As those who heard me whining during last weekend’s World Horror Convention know, it didn’t take long before I began showing symptoms of ukulele withdrawal, which amazed me, since I’d only taken up the instrument a little more than four months earlier. But after having practiced at least a little bit every day since Black Friday, my fingers were twitchy, and I could feel my muscle memory developing Alzheimer’s.

I almost bought a cheap, bottom-of-the -line uke last Thursday so I could practice while in Salt Lake City, but I never could figure out the transit system enough to make it to the music store about four miles away from the con hotel. But while searching online, I found something even closer—Intermountain Guitar and Banjo, which specializes in vintage instruments. The shop is only open by appointment, so I reached out to the owners, explaining that though I was a newbie, all of my UK ukulele friends figured I needed to get a banjolele so I could better channel George Formby, and that though I wasn’t likely to buy that day, I did plan to make a purchase sometime over the next year.

Leo Coulson, the uke expert, said sure, drop on by. And so even though I didn’t get a uke during my trip, I did get in about an hour of practice, because he pulled out these beauties and let me strum away.

From left to right, we’ve got: a 1920s S. S. Stewart, ‘Majestic-Style’ Banjo-Uke, 8″ rim with full resonator ($1,200); a late 1920s Slingerland Maybell Banjo-Uke, natural curly maple neck & 8″ rim ($395 ); a 1920s Banner Blue Banjo-Uke, decorative 8″ rim, 14″ scale, walnut neck & back ($750 ); a 1929 Gibson UB-1 Banjo-Uke; 6″ rim, Hunleth Music Co. tag, ($600) (more…)

It’s hard to believe that when I started with the ukulele four months ago I hadn’t heard of George Formby, but … I hadn’t. Because now that I’ve learned of him, I’ve fallen in love with his personality and ukulele skills, and in fact, I’m kind of addicted.

I only heard of him five weeks ago, which is hard to believe, considering how obsessed I’ve become with him since then. But it wasn’t until, right before my three-month uke anniversary, when I announced I would post a video of me playing and asked you to choose a song, that someone suggested I play “Leaning on a Lamp Post,” which led me to discover (via Wikipedia) that “between 1934 and 1945 Formby was the top comedian in British cinema,” and that in 1939 “he was Britain’s number-one film star of all genres.”

But he didn’t travel well, it seems, and he never caught in in the States. I quickly fell in love with him, though, thanks to what I found on YouTube, which included this recent documentary that explains his appeal and revealed that after his death in 1961, the George Formby Society began holding quarterly conventions in Blackpool.

And then, thanks to a Twitter search a few weeks ago, I discovered that one of those cons was going on that weekend, and I befriended a dedicated bunch of UK Formby fans, who’ve been giving me the kind of feedback I need to learn the uke the way I want to learn it, particularly since no one on this side of the pond, including my ukulele teacher, had any idea who Formby was.

And so, in the spirit of friendship, I threatened to post a video of me singing one of Formby’s songs to the Formby Facebook Fan Club, even though I’m in no way ready to sing them. See, the man used a bunch of special strumming techniques, like the split stroke and the triple, to create banjolele solos he’d plunk down in the middle of songs to wow audiences, and I have no idea how to do that yet. But these new friends seemed so convivial that yesterday I recorded myself “performing” the first Formby song I found on YouTube, “Why Don’t Women Like Me?” And after their response, I thought, oh, why not post it here? (more…)