Ukulele Lesson 1

Last night I attended my first ukulele lesson at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. When I was a kid, I played guitar and banjo....not seriously, just for fun. I never really learned too many chords or strums on guitar or banjo, just enough to get by 'round the campfire. I've been surrounded by music and musicians my whole life. I like all kinds of music....I know lots of songs....now, I'm going to concentrate on learning how to accompany myself on the ukulele, singing those many songs!

If you've never been to McCabe's, you must visit. Just hangin' out downstairs in the shop is highly entertaining. There are tons of books, records, CDs, DVDs and instruments to look at. You can also see right into the repair shop. On the weekends McCabe's hold concerts in their backroom. Some of the most well-known people in the roots music community from around the country have performed at McCabe's. The list of classes that McCabe's offers is very extensive.

the back hall @ McCabe's

The instructors at the shop are all experienced musicians.

There were about 10 people in the ukulele class, taught by musician Steve Rose. Thankfully, I wasn't the oldest in class. We learned how to tune our ukuleles, some basic chords and strums. We learned 3 songs "Darling Clementine," "Jamaica Farewell" and "This Little Light of Mine." I already knew most of the info covered in the first class, but that's it....from here on, everything will be new! Singer, songwriter Peter Case was teaching a blues guitar class across the hall. Since the air-conditioning at McCabe's is quite archaic, the door to the classrooms were open. The blues guys must have been laughing their heads off when they heard 10 grownups singing "Clementine" over and over!

I really like the class and I hope to add to my repetoire of chords and strums over the next four weeks. I'll try to sneak my camera to class next time and snap some photos.