No. 28, Spring 2020

Daniel Ho is one of the most prolific players and composers in the contemporary Hawaiian and World Music scenes, a multi-Grammy Award-winning artist who is taking the ukulele in exciting new directions. In the past year alone, he’s starred in his own “ukulele musical,” called Pineapple Mango: Hawaiian ‘Ohana, released an album of Chinese music called Embroidering Melodies, and continued work on the line of ukuleles he spearheads with luthier Pepe Romero Jr. Read an exclusive interview with this extraordinary ukulele ambassador! Also, play Ho’s magical tune “Between the Sky and Prairie.” Our Special Focus this issue is a lively and detailed look at Ukuleles on Screen, in which Sandor Nagyszalanczy traces appearances of the little four-string from the silent-film era to the present day. Whatever your feelings about the inimitable and bizarre ukulele/novelty artist known as Tiny Tim, you won’t want to miss Blair Jackson’s story of his unlikely rise to stardom.

 Lessons

 Interval Training, with Daniel Ward exploring the fretboard in thirds and sixths

• A 360-degree Tour of the Circle of 5ths, courtesy of Jim D’Ville
• Picking Technique on the Uke for Speed and Power, by Daniel Ward
• Inside the Simple Songwriting of Harlan Howard, by Jim D’Ville (plus play Howard’s smash “I Fall to Pieces”)

Gear 

• Breedlove’s Lu’au Concert and Tenor CE
• Orangewood’s Juno Tenor 

Also 

Eddie Scher writes about the triumphs and travails of traveling the world with his trusty uke. Sandor Nagyszalanczy look at National’s Wild Rose” resonator ukes from the 1920s, and ’30s; Aaron Keim writes about building a uke for his playing partner—his wife; Ukulele Events from March Through June 2020; the latest album from Marcy Marxer and Cathy Fink, and more!