Ok, here's an embarrassing question I've been asking myself: Whatever happened to Ukulele Practice Tip #1?  And the answer is: It's MIA because, well, I hadn't written it yet.

I thought I had published a newsletter with an Ukulele Practice Tip #1, but it turns out I've only written TWO practice tips.  So I'm retroactively going back to publish Tip #1.  (This is one of my downfalls: my memory isn't what it used to be.  Or maybe it never was -- I can't remember.)

So here it is:

Ukulele Practice Tip #1: Tune that Ukulele!

Ukulele Practice Tip #3: It's All About The Songs

A great way of improving your ukulele skills is to find songs that you love and learn them on the ukulele.  That way you get LOTS of motivation to play the song just like you hear it on your iPod or YouTube.  It'll make all the difference.  Nowadays there is a growing number of songs that feature the ukulele.  The most famous one (other than "Tip Toe Through the Tulips") is probably the version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Bruddah Iz.  It features a reggae strum in the key of C.

Other recent songs featuring the ukulele are: White Sandy Beach (Bruddah Iz), I'm Yours (Jason Mraz), While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Jake Shimabukuro), Hey Soul Sister (Train), and many more that I'm sure I've missed.  Send or bring me your favorite ukulele songs!  I've already learned "I'm Yours" and "Hey Soul Sister" is a work in progress.

Keep on playing your uke!

If you're lucky enough to be in Hawaii on May 1st, you'll get to experience "May Day" in Hawaii.  It's a celebration of the "Lei" culture that is at the core of what it means to be a kama'aina.  You get to see lots of beautiful hand-crafted leis that are temporal works of art.  They are made of all types of fresh flowers and plants woven into the signature circle or open configuration leis.  There's even a song written just after this holiday was conceived called "May Day is Lei Day."  This year is the 83rd celebration of the holiday, and I hope to be there for the 84th annual event.  (We're trying to arrange a "Book 'em Danno" trip to the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association convention in Waikiki next year.)

If you have a hankering for a fresh flower lei, you can visit the "Little Grass Shack" on Santa Fe Drive in Denver.

Here's an easy and convenient way to schedule a lesson online.  It's as easy as 1 - 2 - 3 (click on each step):

1. Create an account
2. Login to your account
3. Schedule a lesson

If you have any questions or problems, contact us or call: (970) 231-3235.

The Big News for ukulele fans: Jake Shimabukuro is coming to Boulder on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at the Chautauqua Auditorium (big Mahalo to Debbie Turner for alerting me to this event!).

If you're interested in getting tickets as a group, let me know.  There's a 25% discount for a group of 10.

Ukulele Practice Tip #2: Chord transitions

One of the best things you can do to take your playing to the next level when you're starting out on ukulele, or even if you have some decent chops under your belt, is to practice chord transitions.  I like to emphasize economy of movement (minimizing the amount of finger and hand movement you do to get from one chord to the other) and repetition to get that muscle memory burned in so that you can go from one chord to the next on auto-pilot.

So take your favorite song and practice in two ways:

See how smoothly you can play the song so there are no breaks or pauses
See how quickly you can play the song without missing a chord transition

When it comes to chord transitions, it's all about practice, practice, practice.  So keep on playin' that ukulele!

The winners have been picked for the March Madness Give-away.  You can check to see if you've won on Random.org.

Mahalo to the Denver Folklore Center for co-sponsoring this month's drawing!

To enter the drawing for April, just come in for a lesson or email me.

Keep on playing that ukulele!