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January 29, 2004

That's Pronounced "Ooo-ku-lay-lay"

Ukulelia, the world's greatest Ukulele weblog, has undergone a colorful redesign. It's a great resource for uke enthusiasts, providing links to instructional books, videos, tablature, and interesting articles about famous uke players like Ian Whitcomb, a talented, funny, Oscar-winning musician, and a wonderful human being to boot. One of my favorite uke players was George Formby, a rather odd-looking gentleman who strummed a banjo-style uke. If you prefer your musicians a bit cuter, check out the Hawaiian stylings of the Japanese duo Petty Booka.

In case you didn't already know, I also play the ukulele (badly). My instrument is an eminently playable Fluke Moo-kulele (pictured on the left) that I got as a birthday present a couple of years ago. The chords are easy enough to master, but learning that rapid-fire strumming technique you hear on so many classic ukulele recordings has been a real challenge. Perhaps if I soaked my fingers in rum to loosen them up before playing....?