A weekend residential course playing Ukulele in Bristol. Your course starts with Friday dinner at 7 pm and runs through to Sunday afternoon tea, but you can check in from 3 pm and take advantage of the hotel’s facilities before you meet your fellow students. Fees include an en suite double room for single occupancy, tuition, use of course room, full board and refreshments, along with free wifi, and access to the fully equipped health club and indoor pool. Bedrooms have TV, tea and coffee making facilities, a desk and seating area for relaxing. The Hilton Bristol is by the junction of the M4 and M5 and close to Bristol Parkway Station. To get you started with the ukulele, Jon has a series of instructional videos on his website.

Whether you are a beginner or an improver on the ukulele, this workshop weekend is for you. You’ll be given a kick start in improving your skills on this wonderful instrument, as well as an opportunity to sing and play with a group of like-minded enthusiasts. No previous musical experience is necessary. Take a look at www.ukuleleoxford.com to see your tutor in action. While the group will be split into beginners and improvers, everyone will come together on the final day for a group concert. And there will be plenty of advice on how you can develop your skills further once you go home. Over the weekend you will learn new techniques such as

• New chords and how they fit together
• Strumming techniques suitable for different styles and songs
• Fingerstyle playing as well as strumming
• How to accompany yourself on a song
• Advice on purchasing instruments, strings, etc.

You should bring your own instrument, and if you would like advice on this, by all means call us in advance. Handouts and music will be provided and some advance lessons and songs will also be available. Jon Bennett is a multi-instrumentalist from the Oxford band Moonrakers, specialising in fretted instruments of all kinds. He is an established guitar, bouzouki and ukulele teacher and runs a variety of workshops. Jon has been a tutor at The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, Scotland’s Common Ground Festival, Halsway Manor National Centre for the Folk Arts and the Wallingford Bunkfest.