RIP Bob Brozman

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Bob Brozman, legendary player of stringed instruments.

Bob Brozman, legendary player of stringed instruments.

On Thursday 25 April, the world lost a fine musician and man. Bob Brozman passed away, aged 59.

Bob Brozman, who I first heard about when he was (at that time) the only man attributed to a quote about the ukulele that I found in google in 2007.  The lovely quote, which I quoted on the footer of emails from Ukulele Wednesdays:

“The Ukulele is a noble instrument.  Anyone serious about music will eventually come to play one.”

Bob was not just any ukulele player.  He was an excellent stringed musician who did unbelievable things with ukuleles.  Watch here to see for yourself:

When he played in London, he used to come to play at the Half Moon pub in Putney.  A real shame that we won’t get to see him play again.

RIP Bob Brozman.

Ukuleles 1: Airlines: 0

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It’s official! You can take your ukulele as well as hand luggage on flights!*

*If your uke is in a soft case, that is…

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Virtuoso player James Hill travels globally with his ukulele.Check him out on YouTube, he’s awesome!

Ever wished you could take your laptop bag or handbag AND your ukulele on a flight with you?  Yes, me too.  Actually, I already have been taking my ukulele away with me for the past 6 years, in addition to my bag, and people often question it, but I’ve never been stopped by the airline.  A violinist friend told me about a loop hole about small instruments on flights, and the lady who I talked to when I joined the Musicians Union also confirmed this, so long as I had my MU card with me, and the flight card, I should be alright to take my ukulele along in addition to one other piece of hand luggage.  Now, it’s open knowledge – they’re looking to change the regulations, after a string of complaints over broken instruments, with people like James Hill who owns a number of very expensive ukuleles, necessary for his livelihood, who has had to buy extra seats for his uke so they would let him on the plane with it.  Other issues with people being forced to put very expensive instruments in the hold and they’ve come out broken, for which your insurance will try to hold you accountable.

Under the new regulations, due to come into force in 2015, if they go ahead airlines must accept you and your ukulele.  As should the world at large!

Please read the full article on the Incorporated Society of Musicians website here.

How to play the G chord on ukulele

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If you are getting stuck with your ukulele G chord, and when you play it, it sounds wrong, make sure you are using the very tips of your fingers to press down on the strings, and make sure you’re pressing down hard enough so the notes within the chord are ringing out clearly.  Here’s a video to help you with this:

More blogs to help you:

See how to play Bb chord on the ukulele, here.

How to play the E chord, on the ukulele here.

Get a free ukulele chord chart (and help with how to read it) from here.

Do you want 6 basic strum patterns to get you going? See more here.

If you’re in London, UK, you’ll learn this in our courses. Book your course to join us in London.

If you’re not, please support us on Patreon so you can get access to all our upcoming online tutorials and challenges.