Duke My New Uke

I did it!!! After months and months of talking about it, reading reviews and watching youtube videos, I finally bought a ukulele.  A Lanikai LU-21 Concert Ukulele. It's a step up from the cheapest ukes and it's the second smallest in size (a soprano ukulele is smaller).  I have held it as much as possible the past few days, even when I wasn't playing it...:o)

It came last Wednesday, and I couldn't have been more excited about opening a box.  I needed to be on my way to get tile grout from Lowe's, but on a whim I stopped at a music shop right down the road from Fieldstone. Obviously in the "if you give a mouse a cookie" syndrome, once I had the uke, I needed accessories right? I walked directly over to the ukulele stand and when asked if I needed help, I explained I had just gotten my first ukulele in the mail that day and was looking for some sort of way to attach a strap.  Ed and Laura, the lovely workers, explained I would most likely need a strap attachment. At my confused look, Ed walked me over to the guitars and pointed out the bolts on a guitar that allow a strap to hook on.  He said it was something I could do myself and to make sure I predrilled the holes before putting the screws in so I wouldn't split the wood.  I spent the whole time nodding in agreement, but in my thoughts were, "who do I know who could make this happen for me?"

Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to get to know more people in this little town, I promptly introduced myself and mentioned I was leading worship for the summer at Fieldstone UMC with their summer camp.  Ed perked up and said, "Oh at Project Spy?" Turns out, several years ago, Ed regularly attended Fieldstone and knows a bunch of the guys that are involved in the worship ministry there. We talked a few moments about Fieldstone, and then Ed said, "Tell you what, you bring your uke back by here and I'll put the attachments on it for free."

A Lanikai LU-21C like my own Duke!

So after a rushed trip to Lowe's, back to church to pick up Duke, and I was in the back room over at the music shop talking all things music, baking, and life with the wonderful Ed.  And Duke is in beautiful shape, I'm slowly learning a couple of songs, it's similar to the guitar in that you play chords, but different in that the placement of every chord is different....:o) And much to the amusement of some campers and utter horror of others, Gary and I did a ukulele rendition of Rebecca Black's "It's Friday", for wake up Friday morning. Yep, Duke is going to come in handy this summer!!!

I won't lie, now that I have a ukulele and after spending time in Floyd, I totally want a mandolin now! Will it ever stop? :o)