Last night I had the privilege of attending Jake Shimabukuro’s concert at The Aladdin Theater to a full audience.

The experience for me was fantastic. As an aspiring Ukulele player, seeing someone with such mastery was inspiring. I wanted to run home and start practicing more. Not only was he fast, but he is musically very tasteful.

Take a listen:

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Some of the major highlights for me include a rendition of a traditional Japanese song, Sakura, originally composed for the Koto, a Japanese plucked fretless dulcimer. He replicated the sound of the koto perfectly on his uke. If I closed my eyes, I wouldn’t have known he was playing a four-stringed instrument!

He used a looper, but unlike Aiden James, who we saw play at the 10th Annual Maui Ukulele Festival last month, Jake looped his tracks infrequently, just two songs, and in such a subtle way. If I wasn’t in the 4th row, I’d probably not have caught it.

On the 2nd song he used the looper, I don’t know the name, he built up an extremely exciting lick. Then turned on a effects pedal and ripped through the most incredible electric guitar (uke) solo I’ve ever heard. It was like Eddie Van Halen! At the end of the song, the 91 year-old lady behind me jumped (relative term) up waving her hands screaming!

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If you haven’t seen Jake play yet, please make sure you catch him the next time he’s in Portland.

Here’s a bit of him showing off 🙂