The Austin Ukulele Society was delighted to host a friendly group of 120+ ukulele players from near and far! This event gave us the opportunity to take a deep dive into learning a song, with a detailed tutorial presented by Bob, live Q&A fielded by Lyda, and the presentation managed by our friend Evan. 🙂

With Halloween just a week away, we revisited one of our more grimly-themed songs. It was eerie fun to learn to strum and sing Austin-based alternative rock band, Fastball’s, 1998 number one hit “The Way.” This hugely popular song was inspired by the haunting, true story of a local elderly couple’s disappearance. Bob created an excellent arrangement for us on the ukulele, and we enjoyed strumming, picking and singing it! 💓

Bob kicked off the evening with a little local ukulele news and shared a lovely letter from Hayes Secondary School in the U.K., whose ukulele group (‘HUB’ – Hayes Ukulele Band) plays many AUS songs. He also introduced our good friend Evan Kolvoord, who assisted with the presentation, and Lyda, who moderated the chat.

Bob then demonstrated his arrangement of “The Way” before teaching his detailed educational tutorial of the song. We had a great time learning to play the various chords and chord progressions, the different strum patterns, and picking options. We enjoyed the vocal options and practicing the components of the song, before we put it together and played it through a couple of times along with both Bob and Evan. 🙂 Your questions and feedback were much appreciated throughout the workshop-style meeting!

We then played Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again” and spent a little more time in the meeting chat while we watched a few AUS videos together.

You can download the song sheet for “The Way” to play along, or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide, including exercises and drills.

You can also watch a replay of the October 24 live stream. Watch the entire show or jump to the part you most want to see!

As always, we love to give to a shout out to Lyda Guz, who moderated the chat with finesse through the evening and to Evan Kolvoord, who skillfully managed the presentation slides and joined in on playing the tunes. Thanks Evan!!

Thank you for joining us, sending in your selfies, and staying connected!

Our next in-person meeting will be Thursday, November 14, at St. John’s UMC in Austin. And we hope you’ll be back to join us again at our next virtual meeting on Thursday, January 23, 2025. Be well and keep strumming!  🙂

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.