The Cairns Ukulele Festival is excited and proud to host some of the most popular and respected ukulele instructors in the world! These workshops are set to help you improve your playing and knowledge and help you reach new heights! Due to popular demand, we’ve increased the number of workshops significantly this year. Workshops are capped and always book out so be quick! Workshops will take place Friday 6 July and  Saturday 7 July 2012. Workshop announcements follow artist announcements, so more workshops and session times will be announced the next few months!

For the current workshop schedule and booking link, click here.

Instructor: Aaron Keim

Clawhammer Ukulele (all levels welcome) 1hr

Clawhammer style is a banjo playing technique that also sounds great on the ukulele.  For this workshop, we will get the basic techniques and learn two short tunes.  Students will also go home with a series of practice exercises and more tunes for enrichment.

Fingerstyle Ukulele (intermediate to advanced) 1hr

Fingerstyle techniques stolen from banjo and guitar are a great way to arrange music for the ukulele.  Arrangements using fingerstyle techniques can make the ukulele sound like a whole “orchestra,” with melody and accompaniment played at the same time!  We will focus this workshop on two pieces, “Railroad Bill” and “East Virginia Blues.”  Students can expect to work on learning a picking pattern, incorporating the melody into the picking pattern and adjusting the picking pattern to suit other songs.  The ability to read music or tablature will be a big help for this workshop but not a requirement.

Fiddle Tunes for Ukulele (intermediate to advanced) 1hr

Let’s learn some tunes from American folk, bluegrass and string band music!  In this workshop, we will use fingerpicking, clawhammer, carter style playing and single note playing to bring these old tunes to life.  We will apply several techniques to two tunes: “Cripple Creek” and “Turkey In the Straw.”   Knowledge of music reading or tablature will be a big help, but is not required.

Instructor: Paul Hemmings

Triad Bootcamp (beginner to intermediate) 1.5hrs

Triads, or three-note chords, are the building blocks of all chords on the ukulele, and expanding your understanding of them will set you free from having to rely on the same old open chords at your next kanikapila! This workshop examines how these three-note wonders are constructed and provides players with the ability to play major, minor, diminished, augmented, and suspended chords. Topics covered include intervals, chord qualities, and inversions.

Chord Melodies for the Vocally Challenged (intermediate to advanced) 1.5hrs

While many people use the ukulele to accompany themselves singing, some of us have not been blessed with the most sonorous of singing voices. This workshop teaches players how to simultaneously play chords and melodies on the uke, enabling them to perform recognizable renditions of the songs they love without disturbing the neighbors. One recognizable song, such as “Amazing Grace” or “Let It Be”, will be covered in detail.

Diminished Returns (intermediate to advanced) 2 hrs

Make a quantum leap in your understanding of ukulele chords and say goodbye to your old chord book! By unlocking the magic of the diminished seventh chord, the only chord on the ukulele that keeps the same shape and fingering for each of its four inversions, this workshop teaches players how to play four inversions for virtually any kind of seventh chord on the uke. Chord types covered include major seventh, minor seventh, dominant seventh, and half-diminished (or minor seventh flat fifth) chords. Play your way through any songbook with ease!

Instructor: Herb Ohta Jr.

Pick and strum like Herb Ohta Jr. (beginner / intermediate) 1hr15min

Herb Ohta is famous for his beautiful instrumentals. In this workshop Herb will cover various picking techniques, arpeggios and strums that he uses.

Learn to play ‘Under the Boardwalk’ Herb Ohta Jr. style (beginner / intermediate) 1hr15min

In this workshop, you will be shown how Herb Ohta works out arrangements by using the popular tune, “Under the Boardwalk”.

Instructor: Manitoba Hal

Blues for Everyone (beginner/intermediate) 1 hr

You can’t play blues on a ukulele! Who ever heard of using this diminutive guitar for anything other than novelty music or Hawaiian music? Well Manitoba Hal says you can and he wants to show you how. “There are many blues performers like Edgar Winter and Otis Taylor who began on the ukulele before migrating to guitar and I believe the instrument certainly can carry the weight of the blues. People often think of the ukulele as a happy instrument and they’re not wrong, but it is also capable of delivering the mojo that makes the blues so interesting” says Hal. This workshop covers topics such as the twelve bar blues and sixteen bar blues, shuffle strumming, solo playing and performance skills. Participants will be led through a basic blues song from simply playing the song to “pimping it out” with licks and other tricks of the blues. Arranged for C6 tuned ukulele (G C E A).

Instructor: AJ Leonard

From The American Soundtrack (all levels) 1 hr

A rich vein of songs and instrumentals, the American songbook ranges from Tin Pan Alley and the hapa haole songs of the 1920’s and 30’s to the contemporary sounds of the 1960’s and 70’s; from the classic musicals of the 1930’s and 40’s to the modern cinema and TV music. This workshop will focus on the music of Henry Mancini, whose familiar classics include Peter Gunn, Baby Elephant Walk, Moon River and The Pink Panther. A.J. will share some of the unique strumming and picking techniques he has become renowned for.

Strumming The Australian Songbook (all levels) 1 hr

A.J.’s latest recording, Australian Songbook, will be making its world premiere at Cairns and to accompany its release there will be a workshop featuring some examples from this great catalogue that includes the Bee Gees, The Easybeats, Rolf Harris, The Loved Ones and Russell Morris. A.J. is a great believer in finding good repertoire for the ukulele and in the process presents songs either not covered by other instructors or arranged in new and inventive ways. This workshop features interesting chord sequences and inversions.

Instructor: Craig Chee

Enriching your sound (intermediate /advanced) 1 hr

Craig Chee’s workshop last year was very highly rated, so we are pleased to be able to offer a workshop again by this experienced instructor, who, these days, also is a guest instructor at Ukulele Underground University. For this workshop, high G tuning (regular tuning) highly recommended. Please bring something to write extra notes with (paperwork provided). A break down of techniques that will get the most sound out of your ukulele. A huge emphasis on technique building (both right and left hand techniques) and a focus on intricacies that are typically overlooked. Mutes, scratching, pull-offs, hammer-ons, and more all rolled up in a nice efficient workshop. There will be a lot of material, but will be followed up with a review video online after the workshop!

Instructor: Derick Sebastian

How to free style solo / picking (intermediate) 1 hr

In this workshop, Derick will cover techniques and patterns that allows you to to freestyle solo/picking in any key that gets thrown at you! Derick suggests…that you please leave your “music theories” and/or “music theory ego” at the door before entering this workshop…it’s easier than you think and it will surely broaden your perspective on doing solos on your ukulele!

Instructors: fulare_pad

Play with fulare_pad! (beginners) 70 mins (in Japanese)

京都からやってくる、フラリーパッドと一緒に演奏しましょう！
フラリーパッドの音楽仲間「フラリーパッズ」ウクレレワークショップ開催！

“仲間がいれば心は曇りのち晴れ　みんなでウクレレを弾けば笑顔が広がる”

日本・京都を拠点に活躍するウクレレとギターのポップ・インストゥルメンタル・デュオ、フラリーパッドが、
ケアンズ・ウクレレフェスティバルにてウクレレのワークショップを開催、
音楽の楽しさ、仲間と一緒に弾く楽しみを分かち合う仲間「フラリーパッズ」を結成して、
ケアンズ・ウクレレフェスティバルで一緒に演奏します。

「フラリーパッズ」とは、今、フラリーパッドが日本で進めている、音楽を通じて人々を笑顔にする
「スマイル・プロジェクト」の一環で結成された、フラリーパッドの音楽仲間のこと。
一緒にウクレレを演奏して笑顔になろう！という、楽しい仲間の集まりです。
「フラリーパッズ」に参加するには、1日のワークショップを受講するだけ。
そして、フラリーパッドと一緒にケアンズ・ウクレレフェスティバルのステージで演奏することができるのです！

課題曲はフラリーパッドのオリジナル曲「曇りのち晴れ」。
初級者から中級者まで、幅広いレベルに対応したオリジナル曲で、誰でも簡単に弾けるようになります。
そして、ワークショップ修了者には、「フラリーパッズ」認定証と記念のキーホルダーをプレゼント！

さぁ、あなたも、フラリーパッドと一緒にステージで演奏して、ウクレレの楽しさと笑顔を広めましょう！！！

Paul Hemmings

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