(and he just randomly sang and played Beatles songs -- how cool is that?)
I dashed out of work at quarter to six last Wednesday night to head for Japan Town in San Jose because my friend Steve said Daniel Ho was doing a workshop. "You should go!" my 6-string ukulele playing friend informed me -- okay, sure I will go! Daniel Ho is an awesome ukulele player and songwriter from Hawaii who present lives in Los Angeles. I met him at the Reno Ukulele Festival -- the one I attended in 2010 that I got to super late because of a major snow storm. Now I finally got to attend a workshop by him.
I managed to get a ticket on my way to San Jose for driving in the carpool lane -- what the heck? It was a trap, I'm telling you! But I wouldn't let that deter from this upcoming workshop. I was determined to have a good time, as usual. I parked a few blocks away and walked back down towards the store sponsoring Daniel Ho's workshop, "Ukulele Source." I had called Steve and he said he was there, but when I got to the store, it was already closed. Where was this workshop? The website hadn't said the workshop wouldn't be anyplace else besides the store!
I was lost and confused, looking around for ukulele players or my friend Steve -- or SOMEONE! Finally, I managed to get a hold of Steve on his cell. He informed me that he was at an Asian store down the street and didn't I see Daniel Ho's website that stated the workshop would be held above a Japanese restaurant down the street and around the corner? No, I had not been informed of this! As a matter of fact, I had no idea. I found myself wondering if it had been a good idea to drive through horrible traffic and get a ticket just for this workshop, but what the heck? I was already here. I wandered down the street trying to find Steve, and a nice lady wearing a Hawaiian shirt saw me with my ukulele and asked if I was looking for Daniel Ho's workshop. I breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and said, "Why yes, I am."
She pointed down the street and told me to make a right and then go into this Japanese restaurant and up the stairs. Finally, I had some idea as to where I was going -- I found Steve on a street corner with his double-ukulele bag looking all concerned -- about me, about life, I wasn't sure which. I pointed down the street and we found the correct restaurant and walked upstairs to a long room filled with chairs and a few people with ukuleles already there.
Steve and I sat near the front and met the people who were there -- an older Asian man and a younger chick with ukuleles. Before long the room filled up with ukulele players and then Daniel Ho came in and set up! Yes! It didn't take me long to realize that this workshop really was worthwhile -- the drive from work, the ticket and yes the $25! Daniel talked about his life and about songwriting -- he talked a lot about chords -- I already knew about the I-IV-V thing and how to figure out basic chords in songs -- but now I'm thinking more about the minor chords, like the minor third of G which is A minor and stuff like that. He used Beatles songs as examples too -- like Hey Jude and Let It Be.
We even wrote a song as a class, which was sooo cool -- trying to figure out what note would "fit" and then in the end, he asked if we had any questions, and I raised my hands. "What about writing the lyrics?" The workshop had already gone an hour and a half, but when Daniel Ho asked if people minded staying longer, everyone said that was fine! We wanted to hear about writing the words, and so he shared one of his original songs with us...and went through the process.
Daniel Ho was sooo cool!
