Pierce Brosnan, Tony Blair and Warren Buffett.
Today there are hundreds of thousands of ukulele-related
videos on YouTube and ukulele chord charts available for
thousands of songs, both old-fashioned sing-along songs as
well as contemporary hits.
In the era of smartphones, tablets and digitized entertain-
ment, combined with the portability and accessibility of the
ukulele, the formula for success wrote itself.
There are now ukulele players around the world supporting
countless jams (players and singers gatherings), festivals
and concerts. Locally there is a very active ukulele presence
in Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Jose, Berkeley, San Francisco,
Oakland and every city and town in between. Groups
welcome all levels of players and there are no strangers at
ukulele gatherings.
The ukulele scene in Gilroy recently heated up thanks to
the help of two women, Susan Murphey Patereau and Terry
Newman. The women have been long-time friends with many
shared business experiences and are friends on Facebook.
Newman saw Patereau’s post about playing the ukulele and
having fun with it. Newman had been interested in the ukule-
le and commented on Patereau’s post, saying she would like to
learn ukulele too.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Patereau started playing after giving her granddaughter
a ukulele for her birthday and while investigating where to
buy one found that there were a lot of resources for ukuleles
online. She ordered a $39 ukulele online and it came wi