How to Play Blues Ukulele

I’ve been mentioning that I’m working on a Blues Ukulele ebook for a while now and had a bunch of people asking me when it would be out. Well, it’s finally here.

It’s taken so long because I wanted to make absolutely sure you’d be blown away by it and I think you will be.

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’ll have noticed that I’m on a bit of a mission to change how people think about the ukulele. What music it’s capable of playing and, more importantly, what it’s capable of expressing. The reputation of the uke is pretty high right now, but there are still far too many people out there who don’t have a clue what it can do. By the time you’ve mastered everything in this ebook, you’ll have the chops to leave people in no doubt that the you can play the blues on the ukulele.

It’s going to give you the skills to jam along with ukers and non-ukers and cut heads Karate Kid style.

The book covers blues chord progressions, intros, outros, turnarounds, riffs and solos. To give you some idea, here’s an mp3 of little tune that’s tabbed out at the end of the book containing many of the ideas and techniques in it.


Blues Ukulele Example (MP3)

You can read more about it here: How to Play Blues Ukulele

Or, if you can’t stand to wait a moment longer, you can buy it here:

Buy it here

Cover photo: e-uke by R.W.W. under Creative Commons licence.

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16 Comments

  1. moocher October 15th, 2008 6:39 pm

    Fantastic I’ve been waiting for this since you let it slip. Its downloading in the background as I type. Your books are also top notch. Now I can learn some Robert Johnson licks on my Reso-Relic (We have a common birthday so it must be fate!)

  2. Donnie Bubbles October 15th, 2008 8:37 pm

    Just finished printing the book – looks great!
    TIP – If you are using the new Google Chrome Browser the download times out – switch back to Firefox or IE to do the download.
    Thanks again…

  3. Rich Webb October 15th, 2008 10:25 pm

    Your link is not correct. You need it to point to:

    http://howtoplayukulele.com/how-to-play-blues-ukulele/

    not with the doubled page address at the end…

  4. Emily October 15th, 2008 10:33 pm

    I’m totally on that…in a couple days.

  5. J-Hob October 15th, 2008 10:34 pm

    It is a top-notch e-book this! You have excelled yourself this time Al!

    There’s so many catchy little licks and progressions in there you’ll find yourself wandering around the house bluesing it up all the time if you’re anything like me!

  6. Woodshed October 15th, 2008 10:52 pm

    moocher: Hope you enjoy it.

    Donnie: Sorry about that. I tested it in Chrome and it worked fine. I’ll get on to eJunkie, see if they know anything.

    Rich: Thanks for letting me know *fixed*

    Emily: Thanks… in a couple of days ;)

    J-Hob: Thanks, appreciate it.

  7. Donnie Bubbles October 16th, 2008 12:14 am

    Woodshed,

    On Chrome, I had many tabs open. It would cut the download if I switched to another tab (which is not normal.) There can’t be many of us on Chrome, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

    Started reading the book – it is as good as I expected!

  8. Chris October 16th, 2008 2:49 am

    Gonna add my kudos. I’ve pretty much been waiting for this since i first heard mention of it. I think i own all of your ebooks now and i’ll keep buying them as long as you keep putting them out. I’m not too far into it yet but i think it may be my favorite so far by the fun i’ve had so far.

    Thanks!

  9. Dan October 16th, 2008 2:06 pm

    Just downloaded it at work and I can’t wait to get home now.

    It looks absolutely brilliant and as a relative beginner it should keep me busy for quite a while.

    Cheers for all your hard work, this site just gets better and better!

  10. Howlin' Hobbit October 16th, 2008 3:35 pm

    It’s on my “must have” list. Actually, it’s been there for a bit since someone (can’t for the life of me recall who right now) started talking up the “beta” version on Ukulele Underground.

    The sample you posted is great!

    Keep up the good work.

    HH

  11. col October 16th, 2008 5:05 pm

    Glad to make your acquaintence Woodshed. I think I shall be trying to learn the uke myself now that I have found this excellent site. I have an offer to make you. How about becoming a regular – ish guest blogger on axevictim.com and tell my readers all about the world of ukes? Maybe give some video lessons, beginers advice or chord shapes or simply write about anything you want. Let me know if this interests you as I am keen to include uke’s into my blog, especially as I am keen to learn to play one.
    Cheers,
    Col

  12. Steve Yoder October 16th, 2008 8:46 pm

    Excellent book. Downloaded it as soon as the e-mail announcement came in. Played Todd Baio’s “Ukaholic” at last week’s SUSA meeting and even my simple little bridge went over well. So now I’m looking forward to learning some fancier breaks. I couldn’t quit playing your first 8-bar blues example this morning. Love the way it sounds.

    And, BTW, thanks for the outro you sent me for my open mic version of “Ukalholic”. Pretty timely what with the publishing of this e-book and all.

    Later,
    Steve

  13. Woodshed October 16th, 2008 10:11 pm

    Donnie: I gave Chrome a try when it came out. I quite liked it, but I think I’m too set in my ways – I missed all my Firefox extensions. I couldn’t live without DownThemAll.

    Chris: Thanks!

    Dan: Good luck with it. I hope you get a lot from it.

    Hobbit: You should have an email from me. I think it’s Lonna you’re referring too. She’s kick ass. I should hire her as my copyrighter.

    col: I’ll email you.

    Steve: Glad it went down well. Enjoy the ebook.

  14. Jose September 15th, 2011 12:08 am

    I quite love the idea, but I would like to have it printed. I spent a lot of time sit in a computer so when I play my uke I run away from the desk. Do you have any intention to do it? Did you contact with an editorial?

    Cheers.

  15. Woodshed September 16th, 2011 8:06 pm

    Jose: Sorry, no plans to release a paper version.

  16. Mal April 25th, 2012 8:37 pm

    Hi can anyone recermend a meduam priced concert ukulele to learn to play the blues on, about up to £300.00.I have been looking at one on worky ticket ukulele site its a wooden resonator but i don’t know much about them.I don’t actualy like the all metal ones.can anyone help me please.Mal(Hull)

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