Lessons and Advice

Learn Jake’s Triple-Strum Technique

  By Greg Olwell In this video clip, Jake Shimabukuro demonstrates how to play a triple strum. It’s a fast, flashy strum, which he thoroughly and patiently breaks down into an easy-to-follow three-step motion. Jake originally filmed this lesson for…

Learn the ‘Arrested Development’ Theme Song

By Greg Olwell In some corners of the world, folks will claim that Arrested Development was one of the all-time funniest TV shows. The show, which was about the highly dysfunctional Bluth family, spent three seasons on Fox before it…

Your First Ukulele Lesson

By Holly Rudin-Braschi Oh-muh-gawd! You just got your first ukulele and are so excited. But, you don’t have any idea how to play and you want to start now. Perhaps you were inspired to purchase your ukulele because a friend invited…

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Uke Blues Solo Audio Examples

Contemporary ukulele virtuosos like Jake Shimabukuro, James Hill, and Herb Ohta have made it clear that just about any type of music can be played on a uke: rock, classical, jazz, you-name-it. So why not blues? Blues is the common…

String it Up

After a ukulele is built, the biggest impact on its tone (besides the player) is the choice of strings. There are a variety of different string types from which to choose, but there is no “best” string for everybody and…

Marcy Marxer – Old Folks At Home

I was just experimenting with playing some basic shapes and found “Old Folks at Home.” It’s a beautiful tune. I hadn’t really thought much about it, but the melody is really gorgeous. It uses really simple chord shapes but the…

Marxer Lesson examples 1-3

A dexterous Grammy-winning guitarist fluent in swing and traditional folk lead and accompaniment flatpicking styles, Marcy Marxer has played the ukulele almost as long as she has the guitar, having studied with legendary uke master Roy Smeck in the 1980s.…