Improvising a chord melody solo can seem nearly impossible at first but when we simplify our options to 2 shapes to cover all of our chords we can start to build solos right away.

Download the PDF here

In this lesson we look at chord melody in the style of Lyle Ritz and Joe Pass and how to construct a solo to practice improvisation. You don't need to know every chord on the instrument or even and scales to start your improvisation journey today.

Over on the Magic Ukulele Club you can put these shapes to use over dozens of other songs and dive into other improvisation exercises.

Don't know where to start your ukulele jazz journey? Begin with the Fundamentals of Swing Ukulele course

An end of year gift to you: an arrangement of ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ in the style of Ohta San. This tab is a skeleton version making it much easier to play while allowing you to impart your own style.

Over on the Magic Ukulele Club you can dive into 3 hours of videos lessons teaching this beautiful song.

Join me in learning one of my favorite Christmas jazz tunes - Louis Armstrong's 'Christmas in New Orleans’

Get the free PDF to accompany this lesson here

We're doing this in the original key so that you can play a long with Louis himself once you have it under your fingers. I'll go over the basic chords with you and then we'll do a play-along with some bass added in. After that we'll look at a host of chord substitutions and new chord voicings for the intermediate and advanced players that want to take the tune a bit further.

For more lessons like this join me over on the Tin Man’s Magic Ukulele Club for new jazz ukulele lessons each and every week.

A little bit of knowledge can go a long way. In this lesson we look at how to find any chord on ukulele using only four basic chord shapes that you already know.

Get the Free PDF here

At first glance a chord chart for a jazz standard can look more like an algebra problem than a piece of music and this lesson will give you the power to decode it. Understanding the building blocks of chords is much more important than memorizing 1000 chord shapes (in writing this I have realized that the book I’m writing has over 1100 Chords currently and isn’t finished!) and with a bit of practice any one can be finding, as well as making, their own chords in no time.

I’ll walk you through my five step process to finding any chord and then we’ll put these concepts to use over the A section of Autumn Leaves.

You can put these concepts to more use in this Jazz harmony 101 lesson.

If you enjoy deep dives into theory, music, and want to up your ukulele game join me over on the Tin Man’s Ukulele Club we we put these concepts to use with new lessons each and every week.

Grab your ukulele and let's take a whirlwind strum of Les Paul's version of 'How High the Moon'. No electric ukulele required although it certainly does it make it more fun!

This song can seem like a mess of chords but the important thing to remember is that it is really a series of ii V I progressions. Starting to understand jazz standards in this way as opposed to individual chords means you can spend less time learning songs and more time playing music. Check out this free lesson on jazz Harmony to get a jump start on your journey.

This month on the Magic Ukulele Club we're studying 'How High the Moon' in a series of 5 lessons:

• History and Harmony

• Melody and Chords Together

• Les Paul's Chords

• Keeping it Simple (U Bass Lesson)

• Single Note Solos with One Chord Shape

• Plus 2 recorded Live Streams on ii V I progressions

Join the largest jazz and swing ukulele community with over 300 lessons:

https://www.thetinman.co/join-the-magic-ukulele-club

Grab your uke and let's learn the Ink Spots classic 'The Java Jive'.  A quick little strum along with the backing track to start things off and then we dive into the Ink Spots intro. Variations of this introduction were on nearly every tune they recorded.

You can grab the Free PDF to accompany the lesson here

Then we move on to a bunch of chord variations that you can play on the tune all outlined in the lesson and PDF. I've included in the second part of the lesson the original chord changes to the bridge which are a bit more fun to me than what the Ink Spots played. The Ink Spots had such an iconic version of this tune that nearly every version recorded uses their chord and lyrics changes.

If you enjoy deep dives like this join us over on the The Tin Man's Magic Ukulele Club where we do even deeper dives into songs with new lessons every week. During the month of October we'll be studying 'How High the Moon' with an arrangement based on the Les Paul version including five video lessons, two live streams, a backing track and more.

Ready to dive into the exiting world of jazz ukulele? It may seem impossible at first, but with just a little insight, those "complex" chord changes become a piece of cake! In this lesson I will demystify jazz progressions, helping you quickly learn songs and even make your own creative choices when it comes to harmony. Making a song your own is the heart and soul of the music!

Download the free PDF here

Together we'll break down one foundational progression that underpins the harmony of most songs in the great American song book and exploring the common chord substitutions that bring the signature sound to the music. Then we’ll put it into action with a deep dive into the Chet Baker classic "Time After Time"—giving you the tools to truly understand the harmony to this iconic song.

If you want to put these skills to use with weekly lesson join us over on the Magic Ukulele Club - the largest online resource for jazz ukulele

Grab your ukulele and strum along with me to the 1924 Jazz Standard 'It had to Be You'. We'll go over the basic chords and then try it along with the band. This is a great tune for people dipping their toes into the waters of Jazz and Swing Ukulele with accessible chords for most beginner and room to embellish for intermediate and advanced players. First we'll learn both sections of the song and then try a play-along with chords and lyrics on screen.

Want to take this tune further? Join the Magic Ukulele Club for a 5 lesson series including chord melody, chord substitutions, soloing concepts and more!

Are you up for a challenge?

Give this solo ukulele arrangment of Fat’s Wallers ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’ a try.

You can download the tabs for free here.

IF this arrangement is a bit above your skill level over on the Magic Ukulele Club we have a simple chord melody arrangement for all levels. This is a small part of our 8 part, 3 hours series on this classic song including chords, chord melody, Fat’s Waller’s Intro, How to solo (2 live streams), Chord substitutions and even a lesson for U bass players.

Each month we take a new tune and truly learn it and everything that it has to teach us. Next month we’ll be looking at the beautiful song ‘It Had to Be You’.

Swing tunes are a fabulous gateway into the world of jazz ukulele giving us an opportunity to learn the basic structures of songs before being intimidated by all of the chordal and soloing options that it affords us.

Grab your ukulele and strum along with me to the Fats Waller Classic 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter' (including the original Fats intro!). This play-along is a nice easy version of the tune for all levels Just watch out for that pesky Augmented Chord. It’s even in the same key as Fat’s Waller’s original recording if you want to jam along with his fabulous band.

If you’re new to the style watch my free crash course live stream in playing and learning swing tunes!

Join us over on the Magic Ukulele Club for a in depth 6 part series on this song with over 3 hours of lessons going deeper into chord substitutions, how to construct a solo, two chord melody arrangements (one beginner and one advanced), as well as a special lesson for U bass Players.

Join me live on youtube this coming Saturday at 1pm Eastern Time for a jump start lesson on playing Swing ukulele.

In this hour we will be learning two songs:

'Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone' and 'My Blue Heaven'

but more importantly we'll be learning how to strum in this style as well as how to go about learning tunes efficiently so we can spend less time staring at a song sheet and more time playing music.

If you'd like to dive deeper into swing music we have a whole collection of lessons on songs from the 30s and 40s on the Magic Ukulele Club and this month we'll be adding 'I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter' to the repertoire with a series of 5 Lessons and 2 Live streams.

You can download the PDF ahead of the workshop here

In this ukulele lesson we look at how to take the basic 8 bar blues form of St James Infirmary (based on the Louis Armstrong version) and breathe new life into it through chord inversions, substitutions, and harmonic movement.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced ukulele player you can take this concept as far as you like and join us at the end of the video for a full play-along with the band: no matter which set of chords you choose.

Download the Free PDF

Join us over on the Magic Ukulele Club for a in depth 8 part series on this song with over 3 hours of lessons going deeper into chord substitutions, how to construct single note, octave, and chord melody solos over the form, a note for note transcription of Louis Armstrong's recording and even a lesson for U bass players.

Looking to play a Solo Ukulele Version of this song?

Join me live on youtube this Saturday at 3pm Eastern Time (8pm for those of us here in the UK)

Whether you're trying to strum like George Formby or just add something new to your rhythm repertoire join me as I break down this classic syncopated style or ukulele strumming. We'll look at how to effectively practice this technique so that you can add it to your strumming toolbox. As we'll see the Split Stroke goes well beyond George Formby and truly hails from Hawaii!

Grab the Free PDF Ahead of time.

This technique can seem mystifying at first but you'll have it in no time after we spend an hour breaking it down and practicing together.

Over on the Magic Ukulele Club this month we're taking a deep dive into 'St James Infirmary'. Over the course of 5 lessons and two livestreams we'll learn tasty chords, rhythm, and three approaches to soloing over top of this classic number. In addition to that we'll also be hosting a special guest workshop for member with the incredible Phil Doleman.

Join us for new lessons each week:

https://www.thetinman.co/join-the-magic-ukulele-club

Rhythm is essential to playing Brazilian bossa nova and in this lesson we look at four right hand techniques to capture the groove. Sure we could pluck the notes just a like a guitar, and it sure sounds great especially on Low G, but how can we accomplish these rhythms utilizing the ukulele to its full potential?

Download the Free PDF to Accompany this Lesson

For those of us that strum we can take a page out of the cavaquinho playbook and use the techniques of George Formby or maybe a more gentle thumb and index finger strum. We can even add percussion much as the great Ohta-San does with his Tick-Tock strum.

If you'd like to dive deeper into the Bossa Nova Ukulele rabbit hole join us over on the Tin Man's Magic Ukulele Club where we are picking apart Antonio Carlos Jobim's 'The Girl from Ipanema' in a series of five lessons addressing chords, rhythms, strumming, u bass playing, and more.

Join me live on Youtube at 1pm Eastern Time to dip your toes into the beautiful style of Bossa Nova. We’ll be working through Antonio Carlos Jobim’s ‘So Danco Samba’

Grab the Free PDF ahead of time here

It’s been much too long since I’ve released any recordings. Today is the release of my first electric ukulele single: Time After Time.

This is based on the arrangement from Chet Baker Sings which we’ve been spending the month on the Magic Ukulele Club learning every little bit.

You can download this song for free on Bandcamp

The further we get in our ukulele journey the harder it can seem to memorize the seemingly impossible amount of chord shapes up and down the neck.

The reality is that all of those fancy jazz chords you see are all coming from just a few shapes you already know. In this lesson we look at how to take one basic chords - the diminished seventh - and explore it's tonality by moving individual notes. Let's not worry about the names of the chord but simply the sound it makes. With this method we can find all the different shades of the chord. None of this matters if we don't have a way to practice is so let's put it in a chord progression and practice along with a bass player!

If you want to put these concepts to use join us over on the Magic Ukulele Club

Join me in learning a solo ukulele chord melody rendition of ‘St James Infirmary’. In this lesson I’ll break down how to not just play the arrangement but how to go about learning it efficiently.

Free Tabs to Accompany the lesson

We’ll go over the melody and chords independently before putting them together for the full arrangement. This song is a great exercise in using partial strums with the thumb to bring out the melody of the song.

Enjoy more lessons like this on the Magic Ukulele Club

Written in 1933 'It's Only a Paper Moon' was an instant hit for Cliff Edwards aka Ukulele Ike. Over the years it would go on to be recorded by such greats as nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. In this quick lesson we look at the basic ukulele chords to both sections of this jazz standard and strum the tune along with a full backing track.

You can download the chord chart as well as tabs for the electric ukulele introduction here

This month on the Magic Ukulele Club we'll be taking a deep dive into this tune with 5 lessons and 2 live streams covering:

• History & Harmony

• Playing the Melody

• Cliff Edwards Chords

• The Two Feel (U-Bass lesson)

• Chord Melody Soloing