First UUkulele Strum Circle

Hi. Every other Sunday (more or less), I lead a ukulele strumming group at First Unitarian in Brooklyn. The group are mostly beginners, but more seasoned players are encouraged to come. Everyone is welcome to this group. Although the meetups are held in house of worship, we're just ukulele strummers, so no agenda. I'd love to open this to a broader group of players.

We meet up at 12:15 in the basement of the church, the "Undercroft," during the post-service coffee hour, and then we peel off to some space in the building by 12:30 or so. (If you come late, just ask around for the ukulele group.)

The address is 50 Monroe Pl, Brooklyn, NY. Here's a map.

We're meeting this Sunday, February 17. If you'd like to be on a regular mailing reminder list (as the schedule is a bit changable), email me at rickbruner at gmail.

Ukulele Starter Books

I am often asked to give people advice. So I figured it would be easier to write the advice once, here, and just send people links.

If you're just starting out, you definitely need a ukulele chord book. If found this one by Hal Leonard to be the most comprehensive.

• Hal Leonard Ukulele Chord Finder: Easy-to-Use Guide to Over 1,000 Ukulele Chords

Beyond that, if you want some tutorial books, these two look good to me (although, admittedly, I never used either closely), and I see that Amazon offers the three of them as a bundle for a discount (look at the product page for such a bundle deal on the sales page for the chord book, above):

• Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1
• Easy Songs for Ukulele Supplementary Songbook to the Hal Leonard Ukulele Method

Another chord book I recommend, particularly, for intermediate players is this one, though it may be a bit hard to interpret for a beginner:

• Uncle Zac's Ultimate Chord Inversion Chart For Uke

Beyond that, I highly recommend most of the books from Jim Beloff's FleaMarketMusic.com site, a compendium of all things ukulele, especially song books:

• FleaMarketMusic.com books

Beatles Complete on Ukulele, Jan 14, Brooklyn Bowl

Join the fun for this annual tradition, the Roger Greenawalt's Beatles Complete on Ukulele, all day at the excellent venue, Brooklyn Bowl, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Come with your uke from 2-3pm and get in free! (Otherwise, it's a $10 cover.) Join the Uke Mob at 3pm (being filmed for broadcast on that evening's TV news) to sing "All Together Now" and "Why Don't We Do It in the Road."

Dozens of great indie regional bands are joining Roger to perform most or all of the Beatles's amazing canon of songs, all featuring at least one uke. It's an annual tradition and lots of fun at a great venue.

Brooklyn Bowl
61 Wythe Street (at N. 10th)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Subway: Take the L train from Manhattan's 14th Street to the first Brooklyn stop, Bedford, and it's a short walk.
3pm to Midnight

Yours truly, Rick Bruner, will be performing with The Suaverinos at 5pm, doing "Dear Prudence" and "You're Gonna Lost That Girl."

The Suaverinos, Friday, Nov. 18, at The Uke Hut

The Suaverinos are back with a fresh, season-pleasing set of covers from the '40s, '60s, '70s and 2011. Hope you can join us.

This Friday at the Uke Hut, around the corner for the Empire State Building, downstairs from Maui Taco. An odd, but charming venue.

Friday, November 18

9pm (30-minute set; come for after-work drinks)

The Uke Hut (downstairs at Maui Taco)

330 5th Avenue (between 32nd & 33rd Street)

Also, mark your calendars in advance for the Suaverinos on December 13, 9pm, a Tuesday, at the PATH CAFE in the West Village, an hour set of new stuff, including a couple of holiday favorites.

Ukulele Song Arrangement Resources

Browsing around looking for uke arrangements for a new uke group I'm working with at my Unitarian Universalist church (the First UUkulele Strum Circle), I have collected these various collections of uke arrangements. Please feel free to let me know about others I should add to this list.

• Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club Songbook: http://www.tusc.co.uk/songbook.html

• Santa Cruz Ukulele Club Songbook: http://www.mediafire.com/?nnkmzwg3z2j

• Doctor Uke: http://doctoruke.com/songs.html

• Alligator Boogaloo: http://www.alligatorboogaloo.com/uke/tabs.html

• Ukulele Underground: http://ukuleleunderground.com/

• Flea Market Music: http://www.fleamarketmusic.com/

• Uke Hunt: http://ukulelehunt.com/tab-chords/

• Richard G's Ukulele Songbook: http://www.scorpex.net/Uke/

• Ukeland: http://dominator.ukeland.com/index2.shtml

NY Ukulele Salon: June 18, The Living Room

The NY Ukulele Salon presents another evening showcasing great talent from NYC's rich trove of ukulele performers.


June 18, 2011
8:30pm to 10:30pm

At The Living Room's upstairs venue, Googie's Lounge
154 Ludlow Street

No cover charge. 1 drink per hour minimum and tip bucket for the performers.

8:30: The Whistlin' Wolves
A rollicking quartet with a down-home American sound, featuring two-time world champion whistler Emily Eagan, harmonica wizard Trip Henderson and Spiff Wiegand and Chris Q. Murphy ripping on various instruments, including no shortage of ukuleles.

9:00: Doctor Uke and Daughters
A Ukulele Salon favorite, the Rosokoff family, Jim, Sylvie and Jacq, regularly pack Googie's with fans for great reason, with gorgeous harmonies, creative arrangements and delightful song selections. Most of the arrangements the act performs are in the archive of more than 500 arrangements on www.doctoruke.com

9:30: Roger Greenawalt
Jolly Roget is a popular Williamsburg record producer, musician and organizer of Beatles Complete on Ukulele. His act will likely surprise you and may well feature guest talents from among his wide circle of musician friends.

"Oospie, I quit!" (Blond not included)

10:00: The Suaverinos
The Ukulele Salon house band, The Suaverinos, is a swinging ensemble covering the likes of Al Jolson, Nina Simone, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Kinks, Gnarls Barkley and Radiohead. Rush Kress and Rick Bruner on vocals and ukuleles, Elizabeth Walsh on vocals and bass, and introducing Melody Litwin on vocals, mandolin and washboard, and Inês Baptista on vocals and percussion.

NY Ukulele Salon: May 21, Saturday @ The Living Room

Join us every month for a showcase of NYC's amazing breadth of ukulele
talent at:

The Living Room's upstairs venue, Googie's Lounge
154 Ludlow Street @ Rivington St. in Manhattan's Lower East Side (map)

Saturday, May 21, 2011, 8:30 to 10:30pm

No cover. 1 drink minimum per set + tip bucket for the artists

8:30pm - Patsy Monteleone
A Salon favorite, Patsy is one of the foremost interpreters of the Great American Songbook on ukulele.

9:00pm - Ben Lerman
A rising star on the NY comedy circuit (not to be confused with blooper-king sportscaster Len Berman), Ben delivers hilarious originals or your money back. (Oh wait, this gig is free!)

9:30pm - The Suaverinos with Pedro da Silva
Ukulele Salon house band, The Suaverinos, are joined by the ripping professor or the strings Pedro da Silva for some swinging pop and jazz standards

10:00pm - Bliss Blood
Bliss Blood practically invented playing ukulele in NYC. Doing originals and classy covers like nobody's business.

RSVP via Facebook.