Ukulele Boss Advanced Ukulele Lessons - London City Central

Ukulele Boss Advanced Ukulele Lessons

Monday Nights 7-9pm

10 week course

15 Jan - 18 Mar 2024

Location: The Ship EC3, 3 Hart Street, EC3R 7NB

Suitable for: Adults 18+

Are you ready for the ultimate challenge?

Meet new people, make new friendships and advance on your musical journey as part of a group. Our Intermediate and Advanced Ukulele Lessons aim to get you playing like a pro!

With 15 - 20 places in each class, they are a perfect size for everyone to get to know each other and enjoy playing together as a group. There are two experienced School of Uke tutors per class who will put you through your paces, while making sure everyone is comfortable and having a great time. 

By the end of the course you’ll have the opportunity to show off your new playing skills at our very own ‘Grand Finale’ ukulele show at a London music venue.

Venue: The Ship, Hart Street, EC3

Enjoy your ukulele classes in the cosy surroundings of The Ship. A traditional London pub in the heart of the city with a selection of world wines, craft ales and Belgian beers to accompany you on your ukulele adventure!

Nearest tubes: 5 mins walk from Fenchurch Street and Monument Stations.

Advanced Ukulele

Using a wide range of musical genres, we look further into chord and melody playing, improvisation, and playing multi part arrangements together in a band like setup using both Ukulele, Baritone Ukulele and U-Bass if desired.

If you've already completed an Intermediate course with us, then 'Ukulele Boss' is the ultimate challenge for you! We welcome all players with intermediate knowledge of the Ukulele who want to experiment with new genres or cover gaps in their knowledge.

Rock, Pop, R&B, Disco, Funk, Folk, Jazz, Classical, Bossa Nova, Samba, World Music and Classical Hawaiian at Your Fingertips

All techniques and theory are taught through contextual application. Over a 10 week course, as well as looking at classic Rock, Pop, Blues and Jazz standards we also choose one other musical genre to focus on to broaden your musical repertoire. Focus genres covered in previous courses have included Jazz, Classical and World Music including Bossa-Nova, Samba, Spanish Baroque, Classical Hawaiian, Japanese and African styles. Genre and song requests are encouraged and will be incorporated within the program where applicable.

How to become a Ukulele Boss

In our Advanced classes we aim to give you full command of all 4 strings and conquer your fear of the 12th fret and beyond. With a hands-on practical approach toward theory and through a variety of standards and musical genres, we’ll look at chord theory, chord construction, inversions, scales and modes, playing in different keys, improvisation and performance tips n tricks!

The course places a strong emphasis on developing a confident playing technique. As well as developing your technical ability, with a focus on timing, texture, rhythm and song, we aim to build your musical awareness as part of a group ensemble. We take into consideration the specific aspirations and needs of everyone in the group, and encourage singing, while developing solo technique and individual playing styles.

Group Ensemble & Performance Technique

• Play multi-part arrangements with Ukulele, Baritone Ukulele and U-Bass
• Learn about developing arrangement and performance in songs with multiple parts
• Emphasis on musical awareness, group timing, texture, rhythm and song
• Develop playing technique and encourage solos and individual playing styles within a group
• Reinforcing playing effectively and confidently in a live gigging environment

Strumming and Picking

• Build confident strumming patterns and rhythms using emphasis, accent and syncopation
• Explore use of barre chords to achieve dampening effects useful for achieving a more percussive and syncopated sound
• Emphasis on timing and cross group syncopation with alternate strumming parts
• Introduction to advanced strumming and picking techniques including tremolo picking 

Melody and Theory

• Develop awareness of the whole fretboard
• Advanced scales including Minor and Major Pentatonic up to and beyond the 12th fret
• Application of Modes
• Soloing and melody improvisation within a song structure
• Playing both melody and harmony to a song over the chord structure

Chords and Chord Theory

• Focus on advanced progressions outside the I/IV/V format related to chosen material
• Establish relational patterns between barre chords to be able to play I/IV/V in any key
• Expanding chord repertoire and using extended chords in any key
• Explore ways to decorate simple chord progressions, using passing chords and inversions
• Understanding the circle of 5ths
• Developing understanding of chord construction, including suspended chords in relative Major and Minor keys

Performance Technique

• Our Ukulele Boss course culminates in a “Grand Finale” show where you’ll have the opportunity to show off your new playing skills at a London music venue.

An Awesome Experience

Overall it's about a group of like-minded people discovering music and having a great time together. Here's what some of our students had to say...

"Great teaching and so much fun! Everyone should learn to play an instrument!" - Edina

"Amazing fun, brilliant teaching, awesome people!" - Avital

"I couldn't play anything when I first started, now I'm playing Slash solos!" - Cat