My website has been going since November 2014, but a Microsoft warning has put paid to it. I don't want to be associated with sites that can gain financial or personal information. I've added my last 'Stop Press' today, and here it is...

It is the last few days of this website, thanks to Microsoft. They put up a warning that this site has unsafe content. It doesn't. I have spent hours and hours trying to resolve this and it's still there - I am told it's just my computer now, but others have told me it's on theirs too. Microsoft said it was a Wix problem (Wix have been very supportive and helpful throughout) Wix said it was a Microsoft problem. It was.

There have been exactly seven years of songs of the week and it's been great to share them with you. I hope you've enjoyed them too.

The site expires on 1st December 2021. 

North Tyneside Ukulele Festival

Is it really ten months since my last blog! I have been keeping up with my song of the week at Lancashire Ukulele and you can see the songbooks that I've written for the Garstang Group on their Garstang Ukulele Group Resources Page 

In the last couple of days a songbook has been added to this page. It only has twenty songs in it and it's not really for Garstang but I will be taking it to The North Tyneside Ukulele Festival which starts on the 9th November at the Spanish City Dome in Whitley Bay. I'll be taking this songbook just in case I can find a quiet corner, which may not be possible. If you can't get there don't worry - ukulele festivals are everywhere 😃

Lancashire Ukulele

I don't tend to write many blogs now, but if you have reached this site and want some wonderful ukulele information, then you could do worse than have a look at my website, Lancashire Ukulele

You will find that a 'song a week' page is updated each week, usually on Mondays but I might be a day early or a day late next week as it is Christmas Day.

Aloha.

The Garstang Ukulele Group were invited to the Britain's Got Talent auditions in Blackpool on Sunday 1st October. We were there to add background music and I think everyone appreciated us playing as there must have been a few people waiting nervously for their auditions.

Four of us went off on a tram where we were filmed singing I Wanna Be Like You and it looked to me like all the young dancers who were sat near us knew all the words. We were asked to exit the tram as we were filmed (just four or five takes) and while we were stood at the tram stop waiting to get back on the tram we were asked to play Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside. It's not in our repertoire but we played the basic chords. Since then I've added a couple of chords and the instrumental version.You can find the instrumental version as my song of the week at https://www.mikegradwell.com/beside-the-seaside

Aloha

There's Always The Website

Is it really so long since I posted on Ukulele for Novices!

I do update my website on a weekly basis at https://www.mikegradwell.com/

I've nearly completed my recovery from Garfest 2017. I might just blog about it :-)

Testimonials

I teach ukulele and guitar in primary schools, I teach on a one-to-one basis and I also lead two adult groups. I've also taught adults in four-week courses, sometimes for beginners and sometimes they are more advanced. Yesterday I began a four-week course for a mixed-ability group. I didn't ask for any feedback, I've never asked for feedback, but I have received some today and had to share them as my head isn't big enough already :-)

The class was amazing and he is an amazing teacher!!  I learned a lot and now have to change the way I have been doing everything as I can see I have a lot of bad habits that will be difficult to break!  Although he is very open and accepting of whatever and says there is nothing he would consider the wrong way!  It's just if you do it 'right' I think you might play better in the long run!

He also has incredible energy and he taught a lot in an hour.  Maybe  abit too much as I couldn't take it all on board but mostly I got it. Certainly more than I thought it would be and much much better. I will move heaven and earth to do the next 4 weeks!

 It was great and I think that was the general sentiment. I take back the earlier concern it might be too basic. Also I was thinking it would be good to continue to the next level after the 4 weeks.

Last night's lesson was very good. We covered quite a lot of the basics and came away with some exercises to do. 

Although I can do a basic strum ok I already feel I learned a bit more about the different ways to play and how they affect the end result on the sound of the tune. 

The lesson was quite fast moving but I think both of the absolute beginners managed ok, I hope so. I certainly came away feeling I had learned several new things........now to get practicing those exercises. 

I know I am going to benefit from them and will probably be interested in continuing them later.

Aloha

Weird and Wonderful Memory Techniques

I teach a couple of adult ukulele groups as well as going into schools and teaching on a one-to-one basis. A couple of weeks ago I set one person the task of learning the chord sequence for Pachelbel's Canon. One week later they had learned it. Unfortunately he couldn't remember the first chord.

You can see the chord sequence and the tab for a few ukulele variation at http://www.mikegradwell.com/#!pachelbels-canon/tt3oq
It isn't too difficult to learn eight chords but it takes some effort and even when you know it you might forget  the first chord. So it was then that I set about using memory techniques for chord sequences. We spent five minutes talking about a weird and wonderful story, so bear with me.

You are lying in the sea, the sun is blazing down and the there is a calmness to the waters, but you are in the sea. Your first chord is C. A giraffe is walking on the water towards you and a giraffe begins with g so the next chord is G. There is a jockey on the giraffe but it is a actually a miner, and you can tell because they are dressed like a miner complete with miner's lamp. The next chord is Am. The miner doesn't need to hold on to reins but can eat a full English breakfast, in particular he is eating one egg which is a minor part of the breakfast. Egg minor means the next chord is Em. He is thinking about his favourite football club (FC) and their ground (FG).

The chord sequence is C G Am Em F C F G and in the space of five minutes I have had classes of primary school children playing the chord sequence for Pachelbel's Canon, and you can hear lots of other tunes there including Streets of London. There is a nice riff to Marguerita Time by Status Quo and you can transfer a lot of your new-found memory skills to play this riff. I'll put this music on my website in the near future and you'll see the pattern.

The best moments for me in the last couple of weeks have been when someone has come in and not heard any of the story but they see someone playing the chord sequence that they couldn't play five minutes earlier.

Aloha