Dawn bought a Ukulele for someone for their birthday a about a year and a half ago. They were on offer at the local music shop and being a quirky and thoughtful gift giver she thought a Uke would be the perfect gift. So perfect in fact she bought two!
The strange part is that when she brought them home, boxed and bagged, very excited about her clever birthday purchase and asked me to guess what she'd bought the first thing that popped in my head was 'Ukulele.' Dawn was floored, and we still think it's strange to this day. I mean I hadn't even seen the bag yet! Weird.
Anyway, she gave the spare one to me and I strummed it a little bit. I was actually pretty good. Pete was still pretty young, and was only sitting up and not crawling, so I had a captive audience. I look up some songs on the 'net and taught Dawn how to pick 'Happy Birthday' in honour of her friends big day.
Unfortunately, new parenthood prevented me from keeping up with it. So, this task is to get me back on the ukulele horse again. 20 minutes of practice everyday for 2 weeks as a minimum. Progress will be measured in terms of scales and songs memorized and in playable condition. Bonus street cred for playing in public.
UPDATE: I'm currently working throught the online lessons on Pineapple Pete's Uke School.
UPDATE: 12/02/08: I've worked through all the online lessons and I'm pretty confident now. Learning loads of new chords all the time and I'm amassing a substantial collection of tableture. I've set up a folder of stuff to work through, popular songs and a few exercises and scale sheets. I'm even getting more confidate at tuning by ear, using a pitch pipe instead of an electric tuner. It's working out pretty well. D is starting to roll her eyes a lot when I pick the uke up now, so that means I've definitly been spending a lot of time on it. I think she's mainly annoyed because it means when she's lying on the couch reading, I'll be playing my uke rather than rubbing her feet.
I'm delcaring the two weeks completed, but it's not going to stop here...I think i've formed the habit now.
Scales: 0/??
Songs: 1/6
Happy Birthday (Memorized)
God Save the Queen
Morning Has Broken
Scarborough Fayre
Hit Baby One More Time
Dream a Little Dream
Performances: 0/?? (I'm not sure how this one is going to work out actually)
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