The ukulele is a magical instrument and a great option for children and teens that might eventually want to transition into playing guitar. The real trick is to find Dana Point ukulele lessons that keep students engaged and inspire them to stick with their music education. At Los Rios Rock School, we’ve created a system that makes learning an instrument exciting, easy and fun.
Unique Dana Point Ukulele Lessons
Our lessons aren’t the lessons you remember from your own childhood. We don’t start out by spending weeks learning how to play a dull nursery song such as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” We get kids up and playing their favorite tunes within just a lesson or two.
If your kid wants to shred on the ukulele like Eddie Vedder or strum away like Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, we can make it happen, and quickly. Our instructors can teach using any genre of music your child loves, including rock, pop, country, folk, reggae, blues, Hawaiian or whatever else they enjoy.
We teach using a song-based, performance-based system that allows students to progress rapidly, learning entire songs as quickly as possible. This increases enthusiasm and we’ve found that students practice more and master skills more quickly when they choose the music.
Your monthly tuition includes weekly, private 60-minute Dana Point ukulele lessons with one of our experienced instructors. During the lesson, students will learn new songs as well as music theory and students are welcome to split their lesson and spend half of their time with ukulele and the other half with another instrument. We can teach just about anything, including all types of guitar, drums, saxophone, clarinet, piano and more. We also can provide your child or teen with quality vocal instruction.
But, there’s much more . . .
The Live Program
Your monthly tuition includes Dana Point ukulele lessons, as well as participation in our unique Live Program, which provides multiple opportunities for students to perform in authentic live rocks shows. Our shows are held several times each year at top local venues such as the House of Blues and the Coach House, to name a few.
We divide students into groups, based upon ability, and these groups meet for weekly jam sessions. During the practice sessions, students create set lists for upcoming shows as well as learning how to play together as a band. Additionally, our facility is stocked with the best new and vintage gear and the kids can use it all! They truly get a taste of what it’s like to prepare, set up and perform at a rock show.
Some of our shows include a mix of songs and styles, and we often incorporate original tunes created by our Los Rios Rock School students. Some shows feature a specific theme, such as our student-created Halloween and Christmas shows. Our advanced students are welcome to audition for our Classic Album Series, where a renowned classic album is played in its entirety. Some of the albums we’ve covered include Queen’s A Day at the Races, The Beatles’ Abbey Road and The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.
Additional Classes & Camps
We also offer a variety of fun workshops and specialized classes, depending on your child or teenager’s interests. For budding songwriters, we offer songwriting and music production classes. Our facility includes two state-of-the-art recording studios, one of which was designed by a Grammy Award-winning music producer.
For our older and most advanced students, we are an accredited music school and are proud to offer an AP Music Theory class. This course, which is taught by an instructor with a Ph.D. in Music Composition, prepares students for the difficult AP Music Theory exam.
Every summer, we also offer several week-long summer camps. We typically offer several camps for beginning and intermediate students, and one camp for advanced musicians. Each camp week ends with a live rock show on our private stage, The Lobby.
If you’d like to learn more about our Dana Point ukulele lessons or schedule a tour of our facility, feel free to give us a call at any time. Los Rios Rock School is located adjacent to Dana Point in downtown San Juan Capistrano at 32124 Paseo Adelanto.