Tyler Austenfeld

Something - The Beatles

Today we are going to learn how to play "Something" by The Beatles on the Ukulele. The song is a jazzy style song with an AABA style chord progression format, something that you would see from songs like "What a Wonderful World" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" one of the little twists that this song has is a nice little key change as well. Of all the songs that are in the AABA I can't think of any other of the top of my head that ha...

Make Your Blues Jazzy

Today we are going to learn how to take a 12 bar blues in the key of F and transform into a jazz based blues in the key of F. To do this we are going to start in the key of F and strum through a 12 bar, once we have that we are going to modify it so it sounds jazzy. Each of the modifications will be explained in a way that you can also apply all these changes to a 12 bar blues in different key. Another thing to keep in mind with this...

Sunny - Bobby Hebb

Make sure you download the backing tracks. One is just the bass and drums, the other has the melody to play along with.

Today I am going to teach you how to play "Sunny" by Bobby Hepp. The song changes key 3 times for a total of 4 different keys in the song, each time going up a half step and speeding up the tempo. To make it more approachable for a levels I have done a basic version and theyn show you what th...

Soul Rhythm like a Professional Session Musician

Today we are going to play some soul music. I am going to take 5 basic chord progressions that you are familiar with and transform them into professional sounding soul rhythm, the kind of session work you might hear from legends like Steve Cropper, David Williams, Bobby Womack, Curtis Mayfield or even the great Jimi Hendrix (think Little Wing) who took a lot of his inspiration for playing soul music from the great Curtis Mayfield. Li...

Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder/Red Hot Chili Peppers

Today we are going to learn how to play "Higher Ground" by Stevie Wonder and covered masterfully by Red Hot Chili Peppers. This particular tutorial combines both versions and really focuses on the common points that they have. One of the bigger differences in the two songs in that Stevie's version is actually in E flat minor and The Red Hot Chili Peppers play it in E minor.   

This tutorial will cover a mostly basic s...

No, You Are Not Tone Deaf - Beginner Ear Training

In addition to the PDF there is another attachment of empty tabs. The first page has two measures a stanza and the second page has 4. Print these out and take them to your ukulele class and pass them around. Your club will love you for it! 

Today we are going to work on our ear. Perfect pitch is something people seem to be born with, they can hear a sound and tell you what note it is, they can hear a car a...

The Gambler - Kenny Rogers

Today we are going learn how to play "The Gambler" as performed by Kenny Rogers. "The Gambler" was written by Don Schlitz and besides Kenny there have been numerous other artists that have recorded the song, one of them was Bobby Bare who is one of my Grandmother's favorite singers. Still, none of them had more success than Kenny Rogers did with the song in 1978. Kenny's version actually made it to number 1 on the Billboard country c...

Coolest and Most Fun Groove For Baritone... of All Time!

Today we are going to learn how to play a shuffle, not just any shuffle, a full blown chord shuffle, and not just any chord shuffle, a chord shuffle that has riffs mixed in, chromatic movements, ascending and descending lines, it just just a very cool, fun and unique groove that I had a ton of fun putting together and I know that you will have just as much fun learning and playing this as I did putting it together and learning it too...

The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Beginner Tutorial with Riffs

This is designed as a beginner lesson but the riffs and melody will keep intermediate players entertained, too. Today we are going to learn how to play The Lions Sleeps Tonight by the Tokens. This is a great first song to learn as it is just one chord progression, three chords, one strum pattern and it goes around and around for the entire song. In addition to be an a great first song for beginners t...

How to play a Gospel/Country inspired Blues Shuffle

Today we are going to do a rhythm tutorial based in fingerpicking, but a very different fingerpicking than just arpeggiating a chord, it is a shuffle. A shuffle is fingerpicking that has some movement in it, make a static chord like G, move and change while still have the same harmonic integrity to support a melody. If you want to try to recreate this in other keys I am playing the root of the chord followed by the 5th and then addin...

Electric Light Orchestra - Don't Bring Me Down

Today we are going to learn how to play "Don't Bring Me Down" by Electric Light Orchestra. I've been wanting to teach this song for a long time and I am happy to have finally done it, but in fair warning I do not sing it very well. The song can be played as an easy beginner song to start with my but it has a very cool walk up and walk down riff that we played on the ukulele for you. It would sound amazing if you played this song with...

Ragtime Fingerpickin' Doc Watson Style

Today we are going to play some ragtime style jamming that was influenced by the great Doc Watson. You can use this exercise just as a fun fingerpicking exercise, the base for a country blues in A, you can apply it to your song writing and you can do it as a chord study. There is a lot of applications for this lesson beyond just the basic fingerpicking exercise. This one was influenced by one of the greatest of all time, Doc Watson, ...

The Offspring - Gone Away

Download the backing track to practice the intro riff!

Today we are going to learn how to play "Gone Away" by The Offspring. This song is just 4 chords that go in a circle for the entire song but the rhythm does change up a little bit and we have a riff. The song just has one chord progression that goes around in a circle for the entire song but you will see a change in energy between the chorus and verse. This...

Advanced Piano to Ukulele Transcription

Today I am going to show you how to take sheet music that is written for the piano and turn it into an Ukulele arrangement with tabs. After this lesson you will be able to play piano music on the ukulele. This will be an advanced ukulele lesson and you will need some background information to nail it. The actual piano rhythm is in Bb, a hard key, with ties, triplets and even 16th note triplets inside of triplets. We will break it dow...

Daydream - Lovin' Spoonful - Song and Melody

Today we are going to learn how to play the song Daydream by Spoonful of Lovin' on the Ukulele. The song might not have the name recognition but just about everybody knows the melody and knows how to sing the song and the best part is... it is an easy beginner song!   The song only has easy chords and a very easy strum pattern. For the more advanced player we will walk you through the entire melody as well so you are able t...

Baritone - Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles

Today we are going to learn how to play "Hit the Road Jack" a standard made famous and written by Ray Charles. The song has only four chords but the distinctive walking bass line is what makes it so cool so we will walk you through all the chords, an easy strum version and at the end of the lesson I will show you how to.

Will Improve

• Barre chords
• Off beat groove
• Walking bass lines

Th...

2024-02-02 20:08:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Summer Breeze - Seals and Croft

Today we are going to learn how to play a summer classic, Summer Breeze, written by Seals and Croft with a lovely cover performed by the Isley brothers. The song has an iconic riff in the intro that works as a melody and a bridge as well as an outro with an equally lovely riff that is played in the chorus.

Will Improve

• Riffing in Em
• Outline chord changes
• Use of color tones
• The dreaded E ...
  2024-01-28 23:38:40 +0000 UTC View Post

5 Djanjo Style Gypsy Jazz Licks

5 Django Reinhardt Style Gypsy Jazz Licks on Ukulele and the theory behind them. Every single lick in this one is pretty elaborate, leaving the standard scales that you may use to create melody and adds lovely color tones, passing tones and neighboring tones for an even greater degree of color and tension as well as resolution.

More Gypsy Jazz

2024-01-27 19:29:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Alice in Chains UNPLUGGED - Down in a Hole

Today we are going to learn how to play "Down in a Hole" by Alice in Chains on the Ukulele. This particular tutorial was built after the acoustic version from the MTV unplugged album, if you have never listened to the album you should, especially if Alice in Chains ins't your vibe, that album will change the way you look at them for sure. The song is a intro that is the same as the verse, it has a chorus and then this two measure tur...

In My Life - The Beatles

For today's song we are going to learn how to play In My Life by The Beatles with tabs and the lovely intro riff. The song is basically a large chord progression that repeats three times with the same riff in between the verses and at the outro. aka coda. At the end of the song we will play through the entire song with all the tabs, lyrics and chords on the screen so you will be able to play along with the song perfectly. Enjoy!

The Hawaiian Turnaround

I know it is Friday not Wednesday, I am in Hawaii and I just haven't had good enough internet thanks to the tremendous storm in Hilo that had left me without power. Apologies. 

Saturday's lesson MIGHT be up Sunday as well, we will see I am doing my best to get it up. 

Today I am going to show you how to play a Hawaiian Turnaround. What does that mean? What it is a little three chord squence that you can add to a...

Lookin' Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival

Hey eveyrone, I am on vacation with my family and traveled all day yesterday and I wasn't able to get this up, sorry for the delay. 

Today we are going to learn how to play "Lookin' Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clear Water Revival. The song has a key change from Bb to C moving up a whole step by going down two steps on a chord change. A very cool and unique chord change that isn't common in music at all. The song has a B...

You VERY FIRST Solo - Blues Ukulele

Make sure you download the backing track with this lesson, too. 

Today we are going to learn how to play an easy solo on the ukulele, but don't be fooled, it may be easy but it is a professional solo that is dressed to impress! Triplets, double stops, half step slides, minor to major 3rd hammer ons, the flat 5th, bends, pull offs, passing tones, every technique that the pros used packed into a nice easy be...

Louie Louie - Easy Beginner Rock'n'Roll Ukulele

Today we are going to learn how to play a classic and one hit wonder from The Kingsmen written and recorded by Richard Berry before that. The song only has 3 chords and it is very easy to play, tricky to sing and play but what you should do once you get the rhythm down is take the song and put it in the home stereo, turn it up really loud and jam along with it. That is the best way to get the timing of the song down. Once you get it ...

How to Make Fills Using Chords

Anybody like the thumbnail? I drew it myself. Very close to getting a new computer, still fighting this slow one thank you for the patience, everything takes longer than it should at the moment. 

A lot of times when you are strumming the ukulele there are some empty spaces. Maybe you do four strum patterns but only sing over 2 of them, that means you have two measures wher...

Just the Two of Us - Chord Melody Tutorial

For today's tutorial we are going to learn how to play "Just the Two of Us" in the chord melody/fingerstyle where the ukulele plays the chords and melody at the same time! This style has a lot of chord changes packed into little places with some measures having as many as 3 chords so there is a lot of movement going on but with such a lovely melody it sounds amazing. It is only an 8 bar verse and an 8 bar chorus so you'll actually be...

Hallelujah - Baritone Tutorial

Sorry for the delays again, still no new computer. Doing my best to get things back on track. 

Today we are going to learn how to play "Hallelujah" on the baritone ukulele. This song is in 6/8 and has a very cool finger picking groove we are going to explore. The song also has a very cool chord progression that evolves and moves with the melody so isntead of just being four chords that go around and around we basically hav...

Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer

Full tutorial with melody and backing track. 

Today we are going to learn how to play Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer. This is a full ukulele tutorial meaning we will not only learn how to strum the song and sing it but we will also learn how to play the melody and then we will play through the melody at the end of the song. Rudolph first appeared in a department store magazine in 1939 before...

Groovy Blues in A

Thank you for your patience, until I am able to upgrade my computer I will be doing my best to keep with schedule, but the next two or three weeks might be a little tricky. 

New Ukulele Tutorials every Wednesday and Saturday. Today we are talking about rhythm, grooves and how simply strumming is limiting the potential of your playing. There are so many more ways to play rhythm ukulele beyond just strumming...

Tech Issues

Hey everyone I have had a lot of computer issues this week, look for today's lesson tomorrow. I will get it posted as early as I can. Thank you for your patience. 

Your buddy,

TenThumbs