Essential Strums for the Ukulele! taught by Ralph Shaw

DVDRip | AVI (720x576) | MPEG-4, XVID, 29.970 fps, 763 Kbps | English: MP3, 128 Kbps, 48.0 KHz, 2 channels | 93 min | 599 MB

Genre: Ukulele lessons

In this second volume of the Complete Ukulele Course DVD series Ralph Shaw teaches techniques and strums that will inspire your playing to new heights. You will learn to play in the following styles; March, Waltz, 12 Bar Blues, Samba, Bossa Nova, Swing, Triplets, Bo Diddley, Reggae and more.

In addition Ralph teaches the strum and chords used in IZ's famous Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World medley. Ralph also shows how to play your uke like an old-time banjo by using the clawhammer/frailing technique. Finally Ralph shows you how to play a syncopated rhythm solo in the style of George Formby. For each strum Ralph teaches the technique followed by a song that uses that strum. Songs include; Darktown Strutters Ball, Take Me Home Country Roads, Girl From Ipanema, Let Me Call you Sweetheart, Song to Bring Back Something Which Is Lost… and many more. All in GCEA tuning.

What's good about this video is that it is organized into many chapters, each of which is stand-alone tutorial on a particular type of song and technique. If you've already got the basics that's great because you can pick what you want and get a complete lesson. Even if you haven't seen his first this has a lot of value. This is a video you can come back to over and over as your interests change or you want to try different styles in your own preference order. Also his personality really comes thru in a very enjoyable way.

Ralph is incredibly pleasant and is adept at breaking down the process of playing the ukulele into easily learned chunks. He has clearly taught others and thought through the order he uses to teach techniques. Best of all, he has a way of making learning to play fun. If you are a highly experienced player hoping to reach Bob Brozman's level, this DVD is not for you. But if you are just getting started or have been playing a little while and want to take your ukulele skills above the average player you couldn't do better than this DVD.