How Has the Ukulele Scene Changed?

A survey of the uke scene from our first issue in 2012 to our 50th in 2025

BY NICOLAS GRIZZLE | FROM THE FALL 2025 ISSUE OF UKULELE MAGAZINE

Victoria Vox is one of many ukulele professionals who has seen the popularity of the instrument continue to grow in the past decade-plus. But even though it was her chosen instrument after studying at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she’s surprised at how much it has cemented itself in the musical landscape. “I thought the ‘uke scene’ was going to be over by 2012, which was six years in for me,” she says. “But folks kept playing the uke, new festivals started, and it continues to go strong!”

Yes, the uke scene has changed a lot in the 13 short years since we published our first issue. But for everything that’s changed—live video connections, increased availability and quality of affordable instruments, more young and middle-aged players picking up the uke—many things have stayed the same. We asked several of our contributors, who were also active ukulele players and teachers back then, what sticks out to them. We could have written an entire issue with their enthusiastic responses, but here are some of the common themes.

More Young Players

“I’m thrilled to see more young players at events now,” says Daniel Ward, who travels the country teaching and performing at uke fests in addition to maintaining a busy schedule from his home base in New Mexico.

Indeed, clubs and festivals alike are changing in demographics. Younger energy fills club meetings with a variety of newer music, and festivals often include teachers and performers who got their start (and fan base) on social media. 

Sandor Nagyszalanczy, a co-creator of the popular Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz
in the 1990s, adds that this includes those who don’t yet have a driver’s license. “In the early days of the ukulele’s third wave of popularity (in the 1990s), most folks who were playing the uke were definitely older, ranging anywhere in age from around 50 to 90,” he says. “Nowadays, I see a lot more young people playing the uke, including both elementary school children and teenagers. They’re often playing contemporary songs, rather than the golden oldies and classics”

Growth of Clubs & Festivals

Though some festivals did not survive the pandemic, many more have sprung up both as in-person gatherings and virtual events. According to our contributors, hotspots these days include: Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; and California (notably Orange County and Santa Cruz) and Michigan in general.

The rise of virtual meetings and live video technology has also increased the reach of ukulele clubs, with more people able to attend meet-ups and join in the stumming fun than ever before. For example, the Ukulele Club of Hawaii, run by Craig Chee and Sarah Maisel, broadcasts its monthly meetings live online and emails its local and global members PDFs of songs and lessons to work on beforehand. Before the duo took over, meetings were averaging 30-40 attendees; their first session included more than 800 participants on the livestream in addition to about 100 in-person.

“The worldwide growth of ukulele clubs is one of the biggest stories over the last fifteen years,” says Jim Beloff, author of the Daily Ukulele songbooks. He’s a frequent guest at both festivals and club meetings, and his books are practically required reading for many of them.

“Online festivals were at first a lifeline, now they are a format,” says actor/uker Heidi Swedberg. “It is a delight to host people from around the world, all assembled in little boxes on your personal silver screen.”

These virtual events keep us connected in an age when it’s only getting more difficult to travel, especially abroad. “There’s a lot of desire to get back together in person, but the landscape has changed. Travel is more expensive and venues are more expensive,” says James Hill. “I give a lot of credit to festivals like Menucha (Oregon), Port Townsend (Washington), Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, Grand Northern Ukulele Festival (UK), Monopolele (Italy), and others for keeping the in-person ukulele experience alive post-pandemic.“

Better Instruments

The availability of ukuleles has exploded, too. “What felt like a craze in the early 2010s, when guitar shops first started clearing space for ukes, has settled into a long-term proposition,” says Eddie Scher, who has reviewed ukes for this magazine for years. “Beginners were too often saddled with instruments that made getting tuned up and sounding good almost impossible. These days there are so many ukulele companies making affordable instruments that it’s hard to even recommend one. Very few of the instruments out there are going to hold an aspiring player back.”

“There’s definitely been an increase in the quality of all but the very cheapest ukuleles. And the sheer number of brands that have come to market is incredible,” says Nagyszalanczy. “Back in the early 2000s, I saw too many folks give up simply because the cheap uke they had was too hard to play or sounded simply awful.”

Says Vox, “The staying power of the ukulele is highly due to the builders who have made the uke less toy-like and treated it like an actual instrument. From this, artists now can take it more seriously too, and this has in turn pushed the uke into other genres of music.”

Togetherness Still Brings Joy

The throughline that binds the uke world from the time of our first issue to our 50th is the joy of playing together. It was a big part of what propelled the third wave in the first place, and is an equally important reason it persists today, even through the most jarring of global events. Just take it from our contributors.

Hill: “We put professionals on stage to show what’s possible with the ukulele but we know at the afterparty we’ll all be strumming ‘Wagon Wheel’ together in the pub.”

Nagyszalanczy: “The enthusiasm and joy that folks of all ages seem to experience playing the ukulele (is the same as before), especially when gathering in large groups.”

Vox: “Different artists, different fests, but the vibe is the same: Folks getting together who love and celebrate the ukulele.”

Ward: “The sense of community and joy that all of us at any level can share music is still there. It’s one of the most magical parts of making music into an activity instead of just entertainment.”

Perhaps my favorite story about the uke universe back then comes from Swedberg. “The outlier has gone mainstream,” she notes. “I remember working on the (unreleased) pilot of a children’s music television program in 2012. The art department had included the first edition of Ukulele magazine as a prop on the coffee table. It made the director laugh—now the joke’s on him!”