Workshops
Dive into the vibrant world of ukulele at the Belfast Ukulele Festival! Our workshops are designed for strummers of all levels - from beginners to seasoned players. Led by passionate, skilled instructors, each session offers a unique opportunity to enhance your skills, learn new techniques, and connect with fellow ukulele enthusiasts. Whether you're looking to perfect your chords, strumming patterns, harmonies, or just have fun, our workshops have something special for everyone.
Ukulele Simon
Percussive Uke
(Confident beginner-Intermediate)
Transform your ukulele into a drum kit with this exciting and unique playing style. Originally pioneered by the great James Hill, percussive ukulele will stretch your musical muscles as you thump, scratch and flick your way to becoming a one person band.
SATURDAY 11AM Deer’s Head
The Lava Birds
Singing Harmonies with your Uke
(Beginner - Intermediate)
The aim of this workshop is to learn a classic blues song Nobody Knows You When You Are Down and Out with chords, lyrics and harmony. By the end of the workshop, you will understand the basics of how to create a 3 part harmony, sing harmony chorally and raise your awareness of how it feels to be one part of a harmony - as if you were one string on a 3 stringed instrument!~
SUNDAY 11AM Black Box Green Room
Christopher Davis-Shannon
Intro to Swing
(Confident beginner-Intermediate)
Let’s strum some fun old tunes together! In this workshop we will break down basic right hand patterns to find that classic swing strum and then take those concepts and apply them to three different songs. Confidence in basic strumming and open position chords is all you need to get started.
SATURDAY 2PM Deer’s Head
Christopher Davis-Shannon
4 Shapes to Conquer the World
(Intermediate-Advanced)
A little knowledge can go a long way. In this workshop we learn to build any chord you could ever need using only four foundational shapes on the fingerboard. A true crash course in chord theory. Hate barre chords? You'll hate them slightly less after this workshop, I promise!
SUNDAY 12PM Black Box Green Room
Ukulele Saz
“The Rhythm Revelation!
(Beginner - Intermediate)
Give some life to the songs you love!
Let's delve into the crazy world of rhythmic strumming! Discover how to link how you strum by ‘feel’ with a bit more musicality and style. From understanding rhythm to creating and figuring your own unique strumming patterns, you'll leave feeling ready to transform any song into your own fun arrangement!
SATURDAY 1PM Deer’s Head
Ukulele Saz
The Riff Revolution!
(Beginner - Intermediate)
Making those tricky tunes way easier
Join me in uncovering the secret to conquering those tricky riffs you always avoid! In this workshop, I'll teach you a simple method to understand and play those challenging melodies. Let’s find a way over those daunting obstacles and build some confidence as we explore how to play beyond our musical comfort zones together.
SUNDAY 1PM Black Box Green Room
Jess Tutill
Songwriting Workshop
Discover some new ways to help you start or keep writing songs. Jess will take you through some of her song-writing processes and then guide you with ideas, prompts and some exercises to test the theory!
SATURDAY 12PM Deer’s Head
Ukulele Simon
Loop Q&A
(For anyone interesting in looping)
Ukulele Simon is one of the foremost ukulele loop artists and will be breaking down his process and equipment in an exclusive Q+A. If you want to learn about all things loop, this is one not to miss.
SUNDAY 2PM Black Box Green Room