The Ukulele Project is the brain child of Pat Costello. He’s asking for help creating various ukulele instruction videos to aid students in Ontario, Canada to learn to play the ukulele. These videos will be made available to everyone to learn from, so it’s definitely for a good cause. Check out Pat’s site for more info.
I just received word that Jake Shimabukuro is going to be giving a concert in my home state of Indiana in a few days. Unfortunately for me, Fort Wayne is a bit too far to drive… Here are the details for those of you within driving distance:
Hercules has updated the boring old guitar stand to new levels with the I-Stand. The design is pretty cool. It collapses into a disc shape when not holding a guitar. I need a bunch of these for my ukuleles! 
Hercules doesn’t show these on their own site, but you can find them on Musician’s Friend for $34.95 each.
It’s been a year since I rediscovered music by picking up the ukulele. Now I’m completely obsessed with this little instrument and in addition, all the accessories that go along with them. Ok, there really aren’t THAT many ukulele accessories… But, one accessory that I use every time I play is a tuner. As a result, I’m always on the lookout for an easier to use and more compact tuner than my current favorite, the Intelli IMT-500 Chromatic Tuner. That’s why the Korg DT-4 caught my eye the other day while flipping through a Muscian’s Friend catalog. I ordered one, and now you get to hear all about it. Read the rest of this entry »
I don’t live in a big city and it’s rare to find a ukulele store within 100 miles radius of my town. For that reason, I was super excited when I learned about a new ukulele store opening up only 8 miles from my house! Mainland Ukes in Nashville, Indiana is run by Mike Hater and his wife Tookta. Mike was the instrument setup person for another well known uke company and recently had the opportunity to strike out on his own.
Mickey Maguire has started an electronic ukulele related magazine called Ukulele Player. The first issue is available in PDF format and features some interviews with notible players, as well as a couple instrument reviews and more. Check it out and let him know what you think.
I think we can all agree that a ukulele is a really small instrument. But If you enjoy traveling and are also obsessed with packing as lightly as possible, even a soprano sized ukulele in its case can require too much room in your luggage. Not to worry though, I have a great solution for you. It’s the RISA Uke-Solid Ukulele from the Uke Surfer Shop in Germany.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Mike Pereira of MP Ukuleles. I learned of Mike’s instruments from one of my favorite Ukulele related forums at Ukulele Underground. Someone was complimenting his ukuleles, so I had to go check out his site. The next day I called him and started the process of ordering a custom instrument. UAS, thou hath an unnatural hold on thee.
My vacation this year was to Treasure Island, Florida. This is a barrier island on the gulf side of Florida, near St. Petersburg and Clearwater. I’d visited there several years ago and really enjoyed its relaxing atmosphere and sugary white sandy beaches. As fate would have it, I learned that the LoPrinzi studio was located less than 45 minutes away from where I was staying. I gave them a call and asked if I might be able to come by for a visit. The friendly female voice on the other end of the phone said sure, come on over and I did.
