No. 17, Summer 2017

As summer time gears up our thoughts turn to hitting workshops, festivals, and traveling with our ukuleles to new destinations, our Summer Uke-Phoria special section includes features on finding your ideal ukulele event (with guidance from several top festival organizers) and cases and gig bags for traveling in style. This year marks 100 years of Martin offering ukuleles to the public and we dig into a century of the company’s influential ukuleles—including a guide to the four different styles. We also take a close look at a special ukulele, the Konter, signed by many celebrities from the 1920s after stowing aboard a trip over the North Pole. Elsewhere, a teenage Aidan James is set to take on the world as an upcoming player and singer, taking the ukulele to new places with looping. Ukulenny takes us inside San Francisco’s red-hot ukulele scene and some of our favorite places to eat and drink. The Martin theme continues in our vintage uke profile with an in-depth look at the Martin Taropatch, an 8-string that paved the way for larger ukuleles.

Lessons:

• Every player deserves a great playing ukulele an in Gear Guru, luthier and musician Aaron Keim share 6 essential paths to a better-playing uke.
• Daniel Ward helps to nourish your tone and technique with a simple, yet powerful fingerpicking lesson.
• Jim D’Ville unlocks some secrets used by the Beatles to create memorable chords.
• And, Jumpin’ Jim Beloff shares how to build a big voice on the big baritone uke.

Learn to Play:

• We take a moment to reflect on the legacies of two giants of the ukulele who recently passed, Eddie Kamae and Lyle Ritz, with a chord-melody arrangement of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” by Ritz.