[It looks like I might have something to say after all. See my take on the CAGFD System for Ukulele.
Oh! And I've started an occasional ukulele blog!]

Hi!

This page was first posted in 1999 when my ISP was Software Tool & Die and last updated in 2006. Since 2006, everything has changed...for the better! Back then, there were few sites devoted to the ukulele and not too many makers. Now, I can't count the latter and I doubt even Google can count the former.

Back then, I had written some DOS programs to add chord fingerings and chord diagrams to lyric sheets. Those programs have long ago been surpassed by free online options. About the only thing that might still be of value--although it has been matched by other prettier collections--is my collection of Christmas Carols for the Ukulele. Make as many copies as you want for your friends or local club. Merry Christmas!

Just about anything ukulele-related one could want is out there for the asking.

• Ukulele Song Collections?. Pay particular attention to Dr. Uke and Richard G.
• Downloadable Song Books In PDF Format?
• Follow the bouncing ball while playing Beatles songs?
• Ukulele chords for a specific song? (Don't let the word "guitar" fool you. Give it a try!
• Others to play uke with? And Don't stop with Boston!

Special mention goes to UkeGeeks not only for being spectacular but also for giving away their software for free to anyone who wants to install it on his/her own computer rather than rely on the web. Their Song-A-Matic "Add Chord Diagrams & Format Your Songsheets In Minutes", or, as they further describe it, "Free Online Editor & Open-Source Songbook Tools for the Seriously Geeky Ukulele Player!" will convert songs with chord above the lyrics to ChordPro format and make a gorgeous song sheet from songs in ChordPro format!

I confess that there is one thing about the Song-A-Matic that I don't like and it's the reason I've updated this dinosaur of a web page rather than take it down. Things look great if verses, choruses, and comments are carefully delineated with ChordPro tags. In my experience, however, one is lucky to find even a sub-title tag in free-range ChordPro files. Breaks between verses and choruses are usually indicated by blank lines in the file. Unfortunately, the Song-A-Matic lets everything run together in one long paragraph of chords and lyrics that I find almost impossible to use.

Since the Song-A-Matic is open source under a GNU/GPL license, anyone can use it and modify it as long as the resulting program is free and the code is made available. I've modified the code so that blank lines are respected when the song sheet is created. While this Song-A-Matic does not allow users to create their own songbooks, it does let users paste in chords and lyrics so that attractive songsheets can be printed.

If you have set up Song-A-Matic on your own server and would like to add this modification, with song saving capability as in the original Song-A-Matic, download these files and have them replace the UkeGeek files with the same names.

For amusement more than anything else, I checked some of the links from the old (2006) web page. Most are long defunct. One site is still up and running is Marcel van der Zwet's Ukulele Chord Finder. What makes this site particularly noteworthy today is the pink pick that reads, "Play along songs Go!" It's well worth trying. Perhaps play along sites are the wave of the future. They can certainly be fun!