Placer Ukulele Festival
featuring Danielle Ate The Sandwich
Friday & Saturday, September 12 & 13, 2025
Eagles Hall & The Strum Shop on Vernon St., Roseville, CA
Join us for our 15th Annual Placer Ukulele Festival in Roseville, CA
feat. ukulele singer/songwriter Danielle Anderson aka "Danielle Ate The Sandwich".
There will be Ukulele Workshops for beginning and intermediate players. Fun for all!
Everybody is welcome – come to strum, sing, and learn to play the ukulele.
Raffles and door prizes will add to the fun and excitement.
Lunch options are available with ticket purchase OR
choose from any number of local eateries on Vernon Street.
A FREE "Open Mic" will be offered at the Strum Shop on
Friday, Sept. 12 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Sign ups begin at 2:30 pm.
Arrive early to secure a spot!
Workshops
The 2025 Placer Uke Fest offers numerous workshops for ALL levels and ages. We have a great lineup of instructors offering their insights and sharing their fundamental techniques to make you a better ukulele player. Whether you are just starting out or have been playing for a while, you'll find our workshops informational and fun!
Soulful Singing and Playing on the Ukulele - Danielle Anderson
(ALL LEVELS) Loosen up your body! Free your spirit! Let your voice be heard! This workshop focuses on relaxing the muscles and approaching your playing with a loose and soulful attitude. When we find the rhythm in music, the movement in our bodies and the soul in our voices, we can concentrate on giving better performances and achieve a higher level of playing. All levels of experience are welcome, but we will use basic chords and play standing up and moving around.
Easy Two Finger Picking Pattern - Danielle Anderson
(Level 2; Intermediate) Learn an introductory picking pattern to improve your right hand technique. We'll learn how to apply the technique to popular songs, and give you ideas to spice up the songs you already know how to play in your jam circles and performance songs. This class is great for advanced beginners or intermediate players who know their chords, but want to learn a new right hand technique.
Techniques to Play Blues with Feeling - Carla Fontanilla
(For Levels 2-3; Advanced Beginners & Intermediate Players) Bring out your uke's human voice by playing with emotion and feeling using techniques such as In and Out Slides, Hammer Ons and Pull Offs, Quarter, Half and Whole-Step String Bends, Vibrato, Mixing It Up with Rhythmic Shifts, and Playing Phrases Across Bars.
Chord Substitutions to Spice Up Your Jazz Playing - Carla Fontanilla
(For Levels 2 - 3; Advanced Beginners & Intermediate Players) Replace chords in a j1-6-2-5 jazz chord progression to add harmonic interest, context and color to your comping and solo playing. The workshop will explore and de-mystify Diatonic Substitutions, Secondary Dominants, Minor to Dominant Conversions, Diminished and Alternate Chords, and Back-door Dominants.
Waltz With Me - John Sandoval
(For Levels 1 - 2; Beginners & Intermediate) Break out of the 4/4 “Island Strum” and learn some 3/4, 6/8, and 12/8 time signature strums often associated with waltz-like rhythms emphasizing a strong first beat. Using songs such as Moon River, Hallelujah, and Tennessee Whiskey, we’ll learn to strum and pick our way into sentimental, flowing melodies used in many popular songs. Since this is mainly a strumming clinic, ukuleles of all sizes including baritone are welcome.
Baritone Basics and Beyond - John Sandoval
(For Levels 1 - 2; Beginners & Intermediate) With its larger body and lower pitch, the baritone is often overlooked as a member of the ukulele family. Originally designed to teach guitar to beginners, using the same tuning of the guitar’s first four strings, the baritone ukulele has become a regular in ukulele groups and play-alongs. This clinic will cover learning some basic chords and strums to allow you to participate in your favorite uke groups. For more seasoned players, we’ll look at alternate fingering positions (aka inversions) for common chords allowing you to play with different voicings.
Boldly Going Up The Neck - Steve Kritzer
(For Levels 2 -3; Intermediate to Experienced Intermediate) Finding and using alternate chord shapes up the neck, with just enough theory to be dangerous!
On Beyond Strumming - Steve Kritzer
(For Levels 1 -2; Beginners & Intermediate) Take your playing from strums to using all your fingers. Various fingerpicking alternatives, including "Travis" picking, ballad pick, waltz time, and hybrid pick/strums.
What’s your level?
These ukulele workshop levels have been taken from a magazine article by Heidi Swedberg.
Level 1: Beginner
Welcome! You are a new uke player and have already played with others or taken a few lessons.
The beginning player is new to the uke (1-3 months), knows some basic, first position chords.
You are fluent with (at least) your C, F, and G7, can make chord changes easily as well as keep a beat.
Level 2: Intermediate
Now you’re a player, but chord diagrams over the words are still a must. Your job here is to master B-flat,
get some strums under your belt and grow into your instrument—this is when you truly learn how to practice.
Level 3: Experienced Intermediate
You know a bunch of chords and are ready to use them. Challenge yourself with some exciting techniques,
and maybe venture further up the neck. Be proud of yourself, this is a fine plateau to reach.
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