Ukulele Lesson 2

Barbie Plays the Ukulele

On Monday, I had my second group ukulele lesson at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. Our teacher, Steve Rose, added more songs to our repetoire along with some more difficult chords. Our new songs are Roger Miller's King of the Road, the MoTown favorite, Under the Boardwalk and the lovely Hawaiian tune, The Hukilau Song. Yikes! We've been transposing from one key to another and learning VERRRRRRY difficult chords. My dexterity and ability are being challenged.

It seems that most people are keeping up with the class. This is only a four-week course, so the teacher is forced to move quickly through lots of material. I'm hoping that there will be a Part 2 Ukulele Class so we can work on our strums and learn some solo parts (in rock parlance, known as "licks").

I've been too engrossed with learning and keeping up in the uke class to even think about taking my camera out to snap some shots. Hopefully, I'll remember to take some photos next week.

It is nice being back at McCabe's. When I was a kid my brother, Ken used to practically live at McCabe's. In order for Ken to use the family car after school, he had to take me along with him wherever he went. I knew I had to be on best behavior around my brother and his friends or else he'd figure out a place to dump me. So, I quietly hung out in the background while my brother was playing banjo, guitar, mandolin with some other like-minded young musicians, Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal, David Lindley, etc. I remember seeing Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and other folk and bluegrass performers sitting around the shop, trying out instruments and jamming. There was a satellite location of McCabe's at the folk club, The Ash Grove on Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood. We also hung out there. It was quite an education for me. Later, my brother taught me how to play the ukulele, guitar and banjo. I didn't continue playing past the age of 15 or 16, except for some sporadic campfire performances. I'm so glad that I had that early training. It's making my new quest for re-learning the ukulele that much easier.

Shirley Temple - Ukulele Idol