What key should I sing that song in?

While not uniquely a ukulele issue, the question often arises about the key a song should be sung in. The answer is not complicated, but it requires a critical piece of information What is the highest note that you can sing?

Once you know the highest note you can sing, the answer is

Choose the key that makes highest note in the song
as close or equal to the highest note you can sing, but no higher!

For example, the highest note I can sing comfortably is D above middle C. Now, we need a song. How about "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon"?

• The song is written in the key of C.
• The highest note in the song is F ("Your silvery beams will bring love dreams...")
• F is the fourth note in the C major scale (C-D-E-F), so...whatever key I sing the song in, the highest note will be the fourth note of the scale.
• Since D is the highest note I can sing, I look for the key in which the fourth note of the scale is D.
• That scale is A! (A-B-C#-D)

I'd begin by seeing how the song works in the key of A.

• If the highest note is a passing note, I might be able to choose my key based on the second highest note.
• If a song lives near its highest note, that is, most of the notes are high or there is a long passage of high note, I might have to pitch the song in a lower key (G or F).

Oh, those wonderful *%)!# diminished chords!

[This is a draft. It's a pretty good draft, but it is a draft nonetheless. It may undergo some revision before being finalized, but I don't expect it to change much.]

As a hobbyist guitar player, whenever I came across a diminished chord I'd skip it. Six strings and a chord that requires 4 fingers in a cramped position is something I did not need, thank you.

That said, the sound of the diminished chord is really nice. A ukulele has but four strings and the position isn't that bad when there are only four strings. While there are many ways to form the same chord, it's easy to argue that there are only 3 diminished chords, all of the same shape but on different frets. Each one of the diminished chords can be named by any of the four notes in it. So, for example, (0,1,0,1) contains the notes G, C#, E, Bb so it can be called Gdim, C#dim, Edim, Bbdim.

\

Chord	Notes
	G	C#/Db	E	A#/Bb
	G#/Ab	D	F	B
	A	D#/Eb	F#/Gb	C

What could be simpler? But, if it's so simple, why can't I remember it?!

The above table is correct. It has pictures of the chords and their notes. However, having thought about diminished chords and being frustrated by them for some time, I have now come to appreciate that, to master diminished chords, it is essential to know the first three frets of the fretboard as if by rote. As a result, I've become more enamored of this second table that displays the fret board:

Fret	Notes
0 (nut)	G	C	E	A
1	G#/Ab	C#/Db	F	A#/Bb
2	A	D	F#/Gb	B
3	A#/Bb	D#/Eb	G	C

It is even better, as we shall see, when four notes are removed from the display

Fret	Notes
0 (nut)	G		E
1	G#/Ab	C#/Db	F	A#/Bb
2	A	D	F#/Gb	B
3		D#/Eb		C

As was already mentioned, all that one has to do to obtain a particular diminished chord is move the diminished shape so that it covers the note naming the chord. For example, to obtain Bdim move the shape so that a finger covers a B somewhere. There's

string	fret	chord
1	2	1212
2	7	7878
3	11	10,11,10,11
4	4	4545

Notice that the diminished chord repeats itself every three frets. That is, if (f,f+1,f,f+1) is a particular diminished chord, then so is (f+3,f+4,f+3,f+4), where 'f' is a certain fret number.

Leaving the C and A out of the fretboard diagram was a breakthrough of sorts for me. Like most ukulele players, I've drilled it into myself that the ukulele is tuned gCEA, so, when looking for a C, I automatically think of the open third string. However, that doesn't work for diminished chords because there is no way to fret the first and third strings below the nut! 'C' is first string, third fret. Similarly, 'A' is fourth string, second fret. It is no accident that 'C' and 'A' are emboldened in the table.

Oh, those wonderful 9 chords!

As an amateur guitar player, I didn't have much use for 9 chords. However, they sound wonderful and become surprisingly manageable on a ukulele with its four strings.

If you check the chord building chart from the "Chords, and how to make them" note, you'll see that a 9 chord is just a 7-th chord with the 9-th note of the scale added. Think '2', but an octave higher.

Consider three cases:

• 
  Bb: the 7 chord is (1,2,1,1). The 9 note is C. There is a C on the third fret of the first string, making the Bb9 (1,2,1,3)...which makes it sound a lot harder than it is! Keep the bar! That is, finger the Bb7 the usual way by using the index finger as a bar across all four strings and your middle finger fretting the second fret of the third string. Add your ring finger to the third fret of the first string and you've got it!

  This is a moveable chord. For example, when you move your index finger one fret up the neck to (2,3,2,4) and you've got B9!

• 
  D: the 7 chord is (2,2,2,3). The 9 note is E. There is an E to be found on the third string, fourth fret, making the D9 (2,4,2,3)...which makes it sound a lot harder than it is! If you finger your D7 by using your index finger as a bar on the 2-nd fret and your middle finger at the 3-rd fret of the first string, then all you need do is add your ring finger at the 4-th of the third string.

  This is a moveable chord. For example, when you move your index finger down the neck and let the nut take its place, you have C9=(0,2,1,0).

• 
  E: the 7 chord is (1,2,0,2). The 9 note is F#. There is an E to be found on the second string, second fret, making the D9 (1,2,2,2), which again can sound a lot harder than it is! Two ways to obtain the E9 are by using four finger tips and by barring the first three strings at the second fret with the middle finer, say, and arching the index finger to fret the fourth string. However, since the E9 has the first three strings fretted at the second fret, it doesn't matter what is done with them on the first fret. So, a what some find as a much easier way to form the E9 is by barring all of the strings across the first fret with the middle finder and all four strings across the first fret with the ring finger.

  This, too, is a moveable chord.

The best software for ukulele players: Songbook

It would be unthinkable for a series on software for ukulele players to not include Songbook, not just because it does what it does, but also because it is available on so many platforms, including iPhone/iPad, Android, Windows, and Mac OS X. Songbook can be synchronized across your devices by using Dropbox or any other program that will keep files and directories synced. (I use BitTorrent's Sync, myself. Sync is different from the BitTorrent service for peer-to-peer file sharing because no peers are involved in Sync other than your own.)

If a songsheet is in two-line format, Songbook can convert it into the chordpro format it needs to work its own magic. Songbook can do everything necessary to create a personal songbook or a songbook for a ukulele club. Songbook can

• convert files from chordpro to the easier to read two line text format,
• transpose to a different key on the fly or permanently, and
• add chord diagrams.

Highly recommended!

There are a few downsides. While I have not seen the program's source code, it is my sense that it recreates an index of song titles every time it is started. I am also guessing that it sorts the titles into alphabetical order and does it in an inefficient manner. I have more than 9,000 (nine thousand; not a typo) chordpro files. Songbook takes so long on to start on my tablets that it is easy to think that the program has frozen. As I type this, I realize that I don't like the inherent ambiguity in the phrase "so long", so I grabbed my older Asus MeMo ME301T and newer Samsung Tab A. It took 75 seconds for a list of song titles to appear on the MeMo and 70 seconds on the Tab A.

The other is for people like me who prefer to store song files in a directory structure rather than create playlists. Songbook for Android supports only one level of subdirectories. For example, if your chordpro files were stored in a directory called ChordPro, that directory could be subdivided into Rock, Pop, and Jazz, say, but Songbook would not be happy if Rock were subdivided into 60s, 70s, and so on.

SongBook costs $8 for Android, $19 for PC ($17 if you already own Android), $8 for iOS, $18 for Mac.

The best software for ukulele players: ChordSmith

Thus begins a series of occasional posts describing some of the best software for ukulele players. There's no better program to start with than ChordSmith. It's written in Java, so it will run on any platform that supports Java.

It performs a bunch of tasks that can be found in other programs.

• It can convert lead sheets in two line text format (one line chords, the line lyrics) to Chordpro. It also converts Chordpro to two line text.
• It transposes.
• I can be used to edit song files.

WAKE UP! I know it sounds boring because so many other programs do the same thing. However, ChordSmith has a batch mode! It can transform hundreds of files in the blink of an eye. If you've never faced this problem, then ChordSmith is probably not of interest. Other programs edit, transpose, and change format quite nicely (stay tuned for Songbook). However, over many years back in the last millennium, I created a collection of 200+ songs from Tin Pan Alley that I enjoy. I wanted to be able to use them on my tablets with apps that requires Chordpro format. The thought of transforming them one at a time was distressing, not because I couldn't do it, but because I could! I could, but it would be an arduous task. Google led me to ChordSmith, which accomplished the task in minutes, including the time it took to download the software. ChordSmith is giftware. I sent a gift. I had to. If I didn't, I'd still be feeling guilty about how much work it saved me.

I don't use ChordSmith as much now, but there are still occasions where it's the right tool for the job. For example, I might create a set of songsheets by cutting and pasting them in two line format from the Ultimate Guitar Archive. Then, I used ChordSmith to convert them to Chordpro format. However, for onezies and maybe twozies, I'll use other tools, including my modification of the Uke Geeks' Song-a-Matic editor. My modification retains any blank lines that appear in the songsheet file. The original Song-a-Matic strips them, which I find makes their resulting Chordpro file difficult to read.

Chords, and how to make them

If you lead a busy schedule, a chord is a set of three or more notes. If you have time on your hands, you can worry over whether two notes constitute a chord. :-)

Here is an outstanding chord construction table from Cheater Theory (v2) by Howlin' Hobbit. The entire document is worth a read.

Here are two of the many ways to use it.

• Constructing a chord from the ground up. Suppose you wanted to construct an Am7. The table tells us we need a 1 and a 5 along with a flatted 3 and flatted 7. The A scale has three sharps and is A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A
  (remember whole, whole, half, whole, whole, whole, half). Then (1,3b,5,7b) becomes (A,C,E,G)...the open strings!
• Modifying a chord. We know that the A shaped C chord is (5543) or (C,E,G,C). Suppose we needed a Cmaj7, that is, a Cmaj7. The chart tells us to add the 7-th note in the scale, B. We've got two Cs-that's one to spare--while the 2nd fret of first string is...a B! So, Cmaj7 is (5432)=(C,E,G,B). The usual first postition Cmaj7 one finds in chord charts is (0002)=(G,C,E,B).

Electric Ukuleles (The Eleuke)

One of the appeals (some might say dangers!) of the ukulele is that it is so inexpensive compared to other stringed instruments. Add how easy it is to learn and it becomes easy to start collecting them, and not necessarily on purpose!

It might start with wanting a few different sizes, but then there's the all weather uke, the acoustic-electric uke,... The novelty ukes!

Doesn't everyone need a [your favorite color] ukulele? One with your favorite sports team's logo? Is that baseball, football, basketball, hockey? Or all of the above? I haven't seen licensed soccer team logos, yet. Can they be far behind?

Then, there's the solid body electric uke. They come in two types--steel string and nylon string (which will be my generic term for "non-metal string"). I have tried steel string ukuleles but I have misgivings about steel due to my quaint notion that anything that calls itself a ukulele ought to be able to be played like a traditional ukulele. Steel string ukuleles can be resistant to standard right hand strumming techniques. That brings us back to nylon string ukuleles.

I like the Eleuke. It's strung with Aquila Nylgut, so I don't have to modify my right hand technique to save my hand. One advantage of a solid body uke is it can be played unplugged without annoying anyone when an acoustic uke would be a problem, such as early morning or late evening. Many Eleukes have an mp3 input and headphone output, so you can mix the uke with your mp3 and only you hear it. However, I believe this wasn't true for all models, so anyone who finds these features to be important should check for them.

Closeout models are available at the Eleuke site. My first one came from China with battery leakage. Eleuke sent a replacement battery case. I was anxious about replacing it myself, but the repair was straightforward. It involved nothing more that removing a few screws and unplugging the battery case from the electronics board. When I ordered again, I was careful to specify that the instruments be shipped without batteries.

There was a problem with the tone control in the second Eleuke. I was sent a set of replacement electronics. Again, the replacement was straightforward. The volume and tone control knobs had to be pulled off to access the nuts securing them. Otherwise, it was about the same as for replacing the battery compartment. The only other downside is that shipping from China is slow, so it can take a while if there is an issue to be resolved. To put it in context, though, the problems I experienced would not stop me from ordering again.

The style changes from year to year. My favorite shape is the dark one in the left of the photograph. I'd been haunting eBay looking for one that never appeared. I found the closeout site during a web search. The latest model is the Peanut. I didn't care for it much when it first came out, but it's starting to grow on me. I'm at the "The last thing I need is another ukulele" stage. ...but, they're not that expensive on eBay...

The On/Off switch: One item deserves special mention-the on/off switch. There isn't one, or rather there is, but not one you would normally expect. It's built into the connectors. The Eleuke ON when is connected to an amp or earbuds. Otherwise, it's OFF. Once I learned this through an email exchange with Philip K, the mystery of why the Eleuke's battery would run down overnight sometimes but not always was solved!

Note 5, Learning Chords Up and Down the Fretboard, Part 3 of many: He who knows, and knows not he knows...

...he is asleep, wake him. Or so the proverb goes.

These are a few things that, once pointed out to me, I realized I already knew, but I didn't appreciate how much they applied to mastering the fretboard.

If the ukulele is like the first four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret, then the ukulele capoed at the seventh fret is like a guitar, only an octave higher. That is, the notes at the 7-th fret are DGBE!

There are three places on the ukulele where there are no accidentals (sharps or flats):

• the nut, or zero fret, (GCEA), as we all know,
• the 7-th fret (DGBE) as we've just seen, and last,
• the 5-th fret, (CFAD).
• Everything repeats once we get to the twelfth fret.

Most of us know many first position chords and are comfortable moving from one to another. The same relative changes work all the way up the neck. For example consider, A (2,1,0,0) to D (2,2,2,x) [three string version]. If the A chord is made by using the middle and ring fingers, the index finger is available to be used as a bar, making the chord moveable. So, for example, (5,4,3,3) is the A chord moved up three frets making it, Bb, B, C. It's C! If one now does the same thing one did moving from A to D, the new chord (5,5,5,x) must be an F! You can see that by counting frets D, Eb, E, F, but it also follows automatically from changing the A shape to the D shape.

Note 4, Learning Chords Up and Down the Fretboard, Part 2 of many: The C, A, G, F, D System.

Note 3 discussed the CAGFD chord shapes. The CAGFD system is a way to find the same chord in different shapes up and down the neck. The concept is illustrated in this diagram from ukulelesafari.com.

from http://ukulelesafari.com/uploads/TIPS_1.zip (accessed February 7, 2016)

The key to the system lies in the order of the letters in CAGFD. The best way to remember it is by observing how similar it is to the word CAGED, which is what the system is called on the guitar. CAGED becomes CAGFD by dropping the bottom horizontal bar from the "E".

THe CAGFD system is based on the observation that when working up the neck,

• the C shape of a chord will be followed by the A shape,
• the A shape of a chord will be followed by the G shape,
• the G shape of a chord will be followed by the F shape,
• the F shape of a chord will be followed by the D shape,
• the D shape of a chord will be followed by the C shape,
• and keeps on going that way until there are no more frets.

If you can follow this next simple piece, all the rest will be mere detail.

Consider the first position C chord, (0003). The next place the C chord appears is as an A shape at (5433). And that's the CAGFD system: C shape followed by A shape followed by G shape followed by F shape followed by D shape. Here it is spelled out for C major.

• The first position C major is (0003).
• The next place the C chord appears up the neck is an A shape at (5433).
• The next place the C chord appears up the neck is a G shape at (5787).
• The next place the C chord appears up the neck is an F shape at (9787).
• The next place the C chord appears up the neck is a D shape at (12,12,12,10).
• The next place the C chord appears up the neck is a C shape at (12,12,12,15), if there are that many frets.

The same exercise for G is GFDCA, which is CAGFD wrapped around to start at G.

• The first position G major is (0232).
• The next is an F shape at (4232).
• The next is an D shape at (7775).
• The next is an C shape at (7,7,7,10).
• The next is an A shape at (12,11,10,10).
• The next is an G shape at (12,14,15,14), if there are that many frets.

All that remains is to explicitly note how the shapes overlap.

• C to A: The bar for the A shape starts at the note on the 1-st string where the C shape ends.
• A to G: The A and G shapes share the note on the 4-th string
• G to F: While very dissimilar fingerings may be used for the two shapes, they share the same notes on strings 1, 2, and 3. They differ only in the note on 4-th string.
• F to D: The only case where there is no overlap. The note on the 1-st string of the D shape lies one fret up the neck than the note on the 4-th string of the F shape.
• D to C: The shapes differ only in the note on the first string. It lies two frets below the bar for the D shape and three frets above the bar for the C shape.

The theory is that memorizing the way in which shapes are related will allow you to know the location of any chord anywhere on the neck. Maybe for some, but it doesn't work for me. If I need a chord up the neck, I don't have time to do the mental calculations before the need passes. Perhaps, its value lies in making it easier to learn where specific chords in specific places, It is interesting to compare the CAGFD system to Calvin Chin's Ukulele Breakthrough (see Note 3). The CAGFD system would have us learn every location of a specific chord, where Chin would have us learn which chord results from moving a specific shape up and down the neck. I find Chin's Breakthrough method works much better for me. However, as they say on the Internet, YMMV.

Because the ukulele has 4 strings compared to the guitar's 6, some have advocated for a more compact system, which is often called GDB. The B shape is the same as the A shape, so GDB is equivalent to GDA. This makes GDB (GDA) a simplified version of CAGFD. That is, GDA is GfDcA, which is cAGfD wrapped around.

Note 3, Learning Chords Up and Down the Fretboard, Part 1 of many: The C, A, G, F, D major chord shapes.

In order to learn chords up and down the neck, it is necessary to learn the notes on the fretboard.

One approach to learning chords is based on a system known as CAGED for the guitar, which becomes CAGFD for the ukulele. It begins by recognizing that there are essentially 5 basic chord shapes for major chords. They're named by the chords they form in the first position, that is, closest to the nut.

Each of these shapes can be made into a movable chord when it is slid up the neck by using a the index finger as a bar (except in the case of "D"). For example, take the C shape and slide it up the neck two frets (remembering to bar the 2-nd. 3-rd, and 4-th strings). (0003) becomes (2225) and the C major chord becomes a D major (C to C#/Db to D).

There are many ways to look at it. Focusing on the major chords only:

• The chord produced by the C major shape gets its name from the note on the 1-st string.
• The chord produced by the A major shape gets its name from the note on the 1-st string.
• The chord produced by the G major shape gets its name from the note on the 2-nd string.
• The chord produced by the F major shape gets its name from the note on the 2-nd string.
• The chord produced by the D major shape gets its name from the note on the 3-rd string.

The scheme could be expanded a bit.

• The chord produced by the C major shape also gets its name from the note on the 3-rd string.
• The chord produced by the A major shape also gets its name from the note on the 4-th string.
• The chord produced by the G major shape also gets its name from the note on the 4-th string.

but I'm not sure it helps. Trying to memorize too much can lead to overload, better to learn it by repetition playing.

The scheme for 7-th and minor chords are different For example, in C7=(0001) the C appears only on the 3-rd string, while in Cm=(5333), C appears on both the 1-st and 4-th strings. It has been suggested that one memorize a system for each type of chord.

Calvin Chin, in his delightful book Ukulele Breakthrough, suggests grouping forms by string! For example, the note on the first (A) string names

• the major chord resulting from moving the first position C shape,
• the major chord resulting from moving the first position A shape,
• the minor chord resulting from moving the first position Am shape, and
• the minor chord resulting from moving the first position D7 shape.

There is something to be said for picking a system and sticking with it. There is also something to be said for picking up a little bit here and there. Whatever leads to an "Aha!" moment is good!

These are the chords, but it is not the CAGFD system. We'll see that next time.

Exercise

Pick a simple three chord song.

• Play it by using chords rooted on the first string only.
• Play it by using chords rooted on the second string only.
• Play it by using chords rooted on the third string only.
• Play it by using chords rooted on the fourth string only.

For example, if the song were in C, the three chords would be C=(0003), F=(5558), G=(7,7,7,10).

(You can transpose to a different key
if the chords would drive you too far up the neck.)

Note 2: Ukulele Songbooks

Pixelated

There isn't much need for a post like this. Enter "ukulele songbook" in Google (without quotation marks) and you'll get so many songs that there's a real danger of being swamped by them. You run the risk of spending more time managing the songbooks than playing their songs! That said, there are three sites worth investigating. If you start with these, it may be unnecessary to go anywhere else!

• Dr. Uke has over 1,500 songs in PDF files. It also has baritone ukulele versions. The site has been archived at archive.org, so the content will continue to be available should the link stop working.
• Richard G has over 1,200 songs in PDF files. The site has been archived at archive.org, so the content will continue to be available should the link stop working.
• A trip to Jim's Ukulele Songbook will get you a songbook containing over 1,200 songs. The songs on Dr Uke and Richard G's sites are intended to be downloaded one at a time. Jim's songbook is a single file containing all of Jim's songs. This songbook, too, has been archived.

The Ultimate Guitar Archive is a great complement to these sites. It's the place to start if you're looking for a specific song. Some may remember the Online Guitar Archive (OLGA). It was shut down by music publishers for violating their copyrights. The Ultimate Guitar Archive, however, operates under an agreement with the Harry Fox Agency, which represents over 44,000 publishers.

Paper

As with online songbooks, there's really no reason why one needs a ukulele version UNLESS one wants ukulele chord diagrams accompanying the tunes. Many ukulele songbooks--way too many--are nothing more than guitar songbooks with guitar chord diagrams replaced by ukulele chord diagrams. I'm of two minds about this. OT1H, why not? The buyer gets the songs and the diagrams that make the songs easier to play. OTOH, see note 1.b. (The ukulele is NOT like the first four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret!). One would hope that a publisher would have the courtesy to make the arrangements sound a bit more ukulele-like.

There seems to be--you'll forgive me my observation--considerable price gouging going on. There are too many songbooks where the cost per song seems exorbitant, especially when all that is done is replacing guitar chord diagrams with ukulele chord diagrams. Using current Amazon prices and not naming names, many songbooks come it at about 33 cents per song. Two notable exceptions are The Daily Ukulele and The Daily Ukulele Leap Year Edition, which cost out at a bit less than 14 cents per song.

Note 1.b. The ukulele is NOT like the first four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret!

How many times have I looked at a long string of chords in a piece of ukulele sheet music with my first thought being how to simplify it. Yet, simplifying often removes the part that makes the ukulele shine...without making things simpler!

Consider the sequence

[G] [Gmaj7] [G6] [Bbdim] [Am7] [D7] (2 beats on each chord except for the last two, which get 4 each)

Hoo-boy! In the past, I might have looked at that and said, [G] for 8 beats, [Am] for 4 beats, [D7] for 4 beats... Yeah, that's it! And it would have worked, after a fashion. But, then I might as well have been playing cowboy chords on a guitar. (Not that there's anything inherently wrong with cowboy chords on a guitar. They've served me well. But, this is a ukulele arrangement and I've just removed everything ukulele about it!)

If we take a closer look at the sequence, we see

The only thing the intimidating sequence [Gmaj7] [G6] [Bbdim] [Am7] is doing is letting our fingers go for a walk!

• The [Gmaj7] has us moving from the 3rd fret of the second string to the 2nd fret.
• The [G6] removes a finger from the second string, effectively moving from the 2nd fret to the 0th fret (the nut).
• The [Bbdim] moves the fingers on the first and third strings one fret closer to the nut.
• The [Am7] has us remove our fingers from the first and third strings.

It's a lovely finger dance that says, "You're listening to a ukulele."

Note 1.a. The ukulele is like the first four strings of a guitar capoed at the fifth fret!

The notes on the first four strings of a guitar are (D,G,B,E).
The notes on the first four strings of a ukulele are (g,C,E,A).

1. The notes on the first four strings of the guitar capoed at the first fret are (D#,G#,C,F).
2. The notes on the first four strings of the guitar capoed at the second fret are (E,A,C#,F#).
3. The notes on the first four strings of the guitar capoed at the third fret are (F,A#,D,G).
4. The notes on the first four strings of the guitar capoed at the fourth fret are (F#,B,D#,G#).
5. The notes on the first four strings of the guitar capoed at the fifth fret are (G,C,E,A).

The only difference is the ukulele's reentrant tuning, that is, the ukulele's 4-th string 'g' is an octave above the guitar's 4-th string 'G'.

This means that chord shapes formed on the first four strings of a guitar are also ukulele chords, but with different names. For example, the D chord on a guitar becomes a G chord on the ukulele, that is, a D chord moved up five frets (D=0,Eb=1,E=2,F=3,F#=4,G=5). The same holds true for any other guitar chords one might know. Guitar players can be confident that much of what they know carries over to the ukulele.

Note 0. Introduction

By way of introduction...

I first got serious with the ukulele in the late 1990s because of my interest in the popular music of the 1920s and '30s. I drifted away in the early 2000s to concentrate on Old Time music, the music of rural America in the 20s and 30s played on fiddle, banjo, and guitar.

I returned to the ukulele in 2014 as a result of chance encounters with other ukulele players. I found that the intervening years had changed everything...for the better! Back then, there were few sites devoted to the ukulele and not too many makers. Now, I can't count the latter and I doubt even Google can count the former. 

I had authored some ukulele web pages during my first go-around with the ukulele, but today they are obsolete. I considered taking them down entirely not only because they're obsolete, but also because they didn't seem to add anything to the pages that are already available. I'm finding two things, though.  The first is that too much can be a curse as well as a blessing. Sometimes the information I seek is spread out over a number of sites. forcing me to aggregate. The other is that I often find myself having "Aha!" moments and realizing...surprise...that I see things differently from the way others do.

That's what prompted this blog.  It won't be comprehensive.  It won't focus on any particular aspect of the ukulele. It will simply be a collection of observations that I feel worth recording in this Notebook in the hope that they will lead others to their own "Aha!" moments.