Ukulele Lesson by Bruce Shimabukuro

For those of you who are thinking about learning to play the ukulele but don’t know where to start, here’s a video to give you a starting point. Bruce Shimabukuro, an ukulele instructor and performer, was gracious enough give us a quick lesson on strumming and picking. It’s not really a lesson on how to play the ukulele but more of just an overview of some of the basics.

One of the places where he teaches is at Ukulele Pua Pua in the Sheraton Waikiki. The store is managed by Tyler, who is also an ukulele player. In fact, I believe they will both be performing at some event at the Waikiki Trade Center on Tuesday, March 30, 2010. But anyway, Ukulele Pua Pua has the biggest and most diverse selection of ukuleles I have ever seen! Besides the usual ukuleles, they had some that were shaped like a jukebox and other non-traditional shapes. They have everything from quality entry level ukuleles all the up to some costing thousands of dollars. For those of you who are in the area, I recommend going to one of their free lessons to see if you enjoy the ukulele enough to buy one and sign up for more classes.

Although this is the first time I met Bruce, I actually saw him play a few years ago in Fukuoka, Japan. The Oahu Visitors Bureau put on some kind of Hawaii Expo at a major shopping mall. Bruce and his band got the crowd going with their energetic music and style. I remember thinking way back then that this guy had talent and charisma so it was nice to finally meet him in person. Although I don’t play the ukulele (my sister got all the musical genes), I have can tell that Bruce is a great teacher.

Anyways, here’s the video of him demonstrating some basic picking and strumming. Please give us your feedback on this video as we hope this is just the first of a series of video lessons.