In this lesson, we’re going to learn some basic solo fingerpicking songs on the ukulele (songs that don’t have a vocal accompaniment to them). As a way to learn the correct fingerpicking techniques and to get our fingers moving, we’re going to learn three awesome nursery rhymes.

If we’re able to play these songs without a hiccup, we’ll be really well equipped to learn more difficult songs in future lessons.

Last week, I gave you a quick crash course on how to read music. In order to learn these fingerpicking songs, we need to know a little bit about reading music. So if you haven’t already, you might want to refer to last week’s post on how to read music.

This is the third and final lesson (and video lesson) of a three part ukulele fingerpicking blues lesson series. If you missed it, be sure to check out part 1 and part 2.

Just a couple days ago, we learned a fingerpicking pattern we can use for the 12-bar blues. In this lesson, we’re going to learn a second fingerpicking pattern. As much as these patterns can be used for the blues, they can also be used for other popular songs.

This is the second post (and video lesson) of a three part ukulele fingerpicking blues lesson series. For the first lesson, I introduced the structure of the 12-bar blues. Get that lesson here. Stay tuned in a couple days for part three.

Now that we’ve learned the 12-bar blues on ukulele, it’s time to learn a couple fingerpicking patterns that we can use with this form. These fingerpicking patterns are great if you are a beginner to fingerpicking, but they are just as useful if you want to get some new ideas.

This is the first post (and video lesson) of a three part ukulele fingerpicking blues lesson series. Once you’re ready, go ahead to part two where we learn a fingerpicking pattern to go with this.

The blues has arguably been one of the most influential genres of music in the past century. The chants, spirituals, and songs of African-American slaves in the 19th century gave birth to the genre, while descendants of slaves carried their legacy into recorded form in the early 1900s.

When people think of the blues, they typically think of a man with a raspy voice singing and playing along with a guitar. While this is a common expression of the blues, it’s not unlikely that in the early to mid 20th century people would sing and play the blues on their ukulele too.

In this lesson, we’re going to take a look at one of the most popular chord progressions in traditional blues music known as the 12-bar blues. The blues are characterized by simplicity, repetition, rhythm, and pure emotion.