Ukulele Musician · Year One
A year-long online course with Kevin Carroll, beginning in 2027
Maybe there’s a song you’ve always strummed and you’d love to play the melody. Maybe you can play the melody and want to put chords underneath it, or find a way to phrase it that feels like you.
I built Ukulele Musician around that kind of curiosity. We’ll work on the skills that open up those possibilities, from getting a clean, ringing sound to hearing how chords and melodies fit together. Then we’ll put those skills to work in pieces of music, where you can hear what a change in touch, timing, or harmony does to a song.
Over the course of the year, you’ll develop a clearer sense of what to practice and more ways to make the music your own.
What You’ll Be Able to Do
Think of a tune you already know. Over the course of Year One, you’ll learn to do more with it.
Bring out the melody. Play it cleanly and shape a phrase with changes in touch, timing, and dynamics.
Give your strumming more variety. Keep a steady pulse while changing accents and leaving space where the music calls for it.
Hear how the chords fit. Explore why a chord change feels like a departure or a return, and try putting a simple harmony under a melody.
Make up a phrase of your own. Start with a few notes and see how far you can take them by changing the rhythm or answering one phrase with another.
The Circle of Musical Balance
I developed the Circle of Musical Balance to help you hear what’s working in your playing and decide what to practice next. It brings four things into view: the left hand, the right hand, precision, and expression. Say a melody sounds choppy. You might slow down to work on a fingering that lets the notes ring into one another, then play the whole phrase again and listen for where it wants to rise and settle. In Year One, we’ll use the Circle to zoom in on one part of your playing at a time, then bring it back into balance as you play the piece.
The Seven Skills
Throughout Year One, we’ll work on these seven skills and put them to use in pieces of music. Here’s a taste of what we’ll explore.
Strumming — Start with a relaxed thumb strum and a chord that rings clearly. Then use accents and space to give a rhythm its character.
Finger-picking — Pick out a melody with your thumb, then try a fingerpicking pattern that lets a chord ring underneath.
Flat-picking — Use a flat pick to play a single-note melody, keeping the notes even as you move from string to string.
Music Theory — Play the C major scale in thirds and hear how a second note changes the sound of the melody.
Improvisation — Take three notes and see how many phrases you can make by changing the rhythm.
Chord Melody — Take a tune you know and add chords at a few points while keeping the melody out front.
Finger Independence — Let one note ring while another finger moves, so a chord change or melody can flow without a break.
Try a Lesson
Play the first few notes of the C major scale. Now try them with a second note alongside each one. In this sample lesson, we’ll play the scale in thirds and listen to what happens when two notes sound together.
Start by listening to the example. Then slow it down and play the first few pairs of notes. See if you can still hear the original scale as the harmony moves with it.
How It Works
First Monday of the month — I’ll release new video lessons and interactive Soundslice exercises. We’ll focus on a few of the seven skills each month and put them to work in a piece of music. You can slow down a passage, loop a few measures, and follow the notation or tab as you play.
Last Monday of the month — We’ll meet live on Zoom to play through examples and talk through questions that came up as you practiced.
You can work through the lessons at your own pace and revisit earlier material as the year unfolds. One enrollment covers the full 2027 course.