The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 49,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 11 Film Festivals
Ukulele 4 kids recently shared a great video of 15 year old ukulele player Yestyn Griffith playing While My Guitar (Ukulele) Gently Weeps. So we asked him to answer a few questions about his ukulele playing which he answered below.
Q)Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Yestyn Griffith. I am 15 years old. I live in Henderson, Nevada (USA). And I am currently in my sophomore year at Basic High School. Music is the majority of my life. I play several instruments including the violin, requinto and of course the ukulele.
Q) How long have you been playing the ukulele? I have been playing the ukulele for about a year and a half. But I had been playing violin for two years before I started ukulele.
Q) What influenced you to start playing the ukulele? I honestly started the ukulele because my friend gave me a soprano (ukulele) that had been sitting in the corner of his house for who knows how long. I had almost no knowledge of the ukulele before that. It wasn’t till a few months later when I saw Jake’s (Shimabukuro) While My Guitar Gently Weeps video that I discovered what the ukulele was really capable of.
Q)What are your ukulele playing strong points? I think that my strongest musical attribute is my ability to figure out songs by ear. I can figure out most chord progressions within seconds, and I can figure out melodies very quickly as well. I am also very good at improvising while playing with others.
Q)What are your ukulele playing weak points? I find that my weakest point as a musician is my lack of character. All of the music that I play sounds like somebody else’s music. I have no real noticeable style or “mark”.
Q) What are your ukulele playing goals? In the future I hope to develop a distinct style that can be recognised by others. Other than that I just hope to keep playing and advancing.
Thanks Yestyn for giving us an insight into your playing. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from Yestyn in the future.
Ukulele 4 Kids invites other young players to share their playing with us.
Below is Yestyn playing the song Five Foot Two
It’s the time of year again that Santa and Rudolph (Santa’s reindeer) visit the houses of all the good kids while they’re asleep. They’ll be dropping off the ukuleles that the kids have asked for as Christmas presents. No doubt Santa’s elves will be listening on Christmas Day to make sure all kids are playing songs on their new ukuleles. So why not learn to play a couple of easy songs about Santa and Rudolph below.
Find the lyrics and chords to Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer here. It is easy to play, and uses the chords C, D7, F & G7.
To get an idea of how the song sounds take a look at the video in this post.
Find the chords & lyrics for ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ here There are a few chords, but with a little practise it is easy to play. The chords are C, F, G7, Am, C7, G & D7.
To get an idea of how the song sounds take a look at the video in this post.
Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy playing them.
I discovered this young man on YouTube recently. He’s fifteen years old and plays the ukulele extremely well already. He’s agreed to write a small bio for Ukulele 4 Kids which will be posted soon. His name is Yestyn Griffith and he’s playing the While My Guitar (Ukulele) Gently Weeps cover.
In my everyday job as a school teacher I enjoy using technology to support kids learning. The technology is much better when it’s free too! I like to use Wordle to produce some interesting word art. Below is an example, using words from ukulele 4 kids.
Find the chords & lyrics for ‘Octopus’s Garden’ here. There are four chords, but with a little practise it is easy to play. The chords are C, Am, F & G7.
To get an idea of how the song sounds take a look at the video in this post.
To view our other videos visit our YouTube channel ukulele 4 kids.
View our other song chords page.
Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy playing it.
The Kapiti Primary School Senior Ukulele group perform Octopus’s Garden by The Beatles. Take a look and leave a positive comment.
