Porthcawl

u3a

Ukulele

Status:Active, open to new members
Leader:
When: On Friday afternoons
Weeks 1 & 3
Venue: Porthcawl YMCA

Led by Mike O'Brian our Ukulele Group meetings
will be on the First and Third Fridays of the month, Meetings in YMCA at 2 p.m..

As usual it will be Practice, Theory and FUN FUN FUN.
We will also be starting to practice some more melodic playing and as a bonus…
(mainly for me) Moving away from the Key of C major.

What do you think of if somebody mentions ukulele? I guess most people think of George Formby playing songs such as “Leaning on a Lampost”. Indeed George Formby is probably the most associated name with the “Uke”. But did you also know that George Harrison was a keen Uke player as is Joe Brown and Frank Skinner. Even Ed Balls has been seen with one!

So what can you play on a Uke apart from “Leaning on a Lampost”? How about some Beatles songs such as “Yesterday” or “Yellow Submarine” or some Blues such as “House of the rising Sun” or how about some folk music such as “Wild Rover” or “Ar Hyd y Nos”  or a modern folk classic such as “Hallelulah” by Leonard Cohen or even some classic classical such as “Paschabel’s Cannon” or “Air on a G String”. The range is infinite and what you want it to be.

Know nothing about music? Can’t tell a musical note from a squashed currant? Don’t worry, you don’t need to. To begin with we can show you how to play and give you an introduction into the basics. If you want to go further, later then we can help you there as well.

What is a ukulele? It is a 4 stringed instrument a bit like a small guitar. There are 4 types of Uke called Soprano, Concert, Tenor and Baritone. The Soprano is the smallest (about 21ins or 53cms long) and probably the most familiar, then the Concert, then the Tenor and finally the Baritone. The Baritone is a little unusual and you won’t see many of them. Sopranos start from about £15 new from a music shop or the Web. Prices then go up and you can pay over £1000 if you really want to, don’t actually know anyone who has.

Need some music to play? Don’t worry we can supply that and there are lots of sites on the web where you can download lots of free music.

So why not have a go? We meet on the first and third Fridays in the month from 2.00 till 4.00 at the YMCA on John St. We look forward to seeing you and helping you to start your musical journey.

Friday5th June 2026
Friday19th June 2026

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