This is perhaps one of the most interesting and practical uses of a blog that I’ve seen. It’s author, Jonathan “Jeep” Briones, walked up to me, during the EdTech conference in Honolulu, told me that he had a blog called Jeep and asked how to get more people to come and read it. I gave him my standard line, “You have to become part of the conversation.” “Find other people who are blogging about the same things, read them, comment on their blogs, and then be sure to include a link to your blog.”
As it turns out, Jeep was the sound guy for my keynote, and as we were talking later, he mentioned that his blog was designed to help people learn to play the ukulele. I was intrigued then. Each post is a different song that he helps you learn to play. It includes an mp3 file of him playing and singing the song (Jeep has a fantastic voice) and a pdf file with the words and cords. So you listen and play along, as if we was there with you. But he isn’t, so you aren’t embarrassed when you make a mistake.
There is also a link in the side bar to another pdf that displays an Ukulele cord chart, so you can figure out how to play the chords. It’s all you need, delivered through a free piece of software. Brilliant in its simplicity and use of information.
Now if only I could figure out how to string this thing…
Nice article on Jeep’s blog! Jeep wanted to teach our entire department how to play the ukulele. (We’re actually sounding better!) Each song was a unique post for RSS purposes.
Love your ukulele photo! It’s great!
I can hear it now, ten beginner Ukulele players all in unison.
“Now if only I could figure out how to string this thing…”
I have one word for you: YouTube.
Alan Coady’s been keeping a superb blog and resource for guitar players on his eduBuzz site:
http://edubuzz.org/blogs/alancoady/
Really useful for students once they’re home to have a ‘tutor in the living room’.
I’ve been learning to play the ukulele too, and finding an incredible wealth of info on the web, especially youtube. Chordie.com has been great to find lots of songs to play, and it will also display the chord diagrams for ukuleles. After purchasing my uke, I found out a close friend of mine had been blogging ukulele lessons at ukulala.com, where have all these uke players come from? Perhaps I wasn’t paying attention before.
I agree that it’s a great format for both teaching and learning in a situation that has a high likelihood of embarrassment. Speaking of embarrassment, you can find me here.
Bring the uke to Spotsylvania and I’ll string it for you
:-).
I point my HS students to ezfolk.com/uke (a very helpful community of players/learners), chordie.com, and http://alligatorboogaloo.com/uke/index.html.