The top ukulele in the photo above is a soprano. Below it is a sopranino ukulele, an Ohana O'Nina.  ​    Here I was, wandering around on eBay looking at sopranino ukes as I was curious about them. The prices tho, were out of my budget- smaller than a soprano uke and much higher in price.....when my wandering eye caught a listing for an Ohana O'Nina model in green. I won that baby for opening bid of $49 plus shipping. Which included the gig bag made for this specific uke. (or should I say uke-ette?)  When it arrived, it was tuned to GCEA tuning, an ..read more

        With February fast approaching, Valentines Day reminders are all over the place. However, not all of us have a romantic attachment. So I decided to write a blog entry of how to focus the romantic holiday thru our other loves.            We all have other loves- if you read this blog, ukulele is one of them. And you probably have others. It may be a love for plants, books, creative crafts or collecting a certain thing, but they're there. So why not treat yourself by indulging (in a sensible way!) in one of them in a new way? Lets f ..read more

      I know there are those of you who meant to make a vid of yourself or your group playing Holiday songs and just didn't get to it. I include myself in that list. If you are like me and just didn't get to it, it's not too late in most instances.        Is your tree still up? If so, take advantage and make a couple of videos for next year. If the tree is down, you can still wear a festive holiday shirt or sweater and belt out a carol or two.             For those who are content creators, and you have room in a corner or c ..read more

       Tis the season! And as there is a definite lack of carol TABS for ukulele bass, I 've been arranging traditional carols for it. Go to my Ko-Fi page here and for a tiny donation for my time in making it you'll get a downloadable PDF to print. More carols are coming, and they also work for bass guitar (which I also play).           In addition I'll be adding carol TABS for ukulele in 5ths tuning (GDAE) as I'm seeing that tuning is getting to be more popular. I enjoy the arranging, and it keeps me busy when my cat Miyuki is asleep.  ..read more

       If you're new to ukulele, you'll probably be thinking "Halloween just ended and it's too early for carols."  It honestly isn't. Just 10 min. a day working on a carol till you have it memorized and smooth means you may have a handful of holiday tunes you can play for family get togethers, at your place of worship, the holiday office party, you get the idea.  And you'll be amazed at how much progress you make by playing those 10 min. a day!          Just to toss a few ideas out there for caroling, you may want to look into playi ..read more

     I've started making my headstock toppers for ukulele again, and am at the moment working on both #Halloween and #Christmas themed toppers. They're available in my Bonanza store here and for the Halloween designs please order now so they'll have a good chance of arriving before the 31st of October!       Also in the works are some ukulele reviews (including a ukulele bass!) and TABS for ukulele in 5ths tuning for soprano ukes.  Stay tuned ..read more

      Here's what I've been spending part of my time doing- I created this system which enables the user to create melodies and chord progressions using the dice and a reference chart.          This is for working with both major and minor pentatonic (5 note) scales, In addition to the dice you get a reference chart showing the notes of the major and minor scales and what scale degree they fall under. The dice, which roll numbers 1-5, are gently rolled on a level surface after you've chosen which scale you want to work with. You then refer to the c ..read more

        Whether you're going to a local Bar-B-que or traveling to a distant place this upcoming holiday weekend, take a uke or two with you! It's the perfect instrument for special get togethers and usually brings a smile to nearly everyone who sees it.            I thought I'd offer some tips on traveling with a ukulele. If you are flying, or planning on getting to your destination in a very tightly packed car, get a hard shell case. A gig bag won't protect your instrument from being stacked on in an overhead compartment of a plane nor being ..read more

      This Spring I decided to change a couple of pages- so I'm introducing the ukes in 5ths tuning page and a U bass page. I discovered 5ths tuning last year, and love working with both tunings! (what tuning depends on what size uke you're playing- a great excuse to buy more ukes!)      And..... I picked up a U bass last year as well. I learned bass in my late teens and have never given it up completely, tho there were times that I would wander away from it. However, being very rhythm oriented (I'm also a percussionist) I never stayed away from bass for very lo ..read more

     Am humbled to be chosen by Goldtone Music for their promo! (That's me with the banjo uke)  They included my Instagram handle,which I thought was mighty mighty cool. Shows what can happen when one decides to answer the call for a photo! Very glad I had invested in some nice swanky clothing prior to this.       I'm working on some new articles about tuning in 5ths and just restrung a concert uke last night for CGDA tuning,which sounds gorgeous. Just waiting for the strings to finish stretching out before I make a video. You know how that goes!&n ..read more