United States of America

Bellingham Ukulele Group
Location: Bellingham Unitarian Church, 1708 I St., Bellingham
Website: http://bhamuke.blogspot.com/

Berkeley Ukulele Club
Location: DaSilva Ukulele Co.
Website: http://www.ukemaker.com/ukeclub/

Cal-Mum Ukulele Club
Location: Caledonia-Mumford Elementary School, 99 North St., Caledonia, NY 14423
Website: http://www.gstboces.org/toolbox/template.cfm?ID=2990

Catskills Ukulele Group
Location: West Shokan, NY
Website: http://www.meetup.com/Catskills-Ukulele/

Cleveland Ukulele Fraternity
Location: Cleveland
Website: Contact “Eve” on 01642 490517

Durham Ukulele Group
Location: High Strung Guitars, 1116 Broad Street Durham, NC
Website: http://durhamukulelegroup.blogspot.com/

Florida Ukulele Network in Hollywood
Location: Hollywood, FL
Website: http://www.meetup.com/Florida-Ukulele-Network/

High Desert Ukulele Club
Location: Antelope Valley, ID
Website: email – HighDesertUkekes@yahoogroups.com

Kolohe Ukulele Club
Location: California
Website: http://www.koloheukuleleclub.org/

Madison Ukulele Club
Location: Wisconsin
Website: email – madisonukeclub@yahoo.com

Monterey’s Ukulele Club
Location: Gianni’s Pizza, 725 Lighthouse Ave, Monterey, CA
Website: Call Steve Brooks at (831) 624-7022

Moonlight Beach Uke Strummers
Location: Encinitas, North of San Diego
Website: http://www.ukespot.com/clubs.html

Oak Park Ukulele Meetup Group
Location: Eastgate Cafe’, 102 Harrison Street (corner of Harrison & Lyman), Oak Park IL 60304
Website: http://www.meetup.com/Oak-Park-Ukulele-Meetup-Group-Harrison-St-Ukulele-Players/

Palm Desert Ukulele Strummers
Location: 44-600 Monterey Ave. Palm Desert,Ca 92260
Website: Call Mike @ 760-835-6891

Petaluma Ukulele Club
Location: Petaluma Hill Rd., Penngrove, CA
Website: http://thingstodo.msn.com/penngrove-ca/events/show/96107765-petaluma-ukulele-club

Pineapple Jam Ukulele Club
Location: Scherer Community Center, 12202 First Street (at B Ave) Yucaipa Ca 92399
Website: Call 909 797-1177 or 760-326-9230

Portland Ukulele Association
Location: St. David’s Episcopal Church Community Hall, 2800 SE Harrison St., Portland
Website: http://home.teleport.com/~pua/

Tampa Bay Ukulele Society (TBUS)
Location: Tarpon Springs, FL
Website: http://www.meetup.com/tampabayukes/

The Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Ukulele Group
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Website: http://ukulele.meetup.com/85/

The Corona Del Mar Ukulele club
Location: 233 Pacific View Dr, Corona Del Mar, CA 92625
Website: Call (949) 644-0463

The Hemet Ukulele Club
Location: The Simpson Center, 305 E. Devonshire Ave., Hemet, CA
Website: http://www.ukespot.com/clubs.html

The Jumpin Flea Circus Players Players Of Los Angeles
Location: Church of the Chimes, 14115 Magnolia Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Website: http://www.jumpingflea.tumblr.com

The Lansing Area Ukulele Group
Location: Lansing, MI
Website: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=256534770353

The Loma Linda Ukulele Strummers
Location: Loma Linda Senior Center, 25571 Barton Road, Loma Linda, CA 92354
Website: Call 909 796-8934

The Nashville Ukulele Society
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Website: http://nashukes.blogspot.com/

The Orange Blossom Ukulele Players
Location: Joslyn Senior Center, 21 Grant Street, Redlands CA
Website: Call Cathy Ekaitis – (909) 875-1054

The Rio-Altas Ukulele Club
Location: Rialto Senior Center,1411 S. Riverside Ave.,Rialto, CA
Website: Call Cathy Ekaitis – (909) 875-1054

The SLO Strummers of the Ukulele Society of the Central Coast
Location: Art Center in San Luis Obispo, 1010 Broad St. (creekside door)
Website: Call Carol at (805)473-3457

The Ukulele Club of Las Vegas
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Website: http://www.horowitzbrothers.com/ukulelecluboflasvegas.html

The Vermont Ukulele Society
Location: Howden Hall in on Main Street in Bristol
Website: http://vtukes.webs.com/

The WINDanSEA Ukulele Strummers
Location: Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall at 853 Torquiise Street
Website: http://www.ukespot.com/clubs.html

Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz
Location: Bocci’s Cellar, Santa Cruz
Website: http://www.ukuleleclub.com/

Ukulele Society of America (USA)
Location: 300 Carlsbad Village Drive, west of the I-5 Carlsbad Village Drive exit, at the intersection with Pacific Coast Highway
Website: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Ukulele_Society_of_America/

Ukulele Society of Connecticut
Location: Darien, Connecticut
Website: http://ukuleles.org/

Ukulele Union of Harvard
Location: Harvard, Massachusetts
Website: http://www.meetup.com/HarvardUke/

Canada

Corktown Ukulele Jam
Location: Dominion on Queen, 500 Queen East (2nd light west of the DVP at Sumach)
Website: http://www.torontoukes.com/

Halifax Ukulele Gang (H.U.G.)
Location: Celtic Corner pub on Alderney Drive in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada
Website: http://halifaxukulelegang.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/christmas-music-for-the-uke/

Ottawa Ukulele Group
Location: Ottawa, Canada
Website: http://groups.google.com/group/ottawa-ukulele-group

SMUG (Saturday Morning Ukulele Group)
Location: Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Website: http://smugpei.blogspot.com/

Ukulele Club of Winnipeg
Location: Winnipeg
Website: email – ssauder@greatwestmetal.com

Vancouver Ukulele Circle
Location: 245 E. Broadway (north side between Main and Kingsway), Vancouver, BC, V5T 1W4
Website: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/vanukes/index.html

A very tricky one to get right. It’s in 6/8 time (I think). The best way to count the bar is 1,2,3,2,2,3 (I think). And it’s best to play this one with a pick (that one I’m pretty sure on).

Here’s me definitely getting it wrong:

MP3

More guitar riffs for ukulele.

The Mural and the Mint – Virgin Mouth (MP3)
The Mural and the Mint – I’m on Fire (MP3) via their website.

The Mural and the Mint are named after, their hometown, Philadelpia’s association with public art and the production of money. There’s an interesting comment

Philadelphia does have more public art than any other American city as a result of our (first in the nation) Percent for Art Program that requires developers to spend 1% of their project budget on public art. This can be spent on sculptures that sit in the lobby or outside the building or on special architectural details for the building itself. We also have a RDA Percent for Art program that requires that 1% be spent on art on any project that is located in an area overseen by the Redevelopment Authority.

It’s an interesting idea – particularly since it encourages businesses to get rid of the money and not care about the outcome. I hope the business men just grab a kid off the street, give them a pile of money and say, “Go do art.” That’s bound to have much more interesting results than carefully selected works.

When I’m made Grand High Commander of Earth, I’m going to institute a law that 1% of all advertising budgets must be used to create jingles. The jingle is a moribund art-form. I can’t remember one since IKEA’s shlomp. It’s all licensed pop songs or arty background music. Where’s the fun in that?

The Mural and the Mint are dedicated to their own public arts project by releasing all their recordings free because they, “believe that this is the only way for them to be heard as music, and not as products in Today’s culture.”

Download their stuff free on their website. If you like it you can donate here.

For my version I’ve kept it in the original key of F#. Molly plays it in G so if you want to play along with that version move everything up a fret.

There are two parts to the riff. Part 1:

And Part 2:

And here’s my stab at playing it.

MP3

Part of the Riffs for ukulele series

Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go

Erin Lang & The Foundlings – Good Years

Helen Keller’s Ukulele – Mockingbird

Wilfried Welti – Carolan’s Dream

Little6ster – Before You’re My King

Christiaan Van Vuuren – F’ You, I’m a Ukulele

If you haven’t seen the new look site yet click here and check it out. It’s all the hard work of Ben Lew and I think he did an incredible job. If you come across anything that isn’t quite right, let me know.

You can watch the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s appearance on Skins on 4oD. I’m told it works outside the UK. There’s a YouTube link here. I’ve never watched Skins before but I enjoyed it. In fact, I almost loved it. The Ukes start at about 44:30.

The Lummy Days ukulele podcast is available for download. It’s present by George from UOGB and features Fairport Convention, the Bobby McGee’s and Mr B. And don’t miss Keston Cobblers’ Club.

Smoldering Uke – ‘A winter ukulele retreat’ in California.

50 State Uke – cool idea. I’ve been considering something similar – visiting at least one uke player in every country in the EU (called, inevitably, EUkulele).

I can’t watch this video in the UK but apparently Penn Jillette is considering buying Tim Tim’s ukulele. Update: You can watch it in the UK here if you’re willing to wait a few minutes for it to start (Thanks to @ukegnome).

Buy a uke in a police seized goods auction.

In the comments: Howlin’ Hobbit makes a case for the inclusion of Brian Hefferan in the soloists section. I disagree with myself on this one as well. Perhaps I should have a ‘Most Underrated’ section. Get your nominations in now.

This Gretsch style 3 is just beautiful. I didn’t realise Gretsch had made a ukulele as pretty as their guitars. I usually associate them with ukes that are rather less refined.

Sailor band.

MP3

UPDATE: The new look is up if you want to come and see it. If you find anything that isn’t working I’d really appreciate it if you let me know. A huge thanks to Ben Lew for all his hard work in making it happen.

I’m surprised more indie bands haven’t pillaged African sounds. It seems to me that the high octane soukous guitar stylings of Diblo Dibala and Dally Kimoko is prime for some transplantation. Vampire Weekend made a decent stab at it with Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa (kwassa kwassa is the dancing style on display in the Diblo video).

Like a lot of African guitar styles (and the lead parts in A-Punk and Oxford Comma) the lead playing here is heavily based on the chords (G, A and D). I’ve written up the riff in the same key as the original but an octave higher. The chorus is the same chords – I think it sounds best if you use these chord shapes.

Requested by HJM and Imogen

More guitar riffs for uke.

Secondly, a few weeks ago I post a clip of highlights from Annie Bacon’s Folk Opera. She’s got in touch to tell me they’re having the first full cast performance of it on Thursday March 4th at The Jalopy Theatre Brooklyn, NY. I’ve had a sneak listen and it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area. Now bring on the rock…

Time for another set of riffs for ukulele (mostly guitar riffs but one keyboard riff and one bass riff this time round). The idea isn’t to cover the whole song but to chuck them in a different piece for a bit of light relief or just show off in a ‘I bet you didn’t think you could play this on ukulele’ way. One change this time round is that the riffs are in the original key unless it’s way too hard to play them that way.

Starting off with one that should have cropped up in this series long ago (and did crop up in Wayne Federman’s medley).

MP3

The riff for In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida is fairly straightforward (even more so if you use a pick). It only gets a little tricky in the little run into the chorus.

More guitar riffs for ukulele.

I’ll probably be adding to these in future so if you’ve got any suggestions for categories (and what should be in them) let me know in the comments.

Ukulele Players

Soloists
Ukulele Ladies
Indie Ukulele

Ukulele Videos

Video of the Year Winners and Runners Up
Most Popular

Ukulele Info

Ukulele History