Recent content by Papa Tom

tm

I work for my local township in a building that houses a Senior Center. Part of my gig involves assisting a very casual senior chorus with their music, their props, etc. This week, they started rehearsing for their 2019 holiday concert in which one of the members - a small, delicate woman...

Sold Sorry, these items have sold!

Ugh...it happened to me. I gave someone a nice set of stage lighting stands and they felt the need to repay me, so they gave me a whole bunch of brand new ukulele accessories. I'm not a big "gadget" kind of guy, so I know I will never use any of them. I COULD use a couple of bucks to buy some...

A co-worker of mine came in this morning bummed out because she had failed her "flute course" at college. I didn't want to come off as if I were taking her failure lightly, but a riddle popped into my head almost instantly as she was telling me the bad news. I think it's original, but you tell...

My pocket uke really sings when tuned to almost [I]anything [I]except standard (High G) GCEA tuning. I'm not one of those people who can transpose on the spot and I'd love to be able to sit down with someone playing a soprano and easily share chords. Also, I find it a lot easier to sing when I...

I just want to put in a plug for two great music cities: Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee. I just got back from visiting both, where I saw The Grand Ole Opry, The Ryman, RCA Studio B, and Sun Records, among many other cool things. If you're into roots rock and roll, there's no experience quite...

I got into the ukulele right around the time my Mom's health started failing and my wife and I started spending Christmas with her, alone, in Florida. She really used to enjoy singing the old songs, and having the uke around on Christmas turned her little house in FLA into a happy place for...

Wow! This is the first year I am really struggling to get my wrist and fingers moving after my annual April-October absence from playing uke every day. But that's beside the point... I am back for another winter of entertaining myself with the four little four-stringed instruments I've...

I read a post recently that mentioned "the 2016 New York Ukulele Festival." This sounds like a no-brainer as far as something I would like to attend, however, I can't find any information about it online. Is this a trade show, where manufacturers show their lines, or is it a "concert"...

I just popped an A-string on my banjo uke. Unwilling to travel far to replace it, I went to the local music shop and grabbed a set of Martin Clear Fluorocarbon .0191 soprano strings. They seem much thinner than the Aquila Nylguts I had on there before, and they are not quite as loud. I think...

I have a First Act mini guitar (about the size of a baritone uke) sitting around the house. I'm thinking it might be fun to pick up a set of baritone strings, throw 'em on four consecutive slots across the neck, and make myself a bari uke to goof around with. Has anybody done this?

Time to decide whether you want to give up any secrets. When I play my uke in a long-sleeve sweatshirt, I can do all sorts of muting tricks and produce rhythms I cannot recreate without the sweatshirt on. Does anybody else incorporate their clothing into their uke technique?

A few years ago, I posted about having played my ukulele for a group of Pre-School children during "Letter U Week." It was the first time I had played it "live" and it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. The kids who come back to visit still remember it as a Pre-School...

Inspired by how tuning my Tom Pocket Uke up to CFAD made the instrument "sing," I decided to try bumping my soprano up a step, from GCEA to ADF#B. Wow! I can't believe the difference this has made in the tone and feel of the instrument. All of a sudden, I am love with it again! I know that...