Adding some much needed brightness to the rainiest week Austin has seen in 2018, the September meeting of the Austin Ukulele Society put huge smiles on the faces of many, as we learned to sing and strum Nick Lowe’s super poppy 1979 new wave hit “Cruel To Be Kind.”

The evening began with introductions and local ukulele news of other group playing opportunities and performances around town, including the upcoming ukulele tribute to Willie Nelson (Uketania 9 – Ukulele Willie) on Wednesday, September 19. We warmed up with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” and then our Bob G. performed Nick Lowe’s “Cruel to Be Kind” to demonstrate the arrangement we’d be learning. Bob led the group through exercises he’d prepared to help everyone get familiar with the strumming pattern, chord progressions and harmonizing opportunities. When we played the song through a few times, we sounded terrific. After the open mic part of the meeting, we played and recorded “Cruel to Be Kind” to share with our ukulele friends around the world!

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “Cruel To Be Kind” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide (what we project on the screen for all to follow along, including exercises and drills).

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We enjoyed varied and creative covers of classic tunes from the 1930s through the 1970s, by Paul, Kent, Class Act, The John Davenport and the Austin Ukestra.

(Clockwise, from top left: Paul, Class Act (Brock, Christine, and Charlie), The John Davenport, and the Austin Ukestra.)

As always, we’re thankful to all who join us at our monthly meeting, and we look forward to making more ukulele music with you next month on Thursday, October 11th! 🙂

For more downloadable music, visit our Ukulele Music Library. For more Austin Ukulele Society videos, check out our YouTube Channel.

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