My Milestones in Learning the Ukulele

Uke timeline and milestones

The thing about an enjoyable journey that never ends is that you can enjoy it for ever – or for at least as long as you are physically and mentally able to! After all, “It’s better to travel hopefully than to arrive!”

And that’s the thing about learning to play ukulele – you’ll never, if you’re like me, going to “arrive” - be able to play as well as you want to. I want to be able to play really well – you name a good uke player, any one of the professionals, and I want to play as well as they do. I’m never going to get there. But my goodness, I’m enjoying the journey! Frustrations abound, but with the desire to improve and some perseverance, I do improve….. slowly. And I have good times and make good friends along the way.

So - more music, more skills and more people – all sorts of milestones, and a few important purchases!

Nov 2005
Saw Joe Brown play “I’ll See You In my Dreams” – begged for a ukulele for my birthday - and got one!

Dec 2005
Played for people at a party, very informal

Got the uke out now and then, while life was otherwise very busy … for a long time

July 2009
Played with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and 1000 other ukers at the Albert Hall, London, then … I put the uke on a shelf… for two years! The shelf should not have happened...

Oct 2011
Picked up a uke in a music shop - couldn’t remember any chords apart from "C" and resolved to seriously get to grips with my ukulele

Dec 2012
Played "Leaning On A Lamppost" at a Christmas party while LSH sang it - realised that the solos was out of the question, and became interested in Formby-style

Jan 2012
Started to try learn Formby style

Feb 2012
Bought first banjo-uke, a 1920’s Slingerland

Joined the Ukulele Underground Forum

Mar 2012
Started this blog Life’s A Ukafrolic

Apr 2012
Joined a local uke group

June 2012
Went to my first George Formby Society convention

Finally got the Slingerland playable - with a little advice from "a man who can"...

Bought my second wooden uke – a mid-range laminate

Jul 2012
Bought a webcam to record my efforts at singing and playing

Made first public Youtube video – an instrumental

Entered a video to the UU Seasons of the Ukulele for the first time - Season 23

Getting to work out songs with more complex progressions by ear, on uke

Aug 2012
Bought my first solid wooden uke, first good soprano – Kiwaya KTS-4

Nov 2012
Played uke and sang on stage with mics and backing band, for the first time. Duet ...George Formby Convention

Dec 2012
Learned my first passable Formby-style banjo-uke solo – the song affectionately known as "Window Cleaner" - and played it at a party

Feb 2013
Bought my best banjo-uke, vintage 1920’s Gibson UB2

Jun 2013
Attended my first ukulele festival – UFGB, Cheltenham

Attended my first uke workshops by highly skilled professionals

Played uke and sang solo on stage with mics and backing band, for the first time. (George Formby Convention)

Jul 2013
Learned some chords up the neck, and learned the instrumental Mr Sandman

Feb 2014
worked out my first chord melody by ear…. “Sway”

Mar 2014
Playing the instrumental Mr Sandman “cleanly”… nailed those pesky chord changes up the neck

June 2014
My entry in the Ukulele Underground Seasons of the Ukulele got a mention from the season’s host… oh I was thrilled!

I wrote my first song. For Seasons of the Ukulele. It’s on Youtube

Did an impromptu duet with a Seasonista I met at the big uke-fest in Cheltenham, UFGB…. Another nice “first”, this…

Dec 2014
Wrote two more songs for a Christmas song-writing competition hosted by one of the “Seasonista” community on the Ukulele Underground.
Won the competition with a carol that I wrote. I was so proud….

Feb 2015
After recognising that proper uke lessons from a really good player would be a very Good Thing – had my first lesson from Phil Doleman

Mar 2015
Bought my first craftsman - built ukulele, a mahogany concert, from uke-builder Dave Morgan (D J Morgan Ukuleles)

Apr 2015
Hosted a Season of the Ukulele on the UU for the first time

May 2015
Visited Hawaii! Spent time with friends made online and visited the Kamaka factory, Where Fred Kamaka showed us round on one of his wonderful tours and talks...

Jul 2015
Bought my second craftsman-built ukulele, spruce/maple soprano from Dave Morgan (D J Morgan Ukuleles)

Sept 2015
Was granted an interview with Jake Shimabukuru

Nov 2015
Helped out at Jake’s concert in Liverpool – (and met Jake!)

Apr 2016
Sang a blues song for the first time - one I wrote myself! A milestone, I think...

Jun 2016
Performed a song at a festival open mic for the first (and so far only!) time....

July 2016
Worked out the chords on uke to a more complicated song, then worked out another set of chords using chords up the neck keeping the melody on the 1st string.
I felt this was a real milestone…

So here I am, thus far - nearly eleven years after first being inspired to play ukulele and getting my first... and just coming up to five years of working determinedly and steadily at it. The milestones are fewer and further between now, as the skills get harder to achieve, but every bit as satisfying, if not more so. Most of these milestones were documented along the way on this blog....

Must go. Got to play my ukulele... thanks for dropping in!

Oh, and... have just copied this page with a few added links to a dedicated page on the blog... so I can keep it updated! A lifetime of milestones to hit yet.....

Playing "Window Cleaner" - Did It!

Yes, I did it - I didn't sing it, mind - I would have felt particularly silly singing the greatest Peeping Tom song of all time, as a female of senior years - but it was great fun to contribute to the general entertainment, and I'd given myself a good talking-to before we went out - as well as re-reading Caroline Robson's advice on stage-fright. (September post) And do you know what - I got through that split-stroke solo... it was very basic, but it was there. A bit rough, but it was there. I let LSH make the introductory jokes, all at my expense of course - kept smiling! And I just kept on smiling, and did it!

I slid out of the room to get my uke ready during the stand-up bingo. (That's a great after dinner game - everyone buys a bingo ticket, everyone stands as the numbers are called out, but they sit down as soon as one of their numbers is called. Last person standing is the winner.) I checked the tuning and started to go through the solo for a warm-up - but the game was over so fast, even before I'd finished - no time to think and get nervous, we were on!

It is good to play for a friendly home crowd, but having someone alongside to share the load and the attention was a big help to me - (fortunately, Long-Suffering-Husband actually enjoys performing, but doesn't play,) and it does help to know that everyone wants to enjoy themselves and wants you to do well. I know those chords so well, it was only the solo that I was unsure of getting through - but yes, it was a good day after all, the atmosphere was great, and with a following wind behind me and a G&T inside me, I did it. It does feel like a bit of an achievement, though I know it's only a start, as Formby-type solos go. Something to build on. And LSH said it was the best I'd done it.... funny, that....

On 24th November, I told you how Jonathan Richards had helped me to get my head round Formby soloing, and promised to let you know how I got on with it - well, this is how I got on! So, thanks to Jonathan, (GFS Convention November) and to Caroline Robson for the support and general good advice! What lovely people.....

Split-stroke with a metronome? You've got to be kidding!

Yes, I followed my Beloved's advice; I set a speed for the metronome and began to play along..... fine until - the banjo-uke solo. Play syncopation with a tick-tock on the beat? No way, absolutely no way. I was all over the place. May the Lord help me if helpful, encouraging folk start to clap along with us tonight... I will be finished, without a doubt. Please don't let them clap along...

And another thing - can't play with a bandaged finger - if the blood flows, then the blood flows, so be it. It's sharp fret-ends - catch them at the side of your nail and you draw blood...

At least the carols should go well - we're doing a couple of carols in four part harmony with two friends. The Boar's Head Carol and the Sans Day Carol - just the choruses in harmony... not too difficult, you can hide your voice among the others, and it goes down well.

As for the split-stroke solo - LSH came in this morning while I was practising - a little bit faster - "That sounds better," he said - praise indeed. But will the stage-fright and lack of opportunity for a quick warm-up just wreck the brain-hand coordination... probably, yes. But I'll be in good company, won't I - if Frank Skinner can come unstuck with it...

And I've tightened the vellum again - just a little turn on each nut, missing two out all the way round until I'd done them all. It does sound better -

Oh well, nearly there...

How's my split-stroke? Well, my finger's bleeding....

Thanks to one kind young man name of Johnathan Richards, I can now see how the Formby syncopated split-stroke fits into the structure of the chords for a solo... and on a good day with a following wind, I can just about get through a very basic solo passage for Cleaning Windows... but I can't believe I've really got the gall to be standing up doing it in front of an audience tomorrow night. Well. I won't be singing it, that's one thing - LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) will be doing the honours there... and the 60-strong audience are not paying, so I've no shame - it's a DIY entertainment after a Christmas dinner - all friends and friends-of-friends, and fairly forgiving (thank goodness) after a good meal and a few glasses of wine - but these last few days, after returning from a holiday in the sun doing nothing but read books and lounge about, it's been a frenzy of Christmas preparations and banjo-uke practice. Hence no time for blogging... LSH is full of advice, which I endure with gritted teeth; (he doesn't play...) "Practice with a metronome..." "They only want to hear the solo..." "Can't you give it a bit more welly...!" Grrrrr... just get your words right, Darling....

With luck, by the time it's our turn, they'll all be past caring - which will be just as well, because there simply won't be a following wind...

Why aren't I doing something easier? Now that's a very good question. Perhaps because my Beloved thinks it's only worth playing a banjo-uke if you do the split-strokes and triples... it certainly would be much easier to give 'em Five Foot Two ....

So - I'll let you know how it goes... keep your fingers crossed for me!

Below, you'll find Johnathan's brother Matthew and his wonderful tuition video on the split-stroke. He recommends doing Madame Moscovitch for starters..... Shoulda. I really shoulda......

Here's Matthew J Richards with his demonstration of the Formby Split Stroke

Superb tuition video, this....

It's Caroline - Leaning on a Lamppost!

I asked my banjolele friend Caroline Robson, whom I met at the last GFS convention, to let me study her version of Leaning on a Lamppost - she's so much better than me, I can't keep up with this... she tells me that the solo doesn't have all the right chords in it, but I think this is pretty darned impressive - and fast! Don't you? I think it'll be a very long time before you see my version! But I'm working on this.....and that Gibson UB2 is lovely.......

Thanks for letting me post this, Caroline! I know it will be enjoyed!

The GFS, June Convention 2012 - What a Serious Ukafrolic was That!

LSH (long-Suffering-Husband)and I returned yesterday from Blackpool. We've been up there for our first visit to a meeting of the GFS, the George Formby Society.

When we got to Blackpool on Friday, Blackpool had not got the red carpet out for us - gale force winds swept the country and the Blackpool Promenade, and the town was presented in her dowdiest clothes. Sadly, we saw there not a tree, a flower or a blade of grass to lift the spirits. On Saturday morning, to news that in Wales a thousand people near Aberystwyth had been evacuated from their homes and others awaited rescue from floods, we battled our way against the wind up the Prom to the Imperial Hotel, the traditional meeting place of the society.
From then on, it all changed. There early to get a good seat, we sat on the second row. Next to us sat a couple whose home for the last forty-five years has been in Australia. Back in Blighty for a visit to relatives, they had determined to take in a meeting of the GFS as John (Lee) is a uke and banjo-uke player.


John Lee entertains Australian style

He had brought his instruments with him all the way from Oz; they included an impressive cigar-box uke that he had made himself - I really regret not taking a photo of it.

The front row filled up, just in front of us. As the people there took their seats, they turned round and started to chat to all of us... how warm and friendly are ukulele people! We had read about how friendly the folk are at the GFS, and how it's just like one one big family, and it is absolutely true...

Four things that blew me away...

1. The friendliness and kindness of the people
2. The talent and skill of the performers
3. The vintage ukes and banjo-ukes I saw and even played a bit!
4. The Thrash! Where everyone pics up their ukes, comes to front and joins in! Just amazing!

I think the best way I can write about all this is to simply tell you the great things that impressed me and stuck in my mind.

The people...
The Richards family, whose warmth welcomed us from the start and made us feel as if we belonged.

Chris Richards with her Gibson Ukulele

The chairman, Dennis Mitchell, who, without being asked, took me on one side and took time in the break to look at my little Slingerland Maybelle, and tell me what to do with her to optimize her playing condition - I'll be coming back to that later. What a lovely man...

The President, Gerry Mawdsley, who took the tuition class on Sunday morning, full of tips for newbie players.... super stuff, all of it - including - the Formby split-stroke de-mystified! Something else I'll be coming back to!

Gerry also did compering. His one-liners are wonderful, what a sense of humour! The raffle - "Look, she's smiling - wait till you see what you've won!"

The backing trio of Matt Richards on keyboard, Tony Thornton on bass guitar and Dale Norman on drums, who played anything and everything, in any key, at a moment's notice for the performers...

Dickie Speake, who wrote "Riding on a Blackpool Tram", took over from Matt Richards on keyboard on Sunday evening and is the owner of the most engaging smile, which never seemed to leave his face! Here holding a very special vintage Abbott - or was it a Monarch? Now I know I should have written everything down.....

And one young woman standing next to me with her 1920's "Baby" Gibson banjo-uke in the first Thrash, who, when I muttered "God, my uke's gone right out of tune" turned and informed me that "They tune in D for the Thrash!" Ooops! We swapped names and there I found another friend, a kindred spirit...

I'll post again about the talent and the instruments. I like to do "bite-sized" posts and this one is getting to be quite a mouthful.

But if any of those lovely people find themselves reading this, I want to say "Thank you" for the best weekend LSH and I have had for a long time!