Classical guitar music on ukulele
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Joe Strummer
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And his online course is probably the most technical you will find.
It's a great course. I've been a member for about 6 months now.
clarinetagogo
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Nice, I hadn't realized he had an online course. I stumbled on his instructional book at some point and have been slowly working through it when I have the time. It's well-organized and progresses really smoothly between pieces to help you level up.
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Joyful Uke
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That's inspiring! Lovely.
Yup. Me too!
And I missed his discount sale by 2.5 weeks. I just read through everything on his site and watched some videos. It looks great. I'll keep an eye on it for the next time he offers a discount code. I'm currently working through James Hill's Ukulele Jazz so I've got plenty to keep me busy in the meantime. Looking forward to Jeff's classical music repertoire in the future.
I love Jeff's stuff, but there's actually TONS of great classical stuff for ukulele! I'm obsessed with Samantha Muir's new arrangements of Carulli's Guitar Method, which she has wholesale adapted for ukulele.
That is to say, she's been doing classical on ukulele for ages, including a number of pieces originally composed for ukulele, but these Carulli are blowing my mind!
Rather more ecumenical than other teachers, she offers notation for reentrant players, and tab for low-G and baritone players, so whatever you want, she's got. Here's my current fave two ways:
Reentrant:
And for baritone...
That is to say, she's been doing classical on ukulele for ages, including a number of pieces originally composed for ukulele, but these Carulli are blowing my mind!
Rather more ecumenical than other teachers, she offers notation for reentrant players, and tab for low-G and baritone players, so whatever you want, she's got. Here's my current fave two ways:
Reentrant:
And for baritone...
I have Peterson's Christmas arrangements and it's very nice but hands down the most engaging and challenging music I have encountered is Michael Walker's transcriptions for classical Baritone or linear uke. He has transcribed an impressive amount of material spanning different eras such as Early, Renaissance, Spanish Renaissance ,Baroque, and individual composers such as Dowland, Bach, Holborne, etc.
She definitely ramps up. Her own compositions are very advanced, the first round of them developed for her PhD in ukulele composition, as far as I know, the first person to be awarded a doctorate specifically for ukulele composition.
You can get a broader picture of the range she offers at her site dedicated to this topic...name very on point!
Since we're talking about classical on the ukulele, we have to talk about the late great John King. I'm a maniac for the Prelude from the Cello Suite, No. 1, which is old hat now, but was jaw-dropping when I first heard it maybe around the turn of the century? Something like that. The grand master, and his book The Classical Ukulele, is still fresh. (From 2004, so maybe my recollection of his Bach prelude from the turn of the century is pretty close!) Anyway, rather than the oft-heard Prelude, here's the Bouree from the Partita no. 3 for unaccompanied violin BWV 1006.
While not an online teacher per se, I've been watching a LOT of stuff by MeesterDavidGitaar, a Dutch fella who does mostly -- you guessed it! -- guitar, but also an incredibly eclectic ukulele repertoire -- Olivia Rodrigo, to a genuinely exceptional range of classical options. I confess that my favorite of his videos is a fingerstyle Penny Lane with EVERY NOTE of the trumpet solos transcribed and played shockingly well (so call it maybe classical-adjacent!), but I've been listening to a lot of his classical stuff too. He asks for a few euros for his tabs (mostly reentrant), all of which he donates to the Ukulele Kids Club.
This one is at the easy end of the scale, but I like it a lot! Gaspar Sanz wrote this Folias for Baroque guitar and published it in his Libro segundo from 1675), and played here on concert uke.
He's got plenty of more difficult stuff, but this one's just pretty.
And just to put a bow on this round, I want to bring up @GiovanniAlbini again, who @Patty brought up in this thread from October. To quote Patty's introductory post, "he's an Italian music professor and composer who has championed the ukulele and done many transcriptions of classical pieces for the uke, both high and low G. He teaches composition, solfège, music theory and other subjects, and established the world's first Bachelor's Degree program in ukulele (at an Italian state instituition, the Vivaldi Conservatory of Music in Alessandria)."
There are a couple of clips on that thread of Giovanni's amazing playing and arrangements from his three volumes of ukulele classical music, including composers all the way forward to Philip Glass and himself (!!!). He was also kind enough to join the site after seeing Patty's enthusiasm, and is happy to answer questions. I'll refer you to that thread for more.
And hey, a final note -- if the thread title had been "Jeff Peterson's Classical Ukulele classes" I'd of course have left it at that, but the thread was more general, and in fact, we've gone well past guitar-only music to include cello, violin, and much more. I think it's worth expanding this a bit, though, because I know that there are a lot of people here who mostly, or perhaps ONLY, play classical music on their ukes, and I'd like to do what I can to expand our resources in that dimension.
Being a Classical Guitar player for many years,since the 1970s,at 79 years old I am finding it very difficult to continue playing.
I find it a blessing to be able to play Classical music on the uke. I no longer have the strength in my hands to play the guitar so the uke gives me a chance to continue playing. the Uke was the first instrument that I played at 5 years old. Hello old friend we meet again. Bless the ukulele.
I find it a blessing to be able to play Classical music on the uke. I no longer have the strength in my hands to play the guitar so the uke gives me a chance to continue playing. the Uke was the first instrument that I played at 5 years old. Hello old friend we meet again. Bless the ukulele.
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