Another MP3 site

I found this link via the UU forum and you might find it useful.

http://www.4shared.com/dir/gp-s7YJU/MP3s.html

There are a couple hundred songs, in MP3 format, at this link.  For those I checked, all were being played using a ukulele by a single person, so this is what you might sound like playing by yourself at  home.  It can be used for study too.

I did not try and download the songs to my computer but there is a link that suggests it can be done.  I just listened to a few to check out the site.

It is a little bit of a hassle to get the song playing.  Once you click on the triangle "go" button, an ad comes up.  It takes a keen eye to find the small X in the upper right hand corner to close the ad.

Otherwise, this can be a source for a wide variety of songs.

Let me know how you like it.

April 10th is coming up soon

Tuesday will be here before we know it, so if you are able, please try and come up with a couple two or three chord songs that we might select on which to polish our skills.  I know Rex is planning on "Shady Grove" and I have several picked up, including "The MTA" song popularized by the Kingston Trio.

Hope you can make it.

Usual time, usual place.

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