5 Overlooked Features When Buying Your First (or Next) Really Good Ukulele
Beyond how an instrument feels, sounds, or calls to you, there are some often overlooked features to consider for both “off-the-rack” and custom-built ukuleles.
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Review: Jake Takes a New Direction on ‘Nashville Sessions’
Jake Shimabukuro Nashville Sessions (JS Records) Of course, like everyone else Jake Shimabukuro has relied on acoustic tones and high-fidelity recordings for prior studio albums, like the orchestral accompaniment of 2012’s Grand Ukulele or the sparse solo ukulele work on 2007’s…
Learn to Play “Chocolate Banana Pie” by Ryo Natoyama (with downloadable sheet music)
From the Winter 2016 issue of Ukulele | BY ADAM PERLMUTTER I didn’t necessarily want to like “Chocolate Banana Pie,” by the young Japanese uke master Ryo Natoyama. But as I prepared it in notation, I grew fonder of this…
Beyond The Hum & Strum: The Luongo Ukulele Experience
The ambitious goal of this workshop is getting students ready to perform at a uke festival
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Fun at the Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival
By Craig Chee The 2nd annual Los Angeles International Ukulele Festival was a fun-filled celebration of the ukulele, held at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, in Torrance, California, September 24. There were many more events this year including uke workshops,…
Gods of Uke: Roy Smeck Gives a Lesson to Remember
From the Fall 2014 issue of Ukulele | BY MARCY MARXER A visionary player on the ukulele, guitar, tenor banjo, and lap-steel guitar, the vaudeville performer Roy Smeck certainly earned his nickname “Wizard of the Strings.” Born in Reading, Pennsylvania…
Gods of Uke: ‘King’ Bennie Nawahi’s Lasting Legacy
"King" Bennie Nawahi was a true crossover artist on ukulele and other instruments, long before anyone thought of that label.
New Eddy Finn Cigar Box Uke
There’s a long tradition of upcycling old cigar boxes into musical instruments. Over the decades, many homegrown builders have taken to making ukuleles, guitars, or just about anything else for strings with these lovely leftovers. While this is mostly been…
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Great Ukes: Lyon & Healy’s Unusual Bell and Shrine Ukes
From the Fall 2016 issue of Ukulele | STORY AND PHOTOS BY SANDOR NAGYSZALANCZY When you think of ukuleles made on the American mainland during the “uke crazed” 1920s, brands such as Martin and Gibson are likely the first to…
The Strum Shop in Roseville, California Stakes its Claim as California’s Ukulele Motherlode
This is the story of how in a strip mall in Northern California's Gold Country became the birthplace of the ukulele destination known as The Strum Shop.