About Us

"We" are myself, Simon Taylor and two cats. Tillie, a spirited Bengal who performs tricks as a cameo at the end of most of the review videos, and Alfie, the laid back Ragdoll who mostly does her own thing. Both have been conditioned to enjoy ukulele and often hang around when I'm practicing.

I started with the ukulele in April 2012 and was quickly hooked, buying more and more ukuleles (as you do), getting involved with local ukulele groups and open mic sessions. Some people have been a huge help and influence as I've progressed (arguably), in particular, Mike Krabbers and his wife, Caroline (The Hedge Inspectors) who run our weekly jam open mic session(unplugthewood). Will Grove-White, one of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain who seems to have a similarly warped sense of humour to mine, but uses it to great creative effect. Simon Fernand, one of the most imaginative observational comedy song writers out there (lead singer of the brilliant Plastic Jeezus), and Mike Hind for his live performance skills. Some of my attempts are featured here.

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I've been doing ukulele 'reviews' for a while. Nothing scientific, but opinions and a chance for you to see the ukulele. I try and record the audio with decent quality, using a separate audio recorder, so although I'm not the best ukulele player in the world, you will get a reasonable idea of the sound of the instrument. This site gives a home to those reviews.

For the rest of my life, I'm a professional photographer and embedded systems engineer at Ambient Power. If you don't know what that is, you probably don't want to know, or you can ask me some time, although my Analogue Meter Clock is a good example. Ambient Power have made a few musical gadgets now, with the CyberChime, MIDI controller and adapter box being some examples.

Along the way, I've met many great people, the ukulele world is full of them. Hopefully, you will enjoy the site, and your own personal ukulele journey.


He's still learning how to play, I guess we all are.