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Lesson Series Curated Lessons on Specific Topics...
Types of Chords Available on Ukulele
Organizing your Ukulele chords.
The types of chords possible on ukulele include open position chords, movable form chords, 4-part chords, a.k.a. jazz chords and free from chords.
Open Position Chords
These are the basic first chords most players learn. There're the chords in the first one, two, three and fours frets of the ukulele and include at least one open string.
Basic Movable Form Chords
Sometimes called "barre" chords, these chords are the basic open position chords that venture beyond the third fret and do not include open strings.
4-part Contemporary Chords, a.k.a. Jazz Chords
Beyond basic open position chords and basic movable form chords these are the core set of 4-part chords that are used to build ALL your contemporary, more advanced chords. Commonly called "Jazz" chords these are the chords where the knowing how principles of how chords are constructed and your knowledge of the names of the notes of the ukulele fingerboard offer the most benefit to using and expanding your chord vocabulary. From these core chords you can create all those crazy named chords such as: 9#11, 7#5-9, 13b5, 7+9 - and on the fly as needed.
Free Form chords are those chords that do not fall into one of the above categories. They typically don't show up in chord dictionaries or software programs. You can create these chords when you know the notes of the ukulele fingerboard, know how chords are constructed and know the names of the notes the chord and the intervals that make up the chord.
Traditional and Contemporary Triads
Somewhere in the mix of the above four chord categories, triads should be explored. Triads are the foundation of most chords. They are amazing versatile chords that can be used harmonically as chords or melodically in solos. The student and the type of music determines
A triad is a three note chord. In traditional chord theory there are four traditional triad chord types: major, minor, diminished and augmented. And four contemporary triad chord types: sus2, sus4, add2 and add9.
Triads can be used harmonically, as chords and melodically, as single notes. Triads are a great way to get started with creating melodic solos and improvising.
In my personal and teaching experience triads are the first real challenging chords after the basic open position chords and movable basic chords. I personally found them even harder that the 4-part "jazz" chords.
PUBLISHED: Jan 1, 2003 UPDATED: Jan 1, 2003 • VIEWS: 32 • SERIES CODE: UL114 •
8 Lessons in the "Types of Chords Available on Ukulele" Series
Types of `Ukulele Chords • Updated: Dec 31, 2019
Naturally, for Ukuleles, all chords need to be voiced using only the four strings available. You would think that this is limiting when in actuality it's quite liberating when you learn the makeup of chords. Chord can be categorized into four categories: "Open Position Chords", "Movable Form Chords", "4-part - a.k.a. Jazz Chords", and "Free Form Chords."
Learning `Ukulele Chords • Updated: Jan 8, 2016
There are two approaches to learning chords, the song based approach and learning the fundamentals approach. I'm a big advocate of building a solid base of the fundamentals. A lot of players new to the ukulele like to jump right in and learn songs.
Open Position Chords • Updated: Jan 3, 2020
The basic first chords most players learn. There are the chords in the first one, two, three and fours frets of the ukulele and include at least one open string.
Basic `Ukulele Chord Fingering • Updated: Nov 15, 2019
The art and science of chord fingering. Learning your basic open position chords in common keys. We have four fingers and there're all not equal. Some shorter then others and some stronger that others. Everybody's hand is a little different. This does play a role in fingering chords.
Basic Movable Form Chords • Updated: Jun 9, 2015
Sometimes called barre chords, these chords venture beyond the third fret.
Movable chord forms are chords with no open strings. Sometimes called barre chords, these chords are transposable by moving each note of the chord the same number of frets up and down the neck.
Each movable form is based on a common open position chord. Movable forms allow you to play chords not found in the open position and in any key.
Traditional and Contemporary Triads • Updated: Feb 20, 2014
A triad is a three note chord. In traditional chord theory there are four traditional triad chord types: major, minor, diminished and augmented. And four contemporary triad chord types: sus2, sus4, add2 and add9.
4-part Contemporary Chords, a.k.a. Jazz Chords • Updated: Nov 17, 2014
Core Chords is a series of lessons for building your 4-part chords. These chords commonly called jazz chords, are really just 4-part chords used in a wide range of musical styles.
Beyond basic open position chords, basic movable form chords and a core set of 4-part chords. There are just too many chords shapes too memorize. Learning the principles of how chords are constructed and the ukulele fingerboard are the way to go. Then you can create more advanced chords like 9#11, 7#5-9, 13b5, 7+9 on the fly as needed.
Free Form Chords • Updated: Nov 30, 2015
Free Form chords are those chords that do not fall into one of the other chord categories. They typically don't show up in chord dictionaries or software programs. You can create these chords when you know the notes of the ukulele fingerboard, know the principles of chord construction and know the actual names of the notes the chord as well the intervals that make up a chord.


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Q: iOS Animation of image frame not getting right coordinates on Device orientation in Swift I need to create animation (from top left 10 to middle of the screen) when a UIViewController appears.
I have used CGRect frames for this but when I rotate my screen after the view is loaded, the animation view fails as the view needs to be aligned in center after the animation completes.
I have tried using auto layout as well but it does not make UIImageView to animate every time.
Here is the code which I am using currently.
   override func viewDidLoad() {
    super.viewDidLoad()
    imgView.frame = CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 80, height: 80)
}

override func viewWillAppear(_ animated: Bool) {
    super.viewWillAppear(animated)

    UIView.animate(withDuration: 2.0, animations: {
        self.imgView.frame = CGRect(x: (self.view.frame.width / 2) - 40, y: (self.view.frame.height / 2) - 40, width: 80, height: 80)
    }) { (success) in

    }
}

A: To get the right size of your self.view.frame.width during orientation changes you should override the viewWillTransition(..) method:
override func viewWillTransition(to size: CGSize, with coordinator: UIViewControllerTransitionCoordinator) {
        super.viewWillTransition(to: size, with: coordinator)
        // here you have the right size.width
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Get into the facility again and rescue more mini monkeys in this new episode of the Monkey GO Happy puzzle series by Robin Vencel: Monkey GO Happy Sci-fi 2.
This has made my Friday.
Got the good chimp rating!
This was the first Monkey Go that never had a puzzle that stumped me, even for a few minutes. Not sure if I'm getting better at them or if this was, somewhat, easier than usual. Regardless, it was fun as always! Thanks for sharing this one, Bart!
What am I supposed to click for the Wheel of Luck? The walk through doesn't make any sense. He clicks and gets 10 I click and get nothing.
The numbers go white when the wheel "points at them" click the positive numbers when they are white to add them up to 10.
I like how these games are becoming more room escape like and less click on the monkey type. I wasn't stumped for very long, but it wasn't real easy either. But too many clicks searching for the color wheel clue on the second puzzle made me only an average chimp. Thanks, Bart!
I do not understand where the extra three letter combinations come from in the very last puzzle. I watched the walkthrough, but couldn't see how he found them. I see the mouse scribble on the walls in three places but see no letters there. What am I missing? I copied his answer but it's so unsatisfying to not know where it came from!
I'm not sure if I understand you right, but I have the 6 pairs of letters from the walls (2 pairs for each floor: one where the elevator is, one inside the room).
Maybe the walkthrough is just pretty fast, but for me it is correct.
Sweet! That was a great Monkey Go Happy!


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Her obituary in the Guild newsletter included the following story which is vintage Margaret. One time in Chicago at Convergence Margaret was in the front passenger seat of a shared taxi. She immediately identified the driver as a Zimbabwe native from his accent and soon they were chattering away about his native country. She loved to share discoveries about world arts, events and people, but in Guild study groups she shared giggles like a schoolgirl.
The Margaret Grant Memorial Award for Elegant Handwoven Fashion Fabric (woven using no more than four shafts) was presented at the Midwest Weavers Conference in St. Paul, MN in June 2015.
Margaret Grant Memorial Award for Elegant Handwoven Fashion Fabric
This award pays tribute to a former member whose distinctive and quietly elegant personal style was always evident in her hand-woven fabrics.
Margaret Grant was born and raised in Australia, received her psychiatric social work degree in London, and then worked at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. From the late 1960s until her death in 1993, she actively participated in many facets of the Weavers' Guild of St. Louis. She held elective offices, served on committees and juries, was instrumental in establishing a scholarship fund, and made great effort to involve new weavers in the Guild. Margaret's specialty was weaving clothing with fine threads. We honor her memory with an award which recognizes that elegant fashion fabric developed from a simple structure complements a garment's design.

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Home » articles » James Smith Interview: Soul Music, Stevie Wonder, and A Love of Vinyl.
James Smith Interview: Soul Music, Stevie Wonder, and A Love of Vinyl.
February 21, 2020 by Laura Bevan
Singer-songwriter James Smith, like many up and coming young artists these days, really likes his vinyl. For many artists, including James, it's a way to connect in a deeper way with music and really bring out another aspect in himself and his music away from digital culture. We spoke to the singer about his love of the format, as well as his deep admiration for Soul music and the way it's influenced his work.
Let's start off by speaking about Soul music. When did you first fall in love with it?
"Oh, it was definitely Stevie that did it for me. My parents were huge fans, but more of the album stuff than the popular songs. My uncle had all his records too so he would bring them around all the time whilst I would try and figure out how to play them on guitar (which was impossible by the way, Stevie's chords are crazy!) I remember trying to learn For Your Love by Stevie on guitar and it has about 6 key changes. I just used to put the capo up a semitone every key change, haha."
How has this inspired the songs you write/had an impact on your career?
"I think it was the first time I heard Donny Hathaway. I remember getting Extension of a Man for Christmas and just being obsessed with the way his melodies sat on the chords he used. I've been writing towards an album and there are so many parts of that album that inspired songs that I have written. When I first figured out how to sample vinyl, I sampled the BVs in Lord Help Me and made a little hip hop beat, haha."
How and when did you get into vinyl?
"I started collecting vinyl around the age of 13/14. I think it was my need to listen to an entire album rather than singular songs. My friends all had iPods and would listen to single songs at a time but it didn't make sense to me. For me, the singles are part of a larger body of work and if you're only listening to the singles, then you are missing out big time. Vinyl forced me to listen to the whole thing. I also loved being a collector. No one else my age collected vinyl, it was all about pokemon or match-attacks, so it made me feel special."
What was the first vinyl record you ever bought?
"I was given a load of vinyl as a kid so I always had loads. I remember getting Songs in the Key of Life for Christmas and being totally obsessed. But the first vinyl that I went out and bought was Voodoo by D'Angelo. That record changed my life! I was totally obsessed with that soulquarian period of music when, for example, The Roots, Bilal and Erykah Badu changed soul and R&B. I also remember buying the Sly and the Family Stone album, Small Talk, which I used to pick samples from all the time."
Out of all the records you own, which is your favourite?
"I have a collection of vinyl from the 40s which I am super proud of. My grandad found them for me. I'd say those are my most prized possession. OR, I bloody love some of the Johnny Cash Albums I have. I have a load of 40s swing stuff (no names!) and some Bing Crosby, Andrew Aisters, even Harry Roy! The size of vinyl was a bit different then – they are loads thicker. Proper cool. I have the Folsom Prison record too. That is the nuts! The first song on the album introduces the prisoners, etc. The warden is mentioned and stuff. So great."
In your opinion, why do you think vinyl has come back into style? Would you ever think about releasing your own?
"I think music has become too easily accessible now with streaming, etc so people who are fans of music want that challenge to find albums again. It's also really nice if you are a fan of an artist to have a physical copy of their work – it's nice to acknowledge the work.
I am actually releasing a limited bunch of vinyl for my recent EP, so excited to get it out there for people to have."
If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be?
"I'd love to collaborate with someone like Mark Ronson, I think he brings out the best in artists as a producer. I'm such a fan of the work he did with Amy too. Other than that I'd love to work with Teskey Brothers, their way of recording is gorgeous. So warm and old school."
If you could gift any celebrity your very own record who would you gift it to?
"I'd give it to Pharrel. I feel like he would listen and appreciate it. Also, it would be great for him to give me a cheeky push in the industry, lol!"
If you could pick any record which is related closest to your own music which would it be?
"I'd say I'm quite a different artist to this guy, but I am super inspired by Paolo Nutini and the record I'd say has similarities to my music is Sunny Side Up. Especially in some of the songwriting. I aspire to be seen as the same kind of artist as he is, an artist who is credible and respected by the industry as much as his fans. His project is led by the music and his songwriting. There's no ego at all, and I just love that. He is such a talent who writes from the heart and takes a lot of inspiration from the people he admires."
Check out our review of the new James Smith EP, An EP By James Smith, here. The singer is also headlining London's Scala venue on 21st April.
Filed Under: Feature, Interview Tagged With: James Smith, Soul Music, Stevie Wonder
About Laura Bevan
Laura Bevan is a 21-year-old Music student. Passionate about discovering the hidden meanings behind songs. Aspiring Music Journalist.


If you are interested in setting up a company in Singapore, it is highly recommended that you conduct a significant amount of research first in order to know the needs of consumers and what type of business have the potential to successfully take off in the country. Being a major startup hub in Southeast Asia, starting a business in Singapore is a lucrative idea so long as you invest in the right kind of business.
The list of possible investment opportunities in the city-state is almost endless. If you are still undecided on the kind of business to establish, here are a few ideas that do not require huge capital and can easily be started.
Singapore has a vibrant food and beverage industry that is made up of 6,751 establishments as of 2013, thereby supporting the city-state's reputation as Asia Pacific's culinary capital. A small food business usually does not require much capital but can bring about a significant potential for income. Anywhere in the world, there is a demand for food and people are willing to spend for it.
If you are interested in entering the industry, here are 7 essential tips that may be useful to you in starting an F&B business in Singapore.
Accounting for more than half of the smartphones at present, the Asia Pacific region is becoming the home of more and more tech startups, including e-commerce sites. Nowadays, majority of consumers prefer the convenience of shopping online as opposed to going to physical stores.
With this, the e-commerce industry in Singapore is growing at a rapid pace because of entrepreneurs who are launching their online businesses. The most common items that are being sold online are computer hardware and software, consumer electronics, clothes and beauty products.
Singapore is one of the major tourist destinations in Southeast Asia. Out of 15.1 million international visitors who arrived in the country in 2014, the Singapore Tourism Board observed that there is an increasing number of tourists who have been staying longer and spending more money during their trip.
Just this year, Singapore gained international recognition as the Lonely Planet's top country to visit, one of CNN's 10 top destinations to visit, and one of New York Times' 52 places to go to in 2015. Given these accolades, the demand for high quality tourism services will be increasing in the coming years.
Moreover, the Singapore Tourism Board is very active in promoting Singapore to potential visitors from other countries, in this manner contributing to the stability of the tourism sector.
Any country with a thriving tourism industry will definitely have an increased demand for businesses in the hospitality industry. The Singapore visiting population is made up not only by tourists but also by business travelers with a need for a place to stay while in town.
As the country's population is growing old, the need for elderly care services is significantly increasing. Singapore's Maintenance of Parents Act states that Singapore residents who are aged 60 and above and who are unable to live independently are entitled to financial support from their children that is given as a lump-sum payment, or monthly allowances.
Given this ruling, one can start a small business that caters to senior citizens who opt not to stay in elderly homes but could use some help in day-to-day activities such as running errands, cooking and preparing meals, and housekeeping.
Where there are people, there is always be a need to clean. Singapore has a diverse cleaning industry that is made up of companies that provide general and specialized cleaning services to business establishments and individual households.
As a fast-paced country, most Singaporeans are glued to their day-to-day jobs, leaving them little time to handle cleaning chores. Regardless if your business will be targeting establishments or individuals, this low cost business idea would only entail capital expenditures for washing machines, cleaning equipment, and advertising materials.
Aside from the low capital requirement, things are looking up for the cleaning industry because the Singapore government is actively pursuing its initiative to raise the cleaning industry standards, more specifically on productivity and professionalism.
Your success of embarking on a new business venture will greatly depend on your vision, and on how you leverage your company's strengths to provide what the consumers need. Having a very open environment for new entrants, Singapore offers a lotf of investment opportunities to aspiring entrepreneurs.


Wow! That is actually REALLY nice! Good job punky. I can't wait to come with Tom and my kids and stay for weeks at a time. Haha Seriously though, very impressive and I can't wait to see it in person.
Nice! Can't wait to see pictures of everything! Congratulations!!!
Way to go, Michael! Wow, it is so beautiful. I can't wait for the grand tour. Between all our locations, I guess we have all four corners of the town covered now, huh?
I just found your blog from Gingers. Love it. I was cracking up reading everything. Where is the house at?It looks really nice.
Congratulations, Mikey! I'm really excited for you. You'll love being a home owner.


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Straddling Bus That Cars Can Drive Under Will Be Tested In China This Year: Engineer
It's not a train. It's WAY cooler.
Jesse Ferreras— The Huffington Post Canada
05/24/2016 05:34am EDT | Updated May 26, 2016
What do you do when the roads are crowded with cars?
If you're China, you build buses that can just drive over them.
Beijing company Transit Explore Bus is preparing to test a track-based vehicle that's tall enough to let cars pass under, according to Xinhua, China's state news agency. Testing begins in July or August.
The planned bus is two traffic lanes wide, and tall enough to let cars drive beneath it, so long as they're under two metres tall. It would travel at up to 60 km/h and carry as many as 1,400 passengers.
The company showed off a model of the so-called "straddling bus" at the 19th International High-Tech Expo in Beijing over the weekend.
Engineer Song Youzhou has been working on such a vehicle for at least six years, according to The New York Times.
Back then, he pioneered a similar model with a company known as Shenzhen Huashi Future Parking Equipment, even releasing a video of the proposed vehicle.
That project was never realized. But Song has renewed enthusiasm for the new model, which he said would cost less than a subway, and help to lower air pollution.
"It has the same function as the subway, but it costs only 16 per cent of what a subway costs," he said, according to a translation of an interview conducted by Xinhua.
"Manufacturing and construction time are also much shorter than that for subway."
Futuristic though it is, the "straddling bus" also has its share of skeptics.
CityLab writer Linda Poon said such technology would have to drastically change Chinese opinion around car ownership and pollution if it's to have any meaningful impact on air quality.
Also on HuffPost
Canada's Best Cities For Public Transit
businessbusiness videochina straddling buschinese straddling busstraddling bus


Ghost town no more! Tamarack's owners are ready to tear down the Tyvek wrap and disassemble the chain link fences surrounding Village Plaza for almost a decade.
When we walked into the Lodge at Osprey Meadows to check-in to our condo for Winter Carnival, I could immediately smell the impact Tamarack's new owners have had on the resort since we stayed there this summer. The delicious smell was wafting out of Fern & Feather, an upscale restaurant that's moved into the space formerly occupied by Morels Restaurant. To the best of my knowledge, Morels has been closed since 2014 (the last time their Facebook page was updated) so we took this as a sign that the ball is rolling at Tamarack!
And we were right! Tamarack's new owners sent a detailed e-mail to it's mailing list laying out the plans for the resort and the Tam Fam that's kept it operational through difficult times. If you make your way to the resort this spring expect to see crews hard at work finishing Village Plaza. They'll put the finishing touches on exterior of the Tyvek wrapped buildings and make over 50 new condominiums available to guests. Crews will also finish the first phase of retail, dining and guests service spaces allowing existing Tamarack favorites like Seven Devil's Pub to move out of yurt-like buildings and into a permanent space.
Come fall, they'll install a new high-speed 4-person chairlift providing access to hundreds of acres of intermediate and expert trails and gladed tree skiing. The Wildwood trails haven't been accessed by lift since 2009 and the Tam Fam is hard at work re-establishing all of them as well as some previously un-skiable terrain!
We've LOVED our visits to Tamarack even in it's half finished state. With Imperium Blue and Tamarack Resort Holdings Company taking the reigns, we can't wait to see the finish project!


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Tag Archive for: lies
Panetta Continues to Ignore Reality, Calls Surge a Success
September 21, 2012 /16 Comments/in War /by Jim White
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta looks as though he is going to be the last person on the planet to realize what a failure US strategy in Afghanistan has become. Today, while visiting New Zealand, he announced that the final surge troops have left Afghanistan, returning troop levels to 68,000 from a high of 101,000 at the peak of the surge President Obama ordered at the end of his first year in office.
The Washington Post set Panetta's "success" language apart from other comments:
"There's no question there will continue to be difficult days ahead in this campaign," Panetta said at a news conference in Auckland, where he was making a visit, in part, to thank New Zealand for its contribution of about 180 troops to the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan. "But this is an opportunity to recognize that the surge did accomplish its objectives."
The New York Times gave a bit more of Panetta's statement:
"As we reflect on this moment, it is an opportunity to recognize that the surge accomplished its objectives of reversing Taliban momentum on the battlefield, and dramatically increased the size and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces," Mr. Panetta said.
It's not until the very end of the article however, where we learn that Panetta's claims don't hold up:
However, the level of violence remains higher than it had been before the surge forces came. In the first six months of 2012, for instance, 1,145 civilians were killed, compared with 1,267 in the same period of 2010, when surge forces were only just arriving.
How can it be that the Taliban's momentum has been reversed if civilian deaths are now higher than before the surge? [Correction: as pointed out by harpie in comment number 1, although the Times says violence levels are higher after the surge, the civilian death rate post-surge is slightly lower rather than slightly higher.]
Besides allowing Panetta to deny the reality of a Taliban that has lost no strength, the Times article article allows an anonymous military spokesman to lie about changes in the size of Afghan security forces during the surge:
"What did the surge give us?" a senior American official reflected on Friday. "We're going to hit a point where, I won't say that's as good as it gets, but now it's up to them to hold what we gave them. Now really it's Karzai's turn."
The official spoke on condition of anonymity as a matter of military policy.
The surge brought American troops to a high of 101,000, along with as many as another 50,000 coalition troops, mostly from NATO countries. Over the past three years, the increase in American troops helped to enable an accelerated training program, the senior American official said, with the Afghan police and army more than doubling in number by this year, to 300,000.
Two things stand out immediately in the numbers supplied by the anonymous spokesman. First, until this statement, all recent stories have been referring to the size of the ANSF as 350,000. How did the number drop by 50,000? Is this a result of the re-screening that Afghanistan has been carrying out? This chart shows that the Afghan National Army, which accounts for about two thirds of the ANSF, saw a maximum attrition rate of just under 5600 in one month, so attrition alone cannot account for this large drop. [Note: I noticed when I checked the article again after 2 pm that the 300,000 number has been revised to 350,000. There is no indication within the article or at the usual slot at the bottom of the page where corrections are usually noted that this change has taken place. I had already pointed out that the military source was lying whether we used 300,000 or 350,000 as the current ANSF level.]
But the other thing that stands out in this anonymous statement is an outright lie. The official claims that during the surge, the ANSF "more than" doubled to 300,000. This Brookings publication (pdf) documents force size for the ANA and ANP, and it shows that in December 2009, when Obama ordered the surge, the force size was 195,089. If we use the source's 300,000 figure for the current size, the current force is only 1.54 times the previous size, not more than twice. Even if we use the 350,000 figure that was used in all previous statements, the ratio only improves to 1.79, still well below twice the original size.
The military can lie all it wants, but it still cannot hide its failures in Afghanistan.
https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png 0 0 Jim White https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.png Jim White2012-09-21 08:32:352012-09-21 14:17:39Panetta Continues to Ignore Reality, Calls Surge a Success