Beginners Workshops
The next Beginners Workshop is on Saturday 25 February at
the Five Islands Recreation Club (Speers Point),
10:30am-12:30pm. Cost is $22. Some loaner ukes available.
Bookings essential (mark(at)ukestra.com or 0430434291).
The uke is easy to learn. And if you cannot play, you still
can Z it (ask me later), sing and enjoy yourself. But most
people can play and accompany themselves.
We run a monthly 2 hour Beginners Workshop on a Saturday
morning, usually at the Five
Islands Recreation Club at Speers Point (right behind
Pippis at the Point).
After a year of including a quick and dirty beginners class
at the start of each LakeMac and Ukastle Ukestra rehearsal, it
became necessary to change the format to a more considered,
separate, leisurely, detailed and dedicated Beginners
Workshop. Mark still does the quick and dirty beginners
lesson (if people call) up at Maitland or the Bay, but it is
by far the best way to get introduced to the ukulele through a
dedicated 2 hour beginners workshop.
During the class we teach learn about 4-5 basic chords, the
fundamentals of strumming patterns, finer uke techniques and
2-3 songs. You will (more than likely) sing (pre-requisite -
shower singing).
Cost is $20. Please ring (0430434291) or email Mark to book
(mark(at)ukestra.com) as we need to know what you may have
done before, whether you have a uke or not, and whether you
need to come or not! We have some ukes to borrow for the
session, and we often have ukes (Makalas), tuners, strings and
the Kiwi Ukulele
book for sale (we prefer Mike Dickison's book as it allows you
to progress further than a lot of other books, from beginner
through to a rather advanced level).
Hope to see you at a Beginners Uke Workshop and then we can
send you out into the wider wonderful world of playing with
others!! Yes. it will be scary for a while, but you will
quickly find your feet.
I call my highly sophisticated teaching method the 'throw
them in the deep end' method. We certainly look after you at
the Beginners Workshop (with a main teacher and an assistant)
for the whole two hours.
But once you come along to a Ukestra, we (depending upon who
is there) will do a couple of simple songs to allow newbies to
play along but then we race off on new stuff or more complex
stuff to keep everyone amused. New people generally know the
new song, get the music, have a good time then go home and
practice the new chords and patterns, and come back next week
with more skills than they had. It works for most people. All
songs generally have parts that can be played by all
skill levels.
If it doesn't work for you, there is always the far more
expensive option of individual teaching (again, talk to Mark).
Ukes to you!