About

Anyone who ever wanted to play music is closer than they think.

Uke Night Method is the online version of a live class that has had over a thousand complete beginners playing popular songs together in under two hours.

Dave Simpson playing a Honolua Ukulele by the river

5+years of live Uke Night events.

1,000+complete beginners taught at live Uke Nights.

4.9/5average recommendation on event surveys.

4.7/5average course rating.

Dave teaching a room of beginners at a live Uke Night

How this started

Dave Simpson has spent his whole career in music: first as a performing artist, then as a buyer for one of Canada’s most respected guitar retailers, a job that sent him through instrument factories in Japan, China and North America.

In the store he watched the same thing happen every week. Someone would buy their first ukulele, take it home, and put it down a few weeks later. Not for lack of talent, but because the instrument was working against them before they started. That is why he founded Honolua Ukuleles: affordable instruments built to set a player up rather than frustrate them.

A good ukulele still left a piece missing. People had the right instrument and no idea what to do with it.

The first Uke Night was a booking he didn’t plan on

A woman at a market asked whether he taught groups. She ran team-building for a large Calgary dental group, and before long she had booked ten events, twenty people a night. The program had to exist, and fast.

It was built the way it still runs: no theory, no drills, no reading music. Four chord shapes, a proven order, and songs everyone already knows. A room of complete beginners playing together by the end of the evening. It worked every time, so he opened it to the public.

Then everything shut down

Companies still wanted the night, so ukuleles went out to employees’ homes and the whole thing ran over video. One of those bookings was a senior engineering team at one of the largest companies in the world, the most self-described non-musical group Dave had ever taught. By the end of the session they were all playing together.

That settled it. The method never needed the room. It needed structure, the right order, and somebody to guide you through it, which is what the courses are.

Three parts, one idea

The courses say you can play. Honolua is what you play it on. Uke Night Live is the room.

Uke Night Method

The courses. Popular songs from your second session, at your own pace, with a song library to keep you going.

See the Course

Honolua Ukuleles

The instruments, designed for the kind of playing taught here. Every Honolua Ukulele comes with the Honolua Starter Course, free.

Shop Honolua Ukuleles

Uke Night Live

The room. Public nights, private parties and corporate events across Calgary and Alberta, instruments provided.

See events

Start wherever you are

Never played? Start with the course. Already play a bit? The Songbook is where you find the next hundred songs.

See the Course See the Songbook