On a lovely October evening, over 100 ukulele players met up for the monthly Austin Ukulele Society in-person meeting! We kicked off the evening with introductions and some local uke news.

We especially love the October meeting since we enjoy getting the Halloween spirit going by wearing some costumes or accessories and, of course, learning a song that is at least a bit spooky. This year was no different as we learned to strum and sing Britney Spears’ 2003 megahit “Toxic.” This song features a very catchy hook and a variety of music styles that add to the suspense of the sometimes creepy lyrics. We quickly became “addicted” to strumming and singing this song!

After we played our warm-up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds,” Bob G. performed his version of “Toxic” for us, so we could get a feel for what we’d be working on. He then took us through various exercises to break down the sections of the song, so we could get comfortable with the chords, chord progressions, strum styles, and more.

We practiced and worked hard, getting better with each effort. When we played the song through a couple of times, we enjoyed hearing how good we were sounding!

Next, we took a break to enjoy a terrific open mic performance by Mia and to sing happy birthday to Walter (led by The John Davenport).

We got back to practicing “Toxic” and hope you’ll play along with us on our recording from home — coming soon to our YouTube Channel.

To play along, you can download the lyrics, chords, and tab for Bob’s arrangement of “Toxic” 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).

As always, we’re immensely grateful to Aaron for his accompaniment on U-bass and to Jen, Lyda and all the AUS volunteers, for their hard work.

Our next meeting is a virtual one on YouTube! Please join us from wherever you are, as Bob gives us a helpful tutorial on how to play a terrific song.

We’ll see our local and visiting friends again for the next in-person meeting, on Thursday, November 14, at St. John’s United Methodist Church.

Be well and see you soon!  🙂

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 2024: the “AUS Grackle 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 Grackle Ukulele” design, “”Classic Ukulele” 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.