STRUMMERS GUESTMAIL

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1-14-09,J. Regan
Kia Ora from Wellington, North Island, New Zealand.
I discovered your great website while searching for information about the ukulele. I have been thinking about learning the uke for about 6 mths now and am now about to buy one. Your site has provided me with lots of information and advice on all aspects of the ukulele. It is one of the easiest to use and most helpful that I have come across. I am going to get a soprano and am still trying different brands. I am drawn towards a rather nice Lanikai at this stage. I have played the guitar in the past (the very distant past) piano and recorder and am looking forward to my new musical adventure. I am 62 yrs old .. its never too late to take on a new challenge.
J.

1-14-09,Clint
Auwe! That right sistah. Neva too late. Specially for da ukule, yeah? Mahalos for you nice words bout my site too. I try.. you kno. Lanikai a good choice I tink. Realz. Enjoy whateva you gonna find here fo you. Jam on hoaaloha... jam on an enjoy.

1-4-09,P. Goldstein
My name is Perry Goldstein. I am 53 years old. I have been playing Ukulele for 33 years. I also play guitar.. bass and mandolin but the Uke is my favorite. I discovered your site by accident.. but am so happy I found it. I live in Fountain valley. I will join you on January 17th. My goal is to learn more Hawaiian songs and to learn to play better.. like Jake S.!

1-4-09,Clint
Cool.. keep practicing a little bit every day.. and someday.... someday.... someday.. until den..
see you on da 17th

12-23-08,J. Ka'aihue
Aloha Kakou. I was on Mele.com and saw a list of names and happened to click on yours. Love your website. Your pidgeon writing takes me back to those "hanabadah" days. I am native Hawaiian from Oahu but resides in Los Angeles.. about 34 years. My ukulele is an old kamaka and although theres a minor crack it plays well. Coming from a family of musicians I have been playing the ukulele since hanabadah dayz. Jerome and Moon of the Makaha Sons are my classmates and we use to jam in school. My cousin Kapono Ka'aihue is also a well known musician. I try to make it to his concerts when he comes to Los Angeles. Don't know if youre familar with the groups "Koauka" (Kaliu Rosa) and "Pali" (Pali Ka'aihue). They are my nephews. Im teaching my 3 year old mo'opuna (grand daughter) the uklele and songs of the islands. She sings Pearly Shells all the time and strums the uke like a pro. Anyway.. just wanted to say I love your site and am glad I clicked on your name. I'll stop by again. Until then.. Ahui Ho E Malama Pono.

12-23-08,Clint
Aloha e cuz.
I neva gonna understan what you wanna live here bruddah.. really. I visit na mokupuni every summer and that no even enuf fo me too. Anyways.. glad ko'u wala'au get you home for a bit. I kno how ko'u pu'uwai hurtin for da aina.. Im sure you too, fo realz.
Finally, too, you click on da link that actually take you somewhere on da net dats good, yeah? Cool. Welcome bruddah.
I findin myself ho'opa'a ha'awina olelo hawaii i na la apau. Tryin to get beta. Aka.. pa'akiki, bruddah. Hua olelo nui cuz. Still gonna push through dis journey tho caus I really dig it. I no know Kaliu but I have 2 CD from Pali. My favorite da first one. Really cool jams on dat one. One of my favorites.. really.. and I have a few CDs.. sheeeeesh... believe me bruddah. I appreciate you signin and hope you make it back again sometime. Mele Kalikimaka a hau'ole Makahiki hou, hoaaloha.

12-2-08,M. Kahuilaokalani Motas
Howzit bruddha, I have been a fan of this website for a while and have recently introduced my ukulele class to some of your compositions. I presently teach keiki class and Kupunas at Kaumakapili Church in Kalihi on Oahu. You know.. da church next to Tamashiro's Market on Palama St. Mahalos for making songs and presentations easy to follow and transposing chords is no problem for the keikis. They learning in the Key of C while da Kupunas get da real thing. Again mahalos and maybe one day.. you can pop in on one of the classes which I teach on Sundays before singspiration and the main mass.
Aloha Ke Akua.

12-2-08,Clint
Maika'i no! Glad you sign da site. Nice to hear na mokupuni kanaka diggin da pages too. An usin dem i loko o ka hale O Akua! Kupaianaha hoaloha. Mahalo to you and yours. I appreciate you takin da time. Mele Kalikimaka a hau'ole Makahiki hou. Laterz

11-25-08,MiaRosie
England...New to Ukes and lovin' them up - looking to learn the good ole fashioned way as well as via tabs. I want to understand chord formation.. scale positioning the works. Finding your pages to be mega oob. Thankyou !

11-25-08,Clint
Mahalo Nui e MiaRosie.. no'u ka hau'ole. Glad you finally found me here... I've been waiting.. okay.. (not really).. but glad you found me here. Use me and enjoy..hoaaloha. A huihou kaua.

11-21-08,Angie
Aloha from the island of Pasadena California! I found your website while looking for where notes are on the fretboard. It's a great website - very useful! I don't know how it happened... but one month ago I saw some ukuleles in the music store and when I came home I had one under my arm. Now I play it every day and it really lifts my spirits... even though I am getting unattractive bumpy "chicken skin" on the inside of my right forearm. You keep up the good work!

11-21-08,Clint
An you be a good islander at heart and keep up you chicken skin, sistah. Mahalos for checkin my site and signin. Enjoy

11-20-08,Charlie
Hey.. cool site brah. This is Charlie, fellow haole from loko wai Tahoe here in the frozen mountains of California. I just returned from my first trip to Hawaii and I've been drivin my wife nutz with a bad case of Kauai fever. I've been playing sax.. piano.. guitar.. etc ... for about four decades.. and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my first ukulele. Your site has reassured me that I'm not alone in this craziness.. even though my country music lovin co-workers are sure that I've lost it.. walking around humming "Ka Huila Wai". Can't wait to explore the site more deeply and start strummin. Mahalo, braddah Clint.
Charlie, Lake Tahoe, CA. ... age - old enough to be gettin AARP junk mail.

11-20-08,Clint
Glad you finally jump off those öpala instruments and find da kine ho'okahi, cuz. E komo mai, hoaaloha ...
Lots of cool ikepili on my site... so dig in.. and no worries about you friends tinkin you pupule.. if they diggin da country music.. den they lovin na mele paniolo no ho'i kekahi, yeah? Laterz.. and good luck to you on you journey. Mahalos for signin.

11-20-08,N. Rodriguez
Aloha! I recently came upon your website and wondered if maybe you can answer my question or even lead me in the right direction. In short.. my fiance and I fell in love with Hawaii and its amazing ukulele music about a year ago when we visited. We are now planning our wedding and truly want to find a ukulele version of the Bride's Chorus (Here comes the Bride). I have always wanted to come into that song but would love it if I could find a Hawaii sounding one. I don't know if you would have an idea of maybe a cd or artist that would have this. Either way.. thank you for sharing your love of music on your website. Mahalo. N. Rodriguez

11-20-08,Clint
A'ole hoaaloha.. kala mai.
I have never heard a version of the "Bride's Chorus" in Hawaiian.. or done in any Hawaiian way. Out of the 300 Hawaiian CD's that I do have.. I know of 2 Hawaiian wedding mele that are done in olelo Hawaii.
One is.. of course.. the Hawaiian Wedding Song.. Ke Kali Nei Au ... ( yeah, that one ).. it is done by the group MAUNALUA.. and is on their first album.. ( of the same name ). Very nicely done.
The other is done by the group NA KAMA and is off their album ( Kamakolu ). It is called E Maliu Mai and is also very beautiful.
If you lookin for the Brides Chorus done in Hawaiian.. you may just have to hire some jammin Hawaiian jammers to play it for you. Good luck to you, sistah.

11-18-08,Martin S.
What a fabulous website ...Hi! I'm Martin from the chilly and wet Scottish lowlands. I've just started on my first soprano ukulele. I've fallen in love for the first time in my life! What a beautiful instrument. Your words of encouragement to beginners... with your helpful signposts have been a constant source of pleasure. You explain things very simply and make it so much more interesting than some dry old instruction book. You're a great teacher and thanks for your enthusiasm which is really contagious. Keep it up. Aloha from Glasgow.

11-18-08,Clint
How nice. Mahalos to you cuz. Glad you readin da site from way over there.. findin lots of stuff to use and thinkin da site easy to navigate around. I really appreciate your kind words. Laterz bruddah.

11-8-08,J. Bryant III
Visited Big Island and fell in love with the Uke. Love Big IZ. I bought my son a tenor Uke and had to get a solid one for me a few days later. We come from around Springfield Illinois. I am 36.. my boy is 10. We are excited about learning to play the uke. Mahalo for this site... J. and C. Bryant

11-8-08,Clint
Sorry for da delay on posting, bruddah. Glad you both finally gound da site. Good stuffs here to use so you and your boy can learn tugeda. Play a bit every day. Good times cuz. Mahalos for signin here.

11-8-08,Liz
Hi I'm Liz and my island is England. Since I retired a year ago ..62 years old now.. I have got into playing this dear little instrument the ukulele. So far I on have three sopranos but am about to bid for another on Ebay.. I love the old ones... Now a very clever neighbour is helping me to make my own tenor ukulele, we are just waiting for the plan to arrive from a web contact.. "Don's plans" of USA. I play bass with a crowd of guitarists and a drummer in my little village. Until very recently I was the bass player in a blues band.. Blueprint 4.. we are on My space still! I am only a basic player.. started that 3 years ago. But this little uke sounds so sweet and is so portable.. it comes with me everywhere.. great when stuck in traffic! Your web site is just fantastic.. thank you so much.. if I ever come to the USA Ill be at your group. Sunday I went to see the "'Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain" they are fun and made me want to be a better player. ..if you havent heard of them they are on You Tube.. You have put so much work into your site making it interesting and very easy to negotiate thanks again and again. Liz

11-8-08,Clint
If you look at my site you gonna see that Ebay a sickness wen it come to ukes. Oooo..Careful sistah. Glad you found my site an hope you keep comin back until you find no more stuffs you need. Enjoy dis little instrument. Jam on. Mahalos for signin from way over there too.

11-3-08,Wes R.
If youre interested in little snippets of oral history.. please read on. If not.. let me say I love your pages and find them very useful. Heres the story. I am a semi retired radio announcer and in the early 1980s I was working at a station.. WRFM.. in New York City. We ran a commentary from former Treasury Secretary William Simon at 530 PM each weekday. One day after the commentary ended.. the phone rang and the guy on the other end asked if he could have a transcript of the item. I said something along the lines of "You sound just like Arthur Godfrey." And he replied "Thats because I AM Arthur Godfrey." We got to be .. I wont say friends.. but acquaintances.. and one day I was at his place in the East 70s and brought him the pieces of an Arthur Godfrey Uke Player.. like the one shown on your page. He lit up and told me he hadnt thought about that thing in decades and asked why it was in pieces. I told him it was because I was five years old when I got it.. and like any five year old.. ( was about 40 at the time ) and couldnt get it back together. So I used the pieces to figure out the chords and learned to play them without the gadget. We had a good laugh. While I still had the pieces of the Uke Player.. I no longer had the uke.. the same Flamingo youve pictured. It had a "terrible accident". Well.. not exactly an accident. I busted it over my sisters rear during a fight when I was maybe seven or eight. I always wanted another just like it and about ten years ago I found one. I think I paid 60 or 70 bucks for it. The original was 2.98.
Wes Richards New York NY

11-3-08,Clint
Cute mo'olelo cuz. Time goes yeah? Awesome that you got to know A.G.. Cool. Many mahalos for signin my site page. Hope you find stuffs you can use. Laterz hoaaolha

11-3-08,Sören
Hello.. my name is Sören but all of my friends call me Smokey. i'm from Germany.. 30 years old. Im so lucky that I have found your site today! Cos the last two years was very bad for me and I decided to give my life a lil more peace. And I guess learn to play a ukulele is exactly what I need. I was the first German Ruff Ryder. And if youve already heard about the RR fam.. you know.. that are also RR's on Hawaii. One of my RR friends are from Hawaii. He live in Kamuela. I realy love this piece of earth. The culture.. musik... everything. I realy hope to learn.. with your help... to play this instrument. Sorry for my english.. I hope you have understand me .. Much greetz from Germany.. the other side of world .. Smoky!

11-3-08,Clint
Mahalos from signin from way over there cus.. glad you found me here. Lots of stuff to use. You have questions lemme know how I can help. You starting in the right place tho. Dis da kine place to begin bruddah. Good luck.. stay in touch.

10-10-08,Joe
Mahalo! I'm a firsttime guest. My name is Joe. I became interested in playing the ukelele just in August 2008. I met a ukelele instructor in the Makaha Valley because my friend plays the guitar and wanted to learn the ukelele. "Danny" gave us a quick lesson and I have been fascinated with this instrument since.

10-10-08,Clint
Cool. It's a great instrument to be fascinated by. Much you can do wid dis awesome instrument... but so little time too, yeah? Mahalos for signin cuz

10-5-08,Shelby
Name... Shelby Age... you don wanna know... I've just spent lotsa time on your site tonite ... hubby got bit by "the flea" after our trip to Hawaii ... which was completely awesome by the way and I can't wait to go back ...we've had a Martin uke in the closet since my Papa died in 1996. After being surrounded by IZ music.. hubby and devoted grandson took the uke out and began teaching himself to play with the help of everything I can find on the Internet. Your site has lots.. everything a newbie with a now way too expensive uke needs to know.... I may have to pick up a practice uke.. I'll probably never get to use Papas again... At least I can tune it ...to "my dog has fleas" even! one of Papas greatest pleasures in life was getting out the uke and singing and playing for the grandkids and greatgrandkids. My greatgrandfather was from Hawaii.. I don't know where though ...what are the chances of finding relatives of Manuel Souza in Hawaii ....but my grandparents had tons of Hawaiian music in their home and were very into the culture. So we're bringing it forward and like to think the Papa would be pleased that his old uke is making music again...

10-5-08,Clint
Cool that you puttin new life into da ol ukulele. Glad you find my site and hope you keep lookin and findin new stuffs to use for you. Mahalos for signin.. laterz

9-26-08,Kevin
Kia Ora from one island to another!
Hi Clint, My name is Kevin from the Islands of New Zealand! I see you have some from Australia, but none from New Zealand. I just love your website. You have done very well and it has helped me greatly in getting started with my Uke. I have just started learning the Ukulele last week and I'm really enjoying it. In fact, I bought a Ukulele for my 8 year old daughter for her birthday on the 2nd of October, and thought I would get one for myself so we both can learn. After a week of playing my wife couldn't believe how far I got in such a short time that she has joined me and is now learning the Ukulele too! We had a jam session last night and our German Homestay was listening and I gave her a Ukulele to try.. and now she is hooked and wants a Ukulele.. so I'm going out today to get her one! Hmmmm.... who else can we introduce to this great instrument and join our group? We have decided that we will learn Christmas songs then play it to our family on Christmas Day. My older daughter plays the Alto Sax so she will do the "Vocal" side while we play the melody. It will be a heap of fun. On the 22nd of November 08 New Zealand has a Ukulele Festival.. held at Mt. Smart Stadium (huge rugby field). The organisers think there will be over 1000 Uke players and will try for a World Record of the most Uke players in one place. I'm looking forward to this. Looking through your website.. are you selling your Playbooks? You have some really nice songs on them that would be fun to play and others that I haven't heard of before. Keep up the good work.
Cheers.. Kevin

9-26-08,Clint
Mahalos for sign from New Zealand cuz. Cool. I can see you just a few känaka away from having you own strummin group there too .. so keep recruitin'em cuz. Nice you can play togeda as a family.. very nice. I email you bout da Playbooks too. Keep in touch lemme kno how goes it bruddah

9-15-08,Ron Oliva
Hey bra ... I lookin for da kine info on da uke and come across this fine site. Good info ... hope you don't mind me copying for my use. Originally I come from Guam now makin' my home here in da desert ... whoa hot bra! My name is Ron Oliva..Age ... well I no tell ... old dats all. Wishing you more good luck.

9-15-08,Clint
Aloha e Ron. Mahalos for signin and da nice words cuz. Hope you enjoyin dat cool mountain breeze...and da site here for you to copy... so copy away bruddah! My first love from Guam too. Long time ago hoaaloha. Enjoy da site stuffs .. and a big Aloha to Mila Darag.. where ever you are.. ko'u hoapili...

8-27-08,Carol Wagers
I'm looking for a group in the Las Vegas area... preferably in the SE area of town or in Henderson. I'd like to play with a group for fun. I'm primarily a pianist and organist, but am enjoying learning the uke. You have my email above. I forgot the other things you requested.. I'm retired from the Clark Co. School District. Are there other CCSD employees ..past or present.. who would like to form a uke band?

8-27-08,Clint
I was raised in Henderson sistah.. a place called Victory Village.. da projects really.. just off Boulder Hwy, near a KFC and a church-school. Da places houses now.. den we moved across da Hwy to Kansas ave. Broke down house den too. Ahhh.. memories. Anyways.. anybody wanna start somtin wid Carol write me here and I post. luck to you an Mahalos for signin

8-24-08,Douglas Chew
Thanks Clint for posting all that great uke info. It seems everyone that catches Uke Fever ends up collecting more ukes than they can play. Ive got 4 and will stop at that for now. Ive given away 4 ukes to get people interested. Sadly either you've got music inside you trying to get out or not. You can only lead the horse to water. Good job on coding your website too!

8-24-08,Clint
Glad you found it. Just keep strummin for fun.. no worries about wether you gonna have music inside you or not.. everybody have it inside.. jus... let it come out ... have good times and play and sing. That what it all about anyway... yeah? Laterz hoaaloha

8-11-08,Cynthia Van Den Berge
Greetings! I am a guitarist who has become enthralled with the lovely little uke since hearing the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I am not sure who the musician is but I heard that he is famous. I play on a worship team at church and would really like to see if I can adapt the Uke to some of our contemporary Christian and Gospel music. What do you think? Any suggestions as to where I should purchase an instrument and what type I should start out with? I love your website! Regards, Cynthia

8-11-08,Clint
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole... yeah... sort of known in da islands too... I think.. anyways.. I think da uke would be really nice in da church.. have played in a church and loved da resonance throughout da place wen playing.. nice..
I would look at "Lanikai" ukulele. Good ukes for da money. Chek you local music store...Mahalos for checkin da site. A hui hou..

7-29-08,Wally Beck
Aloha, My name is Wally Beck from Hilo Hi. (Keaukaha) hawaiian homes land with the rest of the brahhdas. Born and grew up there till I left for college. A very good friend of mine from California name Pat Enos who I played music with for 20 years in Maryland told me about your Website and how Awesome it was. My wife and I just spent a week at Pats house on Widbey Is. Wash. with Pat.. his wife and Bill Tapia playing music. Bill and Pat did a uke work shop in seattle and we did a a kanikapila on the island for some of the local residence. Of course along with some local grinds. Great music and great time all week. Bill had a bunch of students came to the house on the island for private lessons. The only way to the island is by ferry boat and it was an experience. Of course the highlite of the trip was playing music again with Bill for a whole week and learning from this 100 year old legend. I retired from G.E. after working with them for 34 years. and live in Maryland for 40 yrs. I have a son who use to live in Huntington Beach but recently moved to the Big Island after 12 years in California. He had his own Architec Business in California after graduating with his masters from UCLA. And I have a daughter living in Maryland with her husband and my keiki wahine Moopuna. Mahalo for the priviledge of checking out your website and great job in putting it together. Wally

7-29-08,Clint
No'u ka hau'oli bruddah. Glad you check me out here. I looove Hilo... I rememba stayin Uncle Billys right there next to Kens.. Jammin wid da local band AUKAHI PRIDE (on da night off)... awesome group.. I used to know da brother of da lead singa.. and he turned me on to da group.. nice melodies and cool sounds. Anyways.. Kens Pancake House.. right there.. da kine. By da way Känaka.. My Kens Pancake house T-shirt all worn out...I need anuddah.. so if anybody in Hilo seeing dis.. check my store on dis site.. we can trade some stuffs.. and rememba..I wear X-Large cuz. Anyways..I know Pat Enos.. met him some years ago..yeah? Have had the pleasure of playing and working with Bill Tapia for a few years.. a few years ago as well. man.. dat bruddah still kickin it. Sounds like you had good times.. kanikapila and all... He nui nö ka le'ale'a. Mahalos for signin.. and no'ono'o 'au about time you get home to Hilo.. cuz. Lawa paha ka wala'au...a hui hou hoaaloha.

7-28-08,Damien
My name- Damien.. Island- Northern California .. Age- old .. Story- I learned to play melody ukulele from a fine young hawaiian player about 60 years ago and have lost track of him. ..How time flies!.. His name was or is Kia Kinney. I was searching the net for any information about him and ran into your strummers site .. very nice and most helpful. If any of your older strummers have any info about Kia I would appreciate hearing from them. with much appreciation.. Mahalo nui loa .. Damien ..Keoki

7-28-08,Clint
Kala mai bruddah... dont kno Kia.. but melody uke da way to go cuz. Maybe somebody make da contact here about Kia. Läki maika'i hoaaloha.

7-26-08,Michael M.
Hi Clint.. Love the site which I stumbled across the other day. Wondering what it would cost me to get your playbooks-cds including the postage to North Yorkshire, England ....living in Whitby (Captain Cook country). Have been playing soprano uke since 2001 and enjoy learning loads of songs. Dont have any Hawaiian stuff in my repertoire cos I dont know them....thats why I am keen to listen and copy.. with chord shapes to help me...usually quite quick now to pick it up. Would be great to get to one of your sessions .. still havent ventured over to the States but it sounds like a brilliant excuse! By the way.. you wouldnt have the chords (starting with C.. tuning GCEA) for Chatannooga Choo Choo would you?...love the song but cant seem to google them up due to copyright I guess. Your site has got a real passion about it and I hope it goes from strength to strength. All the best and when I get the hang of it.. will be speaking the Hawaiian lingo too!

7-26-08,Clint
Eh cuz. Wow.. from way ova thee you lookin at da site. Cool. I email you bout da books and CD set... and I see if I can attach da Choo Choo song as well. You really need some cool Hawaiian jams in you rep. serious. Keep jammin bruddah. Laterz

7-15-08,Stanley
Hi, Just a quick note to thank you for all the invaluable info I am getting from your website. I keep coming back and printing out stuff. Music theory I find a bit frightening but nothings impossible.. some things just take longer than others. I'm 62 years old and teaching myself to play the ukulele with help from good people like yourself. I live in Brisbane Australia. Thanks Again. Stan.

7-15-08,Clint
Cool. I dig when folks email me from da far places. Glad you findin stuffs you can use. Jam on.. my downunda brudda.. oh, and no fear da theory cuz.. invaluable stuffs once you understand

7-15-08,Ken and Ena
Hi ken here. im just about to recieve my uku from usa. im 59 bass and guitar player but going to give uku a go have tried a couple like them. your site is brill. keep up good work ..i will return.. who else said that? bye for now

7-15-08,Clint
Man.. dat one "no frills" email story there brah.. serious... Mahalos for signin tho.

7-14-08,Larry and Marilyn
Thanks bro for a great site. I belong to the group Grand Rapids organization of ukulele players. We meet once a month here in GR.

7-14-08,Clint
Cool. Jam on in GR. Mahalos for signin cuz