Ukulele Video Play Along Spreadsheets are now updated!

The spreadsheets are available on the Video Play Alongs Page on this blog/website.

Confession time: I have not updated the Ukulele Video Play Along Spreadsheets for a long time. There are a lot of reasons, but the biggest factors were:

• I have made a lot of play alongs (the list shows 674 as of today, September 3, 2023, and that doesn’t include the videos I have ready to release) and just haven’t kept up with the index. It takes time to maintain the index, particularly as I track which chords are used (this takes the longest amount of time in the process).
• My attention in this space has been split between Video Play Alongs (which generate no income) and my other ukulele interests at YouTube.com/ukestuff.
• I have had to take on additional roles and responsibilities in my own school.
• And the biggest factor was starting to publish PDFs of the Chord Charts or “Tabs” of each of the songs that I release as a Play Along Video. I had been sending data to a tab site which was publishing tabs, but as I released a lot of videos over Christmas 2021, it was too much for them to process, and I clearly received the message that I was asking too much of them. They didn’t say anything specifically, but since that time I have been publishing my own chord charts. That extra task has taken away time as I publish songs and maintain the directory.

Well, we’re starting the 2023-2024 academic year here in the United States, and before I went back to school with students, I wanted to update the Video Ukulele Method and the Video Play Along Spreadsheets. Thankfully, most of the creators (including myself) have slowed down the amount of content we are producing, unlike our high level of production in 2020-2021 during the lockdown of the world. So it didn’t take too long to process the new content from creators that I know.

To remind everyone, these lists include videos that follow a basic formula:

• Uses the original audio from the artist (not a cover)
• Include the lyrics of the song
• Include the chord diagrams and names of the song
• There is an indicator that helps you follow the chords of the song

The lists do not, and will not, include someone (even myself) singing a song with the lyrics on the screen.

I also want to remind everyone that the lists do not feature school-safe music. If you are looking for school-safe music, check out my Ukulele Video Method. There may be some songs that are not appropriate for your school in my method, but in general, it is pretty well vetted as I teach American elementary students (K-5 or ages 4-11).

I frequently get requests from people to “access” the lists; the lists are set to “view only,” but I believe that you can use Google to “Make a Copy” if you want to edit the lists for yourself.

There will definitely be issues with the lists, as I am human and I make mistakes. If you see an error, send me an e-mail and I can put it on my “to do” list.

I do not run the index at ukeability.org, but I will be reaching out to see if they can update their index as well, as the ability to search by the chords your students can play is useful.

There have been some issues with embedded YouTube videos in Google Slides as of late. I have checked this with my own videos, which are set to “allow embeds” but even then, the embedded videos are not working all the time. There’s nothing I can do about this as it is purely a Google issue, and there is no way to talk to a breathing person at Google to look into it. I am working on creating a list of video links for the Video Ukulele Method (in order), but the links in Google Spreadsheet should work, too…though there are ads when you open the videos.

Finally, I have added some videos by “Anoukulele” to the index list. They have made a lot of videos, but many of the older videos feature GCEA and DGBE tuning at the same time, which is not very helpful for elementary and middle school students. High school and adults would be fine with that approach, but it is too much data for younger students. Anoukulele shifted to making separate GCEA and DGBE play alongs somewhat recently, and those videos have been added. Do be warned, however, as Anoukulele’s play alongs often feature a large number of chords in the original key, unlike the music educators that make play alongs with an focus on ukulele-friendly keys.

If you know ukulele play along content creators I do not know, or whose work I have forgotten to look for please send send me an e-mail.

Teachers–some of you are back in session already, and some of you start with students as I do next week. I wish all of you success!

And to everyone, thanks as always for your support. I hope you have a wonderful day, and I’ll be back soon with more UkeStuff for you.

• Posted in: Blog news and updates