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339 posts
Report from the 10th ukulele course
Tamás GállYesterday we held the 10th ukulele course in the heart of Budapest, at the Aranytíz Cultural Centre in District V. That day at the end of March when I arranged the dates of yesterday's Course I and the Course II taking place next Sunday with the venue now seems quite distant. And yet those few weeks…
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Report from David Chen's workshop
Tamás GállOrganising this historic workshop was exciting because it was the first workshop in Hungary led by an internationally recognised ukulele teacher. I hardly know where to begin this report because I am still very much under the influence of the event. First, I would like to repeat briefly the words of…
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Relative Tuning
Tamás GállIt is best to tune a ukulele with an electronic tuner or a tuning app on your phone, but sometimes neither is available and we still want to get reasonably in-tune chords from the instrument. One solution is what I call "relative tuning" - I could not think of a better term - where we compare the pi…
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Raiders of the Lost Ukulele
Tamás GállWho would believe that people have been raiding the Lost Ark for more than thirty-one years already? Yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark reached cinemas in 1981, and I confidently maintain that it can still compete with any modern action-adventure film. It won four Oscars, all in technical categories. The…
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Proud Mary
Tamás GállSeven years ago I already wrote a post about this excellent song, and now the blog has apparently caught the Hollywood trend of rewriting and remaking its biggest hits. That is not really true, of course, because we try to publish articles and videos that remain useful over time, but Proud Mary dese…
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Private lessons – booking system
Tamás GállFirst of all, I wish everyone a happy new year full of ukulele playing! I hope you all enjoyed the past few days and are beginning to recover from the exertions of New Year's Eve . Please allow me to begin the new year by announcing a small development. I started putting together a special registrat…
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Pink Martini
Tamás GállThis unusually named band is twenty years old this year, and I am sorry that I discovered them only recently. (In an earlier ukulele test post — KALA KA-S — I strum along to one of their best-known songs.) The group was founded in 1994 by a rather over-animated pianist, and they have been performing…
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Paul McCartney Live in Vienna - Concert Report
Tamás GállVienna, 27 June 2013. A historic day - for us, at least, without question. We travelled to Vienna a day early, full of excitement, anticipation and, of course, countless questions. That same day we went out to see the venue, Ernst Happel Stadium. Stone footballs - for giants Our tickets, which we ha…
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Pachelbel's Canon in D - How to Play It
Tamás GállThe Pachelbel Brothers are on a world tour, but before they left we managed to persuade their ukulele player to reveal the secret recipe behind their canon . The piece is worth learning not only because wedding planners will be demanding our services from now on, but also because it makes an excelle…
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Pachelbel's Canon in D
Tamás GállPachelbel's name may not be familiar to everyone, but there are very few people who have never heard the chords of his Canon in D. This great Baroque composer created a chord progression that went on to inspire countless other composers and popular-song writers. The progression is catchy in the best…
Read moreOne Year...
Tamás GállDear Readers and Dear Ukulele Fans! The blog turned one year old today. Thank you all for the comments, likes, emails and encouragement. Together we have achieved far more than I ever expected. I was delighted that in its very first year the blog made it into the top 10 of the expert category in the…
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On Listening to Music
Tamás GállHave you ever laughed because of music? Have you ever smiled at the way someone plays, or at what they play? On any instrument - piano, drums, anything. I do not mean funny videos that are amusing because people are fallible. I mean that feeling when laughter tickles your stomach because someone is…
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