Just for laughs...

That was Fun! How about 12/16?

Hi folks,

It was a lot of fun meeting down at como today! We ended up sitting downstairs and had people thanking us for playing, kinda cool! We had 2 first timers, George and John; I hope you guys had a good time and will come back again. New ideas help everyone.

Lets plan to meet down there next on Sunday 12/16 at 2pm again. Plan ahead everyone and lets play some uke. Xmas songs anyone?

Brian

Meeting Sunday 11/18?

Hi Folks,

It's been almost 2 months since our last StrumMn meeting and I think it's time to get together even if it's just something informal. That said, I don't have a room reserved at the library like in the past but was hoping we could just meet down at the Black Bear Crossing Cafe at the Como Park Pavillion next Sunday afternoon and do some playing.

If someone knows of an alternative location please speak up quick and we can switch locations.
Sunday afternoons still work best for me so how about 2pm Sunday 11/18. Can anyone else make it?

I'd like to meet again before Christmas too, any dates that work best for people?

Brian

Hey folks, time for an update!

First off, sorry this hasn't been very active. My new job leaves me less free time and after the Sept turnout I wasn't comfortable trying to book the big room at the library. When I tried they were booked out several months, very discouraging as it's more centrally located.

I'd like to try meeting someplace new, like the Black Bear Crossing cafe at Como Park. Or some neighborhood cafe someplace, got one near you where we could meet?

Just because I've been busy doesn't mean I haven't been playing my ukes. I've found a couple of the John Pak song sheets to be very good and should offer some good opportunities to help everyone move out of first position chords. Check out his Edelweiss (chords) and Feed The Birds (from Mary Poppins). If you can make it to the next meeting we can have fun with figuring out some better (or just different) fingering to mix it up in second position.
http://web.mac.com/johnpak/iWeb/homepage/Uke%20Song%20Sheets%20A-K.html

I've also been mulling about a project of sorts that maybe a few of you can either help with or just benefit from. I've got a bunch (almost all) of the Jumpin' Jim uke books. One of the drawbacks is the lack of a CD with most of them. Even when you know the basic song you don't always know how it should sound "as written." I'd like to record as many of the songs from his books as possible and organize them online for others to reference. And "playing as written" can still be quite individual and leave room for multiple versions. Some people just strum the chords exactly as written, some may fingerpick the melody as written, others may combine to play a chord melody (the chords as written but in different positions and/or adjusted to pick up the melody line). This could give new players guidance to what the songs sound like and give others ideas for taking them to another level. Let me know what you think, I'm also interested in easy ways to record if you've got ideas. So far I've only recorded through the pinhole mic in my mp3 player, it sounds remarkably well but I know there must be room for improvement.

Does anyone want to meet this weekend? Short notice and all but I could make it Sunday 11/4 if anyone is interested. If not then I'm looking a couple weeks out before I can try again.

Do people want to start working on Xmas songs yet? It'll come up fast! We MIGHT be able to get in 2 meetings before Xmas but that's about it. Let me know what you think about any of this, leave comments, I love comments.

If you know of someplace we can meet and play then pick the date time and let everyone know, or just me and I'll let everyone know, but lets get together and play!

Keep StrumMn,
Brian

Kick-off

Howdy folks,
Well maybe it was because of the Vikings opener but the StrumMn kick-off was lightly attended.
That's ok, we got to talk and try out a few "new" ukes. The SilverTone and Howlett (Island Ukulele) both sounded and played great! The Howlett was gorgeous as well. Seems that folks are moving towards sopranos!
No date yet for the next meeting, anyone have a location they can book? If not, then I'll get to it when I can and let you all know when/where we'll meet next.
Hope to see you soon,
Brian

StrumMn September kick-off

I've reserved the Roseville Public Library meeting room on Sunday September 9th from 2pm-5pm for our fall kick-off meeting. The library is at the corner of County Rd B and Hamline Avenue. Let me know if you need directions. It's a big room, come and help fill it!

There is a link on the right to a new flyer if you want to print and post one at a favorite music store or elsewhere.

Pick a song you'd like to try as a group and bring some copies along to share. Even better, get a copy to me that I can post or link to here so others can make their own copy and practice ahead of time.

Bring an extra uke or 2 along to share or to let others try out.

Bring a friend along to share the extra uke!

I'll bring my laptop so we can access songs on the internet or view DVD instructional material.

If you want to lead the group in something particular just let me know. (ie. TPA, Hawaiian, etc)

Let me know if I missed anything here and I'll update as necessary. Feel free to leave comments, I love getting feedback.

I hope to see you in September!
Keep StrumMn!
Brian

Just because I promised...

Here is a pic of the drum sander. I still need to build the dust hood and true up the drum itself but it's looking good and everything seems to be lining up nice.

I priced out crank handles and they cost $25! The black knobs are $4.75 each (I used 5) at any local hardware stores. I found the knobs for $0.75 each online and ordered them up. They came only as female knobs and I had to cut threaded rod to length and epoxy it to the knobs, a little extra work but saved a bunch of $. Then I bought a stop collar and got out the welder to build a crank handle, got it done for under $4 including a new locknut.

The platten was too wide and I needed to trim it up some which I did with a belt sander. I chucked the drum in a wood lathe to do some real rough work, getting some glue off, etc. But it needs to be finished by putting sand paper on a board and running that through to sand the drum itself. Then a couple coats of finish to seal the drum at which point I can wind the drum itself with sandpaper. Almost there! Like the yellow? Maybe I'll write DeWalt on the side in Magic Marker for fun.

I'll probably finish just in time to head back to work and won't get much time to play with it. :-(

Brian

8/22 Last Wed @ Como for the summer?

8/15 was another nice night at Como. The Mn State Concert Band played again, they're really good! I just did my thing up on the hill as usual.

I plan to be down there again on the 22nd but it may be my last Wednesday for the summer. On Wednesday 8/29 I'm starting a new job out near 62&494 and I have no idea if I'll be able to make it that day. I don't want to leave a uke in the car all day either. If you've been planning to drop on by then next Wednesday is the day to make it! The concert that night will be "First Light Trio" if anyone cares.

I hope to post more pictures of my drum sander this weekend too, it's getting close to being functional! Once I've got it up and running if any of you are interested in building a uke and want to run a couple plates through we can have a StrumMn meeting at my place and do a little woodworking while we're at it.

Hope you're all StrumMn the summer away, enjoy!
Brian

8/8 and 8/15 at Como

Another nice night out playing the uke on 8/8. I drove down there in the miserable humidity thinking "what am I doing?" Got down there and the temp was 5 or 10 degree's cooler by the waterfall, it became overcast and the temp and humidity both dropped even more. It became the perfect evening to play outdoors! The Minnesota Concert Band did a concert on the promenade and sounded great too, but I stayed put and played uke.
Paging through my books I tried a couple songs that I'd bypassed previously as "too hard", now Moonlight Becomes You sounds like it may be do-able after all. I'd also played Build Me Up Buttercup a number of times. It always sounded great strummed but I couldn't get it to work as a chord melody arrangement. Last night I tried it for the first time in over a month and it seemed to work fine so I guess general chord melody practice is paying off. I also tried switching fingerings (again) for the alternating 2033 2433 chords in Sentimental Journey and what didn't work at all in the past seemed natural last night. The finger twisting I've been doing now makes it work for me a couple different ways depending on what chords I'm coming from or going to. Anyone interested in learning these just show up and I can at least show you what is working for me.
I don't think I've got anything going next Wednesday so I'll plan to be down there again on the 15th. I welcome any company if you care to come play some uke.
Keep StrumMn!
Brian

uke building - drum sander

Well, it's taking shape! The main body is together and in primer. I won't paint it until the humidity drops a bit. The platten is just fit together, not fastened... good thing too as it's about 1/8" too wide! I'll have to narrow it slightly to fit, easy at this point thank goodness. The sandpaper for the platten belt and for the drum is on order so it won't be long now until I can do final setup and a test run. You can see another view of my sidebending form in the background of one of the shots.

Brian

8/1 at Como and next try on 8/8

Well I went to Como again on 8/1. Was there about a half hour when I got a phone call from my wife telling me about the interstate 35W bridge collapse. I stayed put for another hour in case anybody else showed up to play, all the while hoping nobody decided to come THAT route. This was the first time I left early, I wanted to get the new abot what was happening. I doubt I'll ever forget where I was and what I was doing when I got the news.

Anybody up for some playing on 8/8? You can find me outside the pavillion near the waterfall from 6-8pm. I'm easy to recognize, I'll be the one playing the uke.

Keep StrumMn!
Brian

uke building

Ok, I mentioned last blog that I want to build a uke. Here are some pictures of the forms, side bender jig, and drum sander I'm working on.

Looks like the blog software put 'em in reverse order and won't let me move 'em around, grrrr.

I'm using the sander plans from Shop Notes magazine. It's powered by a v-belt from the arbor of a table saw and so it doesn't require it's own motor. Maybe down the line I'll convert it, I really prefer standalone tools so I'm not changing setups all the time. I don't have a dedicated dust collector and just swapping the shopvac from tool to tool is a pain in the butt.

The drum itself is probably the toughest part of the project. Using a circle cutting jig on a bandsaw sure helped. The glue up of the disks is a pain, I'm not quite done yet. I've got most of the other pieces cut out and ready to assemble and I'm waiting for the pillow block bearings to arrive at the h/w store since they didn't keep them in stock.

The Fox style bender was fun to make and looks cool. I can't wait to try it. I still need to make the cauls to pull the wood into the form, not sure how I want to fasten them just yet. Heat will come from a halogen bulb on a dimmer from an old lamp. I've got aluminum sheet to sandwhich my wood and the whole form is lined in several layers of aluminum foil to protect it.

The uke shape is just the cutout from inside the form but gives a better idea of the shape and shows some of the layout on top. I designed the shape on my PC using Visio, print it out and use spray adhesive to attach to the form. Then just cut it out at the bandsaw and use an oscillating drum sander to bring it to the line and smooth it out. I still need to hinge the form and make cauls for holding the uke body sides tight to the form while glueing head/tail blocks and kerfing.

Como, Aug 1, 6-8pm

Brian

7/25 Como recap

Another nice evening at Como. While the radio said it was 91 with a 93 heat index on the drive down there, once I got settled in the shade near the waterfall just outside the pavillion it was very comfortable for playing.
I had a couple nice conversations with people who wondered about, or just commented on, the ukulele.
Next Wednesday is August 1st and I'll probably head down there again.
Tracie had mentioned the possibility of a meeting at her place. If anyone wants to host a meeting, please, just pick a date & time and go for it! I'll help spread the word if you wish.

I hope to follow up with another post in the next day or two. In addition to playing uke I've been nurturing my bug to build one. I've almost completed a Fox style side bender using my own design for the shape (ok, not much different from any other uke... a 1/4 inch here, a 1/4 inch there, but I did do it from scratch using Visio to get curves that I liked.) I'm also part way into building a wide drum sander for thinning ukulele top/back/side plates. Pictures will be included.

Keep StrumMn everyone!
Brian

7/18 at Como

I had company tonight! Ok, my wife doesn't play uke but she came down to Como and sat with me while I played.
The weather looked really ominous on the way down there but it never rained on us and the sun actually came out after a while and the humidity dropped to a comfortable level as well. There weren't as many people down there due to the weather and the evening concert sounded pretty good as we left.
I'm planning to go back again next Wednesday, 7/25, 6-8pm if anyone else wants to drop by and play.
Since Wednesday evenings don't seem to be a favorite for anyone except me I'm open to suggestions for meeting another day/time. Does anyone want to try a weekend or something? Or just wait until September when we can go back to meeting indoors at the library? I think everyone is just busy with their summer and that's ok too.

7-11 review

7-11 was another gorgeous evening at Como, however by 8pm my fingers were actually getting a little too cold and stiff to play well. No other uke players but I had a couple people stop and talk to me tonight.
The first asked if I was part of the band when I was walking through to see if anyone else was there and when I said no she said, "oh, you're the one who sits out there and plays that little instrument, right?"
Yup, that'd be me.
The 2nd just asked what I was playing and when I responded ukulele his response was "just like Authur Godfrey."
Lots of little kids asking parents about "the little guitar" too.
Being a glutton for punishment I'll plan to be down there again next week, the 18th.
Brian

Wed 7/11/07 anyone?

I'm going down to Como again from 6-8pm on Wed 7/11 if anyone wants to come down to play uke for a while. The Minnesota Sinfonia is playing on the promenade at the pavillion at 7pm if you have family coming along who would prefer to listen to something besides uke.
Brian

Happy 4th of July!

If you're looking for some patriotic tunes to try you should check out the Ukulele Tips 'n' Tunes book from FMM. It's got You're A Grand Old Flag, America(My Country Tis of Thee), The Star Spangled Banner, Yankee Doodle, and America The Beautiful.

My favorite book at the moment is Ukulele Gems (from FMM again. No, I'm not a shill for them, they're just great books for the uke.)
I mentioned Heart and Soul before which I found in this book. I also discovered It's Been A Long, Long Time which is a great song to play on the uke. Others I'm practicing from this book are Ukulele Lady, Bye Bye Blues, Ain't She Sweet, All Of Me, and Sentimental Journey.
Sentimental Journey is a real finger twister for me but I'm starting to hear a LITTLE progress. This one will take a long time but could be worth it. I'd love to hear/see how others finger an Am7 (2433) which needs to alternate with (2033), maybe there is an easier way than what I'm using.

Have a great 4th and come out to Como on Wednesday if you can, I'll be down there 6-8pm or so.
Keep StrumMN!
Brian

Wed the 27th recap and plans for next time...

A nice, cool, dry evening down at Como. Nicest I've seen down there this summer.

I had a nice little old lady shuffle up close and ask if it was ok to listen while I played. I told her fine, I don't normally play from memory but I'd try. So I played Blue Skies, got through 2 verses and most of the bridge when I heard her say to her grandson "this is my favorite part." As I transitioned to the last verse he sounded surprised when he asked "you know this song?" and she nodded and said "yes." When I finished she thanked me and said it was so wonderful that I would play the uke down there. Then she shuffled back to the rest of her family and kept listening and smiling. It was fun, I wish I played more songs from memory, but I'm working on it!

I probably won't make it down to Como next week due to the 4th (although I might be free on Friday the 6th if anyone else is interested in meeting up to play.)

Otherwise I'm going to plan for now on being down there on Wed the 11th unless something unknown comes up. Come on down and let's play uke!
Brian

Wed the 20th

A gorgeous evening at Como! Rain elsewhere in the Twin Cities but not at Como. I did get a rainbow, ironically just as I was playing Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

I could hear the concert, lots of patriotic tunes, and got to playing a few myself. Almost ran out of frets trying to pick out the melody on one of them, it was right up to the 12th. (I wasn't actually playing the song, just trying to pick out the melody.)
I've been practicing You're A Grand Old Flag and the national anthem, maybe I'll try to gather a few more for next week in prep for the 4th of July. Anyone got a favorite figured out and want to share it?

If you feel like coming out on the 27th I hope to be down there again, it would be more fun with some company...

Hope you're all StrumMn through your summer...
Brian

Wed the 13th

Another nice evening at Como last night. Mary joined me and we tried a few songs she had brought along and I showed her some I was working on and gave her a copy of the Bye Bye Blues I've been doctoring as more of a chord solo.

I should have Wednesday the 20th open too so I expect to be down there again barring any other big obstacles. I'll post here and email everyone on my list only if I can't make it. It's a fun place to hang out and play, stop on by if you get a chance. But keep your eye's open for us, this week we were at a picnic table by the waterfall, last week mostly upstairs in the cafeteria seating, the week before on the promenade. It's all within about 100 feet so it's easy to find.

Keep StrumMn!
Brian