The London Uke Festival is shaping up to be a really fun event. So much so I’ve been tempted out of my lair and will emerge, blinking into the sunlight, myself. As much as I know so far: Joe Brown is going to sign three ukes for charity, Pete Howlett will be making a uke […]

Ukulele Friend has this interesting Martin 2M from way back in 1916. It’s interesting to see the things that aren’t set in place yet: such as the sideways stamp in the soundhole and the bright white binding. You can see the differences against this later Martin 2M. Dolphins seem to be the sea creature of […]

The blog officially became two years old yesterday, so it’s time for my annual self-indulgent, navel-gazing, rambling post. It’s very long, quite personal, occasionally pretentious and I won’t hate you for skipping it. Last Year’s Goals In last year’s post I set a few goals for the blog that I thought were impossible. So let’s […]

I couldn’t take a look at Robert Johnson without covering slide playing. And using the slide on the ukulele seems to be a trend of late. Just in the last few months I’ve seen videos of it used by James Hill, Tomotaka Matsui (of the Sweet Hollywiians), Peter Madcat Ruth and plenty of other people. […]

This was an incredibly difficult post to write. Not for the usual reason that tribute posts are difficult to write – to my regret, I was always too intimidated to even email him – but because everything he did is absolutely fascinating. A quick scan through his writing for a few juicy quotes ends up […]

It’s a good job no one pays any attention to a word I say. If they did, they’d realise how often I contradict myself. I change my mind more often than I change my underpants (i.e. about once a week). I’ve stated a few times that it’s easier for a beginner to play the ukulele […]

AAAAAARGH!!! Big blog problems at the moment. The site doesn’t seem to be updating. So no new posts are appearing on the front page or anywhere else on the site. Phew! Panic over. A big thanks to Armelle for alerting me to the problem. And a MASSIVE thanks to j-hob for fixing the mess. If […]

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the Rag Bag is the page where I stuck all the half finished stuff and bits and bobs that aren’t ready (or, more likely, never will be ready) for the blog. Most of these are requests. Recent editions are: Devendra Banhart – The Ribbon (Intro) Simplified for […]

A link section of the site is probably long overdue. I was working on the assumption that I could just mention interesting sites as they came along. But I’ve been convinced of the benefit of something more permanent where people can go to find out what’s worth reading on the web. With that in mind […]

Ukulele groups, clubs and orchestras seem to be springing up all over the place at the moment. But if you’re setting up a ukulele group where do you start? I asked a number of people that have done just that to find out. The experts: Andy of Hull Ukulele Group Corrie of Brockley Ukulele Group […]