Jim D’Ville was an all around hit at the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival last year and we couldn’t help but bring him back. Jim didn’t pick up an ‘ukulele until he was 42 (but not before he tried teaching himself how to play the banjo and attempted to learn music theory on his own). So, he can easily relate to the challenges facing the “adult” learner. To that end, Jim has created an original and organic approach to teach others how to play ukulele “by ear” and how to understand the basic foundation of all songs…..and he’s passionate about what he does. His “Playing By Ear” workshops get nothing but the highest rankings, with participants claiming they learned more from Jim after one hour than after years of private lessons! After an hour or so with Jim, you’ll be well on your way to “playing” music rather that just memorizing it. His enthusiasm and boundless energy will leave you eager for more.
Workshops
Playing by Ear
You can learn more in one class with Jim D’Ville than during days, weeks, months, and even years of private lessons! The thing is, making music is as much about listening as it is about playing. In this workshop, (offered twice due to it’s soaring popularity) Jim will teach you how to hear what the music is doing. You will learn how to tune your ‘ukulele by ear (and tune your ears), recognize musical intervals and basic chord progressions. Then you will explore diatonic and dominant seven progressions and the “Circle of 5ths.” But don’t worry. It’s not as scary as it sounds. And it will propel your understanding of how music works (and your enjoyment of it) to a whole new level. All skill levels are welcome. This is a fun and interactive class that will change the way you approach learning new songs not only on the ukulele, but on any instrument. (Level 1 – 4)
3-Chord Magic… By Ear
The three-chord song form is the most popular in all of Western music. It’s found in blues, rock, pop, folk, reggae, Hawaiian, jazz, and other genres. In this workshop you will learn just how versatile this song form is as you sing and play your way through the 3-chord progressions for a number of songs including: the theme from Batman, “That’ll be the Day,” “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” “No Expectations,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and many more. Not only will you be learning to play these specific songs by ear, you’ll be learning, literally, thousands of other
songs that share similar chord progressions. Level (2 – 4)
3-Chord Club Jam
Every Friday Jim D’Ville posts three, related, 3-chord songs on his Play Ukulele By Ear website and teaches folks who tune in how to learn to play those songs by ear. He calls it the “3-Chord Club” and it will come to life here, at the Wine Country ‘Ukulele Festival, as Jim leads two, 3-chord jams, focusing one day on Rock n’ Blues and another on The Beatles. It’s part jam session, part ear tuning, but most of all, fun. All instruments are welcome, provided you know the basic chords in a couple of keys. (All levels)
