I packed my Little Blue Uke again - and discovered the progress I've made...

Any faithful followers among you must have wondering where I'd got to these last couple of months... if you missed me, I'm sorry - but sort of glad as well, if you know what I mean! You are reading this, so whoever you are, welcome back - and thanks.

In truth, there is so much that I have to share with you that I don't know where to start, but the problem has been simply one of a lack of time. Since I posted in early November the demands on my time just seemed to pile up - but I have no intention of boring you with the details, have no fear.

So - the things I should have been writing about? Well, I wanted to tell you about the thrill that was having a song played just for me by one of my favourite players at the George Formby Convention in Blackpool in November.

I wanted to tell you about the new electro-acoustic uke I finally bought for myself, and the gorgeous solid koa tenor that my lovely LSH (Long-Suffering Husband) bought me for Christmas.

I wanted to tell you about the blogger and player whose book and DVD I have bought, and whose blog postings are always hugely informative and entertaining. Who is it? You'll have to wait just a little while, sorry....

And I wanted to tell you about my own progress with my ukulele-playing journey. Because I am making progress, I know that, and sharing that with you is really the number one reason for writing this blog in the first place.

So, what progress, then? Well... having escaped the rigours of an English winter for a couple of weeks, Little Blue Mahalo tucked firmly in my case, I had to fall back on playing by ear when wanting to try out a song. I had packed a little sheaf of song sheets, but of course, I couldn't take everything. I have reams of song sheets here at home... and the song I wanted to play was "Sway".

Songs with a Latin rhythm seem to be particularly tricky.... but I managed to find suitable chords. Hurrah. HOWEVER - the big triumph was - I managed to work it out as a chord melody, Woohoo! Now, if I could do it well enough, I would do you a Youtube, but it's not there yet, not fluent enough, but you know, the sense of achievement in managing to do this was such a blast.....

I'll share the chords next time, see what you think.

And where did we go? Egypt. By the Red Sea. Camels, star-gazing in the desert... fabulous. But I tell you, riding this camel gave a whole new meaning to the word "Sway"... I really would not want to cross a desert on one!

See you next time..... thanks for dropping in!