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Sep 9, 2014

Ukulele Tutorial: How to play "Shake it Off" by Taylor Swift


This is a great song that's pretty easy for beginners.

Jun 21, 2014

Ukulele Tutorial: How to play "Rude" by Magic! (EASY VERSION)


Here's how to play Magic!'s "Rude" on the uke using chords that are much easier for beginners!  (I also go into much more detail around strumming and strum patterns in this video.)


Ukulele Tutorial: How to play "Rude" by Magic!


This tutorial shows you how to play Magic!'s "Rude" on the ukulele.

May 6, 2014

100 YouTube Subscribers!


Wow!  It's been just a little over two months since posting my first video on YouTube, and the Mediocre Musician channel has already surpassed 100 subscribers!

Apr 9, 2014

REVIEW: Mitchell MU-70 Ukulele


Overall, this isn't a bad little ukulele, but it does have some pros and cons.

Mar 28, 2014

What is a "short scale" guitar? What is a "12-fret guitar"? Are they the same?


Admittedly, this was something even I was confused about early on.  For a while, I was incorrectly referring to 12-fret guitars as "short scale" guitars, assuming they were one-in-the-same.

In fact, a guitar's scale length and its number of frets are mutually exclusive.  (Just because a guitar only has 12 frets, doesn't mean it's a short scale, and vice-versa.)

Mar 12, 2014

Quick & Dirty Tutorial: How to play Pink's "Just Give Me a Reason" on ukulele (finger picking)


This is an awesome little picking riff to add to your repertoire.  It's fun and it's pretty simple because you're mostly holding chords the whole time.

Mar 2, 2014

Feb 24, 2014

I love bang-for-the-buck guitars


I've been on a bit of a guitar-buying kick lately.  When it comes to a really good-quality instrument at a low price, I have a tough time saying no.  (I've actually written an entire post on my affinity for budget instruments.)

Guitars have such a wide variety of shapes, styles, and sounds, that it's tough to limit yourself to just one.  As a [mediocre] slack-key player, having multiple guitars is also convenient because I can leave them in different tunings, and simply pick up the guitar for the song I want to play.  (Something I wouldn't have the luxury of doing with higher-priced guitars.)

Here is my humble collection of bang-for-buck guitars I've collected along the way:

Feb 12, 2014

Nahenahe Tenor Ukulele


This is a 1993 Nahenahe ("Nahe Nahe") tenor ukulele.  I haven't seen many of these on the web, so I thought I'd document mine.

Feb 6, 2014

So you want to learn slack key? Here are the best places to start!



So you've been seduced by the sweet sound of Hawaiian slack-key guitar music, and as a do-it-yourselfer, you're looking to learn how to play.  Or maybe you're already a guitarist, looking to expand your repertoire. Either way, here are my three definitive slack-key resources:

Feb 1, 2014

Budget instruments?--Yes please!


I love bang-for-the-buck instruments.

Growing up, I remember musical instruments being a serious investment.  They were very expensive, and therefore only reserved for those dedicated to practice and committed to lessons and/or performing.  (They weren't something you had the luxury of buying to “try out” or just to “fool around on when you have time”.)  And as a result, if you decided to take the plunge, chances were it meant it was probably the one instrument you were stuck with.

On the other hand, attempting to buy a "cheap" instrument meant you'd probably end up with something that more closely resembles a toy than a real instrument.  Something where the quality was either too poor to play “real” music or so unplayable that you'd give up on learning out of pure frustration...