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*This is a post I started to write in 2008, after I bought my first (and still only) ukulele. Two years later, and I’m finally finishing this!*

I’ve made brief mention of my ukulele here. After being able to use nothing more than a shaker while Joe and my friend Karla had a hootenany with Joe on guitar and Karla on banjo, I decided I would get a ukulele. I already have a piano I can’t really play, a trombone I don’t really play, a mandolin nobody plays, an autoharp that needs some attention, a trumpet nobody plays, two sets of drums in the basement (that can be played by someone in the house, but out of respect, reside in the basement, unused), a harmonica I got for my birthday at least 10 years ago– and I can’t play it… I think that’s the extent of the list… but you get the picture. I would like to be musical, but I’m not!

I called a few local stores with ukuleles, but this ukulele shop was out of their inexpensive student ukulele (they had a replacement for a few dollars more– I probably should have gone out there, but it’s in Lansdowne, which I’m not familiar with), and the music store in Reading would have had to order one… I only had 3 weeks between the spring and summer semesters, and I wanted to get started! So I bought the ukulele they had in stock at the big box store, the GuitarCenter– it’s the same brand as the ukulele for students but it’s a different model number– Hilo 2652. It’s a G C E A soprano ukulele. I didn’t realize there were other soprano ukes, until I bought replacement strings (also at the GuitarCenter) that were A D F# B– oops! I returned them, and found the right strings at Bucks County Folk Music. I haven’t replaced my strings yet, but I will have to try this weekend– one of my strings came off the other night. I don’t think it broke, so maybe I could put it back on, but I have to figure out how to do that. I think Joe, who can change strings on guitars, should be able to help me figure it out (or do it for me!).

The big box store didn’t have an appropriate book, so I looked online and was surprised to find as much as I did! Wow! There are lots of ukulele sites with tips, chords, videos, etc! The ukulele is very popular!
Here is a compilation of links I have bookmarked.

Pineapple Pete’s Uke School
I started at this site, and followed the Beginner Lessons. I don’t believe the more advanced lessons were available two years ago, so I will have to revisit his site! I also used Pineapple Pete’s Online Tuner for a while, but a new (and cheap) uke goes out of tune a lot, and you aren’t always next to a computer! I started to use Joe’s electronic guitar tuner– which did not have C, so I would tune the C string to somewhere between B and D! I now have a Ukulele pitchpipe.

After I got the basics down of how to strum, I visited
Dr. Uke who has a good, printable selection of chords and lyrics sheets for popular songs. The first song I learned was You are my Sunshine.

This Chord Finder is really handy. It has finger positions for 4 kinds of ukulele.

This site of Chord Charts is good for when you aren’t near a computer– I printed the charts out.

The Monkey Speaks- Ukulele page
I purchased my ukulele while I had 3 weeks off between library school sessions. My next class was Storytelling, and I wanted to incorporate the ukulele into my storytime presentation. The Monkey is a children’s librarian who also plays the ukulele. I played the storytime classic “The More We Get Together.” There are more helpful posts that he has tagged Kids & music.

Nancy Cassidy’s Kids Music page and Storytime Songs are not ukulele specific, but both have easy chords (and lyrics) for storytime songs.

Betty Lou’s site for Guitar Underdogs is a great place to find easy arrangements of oldies. I’ve been working on my favorite Ricky Nelson song for the past two years, It’s up to you. Here’s the All Artists link.

Let’s Play Ukulele has chords to non-traditional ukulele songs, searchable by genre, like britpop, disco, and reggae. You can even plug in what chords you know, and find songs that way, but I haven’t done that.

Ukulele Beatles Fun looks like a great site. I haven’t used it, because I have an easy Beatles songbook that I used instead. They have the one Beatles song I have learned, although the chords are different than my version, Baby’s in Black. Each song is animated (is that flash?), showing the lyrics and chords as it goes along. Awesome.

And a few other ukulele related sites that I haven’t used:
Top 10 Ukulele sites

Ukulele lesson

Ukulele Hall of Fame Museum

Ukulele Boogaloo

Ukulala

If anyone has suggestions for other ukulele sites, please comment and let me know. I hope you find this list to be useful! Now I’m itching to get my string fixed so I can try out some of those more advanced lessons! Then maybe I won’t be fearful of songs that have more than 3 chords!

I’ve seen recommendations for Cool Kids Music– whether that’s Music for Cool Kids or Cool Music for Kids, I don’t know– and I’ve checked some out from the library. Laurie Berkner? Boring! Dan Zanes? Okay, but the girl doesn’t really like– it’s more for the parents. Lil likes the classics… Ella Jenkins, Pete Seeger, Burl Ives, and the Classic Sesame Street we watch on YouTube. In the middle of the “Lilia Playlist” were two videos– Violin by They Might be Giants and All Around the Kitchen by Dan Zanes. As soon as Violin came on, she said “Nooooooo”– so I skipped to Dan Zanes, and again… “Nooooooo”. She wasn’t happy till she saw Baa Baa Bamba, a classic Sesame Street featuring farm animals. So, she has confirmed that this new Cool Kids Music trend is really for the parents.

She does like to sing “Baby’s in Black” by the Beatles… I’ve been practicing it on the ukulele. And she says “You are my sunshine” is her favorite song.

Wow, I didn’t realize that I hadn’t posted in almost a month! I had a short break from classes (3 weeks), and am taking my first of 3 summer classes now. We just got back from a week in Michigan, and I’ve spent today Hiding Inside In Air Conditioning. Whoa.

I should be writing in depth reviews of the things we’ve done lately, but instead, I will just post a few pictures for the Lilia fans out there!

Lilia loves Stumpy:

Lilia hiking in the Delaware Water Gap:

A concrete playground (brings back memories!) in Coldwater, Michigan

Bernoulli’s principle (don’t ask me to explain it!)

One…

Two…

Three!!

On the drive home, we took Interstate 80 instead of the Penna. Turnpike. We stopped in State College and saw signs for the Creamery. Being a Creamery, they had no dairy-free option, so Joe and I got two orders for ourselves… and I quickly thought to ask for an empty cone. Well, we got outside, and Lilia saw that Daddy’s cone was filled and hers was empty, and she was SO SAD! At her allergist appointment in April, she *barely* reacted to the dairy skin test, and didn’t react to the blood test at all– leading them to believe she is out-growing the allergy. Well, if you were faced with a sad sad toddler, who may or may not have outgrown her mild dairy allergy, what would you do??
Yes, we filled her cone, and kept our fingers crossed. No reaction! See for yourself:

In non-Lilia news, I am now the proud owner of a Ukulele, and I’m working on building up a callous on my left index finger.

Many years ago, I was listening to a Phillies game on 1210 The Big Talker (before they moved to WPEN and back to 1210) but fell asleep.  I woke up to Rollye James, and instead of her libertarian or whatever her views are talk, she was talking about music.  She announced that whomever called in and told her the name of the artist who sang the following song would win a prize.

My Momma she says it’s silly
My Poppa says “you look like a fool”
But, baby, I don’t mind the criticism
Because we’re doing it every day in school

Groggily, I grabbed the phone and called up to say that it was Solomon Burke, the King of Rock N Soul, of course!  They made me go on the air to claim my prize, and a few weeks later, I received a package of 45s– mostly on Lost Nite, and most were 70s doo-wop songs I hadn’t heard.

This afternoon, I put on WKDU as I drove to West Philly to pick up Joe and drop off some stuff at the Second Mile Thrift Shop.  I listened as the DJ told the young ‘uns to check out the Rotunda tonight, and heard her say that she would give a prize to whomever could name the next artist. I was driving, and figured I wouldn’t know anyway, but guess what?  It was good old Solomon Burke, singing Cry To Me. I was so excited that I could have had the chance to win something TWICE due to the King, and glad to hear the young ‘uns giving props to Solomon Burke.  The DJ’s next song was another favorite, Biz Markie’s Just a Friend, and I was hooked. Then the next song had the N word in it, although I at first thought they were saying “Where are my Knickers at?”  I suffered through some more crap, and waited for the DJ to come back on and announce the winner. But she never did! It’s like she forgot there was a contest! She talked some more about the young ‘uns at the Rotunda tonight, and used a whole bunch of verbs I was not acquainted with, such as Crumping. Or is that Krumpin’?

Anyway, I came home and looked up her playlist, and look at this, she says that it was OTIS REDDING singing Cry to Me!  GOOD GRIEF!!!  Did she get the song from the Internet? Did it not say Solomon Burke? My respect for the young ‘uns has faded.

I am so old.

If I were on American Idol…
I would have sung “My Melancholy Blues”

Another party’s over
And I’m left cold sober
My baby left me for somebody new

I don’t wanna talk about it
Want to forget about it
Wanna be intoxicated with that special brew

So come and get me
Let me
Get in that sinking feeling
That says my heart is on an all time low – So
Don’t expect me
To behave perfectly
And wear that sunny smile
My guess is I’m in for a cloudy and overcast
Don’t try and stop me
Because I’m heading for that stormy weather soon

I’m causing a mild
With this new occupation
I’m permanently glued
To this extraordinary mood so now move over
Let me take over
With my melancholy blues

I’m causing a mild sensation
With this new occupation
I’m in the news
I’m just getting used to my new exposure
So come into my enclosure
And meet my
Melancholy blues

—
And I’m sure it would have earned the most votes…

(I’m not watching this season)