Location, Availability & Rates
My name is Tad Dreis and I teach ukulele lessons in my home studio in Carrboro, North Carolina. My hours run Monday to Thursday from 10 am to 9 pm and my rates are $50 for hour lessons or $35 for half-hour lessons. Most folks come for an hour, once a week.
To schedule lessons, please send me a note at my Contact page, or give me a call at (919) 593-5981.
Who and What I Teach
I’m happy to work with kids and adults, ranging from complete beginners to higher level players. For beginners, we learn to tune the uke, how to fret notes and basic chords, and how to strum and fingerpick. With intermediate students, we get into more complex chords, rhythms, and techniques, and discuss the music theory necessary to adapt any song to the uke.
Our project songs can come from almost any genre. Rock, pop, indie, country, folk, blues: pretty much anything sounds good on the ukulele. Seriously. Tom Petty? No problem. Lady Gaga? Check. I like for students to make a wishlist of favorite songs that we can consult for project ideas. If something is too hard, we’ll break it into pieces or figure out a simpler version to tide you over until your skills get up to speed.
What Size Ukulele?
Ukuleles come in four sizes. From smallest to largest, they are: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. Many adult beginners prefer the tenor size; it’s not too tiny for their fingers, but not so big that it loses portability. Kids do great with tenor, concert or soprano.
Uke Pricing
A good instrument will sound better and be easier to play than a super-cheap one. You can get a little soprano uke for $30-$50, but these are really best as temporary, trial instruments. They aren’t very sturdy and you’ll spend a lot of time trying to get them in tune. On the other hand, a $30 uke is great to take to the beach, and you won’t mind too much if your five-year-old smashes it.
You’ll give yourself a much better shot at really learning to play if you aim for something in the $150-$250 range. Kala and Ohana both make good starter ukes, and I’m also a big fan of the Fluke brand, especially the Flea ($170-200), which has a plastic back but plays and sounds better than most wooden ukes in its price range. Nicer ukuleles are made with solid wood, so they sound bigger and richer, and they also have better tuners and fretboard intonation so you can get and keep them in tune.
Accessories
It helps to pick up a clip-on chromatic tuner, like the Barcus Berry Soulmate ($20-$25). A case for your ukulele is also a good idea, to protect your extremely portable instrument as you carry it from place to place. For the serious practitioner, an electronic metronome will help you learn to play in time. I prefer the ones that make a click sound, rather than a beep. The Wittner MT50 ($20) is a classic. There are also iPhone apps out there for metronome and tuner functions. Some folks also like using a ukulele strap to help stabilize the instrument when sitting or standing.
My Credentials
The ukulele and the guitar have a lot in common, and much of what I teach is adapted from my experience on guitar. I began studying the guitar over twenty years ago and hold a BA in Music from the University of North Carolina. For the last decade, I’ve made my living, full-time, working with beginner and intermediate music students of all ages, mainly one-on-one in my home studio. From 2000 to 2005, I also taught a group guitar class at Carrboro’s ArtsCenter, but these days, most of my time is taken up by private students. My ukulele experience began in 2008, and I’m a big fan.
