What is a Setup? Here’s What Goes Into Making a Ukulele Comfortable to Play
"Setup" can mean different things to different people, but in general it means making the ukulele as playable and tone-rich as possible
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Ukulele Events: MARCH, APRIL, MAY & JUNE 2019
Submission Information To be included, email event name, date(s), and contact information to editors.uke@stringletter.com. Listings are free for ukulele events, though we may not have space to include every submission. Deadlines for the next four issues are: Summer 2019 February…
Inspired by her Ukulele, Grace VanderWaal’s Star is on the Rise
BY GREG OLWELL | FROM THE SPRING 2019 ISSUE OF UKULELE | PHOTOS COURTESY OF FENDER, GRACE VANDERWAAL Hardly anyone knew what to expect when a 12-year-old girl with a cute bob haircut, a Luna ukulele, and bright yellow pants stepped…
Get a Smoother Sound on Your Ukulele Using Legato Techniques
BY DANIEL WARD | FROM THE SPRING 2019 ISSUE OF UKULELE In music performance and notation, legato (Italian for “tied together”; French lié; German gebunden) indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, the player makes a transition from note to…
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Ukulele Holiday Strum Along Recap
Last Friday, Ukulele magazine hosted our 3rd Annual Holiday Strum Along. We invited anyone local to the San Francisco Bay Area to come join us at Kaleidoscope Coffee here in the quaint town of Pt. Richmond (which also happens to…
Should I Use a Strap with my Ukulele?
Don’t let high (or low G) anxiety get to you. If you’re wondering whether it’s time to get your ukulele strap on, here are some honest answers and easy guidelines.
New Albums from Jake Shimabukuro, Herb Ohta Jr., and Jim Beloff
3 New Uke CDs Reviewed Jake Shimabukuro The Greatest Day [JS Records] Given how Jake’s groundbreaking, off-the-cuff recording of him playing George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in New York’s Central Park brought him wide acclaim; it’s surprising that…
Ukulele Lesson: Sing It and Play It!
BY JIM D’VILLE | FROM THE WINTER 2018 ISSUE OF UKULELE The technique of solfège involves assigning the notes of a scale a particular syllable, and then practicing by singing different note sequences using these syllables. Italian music scholar Guido…
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The Ukulele During World War II: The 442nd Infantry Regiment
The 442nd Regiment was almost exclusively comprised of Nisei—American citizens born to Japanese immigrant parents. Their ukuleles brought them joy while deployed.
Uke Tales: The Barri-uke
By Sandor Nagyszalanczy Uke Tales is an exploration of some of the author’s ukulele collection, which numbers 400+ instruments, and other instruments that have an interesting story. After considering the amount of candy consumed during and after All Hallows’ Eve, I…