This post started out with a two-fold purpose: to recount my experience learning the island strum – as a way of encouraging folks who are getting frustrated; and to describe a method for mastering this very common accompaniment tool. I ran into trouble with the first part.  I wrote that learning the strum was like Read more

I have come to temper my enthusiasm for singing.  Not as a personal practice – I still consider it a great gift of my life – but as a universal prescription.  While I agree with Pete Seeger that singing together could heal the world, I recognize that there are many other things – well-intentioned dialogue Read more

There are certain simple things that a person picking up a ukulele for the first time can be taught that might get them addicted. For example: learning the C, Cmaj7, and C7 chords (each requires one finger only!); strumming them in succession; and then seeing how they can accompany the first bars of Raindrops Keep Read more