Lone Star Uke Fest, 2012

Noel has set up a mini-festival for 2012 in Dallas that you might find worthwhile.  This is a shortened version with a jam and open mike session on Friday evening, workshops on Saturday and an evening concert.  (Since the festival location is very close to her shop and a nearby sports bar, one can expect some late Saturday evening jams sessions too.)  The setting she has chosen for 2012 is the City of Dallas Bath House Community Center on White Rock Lake, but because of it's size, there is a limit to the number of folks who can be accommodated.   She tells me that the open reservations are filling up pretty fast, so if you are interested, give Noel a call.

The workshop leaders are well respected -- I personally know both Deb and Pop's and Jim travels all around the country giving his "Play by Ear" workshop sessions.

So if you have the time, you might want to check this out this weekend in June.

http://www.lonestarukefest.com/

Let's reorganize our song book

I think that we have found that our song book organization has a lot of confusion.

Let's all take our ring binders and remove the DUH song pages (from the two DUH books) and simply put the individual song sheets back into the alpha section that already exists.  Any songs that we add to our book will go into the alpha section, as we do now.

I will generate a listing of the songs and send it out separately.

This will make finding a song a lot easier.

March 27th is coming up soon

Howdy:

Next Tuesday is our next scheduled meeting, the 4th Tuesday of the month, and it is just around the corner.  I believe Rex is planning to work on Mr, Sandman so if you don't have his song sheet for the song, send me a note and we can send you another copy.  Rex is planning to spend a bit of time on some elementary music theory too, tied in with Mr. Sandman.

We never got to do any of the St. Patrick Day songs at the last meeting and I will bring sheets to share on a couple of them that we might like to try.  Ditto on a couple Woody Guthrie songs in keeping with his centennial celebration in 2012.

Hope everyone else can find a song or two to bring, or from our song book, that they like and would like to work on as a group too.

See you there.

Play By Ear Link

I have added Jim D'Ville's "Play By Ear" link to the Handy Link section of this blog.

Jim is a well respected ukulele teacher with an emphasis on learning to play a tune without constantly looking at a printed song sheet, but by developing our ear to the music.

He periodically updates his blog with interviews as well as a series of short YouTube video clips by well known musicians that the viewer is encouraged to listen to, and decide on the key and the chord sequences used in the song.  Many of the songs are just three chords, arranged in different patterns, hence the name "the 3 chord club".  Check him out -- good information and free too.  Sign up for his Facebook link and keep up to date with his blog entries.

Jim will be one of the workshop leaders at the upcoming mini-festival in Dallas in June, and based on past responses, it will be a big hit with the participants.  If you are free that weekend, it will be worth the trip.

A good meeting last night

We had a good meeting last night.  We spent a bit of time going over bar chords and why they are useful and how to visualize playing them using the familiar open position fingering.  Spent some time looking at the circle of fifths and the probably chord sequences in popular songs.  And some time simply playing a number of tunes.

I was pleased Jeff, Helen, Lucy and Mary each had some different songs they wanted to share and Jeff brought his recent group song pack (from his last OKC group meeting) to share too.

I will have to work on my tempo or Helen will start calling me Speedy Gonzales!

See you on the 27th.

Ralph

Mr. Sandman

In case you missed the link, here is the new video that Rex just made for us last week.  He is planning to give us some in-person, hands on specifics this coming Tuesday evening.  This is just one of the songs being planned for Tuesday, so hope to see everyone there.

Heads Up for June Ukulele Festival in Dallas

More details will be coming later, but Noel, the owner of the ukulele shop in Dallas is going to host a mini festival June 1 and 2.   Friday evening will be an Open Mic session and Saturday will have workshops by Deb Porter, Pop's Bayless and Jim D'Ville. There will be a concert on Saturday evening.  $99 for the workshops and $10 for the concert for those not going to the workshops, like your spouse and friends.

This is shorter and less expensive than the prior 3 day events and should be well received.  I can personally vouch for the workshops by Deb and Pop's and Jim has give his workshops around the world.  It should be a great festival.

More information to follow.

Hey Good Lookin', meet Mr. Sandman on the 13th!

There is plenty cookin' up for our next meeting on March 13th! Mary will lead us in a nice version of Hey Good Lookin' "...so if you wanna have fun come along with me..."

Rex is ready to teach us Mr. Sandman, complete with some light finger-picking. This will up the ante on everyone's skills, so I suggest any of you over-achievers check out his youtube lesson  here  to get a head start. Although it may seem challenging, Rex shows you some easier options if you're new to the uke.

St. Patrick's day is just around the corner and of course we have to play an Irish song! Ralph will bring Danny Boy, a nice slow lament familiar to all and perfect for newer players. I'm sure we won't be leaving until we've jammed on a couple of other great songs, too.

Last meeting Ralph showed us how to play closed chords 'up the neck' to add more variety. Rex also endorses this method to spice up a tune. I tried it on a new song I was learning and it really does work! If you'd like to review or practice it, just ask Ralph for a repeat.

As usual, we'll spend the first 20 minutes or so assisting new players with tuning and simple, common chords. We can also practice the triplet strum we learned last time, as it does take some time to get it down so you can toss in a different rhythm to your playing.

The great staff of the Western Country Diner allows us to use their restaurant at no cost, so we like to give them some business. If you're interested, come around 6:30 for dinner or dessert and conversation; strumming begins at 7.

A nice evening in OKC

Kay and I car pooled down to OKC on Saturday afternoon to play with the folks attending their monthly meeting.  They meet in a church, along with a group of autoharp, dulcimer, Celtic and guitar folks (in separate rooms, naturally).  We had a really good time with Jeff and about 9 other locals, plus Blayne from Stillwater.  One interesting thing, to me at least, was that most of the local folks were gals, something that is becoming far more common in the uke clubs.  Because everyone was beyond the beginner stage, we had a lot of time working on the songs Jeff selected for that evening and it was good to hear everyone doing well.  This was, in part, because Jeff selected a number of songs from the '60s and '70s, songs familiar to the group.

A really nice evening and if you are free the next Saturday evening, join them.

This could be a winner for a beginner

The Kani-Ka-Pila shop has a March special running that you should know about.  They have a line of soprano size ukes similar to the popular Dolphin ukes - painted in bright colors too -- that they believe is better sounding than the Dolphin.  And they change out the strings to use their brand of fluorcarbon strings and here is the real kicker, the March special includes a copy of the Ralph Shaw instructional DVD for kids, in itself, a $20 item.  All for $39.95 (Plus ship, I assume).  So if you want something around the house for the kids and grandkids, or for a gift, this looks like a good deal.

They indicate the the builder of the uke is Bugsgear and if so this is a very reliable Japanese firm. I don't find this uke in their web page but it is supposed to be a new item, competing with the Dolphin.

I know the firm has been around for a while but I do not vouch for the quality of the uke.  I personally don't need another low cost uke or I would get one, but buyer beware.  I do think they have a return policy to reduce any risk.

Starter uke, good strings, DVD.  Sounds very good.

Ralph

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