Got A Ukulele is Fifteen!

Well, how did that happen?? Got A Ukulele is fifteen years old today!

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A note of birthday thanks from Got A Ukulele

Got A Ukulele is thirteen years old today, so I wanted to make a video of thanks to some of the people who have made that possible.

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The Great Got A Ukulele 5th Birthday Competition!

Another year on the ukulele train, nearly 6.2 million page views and a whole host of new reviews, and here we are again on the anniversary of this blog. FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY!

I am absolutely thrilled to be able to thank Omega Music for offering to support this years annual prize competition with a very generous offering. Not just one prize, but FIVE of them! Omega are one of the leading ukulele dealers in the UK and now have a great name for themselves not only as a store with great service but also as organisers of some great uke events such as their extremely popular Uke Express train day out a few weeks ago.

This year five lucky winners will be drawn to win one of the following

Zedro II Concert Ukulele with gig bag

You may have seen my recent review of this uke and I was mighty impressed with it. Solid cedar top and zebra wood back and sides - worth a shade under £180 for the uke alone!

Tanglewood TCT1 Chromatic clip on tuner

Worth nearly £18!

Rhythm Ring Toe Tapper

Foot percussion device worth £12.95!

Boston spring loaded trigger uke capo worth £12.90

And finally..

Clip On Ukulele Belt Support worth £13.90

I am sure you will agree - a very generous selection from Omega, to whom I am eternally grateful. Read on for details on how to enter.

All you have to do for a chance of winning is answer this one very simple question.

Following the success of the Zedro brand uke, Omega are currently developing another Omega Brand ukulele on a limited edition basis. All I want to know is the name of that new uke! (hint - it can be found on the Omega website in the ukulele section where you can register your interest in it when it hits the shelves!) http://omegamusic.co.uk/buy/.

To enter, please send me an email with the following details

1. OMEGA BIRTHDAY COMPETITION in the subject line
2. Your answer (naturally!)
3. Your full name and postal address.

The email address is bazmazwave@gmail.com. 
Please DO NOT enter in any other way.

The above are important and entries that don't include the above will not be counted. The closing date is midnight GMT on 19 December (meaning we will try to get prizes out before or shortly after Christmas)

One entry per person please - duplicates will be deleted.

Please also have a look at the rules below.

GOOD LUCK!

1. Competition  ends at midnight GMT on 19 December 2014

2. To be eligible for the draw you must enter by email with OMEGA BIRTHDAY COMPETITION in the subject line, providing a  correct answers to the question, AND provide a working email address and postal address by which I can contact you for  if you win.

3. I reserve the right to reject entries that are duplicates, offensive or anything else unsavoury!  My decision on this is final.

4. After the draw day, five names will be drawn from a hat (or hat shaped receptacle) to determine the winners.  My decision on the winnersis final and no correspondence will be entered into.

5. The winner will be selected within 7 days of the draw day, and will be announced on this site.  I will also contact the winner by email.

6. This prizes have no alternative cash value.

7. No purchase necessary

8.  Emailing your entry is not proof that I have received your entry. No responsibility can be accepted for entries that are lost or delayed, or which are not received for any reason

9. The prizes are not transferable to another person

10. The prizes  will be shipped to the winner direct. Got A Ukulele, Omega Music Ltd or Barry Maz are not responsible for carriage of the prize and cannot be held responsible for problems with delivery. Your shipping address is critical as this is where the prize will be sent!

11. Got A Ukulele will NOT use any personal data submitted by you in entering this competition except as required under the terms of this competition

12. Got A Ukulele reserves the right to substitute, in their reasonable discretion, the prize with a prize of equal value

13. The competition is not open to employees or family of Omega Music

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It's Birthday Week on Got A Ukulele - FIVE Years Old!

Happy birthday to me! - can't believe how quickly this one came around but this week Got A Ukulele turns FIVE years old (yes, Five!).

(Credit - Amanda Malam)

I had no idea when this started that it would grow to prove so popular. I remember when I would ge thrilled looking at stats to see I had received over 100 page views in a day - these days it is well over 5,000 and the blog has (at the time of writing this) received over 6.18 MILLION views - all rather humbling.

The review count on instruments and accessories is now approaching 100 items, over 20 interviews with well known names in the ukulele worlds and is still home to one of the largest club and festival databases around. Oh - and a few rants along the way.

I am also delighted to announce that as five years is something of a milestone, the good guys at Omega Music have announced their support on a great giveaway competition that will be launching very soon. They are supplying five (one for each year!!) ukey prizes  including a fabulous uke with gig bag. I am so thankful to them.

For now though - my MANY thanks for your continued support and watch this space for the competition announcement!

Thanks again

Baz
x

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Happy 3rd Birthday Got A Ukulele!

Well it seems like only yesterday that I started the Got A Ukulele site, but this month it is three years old! I must say that it's been huge fun too.

Happy Birthday!

Nearly 1000 posts later brings me to this point, so wanted to share some of the good times. I look back on the earliest posts and cringe (please don't go looking...). Just me sounding off about the first ukes I bought, tentatively starting to review a couple, long breaks between posts, that sort of thing.

Then the blogging bug bit me about the same time as the ukulele bug. Since that time I have tried to keep the blog as regular as I can, sharing news, videos I like and other ukulele bits and pieces. It started with a series of fairly basic beginner tips which went down very well. A couple of friends suggested expanding them into books and that's exactly what I did.  My books are now available on Amazon, iTunes and plenty of other places and have done rather well. The intention was to use any revenues to allow me to keep the blog going with interesting things like reviews, and they have certainly helped in that regard. I can assure you though, they don't pay enough to send me around the world (as much as I would love to visit friends in Hawaii!)

The reviews continued apace and I now have 21 instrument reviews on the site together with a range of my thoughts on uke accessories, music etc. And fear not, I will keep them coming, and have several more reviews due to come on to the site in the next couple of months.

Perhaps the most rewarding pieces I have done are the interviews I have held with well known faces in the ukulele world including the likes of Al Wood of Uke Hunt (the daddy of ukulele sites), Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson, Ken Middleton, Tricity Vogue and clubs like Balham Uke Society and Uke Jam. I hope very much to keep those coming too.

And a word about friends made. Both through the site and through jamming and performing with our local group, The N'Ukes I have been lucky enough to meet so many people in UK uke circles - club members and performers alike. Really nice people all of them.

And finally.... As I mentioned recently, keep a close eye on the site as VERY SOON I will be launching a competition to mark the birthday, with a superb prize courtesy of Ohana Ukuleles in which you can try your luck at winning a superb SK-25 Soprano uke. So thrilled with that, and the competition will be open worldwide!

So, until the next birthday, keep reading, keep strumming, and keep sending your feedback - it really does matter!

Take care

Baz

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