About this item
Learn to play the ukulele with this beginner's guide that features information about basic techniques, tools, and music knowledge.What do George Clooney, Zooey Deschanel, Ryan Gosling and James Franco all have in common? Answer: they all play the ukulele and now, with this easy step-by-step guide, you can too! With just this book and your ukulele in hand, you'll learn basic music skills, how to care for your instrument, and how to play some simple tunes. Whether you're looking to impress your friends with spontaneous singalongs, or just want to strum solo, How to Play Ukulele is the perfect entryway to the wonderful world of ukulele.
About the Author
Dan Scanlan had a brief brush with the ukulele as a child in the mid-1950s (during Arthur Godfrey's ukulele heyday) . He became a serious student of the ukulele and guitar in his final year of high school in 1961 and has played it nearly every day in the last 50 years. Although he often performed solo, during the mid-1970s he teamed up with guitarist and fellow songwriter Patrick Sauer in the duo Flathead. He began teaching it to others in 1984, and he and one of his students performed as The Self-Righteous Brothers, a duo with a vaudeville bent. In 1989 he performed solo at the 19th Annual International Ukulele Festival in Honolulu. His bands include Top Quark, Juke, Jukolin and Cool Hand Uke and the Enablers.In 1998, Scanlan was the American co-director of the Father and Son Reunion: The Braguinha Meets the Ukulele, a project in which the ukulele was returned to Madeira Island, Portugal. Three American players, including Scanlan, taught Madeiran folk musicians to play the ukulele and Scanlan learned the braguinha, a four-string instrument the size of a ukulele. The group did two shows in Madeira and performed at the World Exposition in Lisbon, Portugal.Scanlan has taught and directed several ukulele groups, including the Vokuleles in Chico, California and currently, the Strum Bums of Grass Valley, a group that made an appearance in the Mighty Uke movie and performed in New York and the International Ukulele Festival in Hawaii. Scanlan helped start and name the Ukuhooley group in Dublin, Ireland, and his students have gone on to start ukulele groups in Modesto, California and Albuquerque, New Mexico. He has served as emcee, performer and workshop presenter at the International Ukulele Ceilidh in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada. He did five iUke in the Fall ukulele performance and workshop tours from coast to coast, and is currently taking a break to write. His on-line ukulele course has more than 6000 subscribers in more than 80 countries.Scanlan believes anyone can learn to play the ukulele and use it to express how they feel at any given moment. His book is designed to help the reader get a good start at doing just that.
