Uketropolis: Ukulele Q&A with James Hill
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Uketropolis: Ukulele Q&A with James Hill
Every week Uketropolis.com founder James Hill answers student questions about playing ukulele and interviews innovative ukulele educators.
Nedávné epizody
104 epizod
Raglele, Six Weeks Later
Ragalele is the newest resource at Uketropolis.com. It was released about six weeks ago and the response has been amazing! New questions and conversat...

Ragalele
My guest today is Sayali Tank, my co-author on Ragalele, a new resource that brings the magic of Indian classical music to the ukulele. Go to www.raga...

Arranging Made Easy
Arranging. It's the all-too-often-overlooked skill that brings music to life... or not. Over the years, there is one simple strategy I've relied on ti...


Play First, Ask Questions Later
Music theory is a form of understanding that comes after you play and experiment. A lot. At least that's my opinion. In this episode I make my case fo...

Travis Picking to the Rescue
Travis picking is named after Merle Travis, the Country-Music Hall-of-Famer who popularized the technique. If you're a bit bored with the same old str...

165 Players, 10 Rehearsals, 1 Album: Uke Heads Has Landed!
My new album Uke Heads comes out tomorrow, February 16th, 2024! But it's not just my album, it's a project that has become a global community. How did...

Angeline the Baker
"Angeline the Baker" (also known as "Angelina Baker") is one of the most well-known songs in the Old-time repertoire. It's appeal is a bit of a myster...

Flatpickers Welcome!
Is it legal to use a pick on the ukulele? Yes! Once and for all, YES! In fact, it's a gateway to some really interesting sounds. Specifically, it brin...

Live Long and Posture
Can't do the Vulcan salute? No problem! Stretching your fingers apart (think "live long and prosper") isn't the only way to play challenging chords. I...

The Magic Triple Strum
The triple strum: it's one of my favourite ukulele topics... ever! I've been fascinated by this technique since I was a kid. Today, we get to dig into...

Walking Backwards
Welcome back! I took a bit of time off to do a tour and release a new album but I'm back now and I have several episodes lined up for the coming weeks...

A Tree With No Root?
This week, two topics: 1) How can you have a chord with no root? 2) Ideas for managing stage fright through creative pre-concert prep.
Learn uk...

Turn a one-chord lullabye into a two-chord rocker
A short, bite-sized bonus episode for ukulele teachers. Here's a technique you can use in the classroom RIGHT NOW: turn any one-chord song (e.g. Row Y...

Speed vs Style
Welcome to Season 4 of the Uketropolis Podcast! To kick things off, a question from Uketropolis student Doug leads us to explore the relationship betw...

The Tuning Paradox
In this final episode of Season 3, we tackle a thorny musical question: how can your ukulele be in tune and still play out of tune? It's a question th...

What everyone can learn from jazz ukulele
Jazz teaches us many things. Even if we're not playing jazz, we can apply the lessons learned to many areas of music-making. In this episode: how jazz...

Cliffhanger
There's an open question in the ukulele community: what to do when the tuning of the baritone doesn't mesh with the tuning of the other ukuleles in an...

A Bridge Between Tunings
Wouldn't it be nice if there was a bridge between standard tuning and baritone tuning? Turns out, there is! In this episode: how to make the transposi...

Show of Hands
Are your hands too small for baritone ukulele? Probably not. That being said, there's one chord that might give you trouble: the diminished 7. In this...


Baritone: What's the Big Deal?
People who love baritone ukulele really love baritone ukulele. Why? We kick off Baritone Month with a simple question: "What makes baritone ukulele so...

June is Baritone Month!
This month is all about our favourite BIG ukulele. Welcome to the land of D-G-B-E tuning! Tune in starting next week for episodes about the benefits o...

My Three Principles for Left-hand Fingering
Navigating the ukulele fretboard is a bit like playing chess: sometimes it's mathematical, other times it's intuitive. Because there's no perfect solu...

How do I know which notes to noodle on?
It's one of the most common student questions: when I'm improvising or composing, how do I know which notes to use? In this bonus episode, we explore...

Fringe Twins
Booster Uke is one of the most popular courses at Uketropolis for good reason. Who wouldn't want to learn easy ways to play Blues, Gospel, Pop and Jaz...

Alex Beds Interviews... James!
Alex Beds interviews James on his Ukes With Podcast. Get to know Alex better:

Brad Bordessa's Brave New Approach To Online Teaching
Brad Bordessa's new online course brings important elements of traditional Hawaiian teaching into the digital age. It's a brave new approach to online...

Slide Ukulele
Slide ukulele slows us down and helps us savour the music we make. Here's how to get started with this beautiful style right away: an easy, gentle and...

North, South, East and West
What does it mean to explore the fretboard in all directions? It brings discoveries at every turn: move across the strings for speed and efficiency an...

The Jazz Strum
What is the jazz strum and how can it be so simple given the complexity of jazz? Find out in this episode.

Song and Dance
Why is the ukulele better at dancing (i.e. rhythm) than it is at singing (i.e. lyrical melody playing)? What can we do to get the most lyrical sound f...

Americana Ukulele Has Landed
Join me on a new musical adventure as we explore the wide-open spaces of Americana Ukulele!

Recognize This Little Ditty?
My new online course, Americana Ukulele, is coming out on Thursday, March 9th! The course includes lessons on bottleneck slide ukulele, clawhammer, th...

House of Mirrors
One of my favourite episodes from the podcast archives, this is "House of Mirrors." It combines creativity, pedagogy and technology in a novel way tha...

Your Musical Personality
Join the next Uketropolis LIVE and be part of the podcast! Bring a uke, bring a friend, bring a question on the first Thursday of next month. It's fre...
![To Pick or Not to Pick [BONUS]](https://img.transistor.fm/nhUfXMTsouFPbXPh8O5s6WzDXQl2jB0GqddFfsqjaOQ/rs:fill:3000:3000:1/q:60/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9lcGlz/b2RlLzExOTUyNTAv/MTY3NTY5NzU4MC1h/cnR3b3JrLmpwZw.jpg)
To Pick or Not to Pick [BONUS]
Join the next Uketropolis LIVE and be part of the podcast! Bring a uke, bring a friend, bring a question on the first Thursday of next month. It's fre...

The "Bob Dylan" Chord Progression
Join the next Uketropolis LIVE and be part of the podcast! Bring a uke, bring a friend, bring a question on the first Thursday of next month. It's fre...

Season 3: Coming Soon!
The Uketropolis podcast is now taped LIVE on the first Thursday of every month.

Introducing... Uke Heads
Join James live every Thursday in May for Uke Heads Q&A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_FUXbUQfwoFollow Uke Heads on social media:Facebook: https:/...