Greetings, friends! Our next monthly meeting is fast approaching, on Thursday, November 3, 7:00–9:00pm. Yep, it’s on the first (not the second) Thursday of November – so be sure to adjust your calendar. We’ll meet, as usual, at the Memorial United Methodist Church, located at 6100 Berkman Drive, Austin, TX, 78723.

It’s not too early to start building your holiday repertoire! We typically learn a winter holiday/Christmas song in November, so that we have our meeting’s recording to share with our global uke community by late November. Even though we are meeting in very early November this year, we’re ready to get the holiday spirit going and hope you will do so with us, too! Break out your reindeer antlers or elf ears, Christmas sweaters and Santa hats to have an even more festive time!

Bob will teach us a medley of two holiday standards, which you likely are very familiar with: “Blue Christmas” and “White Christmas.” There are even a couple of snippets borrowed from two other classics, as you’ll see in the song sheet. The two most famous versions of these songs — Elvis Presley’s 1957 recording of “Blue Christmas”  and Bing Crosby’s 1942 recording of “Blue Christmas” — are in the keys of E and A respectively. Neither song is very uke-friendly in these keys, so using Bob’s terrific arrangement, we’ll start with “Blue Christmas” in F, then smoothly modulate to C for “White Christmas.”

To practice, you can preview or download the lyrics, chords, and tab for the “Blue Christmas / White Christmas Medley.” Here are some details about the song sheet:

• Pages 1 and 2 have the chords and lyrics, as well as tab for the short “Jingle Bells” picking part at the end.
• Page 3 has a description of the main strum pattern, along with a simplified alternatives.
• Page 4 has details on the “Deck the Halls” picking part in the Intro.
• Page 5 has vocal harmony options for the last line of “Blue Christmas”.
• Page 5 also additional details on the tab for the “Jingle Bells” picking part in the Ending.
• Page 6 has vocal harmony options for the last two lines of “White Christmas”.

As always, we recommend practicing the song using the chart and diagrams and listening to Elvis’ recording of “Blue Christmas”  and Bing Crosby’s recording of “Blue Christmas” before we meet on the 3rd, if possible. 🙂

At the meeting, Bob will perform the “Blue Christmas / White Christmas Medley” to demonstrate the arrangement, and then take us through some helpful exercises to get us comfortable with the chords and chord progressions, strum styles, vocal and harmonizing options, before we put it all together to play it through.

Our meeting format, as usual, will begin with introductions and some local ukulele news/events.

We’ll also include some open mic time for those of you who’d like to showcase one tune you’ve been working on. A sign-up sheet will be available at 6:30. As open mic time is limited to four participants, please sign up when you arrive and understand that preference will be given to those who have not participated recently or ever before.

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
We’ll have Austin Ukulele Society t-shirts available for purchase before and after our meeting, including our brand-new “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 at our meeting. The new “AUS Classic Ukulele” design, “Ukulele Around the World,” “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” “Austin Lasso” and other shirts are $20. 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.

Location
Memorial United Methodist Church, 6100 Berkman Drive, Austin, TX 78723. We meet in the school located behind the church, in the gym.

Map it

Where to park and find the gym

For those attending for the first time, the church is easy to find – but it is big. You’ll enter from Berkman Dr. using a ‘one way’ entrance and you can park anywhere alongside or behind the church. Past the canopied main entrance, on the same side of the building, there is another entrance on the right. Walk in there and you’ll be in the gym. From there simply follow the sounds of ukuleles tuning up. 🙂

Newcomers and beginners are ALWAYS welcome! Even if you’re a complete novice, we encourage you to come out. Many beginners come to the meetings, and it’s so great to see their skills grow over time! There are almost always easier ways to play the songs, even if you can play only a few of the chords. Or just sing along!

Our friends from the TUG (Tuesday Ukulele Group) now make available loaner ukuleles at the AUS monthly meetings! They are Makala concert and soprano ukes, and you can borrow one to play during the meeting. You’ll find them at the front of the room; so if you don’t have a uke yet, or you forget your uke at home, or your uke is in disrepair, please join us and borrow a TUG loaner uke. 🙂

Feel free to get familiar with the chord charts for any of the songs in our repertoire, all available on the “Music Library” page. We always play “Three Little Birds” and “On the Road Again” as our opening and closing songs, so if you’re new to the group and want to get familiar with them, you can play along using the presentations and our videos.

Stay tuned and keep strumming! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday, November 3, at 7:00pm!

Contact Us if you have any questions, need more information, or would like to be added to our mailing list.

With regard to COVID-19, we need your help in mitigating the risk of spreading the virus in the following ways:

• Attend only if you’re feeling well.
• If you have recently had close contact with someone who has recently tested positive for COVID-19 and you yourself have tested negative, please wear a mask.
• While Travis County remains in the low risk of transmission category, wearing a mask at MUMC is optional.
• You are always encouraged to wear a mask if you feel more comfortable doing so.
• If you would like additional information about COVID-19, please visit the CDC’s website.

The Austin Ukulele Society team will do our part to mitigate risk by:

• Making disposable masks and hand sanitizer available
• Spreading seating out as needed
• Opening a couple of doors to improve air flow, if the temperatures allow

The Austin Ukulele Society was thrilled to welcome its biggest in-person group (100+ members!) since the pre-pandemic days to our October meeting. We kicked off the meeting with introductions, upcoming ukulele news including info on Peter Moss’ workshop and concert (which has spots left – so email us to join in!) and a spotlight on our beautiful new “Classic Uke” t-shirts. Next, we warmed up our hearts, voices and fingers by playing Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Bob then gave us a great performance of his arrangement of The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” an appropriately dark and grim song for the Halloween month. He led us through helpful exercises and practices of the chord progressions, strum styles, picking options and vocal harmonies. We sounded better and better with each effort and enjoyed playing the song through before taking a break for the open mic portion of the eve.

The audience was treated to an array of very talented musicians during the open mic, performing originals and covers, including (clockwise from top left) Michelle, Teagan, Quyen & Kathlyne, Chris Cavello, Kaia, The John Davenport, and Paul Butler.

Afterwards, we played through “Paint It Black” some more and got to sounding better and better – so we made a terrific recording, for your listening and play-along pleasure. We owe a big thanks to Aaron Lewis on bass for rounding out our rhythm. Be on the lookout for the video of our performance, coming soon to our YouTube channel. 🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “Paint It Black” 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 appreciate all of the volunteer support we get to help us set up and break down and have a wonderful time.

Jen and Bob and the whole crew look forward to being back with you for our November meeting, on the FIRST THURSDAY of November: 11/3. See you then! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

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 $20. 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.

The Austin Ukulele Society is excited to welcome the UK’s Peter Moss back to Austin! Those who attended Peter’s last Austin appearance in 2018 know what a dynamic and entertaining performer and instructor he is. Peter and his ukuleles have toured the U.S. and Canada and been on BBC Radio and Television. He has also taught workshops and performed engaging concerts at ukulele festivals throughout several countries in Europe, parts of Australia, and all over New Zealand. We’re thrilled to be hosting him for a workshop and concert, on Friday, October 21!

Peter Moss has been playing the ukulele since his 8th birthday, when he received his first ukulele from his dad. After spending some years learning to excel on the uke, he spent 30 years exploring other instruments and contributing to various recording projects. He returned to his first love (the ukulele, of course) in 2012 and has dedicated himself since, to sharing his ukulele and banjo ukulele talent, stories, humor and teaching around the world. You can learn more about Peter by checking out his YouTube Channel. Here’s a fabulous sample:

Memorial United Methodist Church, in the Parlor (6100 Berkman Dr, Austin, TX, 78723)

Friday, October 21; 7:00pm – 9:00pm (Doors at 6:30, Workshop 7:00-8:00pm, Concert 8:15-9:00pm)

Join Peter for his “3 in 1” workshop. He’ll cover basic and substitute chords, what purpose they have and some helpful material on how chords belong to groups or families. The importance of timing by demonstrating swing tunes of the past with push/pull beats and stops will also be covered. Peter will also demonstrate the benefits of changing tempo part way through a tune. Next, Peter will place all of the above into a classic tune for us to play and add to our repertoire. Handouts will be provided. Open to all levels, though knowledge of basic chords is encouraged.

For the concert, Peter will perform a wide variety of tunes in his unique style and share his humor and stories as well.

$20.00 includes workshop and concert!

Space is limited, so please plan to pay in advance at your earliest convenience. Payment can be made via PayPal (austinukes@gmail.com) or Venmo (@AustinUkulele-Society – if needed, last for digits of phone number are 0422).

If you prefer to pay via cash or check, send us an email (austinukes@gmail.com) to hold a spot and make the payment to Jen at the October 13 monthly AUS meeting. If you are interested in attending the workshop and concert but unable to pay in advance digitally or in person at the October 13 meeting, please email Jen at austinukes@gmail.com to reserve a spot and make another payment arrangement.

If you have any other questions about the exciting opportunity to attend Peter Moss’ workshop and concert on Friday, October 21, please let us know. We hope to see you there! 💓

The Austin Ukulele Society warmly welcomed over 100 players from around the globe to our quarterly virtual meeting on September 22. We truly enjoy these opportunities to spend time with our friends near and far, so thank you for making time to join in. For our featured song, we revisited a popular AUS song from three years ago: The Beatles’ Ringo Starr-penned delightful tune, “Octopus’s Garden.” We’ve all wanted to be somewhere we weren’t at some point, so we can relate to Ringo’s sentiments in this cheerful lament.  💓

Bob started the workshop with some local uke news and our warm up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” He then demonstrated his arrangement of “Octopus’s Garden.” Bob led us through many helpful exercises, to get comfortable with the chords (even the Bb!) and the strum patterns, as well as the picking options. He gave us some great tips on vocal harmony options, too. We put the song together and played it through a couple of times, and it sounded terrific! Before we finished up our practice for the evening, we played our closing song – Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”

You can download the lyrics, chords, and tab for “Octopus’s Garden,” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide, including exercises and drills. You can also watch a replay of the June 23 live stream. Watch the entire show or jump to the part you most want to see!

As always, we thank Jen Richardson for moderating the chat and helping get questions addressed in real time and to Lyda Guz for her fantastic projectionist skills.

We owe much gratitude to Marty Porter and Paul Butler for putting together our collaborative videos, and we enjoyed watching the most recent effort, Jimmy Buffet’s “Margaritaville” together, before saying good night. Check it out:

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

We’ll see you on December 15 for our festive, holiday repertoire strum and sing-a-long! Stay in touch, keep strumming, and keep an eye on the Austin Ukulele Society’s YouTube channel. 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

The Austin Ukulele Society held its in-person meeting with about 90 enthusiastic friends, from near and far. We’re thrilled to have been back to meeting in person for six months now, and it’s notable that each month we have first-timers, including friends from afar (shout out to Becky S. for driving from Abilene to join us live, after spending many months with us at virtual meetings). After we took some time to introduce ourselves and share some local ukulele news, we dove right into our warm-up song: Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Next, Bob shared some helpful info about the lovely Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” before performing his arrangement, based on Dionne Warwick’s hit 1969 recording. Bacharach/David collaborations have yielded so many beautiful, cheery and timeless pop songs, and we’ve enjoyed learning a couple of their tunes in the past.

He then led us through exercises to get us comfortable with the chords and chord progressions and strum pattern/one-strum option. We practiced the picking and vocal harmonizing opportunities as well. After we played it through a couple of times, we took a break to enjoy some fabulous open mic talent.

We heard a diverse array of covers by Jay Clement, Rich Cogbill and Helen Haake as well as an original song paying homage to the ukulele, by THE John Davenport. We’re so fortunate to have this delightful portion of the evening!

We got back to practicing “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” and making our video and audio recording for you to enjoy, where you are, and to of course play along with. Be on the lookout for the video of our performance, coming soon to our YouTube channel. 🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” 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).

We hope you have as much fun as we did, and we’ll look forward to ‘seeing’ everyone at the livestream meeting on Thursday, September 22!! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

A group of about 85 friendly ukulele players got together on a warm August night for the monthly in-person Austin Ukulele Society meeting. We kicked off the evening with introductions, upcoming event info (including our August 20 Ukulele Open Mic event at Kick Butt Coffee), and happy voices singing our warm-up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

Next, we dove into our featured song: Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold.” This song was released 50 years ago and was Young’s only #1 hit in the U.S. It’s a beautiful folk/rock ballad that has stood the test of time, as it’s been covered by other artists for years, including Willie Nelson, Bettye LaVette and Passenger, to name just a few.

Bob shared some fun facts about “Heart of Gold,” then performed it, to demonstrate his arrangement. Bob showed us helpful exercises on the chords, chord progressions, strum patterns, picking parts and harmonizing options. We all enjoyed working on each part of the song and then putting it together to play through.

We practiced “Heart of Gold” a few more times before recording ourselves to share with all on YouTube. Special thanks to Jay Clement for accompanying us on U-bass. We hope you enjoy listening and playing along! Be on the lookout for the video of our performance, coming soon to our YouTube channel. 🙂

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

We took a break for our talented group of open mic participants: Kelly did a lovely version of “Build Me Up Buttercup,” Jay performed a terrific cover of “King of the Road” on his U-bass, and THE John Davenport played a terrific original song. The audience had a blast helping out on vocal harmonies for all!

We’re all looking forward to our upcoming Ukulele Open Mic Event – see you there on Saturday, August 20. And join us on September 8 for our next in-person monthly meeting and September 22 for our next live-stream!! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

Over eighty ukulele players gathered on a warm summer night at the July 14 Austin Ukulele Society meeting, to strum and sing together. After introductions and sharing some local news, including info about Sho Humphries’ upcoming workshop and concert on July 28, we warmed up our fingers and voices with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

We enjoy doing an upbeat, cheerful pop song from time to time, and we were excited to do our first ever song by the very popular and prolific British band, The Cure: “Friday I’m In Love”. It was a huge hit in 1992 and still gets plenty of air play.

Bob shared some information on and performed his lovely arrangement of The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love.” He then led us through very helpful exercises to practice the chords, chord transitions and progressions as well as the finger-picking and vocal harmony options. We played through the song a couple of times and sounded great.

We practiced “Friday I’m In Love” a few more times before recording ourselves to share with all on YouTube. We hope you enjoy strumming along from home with us, so be on the lookout for the video of our performance, coming soon to our YouTube channel. 🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “Friday I’m In Love” 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).

Sho Humphries performed his terrific original composition, “Dream Again,” during the open mic portion of the evening! We hope to see our local friends at Sho’s workshop on July 28. Contact Us to reserve your spot today!

We look forward to seeing you on August 11 for our next monthly meeting!! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

The Austin Ukulele Society hosted its first virtual meeting in 3 months, on June 23rd, and it was such a blast to connect with 130 of our friends, near and far. Ukers from England to Vietnam, Singapore to Germany, Australia to England, and Germany to Brazil, joined in with coast-to-coast uke players in the U.S. and Canada, to learn to sing and strum Jimmy Buffet’s timeless and idyllic beach/island-life tune, “Margaritaville.”  💓

Bob shared some local uke news and then took us through our warm-up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” Then he dove into the tutorial he prepared for “Margaritaville,” leading us through helpful exercises on the strum style, chord progressions, and picking options. We had a lot fun practicing the various components, and we really enjoyed putting the song together to play and sing through a couple of times, near the end of the meeting.

“Searchin’ for that lost shaker of salt.”

A big thank you to Bob for being a thoughtful and thorough instructor, and much appreciation to Lyda for running the presentation and to Jen for moderating the chat.

You can download the lyrics, chords, and tab for “Margaritaville,” or download a copy of the presentation and instruction guide, including exercises and drills. You can also watch a replay of the June 23 live stream. Watch the entire show or jump to the part you most want to see!
● Welcome and announcements
● “Three Little Birds” warm-up song
● Bob’s “Margaritaville” tutorial
● “On the Road Again” closing song
● Our 2016 performance of “Margaritaville”.

Before we said good night, Bob shared some of the great collaborative videos produced by our friends Marty Porter and Paul Butler of our past virtual meetings as well as some videos from recent Austin Ukulele Society in-person meetings.

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

We hope you’ll keep strumming and singing – we’ll see our local friends at the in-person meeting on July 14, and we’ll look forward to ‘seeing’ our extended ukulele family at the next virtual meeting on September 22. Stay in touch, keep strumming, and keep an eye on the Austin Ukulele Society’s YouTube channel. 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

We were thrilled to hold our June in-person meeting on Thursday, June 9th, with around 110 ukulele enthusiasts from all walks of life. We were so happy to welcome seasoned and new members alike and to see some friends we had not seen since February 2020.

As you may have guessed, we are more than a bit partial to rock/pop music from the 1980’s. Since we’ve never before done a song by the talented and incredibly popular rock band The Police, this was THE month to do it! We learned “Every Breath You Take,” a 1983/84 #1 hit in the U.S. and one of The Police’s most popular and enduring tunes.

As usual, Bob kicked off the meeting by setting the agenda, introducing Jen Richardson and himself and then giving everyone a chance to share their name (and location, if visiting from outside the area). After intros, we warmed up our voices and fingers with Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” Then Bob shared some information about The Police’s timeless, mega-hit from 1983/84, “Every Breath You Take,” before giving us a lovely demo performance of his arrangement.

The group enjoyed working on all aspects of the song through exercises Bob had prepared of the chord transitions, strum style, tab options and harmonizing opportunities. We got to sounding so good that Bob turned the cameras on and made a recording to share with our YouTube family around the globe. Look for the video of our performance, coming soon to our YouTube channel. 🙂

To play along with us, you can download the lyrics and chords for our arrangement of “Every Breath You Take” 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).

We thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic and eclectic Open Mic portion of the evening. Jessica, Rodger, Rich, Tate & Mason, and Sho & Shin all performed creative and cool covers that emphasized not just their talent but how versatile our mighty uke can be. We appreciate our open mic performers!

Please join us for our virtual meeting on our YouTube channel on Thursday, June 23 and at our next in-person meeting on Thursday, July 14. Be well and we look forward to seeing you then!! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.

On a warm and lovely May evening, 100+ members of the Austin Ukulele Society gathered together, in person, for a night of community ukulele music. It is truly wonderful seeing the faces of our Austin-area friends, and we were also delighted to welcome uke players from Madison, WI, Cape Cod, MA, McGregor, TX and Dallas, TX.

Our evening started out, as usual, with introductions and local ukulele news. Then Bob took us through our warm-up song, Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”

We love learning songs from different genres and spanning many decades, so it’s always fun to choose each month’s new-to-us song. Since we hadn’t done a country song in a while and have long wanted to do a Dolly Parton song, we were VERY excited to learn her 1973 hit “Jolene.” It’s Dolly’s most-covered song, and has been covered over the decades by many, including Olivia Newton John, The White Stripes, and Lil Nas X. 🙂

Bob shared information about his arrangement of “Jolene,” before performing it for us. He took us through some very useful exercises on the strum style, chord progressions, fingerpicking options and harmonizing possibilities. We had fun trying out each component of the song and then putting it together to play through a couple of times. As we practiced, we sounded better and better each time, and recorded it for your listening and playing-along pleasure – we hope you enjoy it!

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

During our open mic session, we enjoyed the talents of Jay Clement, Kelly Howard, and Kim Carducci. Thanks for your excellent performances!

We look forward to seeing you again on Thursday, June 9, for our next in-person meeting at MUMC! 🙂

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

Contact Us if you have any questions or would like to be added to our mailing list!

Ukulele Society T-shirts!
As you may know, we create a new t-shirt every fall. Celebrating our global AUS community, we are thrilled to unveil our latest edition t-shirt, “Ukulele Around the World,” 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 via mail order. The new “Ukulele Around the World” design, “10th Anniversary,” Mermaid, Cowboy,” and “Austin Lasso” shirts are $20 – all other styles are $15. 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.