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Welcome to the world of the Vincent D'Onofrio obsessed - and a bit of real life thrown in.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Uke can do it!

I've always loved the ukulele. I grew up hearing George Formby playing and singing his cheerful songs. He was the hero of my hero, George Harrison. A while ago comedian Frank Skinner did a TV show about the instrument, and a ukulele convention featured, with young and old alike enjoying playing together. But much as I enjoyed it, none of this made me want to play. Let's face it, with carpal tunnel syndrome and fingers making a valiant effort to avoid developing osteo-arhtritis, I'd be stupid to try. But last night, on a programme called The Secret Millionaire (a rich dude going undercover to a deprived area to find causes to change his life outlook and milk him of some money) the man concerned took his ukulele with him, and as I heard him strum, I thought, "I want one of those!" They can be got surprisingly cheaply on Amazon, and I was tempted by the colourful array - oranges, reds, purples - but in the end I was swayed by a good report from someone about a normal-looking instrument:
Add in a Dummies book, a tuner and some plectra, and I'll be all set to start. I just want it to arrive!

Meanwhile, listen to and enjoy one of George Formby's greatest (and mildly rude) songs, When I'm Cleaning Windows:



By the way, in case you were wondering, the picture shows George playing a banjolele.

5 comments:

Sandy said...

I can play guitar a little bit...Always wanted to play the banjo, Not on my bucket list though. Cute video, by the way.

Anonymous said...

I saw the Frank Skinner thing and thoroughly enjoyed it :0)

I look forward to your first recital!

Eliza said...

I saw the Frank Skinner documentary and loved it..it was a surprise to see the schoolchildren playing ukelele's :)

Much luck with teaching yourself to play!

JoJo said...

For real you bought it? That's so COOL Val!! Plus you already know how to read music so that's a plus. Good for you! :D

vikeau said...

Enjoy. Never to young to start a new hobby.

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