Time for my summer blog break. I’m going to make like an African lungfish and aestervate until the heat dies down. If you’re looking for some summer reading let me suggest Jonathan Lewis’s Classic Folk Songs for Fingerstyle Ukulele and Joshua Waldman’s How to Start and Grow a Ukulele Group (available in digital and paper […]

A guest post today from Joshua Waldman. As well as leading the Tigard Ukulele Group he has just released a book How to Start and Grow a Ukulele Group (available in digital and paper form (affiliate links)). It’s by far the most comprehensive and inspiring I know of. Highly recommended if you’re starting or running […]

Petey Forrest’s completely useless ukulele tips: play the same note on all strings, dead G string wah-wah and Zombie Slides. Window Shopping – Hoffman ML style cedar/cocobolo tenor. – 1930s heart-shaped Dayton. – Fanned-fret Kukamae i.e. the bridge, nut and all the frets are diagonal. I’m a bit suspicious of the supposed advantages of this […]

The Smiths – Bigmouth Strikes Again (Chords) I love writing up Smiths songs. They’re full of interesting chords and challenging lead parts to tackle. So this week I’m taking on Bigmouth today and five of my favourite Smiths lead lines on Thursday. Before you start: slap a capo on at the fourth fret. For the […]

Merry Christmas, Chanukah Sameach, Io Saturnalia and Happy Holidays! (If you’re into that kind of thing.) If you’re after some Christmas music and you’re as Spotify user here’s my Christmas Ukulele playlist. Or if you’re sick of Christmas music my playlist of ukulele selections from 2016. That’s it from me for this year (other than […]

It’s been another golden year for the ukulele. Time to wrap it up with some of my favourites. Let me know yours in the comments. Particularly if it’s something I’ve missed. Ukulele Record of 2016: Bud Sugar – VIBE Bud Sugar’s “Cod Head Skank” mix of ska, beats, ukulele shenanigans and infectious pop melodies on […]

I’ve been updating some of the chord posts I did back in the olden days when the internet was in black and white. Updating the chords, adding strumming patterns, videos and audio and whatnot. Check ’em out: ABBA – Dancing Queen Arctic Monkeys – Despair in the Departure Lounge Bon Iver – Skinny Love (Tabs […]

Time for my summer blog break. I’m going to make like a western swamp turtle and aestervate until the heat dies down. If you’re looking for some ukeing, check out my latest ebook Songs of the States tab ebook (on sale until the end of August). Or check out Blues Ukulele. And I’ll still be […]

A primer for the uninitiated: Neko Atsume it a mobile game where you lure increasingly fancy cartoon cats to your yard. Until recently it was only in Japanese and inscrutable to non-Japanese speakers. In short, it has all the ingredients to make it an inevitable massive hit. Including the most important: a smooth, lounge-jazz soundtrack […]

It’s St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow (Thursday) still plenty of time to work up a Irish tune or two. Chords The Dubliners and The Pogues – The Irish Rover Imelda May/Blondie – Dreaming The Pogues – Fairytale of New York The Pogues – Fiesta The Pogues – Irish Rover The Pogues – Sally MacLennane The Pogues […]