Intermediate Ukulele with Gene Nichols

Eastport Arts Center will host a day celebrating the ukulele with musical aficionado and beloved Washington County teacher Gene Nichols on Saturday, September 21. Ukulele workshops for beginners and for intermediate students will be offered in the afternoon, followed by a special ‘Gene Nichols and Co. Ukulele Show,’ to benefit EAC programs at 7 pm.

The Intermediate workshop, 1-3 pm, will provide materials in both C6 and D6 tunings. Students will review and brush up skills that they may already have acquired, and further guidance and direction will be provided, based on student needs and desires.New songs and strums will be introduced.

Instruments will be available for students to borrow during the sessions, though in limited quantity. The intermediate session is designed for students for 18 and up (or by permission of the instructor). Space is limited and reservations are required, via our site or by email to workshops@eastportartscenter.org. Workshop fee is $20/person. Please indicate whether you will need a loaner instrument to use.

Nichols has been playing the ukulele for more than 45 years, and has played it in medicine shows, uke clubs, rock bands, parades, festivals, and untold concerts. As a teen he found a ukulele—stringless—and an instruction book in the attic, and by the time the strings showed up, he'd hit the ground running.

He revived a 20’s era University of Maine Ukulele Group in 2006, teaching countless students and community members to play, and bringing the entourage through a wild range of gigs for 14 years. Last fall, an independent group of alumni from that era emerged as a new band. The current lineup were featured at the 2023 International Ukulele Ceilidh in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and were the feisty show-closers of EAC’s summer hit Moose Island Follies.

Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.