Thank you Matt!

Hi Anthony, How lucky you are to live near The Southern Ukulele Store. We don’t really have anything like that in Minnesota that I am aware of. It sounds like your ukuleles are wonderful. I think Chicago might be the closest city with a large ukelele store. I’ve had my eye on a Millar tenor, but not quite ready to make the final decision yet :) I’d really like to be able to sit down and try them all!

Hi Barbara, It is very cool to meet a fellow Minnesotan on here! I have another musician friend (drummer) who had to have his thumb joints replaced. Mine aren’t quite that bad yet, but I struggle with numbness in my little finger and the one next to it. Hopefully I can keep it under control if I’m careful. Short sessions may be the key. It’s hard to keep them short when it’s so much fun though.

We are practically neighbors! Thanks for the information Karen. So far, I only have one solid wood ukulele, but while looking at others, I noticed that many of them just have gig bags. Sounds like it would still work as long as I keep an even closer eye on it :) Our winters can be so cold, although lately, not quite so much.

Greetings all! My name is Pat, and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the US. I’m a visual artist and I paint in the style of classical realism. But I actually love all of the arts, especially music. I played oboe in high school, but then stepped away from playing music for many years. But after retirement, I began to dabble with guitar and piano. I really enjoyed both guitar and piano, but I have small, very arthritic hands, and it just didn’t work for me. So, I decided to try ukulele. Initially, I bought an inexpensive Cordoba concert ukulele and began watching YouTube videos, but didn’t put in any consistent efforts to learn how to play it. When I did practice, it was often for long, but intermittent periods. I found that even this little instrument can aggravate my hands if I’m not careful. But I am not ready to give up. In my determination, I recently purchased a beautiful Koaloha concert ukulele, and signed up for Matt’s classes. I hope that if I don’t overdo it, I can eventually learn to make some lovely music! I just need to start at the beginning, and remember to take it slow and easy. I am enjoying watching many of the videos on the Facebook page, and also some of the live sessions which are such fun. At the moment, I am feeling motivated and excited to learn, and to be part of this lovely group.