Feature | 57 We bought ours from the online stores of some of the major music shops. That way we know what we were getting rather than buying from a small time importer. The prices are much the same and you can expect to pay less than $100 for a Soprano (with decent strings) that will generally be made in China. Don’t be tempted to buy a $40 kids uke as you will be disappointed after a few months. There are uke groups all over the country and they will always make you welcome at their monthly jam sessions, usually held at a local pub/club or coffee shop. We recently attended a jam session at Tea Gardens in NSW with some locals and had a great night. In Brisbane we are members of BUMS (Brisbane Ukulele Musicians Society) and they hold jam sessions for both beginners and more advanced players at a number of venues each month. Songs are projected onto a screen to enable you to see both the words and chords. At the Murray Bridge CMCA Rally there were some 40 uke players, both beginners and more advanced, who met daily to jam. Some of the more experienced players also entertained the drinkers at happy hour. You can find hundreds of songs on the Internet that can be played by knowing just four chords – that’s me – I’m not a singer, so I just enjoy strumming along with the group. A good source of songs is www.scorpexuke. com, which has hundreds of songs that can be downloaded or printed off for free. We have loaded some 400 songs on our iPad using an app called “On Song”. After a while accumulating songbooks in paper form the iPad makes it much more convenient. The bottom line? Keep strummin’ – and don’t fret! Learning the ukulele is a lot of fun and a great way to meet new friends. See you at a jam session I hope!
Ukuleles, loud shirts and holidays are made for each other! Why not get strumming? Even the musically challenged can pick up ukulele basics easily…