Got A Ukulele - Review Of The Year 2013

Well it is that time of year again, and as in previous years it is time for a look back over a year in the life of Got A Ukulele.

In the last year there have been....

160 posts...
11 instrument reviews...
nearly 1.4 million page views over 765,000 visits...

And..

Interviews, festivals to attend and lots of get togethers with uke friends all over the UK. It's been a really fun year and I hope you have enjoyed reading. So below are some of my particular highlights!


JANUARY

The year kicked off as it meant to go on with a review of the Kala ASAC solid tenor uke, and I also looked back with a long term review of the Kanile'a K1 Tenor.

Something quite different followed (for a uke blog at any rate) with a look at the Greataswego Fat Boy kazoo, kindly supplied by Doc Kazoo himself. The beginners tips continued, this time looking at developing a light touch, and I was thrilled to bits to get Les and Tim from Chonkinfeckle to agree to an interview.

Chonkinfeckle

FEBRUARY

We kicked off the month with the launch of our bands new website. The N'Ukes then went on to a booming year!

The reviews then came quick and fast, looking at both a Riptide Electro and the Barnes and Mullins Calthorpe. One of my favourite videos of that time was Bad Habit by the wonderful Danielle Ate The Sandwich, but that is not meant to overshadow local youngsters The Muckers with their 80's medley!


MARCH

March saw The N'Ukes appear in an interview on BBC Radio Stoke, and I also had a look at the Southern Ukulele Store own brand concert uke - an instrument they kindly let me keep to be raffled later in the year for charity.

I was also blown away by this video by Les Hay Babies, and reviewed the rather pretty Ohana 5 String.

Closing March was another great uke vid by John Pak.

5 string Ohana 

APRIL

I was delighted to learn in April that uke pals The pUKEs had been approved with Arts Council funding to run workshops, and I took a look at the excellent Ukulele Exercises For Dummies by Brett McQueen.

One of the prettiest uke tunes I had come across was this one by Malcanisten, and one of my favourites was this by The pUKEs! And April ended with a review of the excellent Pono MTD, and the discovery of the quite wonderful Blue Dean Carcionne.


MAY

In May, my book The Complete What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know was shortlisted for an Indie book award, and the N'Ukes played their most enjoyable venue yet at the Cosey Club.

And at the end of the month I was delighted to receive a copy of the brilliant pUkes Fanzine!


JUNE

June saw us all introduced to that wonderful Get Clucky video by Will Grove-White, and soon after it was Festival time!

During June I attended the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, and live blogged on each day from Cheltenham. Here is DAY1, DAY2, and DAY 3.

Ukulele Festival of Great Britain

JULY

This was holiday month and quite quiet, but we did host our annual ukulele get together, N'Ukefest, for the second year running. It was a huge success and thanks again to those who helped, donated or performed!


AUGUST

In August I started the first of my new series of beginner tips called 'RANTS' - these were posts aimed at dispelling bad advice you find online, and we started by looking at common Ukulele Myths.

Later on I presented my review of the quite wonderful Godin Multiuke, and came across this wonderful video by Gerald Ross.

Godin Multiuke

SEPTEMBER

September started with a look at the intriguing Moselele Bambookulele, an instrument that was given away as a prize later in the year... but was otherwise a quiet month as I was on holiday for most of it!


OCTOBER

Then, festival time again, this time the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival. I kicked things off with an interview with Festival Director Mary Agnes Krell, and followed that live blogging from Pontefract on both Day 1 and Day 2 of the festival. It really was a great event.

I discovered this sweet ukulele video by Lucy and La Mer, and Bob Archigan of La Bella asked me to look at his Uke-Pro strings. (highly recommended by the way!)

Phil Doleman and Mary Agnes Krell at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival

NOVEMBER

A busy month!

November started with a look at the excellent Mr Otis Regrets CD by the Anything Goes Orchestra, together with another 'Rant', this time on bad ukulele advisors.

We also launched N'Ukefest 2014, and I found this great video by Friends Of Old Puppy.

I also reviewed the (awful) Mahalo Flying V, Interviewed the very lovely Sarah Maisel and launched an anniversary competition to mark the 4th year of Got A Ukulele.


DECEMBER

December started with a look at a new ukulele brand, the Noah Monkeypod Tenor, together with another 'Rant', this time on being paid to play ukulele gigs.

Thanks to Ohana Ukuleles, I was extremely lucky to get to look at some rare prototypes and understand their development process, and looked at the unusual Korala Explore plastic ukulele.

December came to a close with a review of a trip to Chester to support Ooty And The Cloud in a charity uke event, and a final 'Rant' on those people who say 'you can't play that on a ukulele'.

Korala Explore

And aside from those highlights, there have been plenty of other tips, song sheets and videos shared, and I hope you agree that it has been an interesting year.

All that is left to be said now is, that I wish all my readers the VERY best for 2014. I fully intend to keep the blog running and have some great ideas in the pipeline. Your support means a lot so to anyone who has read or contributed - THANK YOU.

See you soon!


2011 Review Of The Year
2012 Review Of The Year