Vashon Island Music to feature Seattle musician Mike Bristow, ukulele workshop

Karen Eliasen, owner of Vashon Island Music, watched ukuleles fly out of her store for several months before she realized she was seeing a phenomenon.

“Then, one day I was talking to my instrument distributor, and he told me that we were selling more ukuleles than anywhere except Hawaii,” Eliasen recalled with a laugh. “It’s crazy.”

Now Eliasen is inviting all those ukulele owners to come back to the store’s studio from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 19, to take advantage of a two-hour workshop, “Pop Goes the Ukulele,” led by acclaimed Seattle musician Mike Bristow.

Bristow teaches and performs throughout the Northwest and has also recorded individually and with well-known bands such as How’s Bayou.

Bristow has plans for an exciting and accessible workshop. His written description promised, “We’ll take a classic pop song and play it first as a three-chord sing-along. Then we’ll add a few easily played chord modifications, some simple picking and a fill or two. Before you know it, we’ll have a concise little four-string orchestration that really captures the sound and feel of the original song.”

Eliasen advised that the workshop will be appropriate for beginners as well as those with some musical experience but cautioned that some knowledge of basic ukulele or guitar chords would be helpful.

She also hinted that Bristow would be coming back to the Island soon to teach a slack-key guitar workshop.

“It’s an Island thing,” she said.

Pre-registration for the ukulele workshop is required and costs $25. Call Vashon Island Music at 463-0552 for more information and to register.

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