January 21 Ukulele Jam

Greetings, ukulele fans!

Our next ukulele jam is this Wednesday, January 21, at 7:00pm. If there's enough interest, we'll start with a beginner's workshop. This will be followed by our usual open jam, where you'll have your chance to show off your favorite song, or lead the group. If you want to lead the group with a song, be sure to bring extra copies. I usually bring a few songs too.

By the way, here's a little known fact about another stringed instrument: Take a tenor banjo tuned to its normal tuning, CGDA. First, switch around the 3rd and 4th strings. Then, re-tune the 2nd string up a whole note. You end up with a banjo that can be played exactly like a ukulele. The tenor banjo isn't very popular these days. However, there are a couple for sale in local stores. And Renaissance Music even has a tenor guitar. That's a small guitar tuned like a tenor banjo. But some people restring it with baritone uke strings.

We jam in the Royal Tavern, 344 Princess Street. Parking is normally available on Princess Street. Or park in the lot at the back of the Royal, off Brock Street, just past the fire hall. Be sure to show your appreciation to the Royal by visiting the bar and purchasing a beverage or two. Don't forget that they also offer soft drinks, in addition to their assortment of beers and other alcoholic drinks.

Cheers! Hans

January 7 Ukulele Jam - Three Chord Jam

Happy New Year, everyone!

We had a great 2014! Last winter, we returned to a twice a month schedule. In the spring, we held a Manitoba Hal workshop, which was well attended. And in the fall, we had some successful concerts. For the Christmas shows at Conservatory Pond and at the Fairmount Home, we had eight ukulele players performing seasonal favorites.

What does 2015 hold in store for us? We'll just have to wait and see. But for now, we have our next ukulele jam this Wednesday, January 7. We'll start with a workshop at 7:00pm. We'll focus on first steps for beginners, such as strumming basics. At 8:00pm, we'll have our open jam. And in order to make things easier for beginners, let's just bring three-chord songs. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean the usual I-IV-V type of three-chord song. Any song with just three chords will do. I've put together a few songs, packaged as one PDF. (I'll probably add a couple more before the jam.) Please feel free to bring copies of your own favorite three-chord songs.

We jam in the Royal Tavern, 344 Princess Street. Parking is normally available on Princess Street. Or park in the lot at the back of the Royal, off Brock Street, just past the fire hall. Be sure to show your appreciation to the Royal by visiting the bar and purchasing a beverage or two. Don't forget that they also offer soft drinks, in addition to their assortment of beers and other alcoholic drinks.

Cheers! Hans