Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Tips 'N' Tunes: Ukulele Technique (Paperback)

by Jim Beloff (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Contents: Aloha Oe * Amazing Grace * America, the Beautiful * Aura Lee * The Band Played On * Beautiful Dreamer * A Bicycle Built for Two (Daisy Bell) * Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home * Buffalo Gals (Won't You Come Out Tonight?) * (Oh, My Darling) Clementine * The Climbing Song * Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes * Give My Regards to Broadway * He's Got the Whole World in His Hands * Home on the Range * I've Been Working on the Railroad * The Key Change Song * Let Me Call You Sweetheart * My Country, 'Tis of Thee (America) * Oh! Susanna * She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain * Sidewalks of New York * The Star Spangled Banner * Swing Low, Sweet Chariot * When the Saints Go Marching In * While Strolling Through the Park One Day * Yankee Doodle Boy * You Tell Me Your Dream * You're a Grand Old Flag.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation (May 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0793533775
• ISBN-13: 978-0793533770
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #136,927 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginners, May 21, 2000

By A Customer

This book is a beginner's bible for learning to play the ukulele. Mr. Beloff presents ukulele strumming in a simple and straightforward manner and makes sure that the pupil is having a great while learning. Readers of this book quickly learn to play folk tunes and American standards. Experienced ukulele players might be bored with this intro book, but it is perfect for beginners.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good method for beginner, nice songbook for me, March 30, 2005

By	kwb - See all my reviews

For beginners:
This book provides you a basic set of skills and knowlegde, on which you can build further on your own or with a help from more "advanced" books. The book has only 64 pages, but it is probably VERY intense if you have never learnt to play any stringed instrument.
Mr Beloff starts with such basics as the name of the parts, holding the instument, forming chord and reading chord diagrams, how to strum etc. Unfortunately you are supposed to actually read and understand them, but it's not overwhelming.
After that, you learn 29 songs one by one. Though it's possible to flip through and pick up your favorite song, actually I recommend to proceed one by one: The author carefully arranged the materials from the simplest to modestly challenging, and each new song exposes you to one or two new element(s), be it the chord, key, strum pattern and/or time.
Once something is presented, in general it is not repeated later, so you'll have to go back and forth quite often to revisit what you've learnt in the past (chord chart at the end of the book is going to be your life saver, though). Yet IMHO he was successful in making it fun. I wish this kind of book were available when I started playing guitar 17 years ago.

For non-beginners:
If you remember all of these 29 songs by heart, this book is not for you. On the other hand, this makes a great songbook if you're searching for something that you can sing together with others with good enjoyable ukulele arrangement. As a parent of school-age kids, I was quite happy with this book.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great way to learn!, January 13, 2006

By	Sue from Brookfield (Brookfield, WI USA) - See all my reviews

I am a piano player and previously took guitar lessons so I know how to read music and some string basics. For me, this book was great - the progression of lessons is very good. I had a lot of trouble learning the correct strums so got the companion DVD. I recommend that to everyone - the book and DVD are a great combination and you'll be on the road to success!