The June in-person Austin Ukulele Society meeting was a terrific one, as we welcomed new and old friends, from near and far. We kicked off the evening with some ukulele news, including reminders to join us at our Ukulele Open Mic at Kick Butt Coffee (so many of you did – thank you!). After the local uke news and introductions, we warmed up our fingers and voices by playing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Often called the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the amazing Tina Turner passed away in late May. We paid tribute to arguably one of the best performers of all time by learning to strum and sing her 1989 internationally-loved hit “The Best.” The broad appeal of its uplifting lyrics along with Turner’s terrific performance have kept this song popular through the decades, and we really enjoyed getting to know it well.

Bob shared some useful information about Tina Turner’s rendition of “The Best,” and then did a terrific performance of his arrangement of it for us. Bob then taught us, in his always excellent style, the various components of the song. We enjoyed practicing the chord progressions, strum style, picking option and vocal harmonies, before playing through the whole song a few times.

During our open mic section of the eve, we enjoyed Matt M’s terrific playing and excellent voice on a great original composition. Thank you for sharing your talent!

After, we ran through “The Best” a couple of more times, and then we gave it our BEST, in Bob’s great video recording for you to enjoy and play along with from home. We hope you enjoy strumming and singing along with us as much as we enjoyed ourselves here in Austin. Look for it soon on our YouTube channel.   🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “The Best” 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).

Many thanks, as always, to Jen and Lyda and the whole AUS team, for their tireless efforts to make the meetings successful. And thank you to Aaron Lewis for keeping the beat on the U-bass!

We look forward to seeing everyone at the virtual meeting on YouTube, June 22nd.  And we’re hoping you’ll come celebrate with us at our 150th(!!!) monthly meeting, in person, on July 13. Until then, keep strummin’! 🙂

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

We appreciate your support and interest. If you’d like to make a donation to the Austin Ukulele Society (a 501(c)(3) organization), visit our Square Donation site. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out our this short sign-up form. For any other inquiries, please contact us or shoot us an email if you have previous correspondence with us.

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
We are proud to unveil our latest shirt, new for 2022: the “AUS Classic Ukulele,” design, hot off the presses! All of our shirts are thoughtfully designed by the talented Lyda Guz!

The shirts are silk screened here in Austin at a fantastic locally-owned print shop and are available for purchase. The new “AUS Classic Ukulele” design, “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $25. We also have vinyl decals with the AUS logo for $1 each. We can accept cash or a check made out to Austin Ukulele Society; you can also make payment via Venmo or PayPal. Please drop us a line if you’d like to purchase a shirt (or two or three). 🙂 At this time, we can only ship orders within the U.S.