Certificate of Ukulele Fitness
Paul Jonson (NZ)

Friday 22 March
9.00 am - 2.45 pm
(Earl Arts Centre)

9.00 am - 10.30 am

Muscle Memory Magic for Ukulele

This is a learning, and training and playing technique for ukulele armchair athletes... it covers all strumming techniques, all fundamentals of fingerpicking and all genres of music. You’ll learn to actually hold a uke properly, strum correctly, use classical structured fingerpicking and pinching posture, and establish really good habits as you drop old bad habits. With just a smidgen of discipline, and a pinch of routine, and a whole lot of enjoyment you'll go from simple to sophisticated in just 5 seconds each time you practice...You'll have fun realising how easy it really is to dazzle folks, and you'll never play your ukulele in the same way ever again…

10.45 am - 12.15 pm

Elements That Make Your Uke Sing

The workshop is for all levels beginner to advanced and shows how simple it is to improve the level that you're at. You’ll play simple new techniques that will add colour and texture to any of you songs, whether you like fingerpicking or pinching or strumming. A list of 50 elements that you’ve seen or heard will be presented, but you only need to learn 2 - 5 of them. A beginner might add one element to a song, and an advanced player could add 4 or 5 elements throughout a song.

Paul teaches the elements using the simplicity of simple three chord blues and boogie, and some ragtime, because that music is so expressive but the elements can be used in all genres of music without exception.

There’ll be demonstrations of how to use the key elements, and you’ll be provide with the tab for the examples that you’ll all learn to play. You'll quickly improve the quality of your style, correct old habits and develop a whole new feeling within your technique. You can quickly eliminate the humdrum of everything being played in 4/4 time in the key of C, and your enjoyment factor will lift with the pride of what you'll accomplish.

1.15 pm - 2.45 pm

Nothing But Blues, Boogie and Ragtime

You can solo so well on your uke, you’ll be able to do it without singing... this workshop will get you started on a path that will make your uke sing, whenever you'd like to rest your voice. You'll learn simple riffs and licks, progressions of simple chords, playing the melody within the chords you already know. It's the beginners '101' class of picking, strumming & pinching all within the simplicity of three chord blues and some repetitious patterns. Five blues elements will be more than you need to create enormous feelings. Eric Clapton said if you don’t feel the blues then don’t play the blues, but that’s not a worry, because you’ll be feeling the blues in just minutes. You’ll feel emotions you haven’t noticed within other genre of music, and well within the time we spend together you’ll know exactly what to do on your ukulele to give your listeners those same emotional feelings.

A Certificate will be issued to everyone participating in 4 of the 5 “Sing'n Uke - Paul Jonson” workshops offered over the weekend of the Jamboree.

Visit the Launceston Ukulele Jamboree 2024 website for more information on participation and workshops.

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