Get Plucky With the Ukulele
Get Plucky With the Ukulele Newly Released as: Ukulele for Beginners: How To Play Ukulele in Easy-to-Follow Steps Will Grove-White Paperback – Octopus Books 176 Pages and Foldout Chart Audience – Any Player Rating – Ukulele pictured – Custom Talsma Ukulele Will Grove-White was bitten by the ukulele bug early in life. As a teenager, he became enamored with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and was quickly asked to sit in with them. Today he continues to help this amazing group entertain audiences across the globe. Will has written a book that is a little bit biography with the rest split between history and musical instruction. Easy to read, this is full of stories about the early days of the instrument and its origins. Tales of the beginning of the golden age and the heroes of the ukulele bring the narrative right up to modern times. Short vignettes include…
Midwest Uke Camp – 2017 Review
I had so much fun at the 1st Midwest Uke & Harmonica Camp that there was no question I was going to attend again this year! Ben Hassenger and Stan Werbin have once again planned a terrific weekend for music with an amazing array of instructors. Held on the beautiful campus of Olivet College, this can be a very relaxing, even though busy, weekend. Located just off Highway 69, it is easily reached from any direction. The campus is very picturesque with an array of architecture from the 1800’s to the modern looking cafeteria. The main road through town cuts across the middle of the campus, but has very limited traffic. This year’s instructor line up included the return of many instructors as well as new ones. Steven Espaniola, Cathy Fink, Stuart Fuchs, Rachel Manke, Marcie Marxer, Dave Passant, and Sandy Weltman arrived for the first time. Jim Beloff,…
Ukulele Heroes – The Golden Age
Ukulele Heroes – The Golden Age Ian Whitcomb Published by Hal Leonard Softcover – 166 Pages Audience – All levels Rating – Ukulele pictured – Unknown Maker (Harmony?) – circ. 1950 – Strung with vintage gut strings. Ian Whitcomb has spent his life in the music industry. Growing up in Great Britain, he encountered the ukulele early in his life. And ‘ukie’ has been traveling with him for much of it. His Martin joined him onstage with Johnny Carson and has been used in his performances across the country. In the process he encountered the stories and music of his ukulele heroes, which he shares with us in his book. He has also issued a terrific 2 CD set of Tin Pan Alley songs on the ukulele (review in the future). Profusely illustrated with vintage sheet music and photographs many provided by Flea Market Music (Jim and Liz Beloff), a…
Ukulele Chord Charts from BestMusicStuff.com
Five Ukulele Rating! I’m not sure which feed brought it up, it was probably Amazon, and it linked to the Creative Guitar Poster. I poked around and tried to find an ukulele version, but was unsuccessful. So I asked the question. The response was pretty quick, within a couple hours, and provided a link to the ukulele version. It looked like something that would help when I was teaching and had lots of features, including being Dry-Erase with room to circle and make notes. I responded with a thank you and ordered one. I got a message on The Ukulele Dude’s Facebook page indicating that they had added one of their Ukulele Reference Posters at no charge, and would I consider providing a review of the two charts. So here we go! The Ukulele Reference Poster is great! I’ve got several different chord books, fold out charts, and one page…
C.F. Martin – Style 1 Ukulele
Okay, I took a risk. It wasn’t a big risk, but it was a risk. How good was the new Facebook Marketplace? Someone on one of the ukulele forums on Facebook had shared a For Sale posting. It was listed as a 1920s C.F. Martin & Co. Soprano Ukulele Style 0 with an instruction book. Lots of pictures showing the condition issues and problems. The first thing I realized, without even checking the books, was that the double fret marker at 7 indicated it was a Style 1, not a Style 0. So after a conversation over Facebook, and a couple of actual phone calls, I transferred the money and got a tracking number. The only thing left was to wait for the arrival of the package. Two days later it arrived. Very well packaged and exactly what I was expecting to see, down to all the scratches and dings.…