Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Get Plucky with the Ukulele


Do you feel plucky, punk? Well do you?

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain's Will Grove-White has a new book coming out on October 6, 2014. Will's site has a bunch of interesting music and trivia and is worth checking out in any event. Link

6 comments:

Ron Hale said...

Always, Gary. So...quick and easy.
As opposed to those other "all things ukulele" books that are what?

Hard slogs? Will slagging off other
uke book authors, is he?

Oh, the irony.

But, isn't it about time for a shift in ukulele consciousness away from 'quick & easy' to 'not so quick and easy, but worth the time and effort'?

If we have a product truly worth
selling do we need gimmicks to lure
the unsuspecting in?

Let the instrument, ala such as the piano, guitar, violin, sell itself.

Start with your classes and let people know the playing the marvelous 4-string will take time.

(And not just 30 seconds, 5 minutes, or whatever the approach is now.)

But, like anything else worth doing, that time repays with bounty
over and over again.

Let's start with people who already
are serious about playing and expect to have to work at it and give them serious instruction from
the get-go.

Play for them and show them what
real effort can achieve, not just
what those three or four magic first chords can do for them in one afternoon session.

This approach will get people to
see the ukulele in a new light.

And, frankly, a better light. A brighter light.

A light to lead the way onwards.






Gary said...

You mean the Ridiculously Hard and Time Consuming Guide to Advanced Ukulele Technique That's Totally Worth It?

Hmm, maybe I should write that....

Starshadow said...

I just found your blog--got to thinking about you when Paul Revere died, because they opened for you in Seattle when I was in high school. We had got a cake from a bakery and a big teddy bear for you which I suspect never reached you at all.

So glad to see you're still doing music!

Although we all got old in the interim. How did that happen? Anyway, love your ukulele music as much as I loved your sort of vaudeville-style pop back in the day.

Sent a friend request to you on FB. Hope your recovery is going well from the stroke you mentioned.

Sending love from Seattle area!

Gary said...

Starshadow,

Sounds like you're talking about Ian Whitcomb.

I wish I were as handsome and talented as he. but I'm a different uker.

Here's his site:

http://www.picklehead.com/ian.html

Gary

Starshadow said...

Oh, darlin', my mistake. Sorry. I followed links that obviously didn't lead to the right person!

Still, I do love ukelele so it isn't all terrible. So I found you instead!

Thanks for the headsup. I'll still watch your blog!

Barry Maz said...

Well, I think its a great book, written by a man hugely regarded in uke circles, both as a player and a nice guy too.

The fact I get a mention, really shows no bias!

 
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