STRUMMERS GUESTMAIL ARCHIVES PAGE FOUR
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opportunity to sign my Guestmail as well. Nuthin' to view until you sign,
yeah?
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Mahalo to all of you who have taken
the time to sign my book.
5-30-04,Will Adley
Hello,
I am looking for some ukulele advice. I am not a ukulele player, I can't play any
instrument really, but I am an OK poet. Anyway, I am going out to Hawaii for
my honeymoon in August with my true love, Michelle. She is very sentimental. I think
it would be perfect if I could write a ukulele song for her on our honeymoon. When we go
to a luau where there will be a ukulele player, I would like him to play the ukulele
while I sing her my song (which I have yet to write), but knowing nothing about
music I am not sure what I could ask him to play. Is there a simple chord pattern I could
ask him to play that I could write a song to, or is there a song that most ukulele players
would know and I could write my own words over?
If so, where can I hear it so I can write lyrics to match it? I would appreciate
any help.
Thanks so much,
Will Adley,
Raleigh, North Carolina
5-30-04,Clint
Eh cuz, you sentimental too yeah? Dis really on your mind cause you email
me after midnight brah!
Dis what I tell all da other poets too. If you need practice wid da rhyming and syllable
matching, take a simple tune you already kno and write da new words for it.
Twinkle twinkle, Tiny bubbles, something like that, and jus plug in da new
romantic words, yeah?
If you no have problem wid poetic stuffs then hea some easy music progressions everybody
who play da uke need to know:
C F G7 C
F Bb C7 F
G C D7 G
All very basic progressions brah. I wrote many tunes with these progressions. No need
to have all extra chords too. These basic progressions enuf to give you many beautiful
songs to be romantic by.
If you need to hear some of these musics they have many compilation CD's ou there wid all
the famous Hawaiian Hapa Haole tunes, (all the Hawaiian musics white people know).
I put this hea on the guestbook cause many people email me wid the same question. See,
many white people gettin romantic wid dis good Hawaiian ukulele.
Ukulele da kine brah!
Mahalo for checkin da site. More questions jus ask, Will.
Good Luck
Clint
5-28-04,Leona Lueders
Hi!
I'm a homesick Hawaiian living in Bremerton, Washington (been here since 1985).
On a trip to "home" to Hawaii in 2000, my brother sent me to a friend and I made
a ukulele (with a LOT of help from HIS friends). I'm working on a shop in the
garage here to make more for my kids and grandkids. It is slow going.
I've not played the uke since I was little and so I'm trying to pick it up again,
so, I'll improve with a lot of help from your website.
Thanks a lot....Leona Lueders
5-28-04,Clint
Thanks Leona. I'm glad you can use the site, that's great.
Keep up the playing and in no time you'll be an Island jammer again!
Eh, when you finish makin' my new "Lueders uke", lemme know and I'll
ship off my mailing address to you!
Mahalo :)
Mahalo for signin'
5-17-04,Tony Gonzales
Hi Clint,
Thank you so much for the words and chords for the music Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What
A Wonderful World. We just got the CD's for What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
and the CD by Tony Bennet and K.D. Lang.
Tony Bennet and K.D. Lang have a commercial for MCI while they sing What A Wonderful World
that has been playing for awhile now on TV, anyway my wife started to sing along with them
during the commercial. So we got the CD's to listen to and sing along with them. Now
with the lyrics and chords you have given us, I can play the Uke for two of our favorite
songs.
I don't know how I have missed your website before. I have spent all morning looking at
all the work you have put into it. It's Great!!!
We live in Chatsworth in the valley. I wish you and your group were closer to us, I have
been playing for almost three years now and I am in my senior years of 71. I would love to
have one of your songbooks, are they available for purchase?
Thanks again for all the work you have put into your website. In reading all the feedback,
you have made alot of us very happy.
By the way, the "Hawaii Five O" theme song has always been one of my favorites. It
is what my wife woke up to this morning :)
All The Best,
Tony Gonzales
5-17-04,Clint
Tony, it was nice talking with you. (Conversation not printed here)
Mahalo for your kind words, purchase and support.
Keep in touch, cuz!
5-15-04,Walter Vida, jr.
My name is Walter Vida jr.
I'm from Carson, Ca.
I'm 22 years old.
I checked out your web pages and I think they are one of the best helps I can find for
the ukulele. I just started playing and am basically teaching myself to
how to play. I know most of my Major and minor chords and a few
extras, but learning, I could sure use a lot of help on my strumming
patterns. Well, Thanks.
Walter Vida jr.
5-15-04,Clint
Thanks for signin', Walter. Everybody struggles wid how to start strummin'
Just keepum goin and sooner than laterz you gonna find your own personal strummin.
You might think about checkin da South Bay Strummers out at da Bartlett on Saturdays.
We local and can help you.
Good luck, cuz.
5-2-04,Don Becker Age 51
Music I like for uke: Tin Pan, Blues, Rockabilly.
I am a bass player and trained
in theory. Been playing 35 years. Also play guitar. I am very into the uke now and would
like to find others in my area, (Visalia). I know of no one and I know a lot
of musicians. Contact me through the Network Page to play
some Uke and sing.
5-2-04,Clint
Thanks for signin', Don. Will post. Hang in there braddah.
4-26-04,Dave Granholm Age 50
Well, the "student" ukulele that I purchased arrived and my son and I eagerly
tuned it up and started strumming. Oh-my-gosh...I should-a saved my money until I
could afford a "real" one. It pretty much has zero tone quality and won't tune to
itself. (It's kind of pretty lookin' though). I really did know better, but
when that ukulele bug bit, I just had to have one. So, for me it's back to saving
my pennies until I can purchase a decent uke.
My musically inclined talented 14-year old son, in spite of the money-management
shortfalls of his el-cheapo Dad, has spent a lot of time with the new "student"
ukulele and can make some real pretty sounds with it. Enjoying life in Evansville, Indiana.
4-26-04,Clint
Sorry you get stuck wid da bumma of a uke, yeah? Make sure your son no
learn bad habits playin on da garbage strumma, can be pretty hard to break. At least
it'll make a nice wall hanga when you're done wid it, (it being all
pretty and all). I look forward to you gettin a decent strumma. Lemme know
when it arrives cuz.
Mahalo for signin again, brah.
Aaahhh.... da Evansville....
4-16-04,Yolanda
Yo bro, great site. I love that 5-0 song. Well tomorrow I'll be going to my second
uke club get together in Fresno. Bro the club is mostly older Japanese Hawaiians, we play
of course Hawaiian music and Japanese for me is great. I love it being the only Mexican
in the group, at home I play Mexican love songs from the 1940's and 1950's, the
best years.
Well thanks bro, and Book'em Dano!!!
4-16-04,Clint
Oh yeah, sistah. Glad you breakin tru da cultural boundaries, yeah?
Keep'um jammin.
Good you playin da Mexican jams, and
from da 50's too, very cool jams, cuz.
Da sistah Yolanda lightin'em up on da Island of Fresno!
Mahalo for signin' um.
4-15-04,Don Price
Don Price, but "Kona" works for me. Also from Indiana....Gary. Grew up there
during the 50's. Been in CA 40 years now. Strummin' for the past 2 months. I started
after I heard a friend play "Happy Birthday" on a ukulele. It just looked like fun.
Have joined with 3 groups. South Bay Strummers, Oasis Strummers and Kolohe ukulele club.
I guess I think if 1 is good, 3 must be better. I'm lovin' it!
Also, I want to get some stuff from your store. How do I do that?
Mahalo
Be well
Kona
4-15-04,Clint
Hi Don. You can email me and let me know what you want from the store and I can bring it
with me this Saturday. Or, you can email me and place an order, send a check and
I'll mail the items to your house. (Bringin' da stuffs
easier, yeah?).
Mahalo Nui Loa for joining the Strummers and signin' my
guestmail, Kona!
4-13-04,Dave Granholm
Thanks for the great website.
My 14 year old son and I both play guitar (which we both play everyday).
A few weeks ago we were in Memphis, TN visiting my mother-in-law's home when
we spotted an old ukulele on a shelf.
Of course, it is impossible to not pick up a uke that suddenly appears before you.
Turns out, she had some old (1950 copyright) ukulele songbooks and we tuned up
the old uke and started strumming away. We were TOTALLY hooked by the sound and said in
unison..."We gotta get one of these!!"
My father-in-law (now deceased) was born and grew up on Oahu and, as
I found out, loved to play the ukulele.
So, I ordered an inexpensive ukulele over the web and can't wait for it to arrive.
Hope I'm not too disappointed with my purchase of a "student" uke, but the
finances won't stretch for a "real" one just yet.
Discovering the sound of the ukulele helped me remember that "Life is Great".
Best wishes,
Dave Granholm, Evansville, Indiana
4-13-04,Clint
Aaahhh, Evansville. I Grew up in Ft. Wayne myself. North Side High School.
(Go Redskins!) Small Island, yeah? Back in mine hana butta days I be
crusin' all da time tru Evansville, Decatur, Grabil, all those small kine towns.
Many long time ago, cuz.
Then I was called to my bigga island hea in L.A.
More betta hea fo me now, hea.
Mahalo for singin' da guestmail pages Dave. Hope you and you son keep usin' da
site. Lots good stuffs hea.
Good luck, brah!
4-01-04,Lee Rizzo Age 35
Been playing the six string for 10 years. Can't tell y'all how it makes me feel.
Just takes me out of this world for a while. Anyway, went to Kaua'i last summer and
got married with all our family there. Listened to the local radio stations and heard the
ukulele everywhere. Doing hit songs Hawaiian style with that uke. Then I heard the Bruddah
IZ. Holy S**t, when he played that thing I melted in my chair. It was so
relaxing, beautiful, it put me in a trance. Well I stared out into space and felt so
at ease.
Well I'm back home in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I got a nice, cheap Baritone for
X-mas. Well, got a book, learned some chords and now finding Hawaiian songs on the
web (thank you). I want to expand my Hawaiian music collection cause all I got is
IZ's Facing Future. Oh yeah, and one Hapa CD. Can't think of the title. Give
me some suggestions for great Hawaiian music with the uke taking control. Dude,
I can't put this thing down. It is so pretty sounding. I'm not great, but I'm
starting to make it sound really nice. My family enjoys listening now. Anyway, can you
give me some artists you think I'll enjoy? Thanks for all you have done. I am so
excited about this music.
Lee Rizzo
P.S. I can't put this thing down
4-01-04,Clint
Brah, you crack me up. You remind me of me when I was jus learnin'. Right on.
Keep playin and sooner dan you know, you gonna be an island jammer brah! You already
have one of da best musics, IZ, cuz. You need to go buy da rest of his music too. Den
checkem' ou' my Uke Songbook pages hea on dis site. Many CDs listed, Da Kine.
Specially Ka'au wid that jammin, dominating ukulele we all love, Troy Fernandez,
my hero brah.
Mahalo for signin my guestmail Lee.
Good luck in your search for awesome jams. Know dis,
you started in da right place.
Questions just ask.
3-29-04,Jane A. Cruz
Hafa Adai,
(that's Hello - Guam tropical island style!)
My 10 year old son and I (48 year old mother) would love to learn to play the
ukulele...this will be a healing adventure for both of us...and so your help in getting us
started would be greatly appreciated.
We heard some young kids play the ukulele, and having some background playing the guitar,
picking up and strumming three basic chords was fun...that I want to learn more...and Peterboy is
interested.
I say this is a joint healing effort...we are going through a major change in our lives...being
separated from a loved one who chooses to live a life different from ours, and wanting other
things, other than us. So your help would also be a blessing.
Don't have much...but our heart's desire to learn and sing.
Jane A Cruz and Peter J. R. A. Cruz
3-29-04,Clint
Hi Jane...Please let me know what can I do to help.
3-21-04,Chuck Lawson
Reached the Ukulele Strummers web page from the Ukulele festival web page. I particularly
like your "All Positions" chord charts.
Also interested in the "About Me" pages. Interested in your music education,
playing the clarinet and uke, etc., and singing with school children. I played the
clarinet in my HS and University bands (for football games, basketball games and
concerts). Never got deep enough into it to improvise or play in and kind of dance or
jazz band. I also own a tenor sax, but only barely play it.
I play guitar and Uke enough to accompany singing of simple folk songs and children's
songs. I attend the Uke Club at the Laguna Woods Leisure World each week from 1 to 2:30 on
Fridays, although I am not currently a resident of Leisure World.
I am currently providing a volunteer music program, 1 half hour each Monday, for
three 2nd grade classes (all at once) at Culverdale school in Irvine. I did this
last year for two 1st grade classes. I am doing this because my grandson is a student there
and I was told there was no budget for a "music specialist" to provide music
in the lower grades.
I try to make music enjoyable for them, and also teach them some things about music,
including some theory. I'm pretty sure I'm succeeding in the "enjoyable" part
and I think I have given them some info and experience that will be useful to them as they go
further into music. I use the uke and guitar to accompany songs we sing together. We also do
some clapping routines to recorded music and a very little bit of simple dancing. I had
hoped to do more dancing with them (as I have experience in international folk dancing),
but I find that their coordination at this age is quite limited compared with adults.
I attended the Uke Festival in Cerritos last year, and will expect to attend the 2004 one
announced for October 2. Possibly I will meet you there.
Mahalo and Aloha
Chuck Lawson,
San Clemente, CA.
3-21-04,Clint
Thanks Chuck, I thought that I was the only one who read
my "About Me" pages.
:)
Great working with the kids too, I can't tell you how important music
is to children. Music helps you think and remember things, that's why you can't
find your car keys once you put them down, but you can remember the words to that
Village People song from 1973. Keep up the awesome work, and believe me, the kids
are getting more out of it than you may think.
This next year is the 3rd annual Ukulele Festival here in Southern California and it will be the
3rd year I've taught classes there. On festival day, look me up, cuz.
Mahalo for signin' da Guestmail.
3-10-04,Jill Drackett Age 23
Hello!
My name is Jill, I'm a 23 year old first year teacher, and I'm teaching
Music for the first time in my life. Although I could've decided otherwise. I chose to
teach the ukulele to my grade 6 class. I'd learnt the instrument myself when I was in
grade school and enjoyed it, so I hoped to pass the enjoyment onto my own class. At
first, I must say, I was feeling quite overwhelmed. I searched the internet looking
for advice or anything that might help. By chance one day, while looking for resources
to teach the recorder to my grade 4's and 5's, I came across your site. I just
want to tell you how wonderful your site is, and how much it has helped me. Your
easy-going style helps me have the same attitude, and playing the ukulele with my
students has become a favorite part of my week. I just want to thank you for having such a
terrific site.
Showing my appreciation,
Jill Drackett
Calgary, Alberta Canada
3-10-04,Clint
Thank you so much for your kind words about my site. I get many emails from teachers asking
questions about teaching ukulele in their classrooms. See people, it can certainly be done.
You should be very proud of yourself, Jill. Any teacher who takes the time to teach music
in their classrooms, as well as the regular curriculum, is one awesome teacher.
Mahalo Nui Loa, Jill. "Eh?"
3-8-04,Michael Victor Brookshire
Mahalo to you too.
Your site got me pullin out my old uke from the closet, from back when
a few of us crazies had an Aikido dojo in Americus Georgia. We were the Americus Aikikai,
the others just called us the Mangitsu Dojo, meaning "full moon dojo." Wonder
what they meant? My sensei just called me up and asked if I wanted him to pick me up
a uke with real wood, fingerboard, frets, etc. I said sure, but then we
tried the Americus Ukulelikai thing and it was...well, I had a great time. Your
chord chart is fun and informative, and I look forward to going through some more songs.
You know, I never met Bruddah IZ, but I heard Somewhere as the credit song on Finding
Forrester. Couldn't stop obsessing over that beautiful voice and the heartfelt way he sang
it. I still cry sometimes when I hear it. I have played it for everybody at work, I like
to play it the last few minutes of the shift. It mellows people out when I do this. IZ is
missed by me, though he was gone when I first heard him.
I live in Perry, Ga. After the flood of '94 I found out I was living on South Perry
Island. I have grown to appreciate the sentiment more and more. I am now 55, but hope
to grow up one day, just leave and go plant myself on the beach, peaceful and
singing about peace so that others think about it too.
Peace,
VIC
3-8-04,Clint
Cool brah! I can hear longin in da voice. No can wait to jus sit in da sand an play
, yeah?
Aahh, IZ. What can be said bout dat? Awesome.
Mahalo Nui Loa for signin and keep strummin cuz!
Peace
2-16-04,Andy Andrews Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz
Clint - Aloha from Santa Cruz and our Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz - I invite all your
South Bay Strummers sisters and brothers to visit us here sometime - we meet monthly -
find out when at www.ukuleleclub.com - and come to our big UkeFest West in April -
check out ukefestwest.com - Mahalo for your great site and maybe someday we can play
Island style together - Andy
2-16-04,Clint
Mahalo Nui Loa, Andy
2-6-04,Keoki Tsugashi Age 38
Eh cuz, great site. Love all your pages. Very well done. Mahalo.
2-6-04,Clint
Mahalo to you Braddah, Thanks for signin'!
1-30-04,R. Nakama
Your site kicks some serious okole! Mahalo for all the information.
1-30-04,Clint
Ooooh yeah brah....
1-29-04,Kui Lee Age 38
Eh Clint, can appreciate what you do hea cuz. I know is lotta work but know dis,
you have da kine site hea. I have my site too yeah but is jus a little fun site fo me.
I like you information and sheets. Good job keepin um braddah. You know all is da bomb
wen I livin in da islands and checkin da site, yeah? Mahalo
Shaka
1-29-04,Clint
Mahalo, Kui. I appreciate your nice words brah.
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