Ukulele Part 3: Jazz Up Your Ukulele

Phil Doleman is leading a ukulele workshop at the Jim Marshall Auditorium on Saturday 5 December, the third part of a series called Jazz Up Your Ukulele. It's aimed at adults who already have some basic experience with the instrument and want to move into jazz-age style playing.

If you've spent the last few months getting comfortable with your chords and a few simple songs, this is the logical next step. The focus is on that specific jazz-age sound — the syncopation, the swing, and the kinds of chords that give the ukulele a bit more harmonic lift than your standard strum-along. Doleman will be walking you through how to get that feel, so you'll leave with a better handle on how to approach jazz on the uke rather than just playing through a lead sheet.

The session is part of IF: Milton Keynes International Festival, produced by The Stables, which brings world-class performers and events to venues and public spaces across the city. The Jim Marshall Auditorium is one of their main spaces, so it's a proper room to work in rather than a makeshift community hall. The workshop is designed for adults, and since it's the third part of the series, it's built for those who've already got the basics down and are ready to push their playing a bit further.

It all happens on Saturday 5 December at the Jim Marshall Auditorium, inside The Stables in Milton Keynes. If you've been playing for a while and have been wondering how to get that jazz-age sound into your playing, this is the one to keep an eye on.