Next Gathering - Monday May 5th

A note from Rev Hank…

The next HUG get together is this Monday, May 5 at the Celtic Corner in Dartmouth, from 7-9pm.

It would be nice to add to the format this week:

• For those of you comfortable with showcasing your playing, it would be swell if you could perform a tune or 2 by yourself (or with a friend). I’m sure we’d all like to hear each other.
• If you any techniques (strums,solo playing, etc) you can share, time will be set aside for that as well.
• There will also be our usual sing & strum along session.
• Please bring along a tune or 2 (15 copies) to add to our repertoire.

As always, all levels of ukers, and ukies (uke groupies) are welcome. There will be a couple of extra ukes around for those ukeless wonders.

Ukulele Discussion Forums

There are a few online forums devoted to the ukulele. These are some of the ones I have found so far. If you have run across any more, let us know. Anyway, if you can stop strumming for a few minutes, check out what people are saying about their favourite four string friend…

• As part of their large site containing tutorials, tabs and members’ music, ezFolk.com hosts a large forum on a multitude of folk instruments. Their ukulele section is great! A thread about the Halifax Ukulele Gang appears here.
• The 4th Peg ukulele site also hosts a forum. The Parlor Room contains a wide variety of discussion areas. Another worthwhile surf!
• Ukulele Cosmos has another very busy ukulele forum with a wide range of ukulele discussion topics. As far as I can tell, the forum is the site. I’m not sure what the initial link to the site is for. Maybe something is coming later? Anyway… the forum is a great one.
• Woodshed at Ukulele Hunt has also set up a bit of a forum through his YouKulele site.
• Jim Beloff (of the Jumpin’ Jim’s series of ukulele books) hosts both an online Bulletin Board and Collector’s Uke Yak (moderated by Chuck “Frets” Fayne) at his Flea Market Music site.

UkeCast Episode 303

The UkeCast (as far as I can tell, the only podcast dedeicated to the Ukulele) is back with Episode 303. This podcast is hosted by Chris from the US and Nipper from the UK (you may have seen Nipper on a CNN article on the ukulele). Each episode features a mixture of music, news and uke-related information. This month’s UkeCast “features The Modesty Board, Ian Emerson, Yan Yalego, Howlin Hobbit and more!!!”

Check out the other archived UkeCast episodes at the site as well.

H.U.G. Facebook Group

A big thank you goes out to Stacey for setting up a H.U.G. Facebook group. Check out the site for pics from the April 7th meeting at Celtic Corner!

Remember, the next meeting is Monday, May 5th.

Chordie

Looking for chords? Chordie is a great place to find them. Chordie promotes itself as:

Guitar chords and guitar tablature made easy. Chordie is a search engine for finding guitar chords and guitar tabs.

Although this site is predominately geared toward the guitar, there is lots there for the uke player. The database is huge and the search features are easy to use. Just about any song that is formatted as CHORDS is strummable on the uke. As well, with a quick click on the right sidebar, you can switch the chord charts to the ukulele (in C or D tuning), as well as to a variety of other stringed instruments.

Another great feature is the “Transpose chords” option in the sidebar. If you like the song, but the chords are just too tricky, play with the transposing option to find the key that works for you. Try out the “auto-scroll” feature, as well. It’s great when practicing in front of the computer screen.

Lot’s of folks have posted their own collections of chordie tunes. Check out the “Public books” section.

You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish…

Ukulele tunings. gCEA or aDF#B or or GCEA or ADF#B or DGBE or… the list goes on.

How many ways can a uke be tuned?

• Woodshed at Ukulele Hunt goes over some of the most popular tunings in a recent post. Sound files are provided
• The UkeCast #302 also has a short bit on the tuning options for the uke.

Ukulele Chord Finder

The Sheep Entertainment site has a great ukulele chord finder for the most popular tunings (and for all sizes) of the uke. As well, it will show you alternate fingerings for the same chord (simply by clicking on the picture of the hand). Click on the picture of the pick to hear that chord played string by string. And just in case you are not in tune, there is an online tuner as well.

The site also features an interactive play-along section with a good variety of popular music.

Music to Strum By…

Here are the online music collections of a couple of ukulele clubs. Check them out. There is quite a lot of stuff packed in these two sites for hours of strumming. Enjoy

• TUSC (Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club) - click on the “Songbooks” option. This site is run by Nipper, who is also one of the voices behind UkeCast (the ukulele podcast).
• The Ukulaneys - features a great mix of tunes to play
• The Nashville Ukulele Society  (NUkeS) - This site features a few posted songs and a great little Play Along Songbook. Correction… I just took a closer look at the “little” songbook… It’s a 207 page monster pdf file that someone from the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz has put a lot of time and effort into formatting - It looks great with an amazing variety of songs! Many are very easy to play and sing along with. Be patient as it loads up; it’s a big document.