August song... it's our broken heart summer drinkn' song.

Not that I'm a drinking man... but with this summers heat, and if you take in to account those of us that have experienced in the past, a broken heart or two (yes, Mr Spock I mean you)... I just might abide.

"There Stands the Glass" is one of those great drinking and blues songs by Van Morrison.  Yup! 'Van the Man' as his friends and those that peek at his bio on Wikipedia call him.. really knows how to sing the hurt out... then ask for a drink to sooth his pains.

You can't help but put a bit of a sorrowful crack in your voice when you sing this... no you can't.

Our handout (up early), "Uke info and self-tuning" is all about getting to know the parts of you ukulele... and how to tune it, when you lose that chromatic tuner.   And you will.

Our next WikiWiki is the coming Sunday August 19th.  Remember doors open at 1pm... we start strummn' at 1:30.

Added note:  If our summer holds out a bit longer... come join us on Alki for a Jam on September 2nd.

Here's the links you need to see it all:
          WikiWiki front page

          Ballard Wiki info page
          Here's where you go to get the download for this month

July holiday... means we're all going to "Dance Tonight".

We always have fun with tunes from Sir Paul McCartney, this one is no exception.   "Dance Tonight" is simple to sing, with only 3 chords - basic one's at that.  And you can strum it slow or fast, it still sounds great.

Last month we had a small group at the WikiWiki, it's tough to compete with Fathers Day.  So that just means our special handout (a transposing wheel), will be handed out again.  You can't get away from learning something at the WikiWiki.

NOTE;  No need to print out the transposing wheel I will have printed copies to give you.

You can download this months song here.

ALKI JAM IN AUGUST.  Just a heads up.  Sadly, I will be on the road that first week in August.  I hope summer lasts a few more months.  If so, then the next Alki Jam in West Seattle will be the first Sunday in September.  That's September 2nd.  Hope to see you all then.

2 folk songs for June.... yippee!

We're getting back to some of our more folksy songs for June.  One from Australian, not so old, but still fun... "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport".   Next is an early American folk song "Skip, Skip, Skip To My Lou".  Fun to sing and only two chords to boot.   For our workshop we'll transpose both to another key.  Ohhhhhhh so much fun and ukuleles too!

Just go on over to the download page to find your music:
http://ukulele-wikiwiki.com/uw/uww_dwnlds.html

It's finally like summer and June 3rd is the first Sunday of the month so that makes it time for our first WikiWiki Jam on Alki (Anchor Park).  It's FREE, it's FUN and it's for everybody... all levels of our ukulele friends.  Music starts at 1pm until around 3pm.

I'll send you now to our web site to give you all the info including a map.

http://ukulele-wikiwiki.com/uw/uww_WSeaAlki.html

See you all there.

Just "Let It Be" for May.... it's too nice outside.

Let it Be…. if only we could.  The Beatles are still so great.  And so many of their songs are simple enough in melody to be just right for the beginner.  Play it slow and simple… Let It Be.

You'll find it here:  http://ukulele-wikiwiki.com/uw/uww_dwnlds.html

Added some Fun links
I've added a few things to the sidebars on the blog.  

If you haven't found them already, look on the left sidebar and you'll find a list of upcoming Ukulele Festivals --  a wine country ukefest, in California, is coming up in September and Dusty String is going to have their Ukefest in June.

Now if you look to the right sidebar… I've added a few of my favorite links to some of the better teaching sights.  Something for everyone from beginner and better.  

You'll find our blog here:  http://ukulele-wikiwiki.blogspot.com/

April gives me feelin's of movie' on by.......

I forget exactly when, but around the early 80's I was sharing a house with a couple of folk minstrels, vagabonds of the road and music.

The one great thing they did for me was drag me out of the house one night, and introduce me to the sounds of the great Elisabeth Cotton. She happened to be preforming, even though in her 90's, at one of our local Universities. She was and is a pure authentic musician of folk song.

She taught herself to play guitar left handed and upside down, and then wrote our April song, Freight Train, when she was 10 or 11 years of age.

Check it out on downloads page.

I'm Irish... he's Irish.... she's Irish.... we're all Irish in March.

I pulled this from the 2010 book.... 'cause everyone wants to sing 'When Irish Eyes are Smilin'...... just like the nice folk in the picture.

So grab yourself a pint of Guiness and get over to our download page. And no stopping' for some dang rainbow.....

Oh.... and go look at the March handout on the sidebar - "Pickin' the Chromatic scale"