's first lesson today, we did the names of the parts of the uke, and learned how to tune it, to the notes G C E A

Draw a picture of the uke, and arrows to all the part names. See if you can remember!

Draw a fretboard - the bottom three frets, for each chord, and black dots where the fingers go for A minor, C and F.

See you next time!