My first uke group experience....

mailman

Knit-wit
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I went to my first meeting of the new, local uke group last night. It was brought to my attention by another UUer (thanks, again, guitharsis!). The group meets once a month, and began in September.

I didn't quite know what to expect, but was very excited anyway....I'd never been to a uke group before, and have been lamenting the lack of a local group for over a year.

The group meets at a downtown music store, Bernunzio's Music. They sell mostly higher-end and vintage instruments; guitars, banjos and ukuleles, mostly. In ukes, they carry Pono, Koolau (sp?), Flea/Fluke, Republic resonators, and what I think may have been Myamoe (sp?). There may have been others that I missed.

The turnout was good; there were 26 of us in all. We sat in a large circle, two deep in some spots, and were given hand-outs of song sheets for 10 - 12 Christmas songs. We worked our way through them all, playing in unison. I think the arrangements were intentionally easy, as many of the group seem to be beginners. Felice Navidad was the hit of the evening, closely followed by Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

I had a ball! I've never played with anyone else before, and found that I liked it....alot! I guess we probably didn't sound wonderful, but I didn't care. 26 ukes, some of them banjuleles, many played by novices....you get the picture. The hour and a half went by too quickly, and soon it was time to go.

Next month's theme is Hawaiian songs. I can't wait!

My intent here is not necessarily to plug this particular uke group, but to share my experience as a first-time group attendee. If you've never played uke with others, if you've been self-conscious about your playing ability or shy about playing in front of strangers....go to a uke group! Heck, they make too much noise to hear what you're playing, anyways! If you get lost on a song, quit playing 'til you find your place and then jump right back in....no one will mind.

First thing I learned? Next month I'm not sitting quite so close to the banjuleles! I love 'em, but they're LOUD. I couldn't hear much else. :D

Anyone one else had a recent first-time uke group experience?
 
I went to my first meeting of the new, local uke group last night. It was brought to my attention by another UUer (thanks, again, guitharsis!). The group meets once a month, and began in September.

I didn't quite know what to expect, but was very excited anyway....I'd never been to a uke group before, and have been lamenting the lack of a local group for over a year.

The group meets at a downtown music store, Bernunzio's Music. They sell mostly higher-end and vintage instruments; guitars, banjos and ukuleles, mostly. In ukes, they carry Pono, Koolau (sp?), Flea/Fluke, Republic resonators, and what I think may have been Myamoe (sp?). There may have been others that I missed.

The turnout was good; there were 26 of us in all. We sat in a large circle, two deep in some spots, and were given hand-outs of song sheets for 10 - 12 Christmas songs. We worked our way through them all, playing in unison. I think the arrangements were intentionally easy, as many of the group seem to be beginners. Felice Navidad was the hit of the evening, closely followed by Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

I had a ball! I've never played with anyone else before, and found that I liked it....alot! I guess we probably didn't sound wonderful, but I didn't care. 26 ukes, some of them banjuleles, many played by novices....you get the picture. The hour and a half went by too quickly, and soon it was time to go.

Next month's theme is Hawaiian songs. I can't wait!

My intent here is not necessarily to plug this particular uke group, but to share my experience as a first-time group attendee. If you've never played uke with others, if you've been self-conscious about your playing ability or shy about playing in front of strangers....go to a uke group! Heck, they make too much noise to hear what you're playing, anyways! If you get lost on a song, quit playing 'til you find your place and then jump right back in....no one will mind.

First thing I learned? Next month I'm not sitting quite so close to the banjuleles! I love 'em, but they're LOUD. I couldn't hear much else. :D

Anyone one else had a recent first-time uke group experience?

We (SEUkers) had our first get together back in August and it was great. It was more of a cookout but there was some (a lot) of uking going on. Ukers are very supportive. I might also recommend you try the minijams out. They are fun as well.
 
That is awesome, mailman! That sounds like a great experience.

I hope to make it to either the Chicago Uke Jam, or the Lansing Area Uke Group in the near future. Both are a little over 2 hours away, though. I haven't found anything in the immediate area.
 
That sounds like so much fun! I really wish that I knew of some place in Wisconsin that did this... That'd be a blast! I have never even seen another ukulele player around here...
Be either way, I am glad you had fun, you will have to tell us how the next one goes :)
 
Sounds like you had a great time!!!

The local folk music school here hosts a "gathering of the Uke" once a month. I've been a couple times... first one was "Drinking Songs" the theme was St. Pats. it was a blast.
 
Now that had to have been a blast!! The closest I had was when in Hawaii with my new uke, there were two other ukers on the grass next to the beach. They saw my case, waved at me to join them and jam with them. I told them that I was only a beginner but they did not mind and in fact tought me some things. And we played for an hour which seemed like 10 minutes then I had to leave. It was awesome and if anybody gets the chance do it, join in, you will have a ton of fun!!! :D
 
I have the handouts, but only paper hardcopy. Do you know how to generate PDFs from them? I'm willing to share, but don't know how to go about it....
If you have a scanner, just scan them and "print" to a utility like CutePDF or PDF995 (both have free versions). They involve two componenets... the conversion utility and a print driver that allows you to select the PDF option from within any program, it's just like selecting which printer to use when you have more than one printer hooked up to your PC.

For multiple page sheets, I just copy/paste the individual scanned pages into Word and make a PDF from there.
 
Ah yes, the first group experience. My first real group experience was with Aldrine, and most of mine since then have been with him. (Oh my, that reads really weird.)

Ahem.

Anyway, group experiences are great, because I feel like I'm learning and getting better every time. In fact, the last time I played with Aldrine, he told me that I had been fingering the G wrong the whole time. Apparantly, my middle finger and pointer finger were in the wrong place.

Okay, that sounded wrong too.

Just a baaad night for typing.
 
My first uke group experience...

Good for you Mailman...

It is always fun to have jam sessions on an instrument especially the uke! I joined a uke group here back in October. I have been once (bit of a distance from where I live). However, I really enjoyed it...we played songs like "You might think I'm crazy" by the Cars, to Happy Birthday in the keys of A, F, C, D, & G since people sing in different keys, it also is fun to know whenever you are at a party with your uke you can play for the birthday person. I always play happy birthday for my kids on the uke when it's there birthday. So the group consisted of beginners, intermediate and advance ukesters, yet we learn from each other no matter what. Keep up the jams sessions or kanikapilas (that's what we call it in hawaii). :)
 
I went to my first meeting of the new, local uke group last night. It was brought to my attention by another UUer (thanks, again, guitharsis!). The group meets once a month, and began in September.

I didn't quite know what to expect, but was very excited anyway....I'd never been to a uke group before, and have been lamenting the lack of a local group for over a year.

The group meets at a downtown music store, Bernunzio's Music. They sell mostly higher-end and vintage instruments; guitars, banjos and ukuleles, mostly. In ukes, they carry Pono, Koolau (sp?), Flea/Fluke, Republic resonators, and what I think may have been Myamoe (sp?). There may have been others that I missed.

The turnout was good; there were 26 of us in all. We sat in a large circle, two deep in some spots, and were given hand-outs of song sheets for 10 - 12 Christmas songs. We worked our way through them all, playing in unison. I think the arrangements were intentionally easy, as many of the group seem to be beginners. Felice Navidad was the hit of the evening, closely followed by Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree.

I had a ball! I've never played with anyone else before, and found that I liked it....alot! I guess we probably didn't sound wonderful, but I didn't care. 26 ukes, some of them banjuleles, many played by novices....you get the picture. The hour and a half went by too quickly, and soon it was time to go.

Next month's theme is Hawaiian songs. I can't wait!

My intent here is not necessarily to plug this particular uke group, but to share my experience as a first-time group attendee. If you've never played uke with others, if you've been self-conscious about your playing ability or shy about playing in front of strangers....go to a uke group! Heck, they make too much noise to hear what you're playing, anyways! If you get lost on a song, quit playing 'til you find your place and then jump right back in....no one will mind.

First thing I learned? Next month I'm not sitting quite so close to the banjuleles! I love 'em, but they're LOUD. I couldn't hear much else. :D

Anyone one else had a recent first-time uke group experience?

You're welcome. You described the group experience very well. Yes, a lot of novices. We're working on getting better, but we're also having a lot of fun!
 
26? Sheesh, we had 6. No banjoleles though. The store guys all reported that the sound produced by 6 ukuleles playing was very calming - especially compared to the rock that typically comes blaring out of the concert room at Guitar Merchant. I'll see if I can't gather up some Christmas uke songs for this weekend (thanks for that idea!).:cool:

Good on ya for suckin' it up and joining in. It can be an intimidating experience.
 
That sounds like so much fun! I really wish that I knew of some place in Wisconsin that did this... That'd be a blast! I have never even seen another ukulele player around here...
Be either way, I am glad you had fun, you will have to tell us how the next one goes :)

Check out
http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/directory/state.asp?ID=49

There is a group in Milwaukee.

It is great to have someone to play with isn't it.
 
Just had my first ukulele group experience last night, actually! Well, aside from the school club I run. The middle of Kent. There were 6 of us in all. Just a really lovely evening. Drinking tea, eating mince pies, and bashing through song books (with a natural focus on Xmas tunes).

I had no idea what to expect. As I said to one of them on the way home, "I wondered if I would show up and find the strangest people in Kent, with everyone wearing propeller beanies." He assured me that they didn't wear propeller beanies...

We played for about 4 hours, which just flew by. I wonder if there's just a certain glue that binds ukulele players together. Yoda would know what to say.

There is do or not do. There is no try.

Or something like that.

Away put your ukulele?

Yeah. Signing off....................................... :rolleyes:
 
If you have a scanner, just scan them and "print" to a utility like CutePDF or PDF995 (both have free versions). They involve two componenets... the conversion utility and a print driver that allows you to select the PDF option from within any program, it's just like selecting which printer to use when you have more than one printer hooked up to your PC.

For multiple page sheets, I just copy/paste the individual scanned pages into Word and make a PDF from there.

Geez, I wish I wasn't so techno-stupid! :eek: I'm thinking it would be alot easier if I just made photocopies and mailed them....
 
Geez, I wish I wasn't so techno-stupid! :eek: I'm thinking it would be alot easier if I just made photocopies and mailed them....
I think it would be easier to upload to a file server like MediaFire and provide a download link. I think it's an inexpensive option.
 
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