Beginner’s Lessons on the Lake at North Gate Vineyards

Practice makes perfect! These sessions challenge the beginners, and does require some practice on your part. Have no fear! Even for the more advanced members, there’s always something to learn. Maybe even get you to teach what you know to the beginner/beginner-intermediate/intermediates of our club members.
Basic agenda we follow is below with occasional excursions that might be appropriate to the songs and how we will play them in our club. Don’t forget the signature songs.
Agenda:
A) Review of scales and chorded scales in Key of C and F. Note: Baritones can use the same lesson package in F, as your key of C. The Key of C for standard ukes is actually your key of G.
B) Discuss Circle of 5ths. Note: With author’s permission, I posted a paper that was written by a former member of the KookieUkies who now has his own group but still associated to KookieUkies. This paper has a good technical description of how the Circle of 5ths works.
C) More on Blues. Note: download our Blues Cheat Sheet and bring it with you.
Practice, practice, practice.
Here are some practice suggestions, even if for 10 min a day.
Practice Item #1: Do chord pattern strum in C (C, F, G7) or F (F, Bb, C7) for 1-2 min straight. Focus on 1 strum per count in 4/4 (4 beat bar/measure) with 4 beats per chord.
Practice Item #2: 1-2 min for scales going up the scale of C, then in reverse. We’ve been practicing primarily using your thumb. I showed at Meetup #10 to start with thumb, then pick the next note using index finger, then alternate between them.
Practice Item #3: 1-2 min 4-finger exercise (see Brittni Paiva’s 1 minute #3 at http://www.meetup.com…. This will build your coordination and muscle memory of using your pinky in chording patterns. It was reinforced during Brittni’s workshop here in DC area)
Practice Item #4: don’t forget the arpeggio’s that we started before Christmas. Practice the [41]-4-2-4-3-4 arpeggio that goes with Silent Night — it’s 3/4 time. If you get used to that arpeggio and want to try, 4-2-3-2-1-2-3-2 arpeggio, this is in 4/4 time.