The ukulele has never been more popular, and Fred Sokolow's relaxed, user-friendly teaching style makes it easy to learn. In this lesson, Fred Sokolow takes you to the next level beyond simple strumming.

You'll learn more first position chords as well as moveable (up-the-neck) chords. He shows you some fingerpicking accompaniment patterns, a few major scales, and how to play a 12-bar blues in any key. You'll also learn how to pick out melodies and play some beautiful chord/melody solos. Tunes include Tumbling Tumbleweeds, Tennessee Waltz, Route 66, Not Fade Away, A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody, See See Rider and more.

Fred slows all the tunes down and breaks them down so they're easy to learn. You'll also enjoy his "uke lore" stories about the the songs and the players. All the songs are written out in tab and music, with chord grids as well. Whether you're a novice or a uke player wanting more repertoire and technique, there's plenty here for you. It's a great way to expand your horizons on this wonderful instrument.

87 minutes • Level 2 • Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: Coming to the ukuleles emotional rescue is Fred Sokolow, erasing misconceptions that the sawed-off four string is a novelty toy, exorcising its painful past with Tiny Tim. Now filling that space is the restored reputation of a pint-sized workhorse ready for anything that blues, country, rock, bluegrass or pop can dish at its puny frame. As scrapper ("Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out"), romancer ("Aura Lee," melodically aka "Love Me Tender"), charmer ("When You Wish Upon A Star"), cowpoke ("Ghost Riders In The Sky") and rocker ("House Of The Rising Sun"), the uke proves to be a mighty little beast. And Sokolow's three individually available DVD courses teach you how to drive one. Progressively advancing from Beginner to Intermediate through Advanced skills, each ninety-minute lesson ramps up the complexity of technique: accumulating tunings, strumming patterns and chords; rolling in fingerpicking skills; incorporating chord-melody soloing. All of that while also building a repertoire as fantastically diverse as Hank Williams' ("Jambalaya") and Johnny Cash's ("Folsom Prison Blues", the Beach Boys' ("Sloop John B") and Buddy Holly's ("Not Fade Away"), Frank Sinatra's ("Fly Me To The Moon") and Irving Berlin's ("A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody"). Importantly, Sokolow also reinstates the uke's mini mojo. Anthems as great as "Sitting On Top Of The World" and "Matchbox Blues" help teach the art of playing 12-bar blues in any key, even right down to, of course, bending those stunted strings. The diminutive darling of the 1920's has become the darling of today, adored by organizations and festivals devoted to it, ruling airwaves through the phenomenon of Iz's transcendent "Somewhere Over The Rainbow/ What A Wonderful World" cover and a whole disc of Ukulele Songs from normally Pearl Jam'ing Eddie Vedder. Meet (and learn to master) the new compact cool. - Dennis Rozanski/Blues Rag

Review: This is a great place to start for those wishing to learn the Ukulele. I understand the reviewer regarding guitar playing references; it is true that if you know the basic chords on the guitar, it is easy to transition, but for those who do not know how to play the guitar, simply take the chords and practice them; the simple ones Fred uses. This is somewhat 'presupposed' in his teaching. If you need a DVD lesson showing the actual chords in more detail, Marcy Marxer's DVDs for kids are great --adults need a touch of patience with the Sesame Street like demeanor, but she is also a gifted teacher and though I bought her volume 1 and 2 for my daughter, I used them to learn the basic chords.