So why am I now having ukulele lessons, after all this time?

So why, after owning a uke for nine years and starting to try to seriously get to grips with it for three and a half, have I decided to start taking lessons just now? After all, I’ve been getting on OK on my own, following videos and so on; I can play quite a few chords, do an instrumental or two, play a couple of tricky strums, have fun on my own or with other folks… well. It’s because it was gradually dawning on me that I need guidance… and taking in hand. Some discipline. A route through the maze. I’ve been having lots of fun for more than three years, dipping into this, having a go at that, but I came to think that learning in my own way was rather like herding cats. Because there’s Chord Melody cat, Jazz Standards cat, Blues cat, the George Formby-style cat… and chief cat Myself was actually not doing the most productive and efficient job iof turning me into a half-decent player - which is what I want to be. To make faster progress I needed a proper shepherd. What’s more, I hate Skype, and I realised ages ago that if I were to have uke lessons, they would have to be face-to-face ones...

So the bottom line is, I’m having lessons with the wonderful Phil Doleman, (more about Phil later…. ) Lucky me…. He lives not TOO far away for me to travel. Right now I’ve had three lessons, and already I know it’s paying off…. Phil’s a great teacher, and his love of the music of the 20’s and 30’s and blues suits me down to a T.

This is a piece he gave me a couple of weeks ago. Shine on Harvest Moon. Still a little ragged, but definitely getting there!



This is unlisted... but I'll do another video when I can play it better!

If you watched - thank you! And if you are learning to play the uke, don't stop!

George Elmes demonstrates percussion techniques on ukulele!

Wonderful stuff, this! A bit of percussive tapping on a uke can really enhance a piece. I was thrilled to see George Elmes doing this lovely tuition video! George, who hails from Dublin, is simply one of the most accomplished players around, but he's not so well-known as many. I've featured his playing many times on here, he's one of my favourites! Just find him on the label-cloud at the bottom of the page to find more posts.

The video speaks for itself, as does any good tuition video.

Peter Moss - how to make a ukulele solo

A quickie. I had to post this. Regular readers will know that I've posted Peter Moss before - just check out the label cloud at the bottom of the page for more... but here's a wonderful freebie from virtuoso player Peter Moss... how to make a ukulele solo!



And... if you liked that (who wouldn't?) Peter is now doing individual Skype lessons!

Details here....

Thanks for dropping in!

Up the neck - funky strums from the 60's? Try this one!

You'll like this. I know you will. And it'll get you playing up the neck of your uke, if you don't already...

From Coveywood, who introduces himself on Youtube thus.... "Ukulele Teacher, Enthusiast living in the South West of England, I've been a musician for all of my 60 years. Bought my first Uke in my early 20's and have had an unreasonable amount of pleasure from my small family of instruments. The "Best Ukulele Strum in the World" has been a constant companion and finds its way into many of my compositions. It has many different cultures woven into its innocent dancey step and will bring you endless pleasure once you get your head around the strangenesses of the co ordination. I also play in the Pindrop Band with a bunch of wonderful musicians and Singers, all of them good hearts."



See? I said you'd like it!

Thanks for dropping in¬

Peter Moss - US mini-tour starts 15th November!

Peter Moss - the name is spreading... and so it should be!

You know Lil Rev? He's quite a name in ukulele circles. Well now, at Lil Rev's request, Peter Moss is going to be appearing on the same bill at the 6th Annual Milwaukee Ukulele Festival on the 22nd November... and before that he'll be in Florida, doing concerts and workshops in Bonita Springs and Fort Lauderdale, then near Orlando,) and after Milwaukee he'll be in Dayton and Cincinatti, Ohio!

If you want to know what I think of Peter Moss as a performer and workshop leader, just type his name into the search box on the right, to find previous posts! He's just fantastic!

Here's the whole itinerary - the fun starts on 15th November!

If you can get to one of these events, seriously, do not miss - I mean it, do not miss!

Have fun, Pete - and Bon Voyage!

Mike Warren, Music Box Waltz and facebook group

I want you to meet Mike Warren. When I went to the George Formby meeting in Blackpool in September, I was chatting to a chap, talking split-strokes (of course) when he said - "You need to get on facebook and join Mike Warren's group... he's really helpful..." and eventually, I did. I'll be meeting him in the flesh in a week or two... but one thing I have heard, over and over, is just what sort of a genuine bloke he is. I'm really looking forward to meeting him - and he really does do great little tuition videos! - but read his story for yourself, here in his own words.... the bit that really resonates with me is where he tells about "the moment in my life I knew I had to learn to play a ukulele"... because I had a moment like that, watching Joe Brown.

"Here is where my Ukulele story starts. I went to firth park school at the age of 12. I was a little Sh*t back then, having being expelled from a boarding school on the isle of Wight. One day at school I went to an art class by a Mr Litherland. We got on quite well so I behaved in his class, (most of the time.) In the storeroom of the art class where they store paper, paints, pencils etc. was a ukulele. It had no strings or tuning pegs but I thought it looked quite sweet. I asked what it was, and he told me it was a Ukulele, and that he was going to learn to play it. I was cheeky and asked if I could have it. He said that if I behaved in his class for so many weeks, (can't remember how many now) I could have it. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I got it, and it got put into a cupboard for years until I left school.

One night I was watching the TV and the Michael Parkinson show came on, and as a guest he had Peter Sellers. I liked him from the goon shows and films etc., so I decided to watch it. During that show out came a ukulele, and Peter played an old song on it. I instantly thought about my uke in the cupboard. Later on in the show he played again only this time he sang When I'm Cleaning Windows and did a solo.

That was the moment in my life I knew I had to learn to play a ukulele. I bought some tuning pegs and strings and a book and started learning. A year or so later I went into the shop where I always bought my strings from and started paying so much per week towards a ukulele banjo. I went into the shop and asked if I could have a go on it. The chap in the shop (funny enough was called George) said yes. I fumbled around a few chords and he said give it me, and then went into this song and did a GF style solo. My mouth fell open. I asked who sang the song and he said a chap called George Formby. I'd never heard of him. He then said I've got some records at home, If you come back tomorrow you can borrow them. So as the story goes, I borrowed them. I then recorded them onto an old reel to reel recorder that belonged to my grandad.

Months later I came across a book called The George Formby Complete, it's now got a lot thinner and it's called The George Formby Songbook. I bought it and my life-long George Formby passion started there, and the rest is history. I slowed down the tapes of George and figured out the strumming patterns by ear and used to play along note for note, or as near as damn it.


I had been playing for around three years and never met another uke player when I saw a documentary about George Formby and the George Formby Society were on it. I wrote to the BBC asking for details about the said Documentary and they wrote back with the name, address and telephone number of the then secretary of the society. I rang him up and got all the details and I joined. It cost me £2.60 for the years membership.

I went in March 1981 to my first GF meeting in Blackpool. I've never looked back since.

Over the years I've met some wonderful people and uke players. Some are dead and gone now (god bless em') Jack Jones, Dennis Taylor etc. Wonderful people that I have been privileged to have met.

It's now 2013 and come March I'll be off to Blackpool yet again to remember our George and meet some more fantastic people. I couldn't imagine life without the George Formby Society meetings. I now have a ukulele group on Facebook called Learn Ukulele Free which I started about 7 months ago and already there are nearly 700 members from all over the world. I love giving something back from my years of playing and the pleasure from it by helping other budding Ukulele players via this group.

Well folks that's my Ukulele story. I hope you liked it.

Happy Plonking!

Mike Warren."

Lovely story.... thanks Mike, for sharing it! And particularly, for me, for the "shake" video! :D

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

Superb tuition video, this....

"Finlandia" - Ukulele Arrangement by Ukulele Mike Lynch - Comprehensive Tutorial...

In my childhood, I don't remember a time when there wasn't some "serious" music in my life. In the late fifties, when I was small, the radio was always on, the "light" programme, as it used to be called - the only equivalent to Radios 1 and 2 in the UK today. So there was plenty of popular music, with smatterings of popular classics, usually in the request programmes. That was where people of all ages heard such music as the pieces used in Disney's "Fantasia," some Chopin.....Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and film music like Nino Rota's "The Legend of the Glass Mountain", and Richard Adinsell's "Warsaw Concerto". My mother loved these. If these last two came on the radio, all activity literally came to a standstill while she listened. And it all seeped into my soul. By thirteen, I was head-over-heels with the music of the Beatles, and any classical music that touched that other part of me.

"Finlandia" by Sibelius was one of those pieces that you heard on the radio from time to time. The melody conjures up the peace and tranquility of the dark, coniferous forests and the snowy vistas of Scandinavia. Ukulelemike Mike Lynch has arranged it as a solo for ukulele - and, wonders - it isn't a difficult piece. You can get the tab, but watch the video and the tutorial and you may get it from that alone. Thank you, Mike!

Enjoy!