Jazzing Up the Ukulele - How to Do Jazz Chord Substitution for Accompaniment and Soloing: A Jumpin' Jim's Ukulele Songbook - Book/Online Audio

Well done, logical presentation of chord substitution. Not just useful for ukulele- guitar players will benefit as well. Anyone who wants to take their playing beyond simple three chord accompaniment in the first position can benefit from this well excellent guide.

Timing is everything--this one was just what I needed now. Clear, simple explanations on how and why certain chord substitutions work. I have been learning jazz chord progressions and the hows and whys of what I could substitute. This offers very clear explanations as he takes a simple accompaniment, jazzes it up, then shows a chord melody arrangement for each song. I enjoy playing old jazz standards, but the song selection is just ok to me. I would enjoy a part 2 with more challenging arrangements in low g tuning.

This book is quite good! However, it's not for a beginner. You need to have at least intermediate skills and some knowledge of music theory. It requiring me lots of TIME to repeatedly practice the substitutions so that they can become natural; so that I don't have to think about what to do. The book learning and CD coordinate well with some good, old jazz standards. I'm enjoying the challenge.

Wow, I'm going to need to take a serious look at the rest of his books, because this one was great. All these chord substitution concepts that you glean from all over the place, when you're trying to learn, are gathered here, and explained very well. I will be spending a long time with this book.

A bit difficult for me

Great book for learning alternate chords.

A good book if you're interested in jazz chord substitutions for intermediate ukulele players. As a Frenchie the songs aren't familiar, which is a pity, but then the chord substitutions and progressions are explained in great details and the book gets through 20+ helpful ideas for substitutions that can be used to jazz up your favourite tunes or to give that extra spicy flavour to your compositions. IMHO, this is a must-have in any decent jazz ukulele library.

I am primarily a classical guitarist but enjoy trying all types of fretted instruments and styles.I chose this because of the author, I have had other Sokolow products and always find them easy to follow, immensely useful and practical.This is no exception. Anyone who is not an absolute beginner will find it useful and interesting.I think it is particularly useful to see a piece with standard chords and then substitutes and extensions with the explanation of how and why they work.Although some jazz books can be a bit top heavy and dry when it comes to theory this is very musical.You could buy the book just because you wanted to play the songs but do try to follow what Sokolow says about the varying arrangements and you will improve as a musician, rather than remain simply a strummer of songs.

Great information well presented. But for me, too heavily on traditional old time American songs, most of which I didn't know. I probably would have got more out of it if it had used more jazz standards

Recommended to anyone who wants to expand their uke playing beyond the usual three chord stuff.

Good theory, bad songs. CD is poor. But content very useful