Tangerine T-Rex: Ukulele Fun

Welcome to the home of Tangerine T-Rex: my
ukulele-playing alter ego!

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I’m a girl with short arms and stubby fingers who loves to play ukulele and who loves the color orange. Hence, Tangerine T-Rex!

As the great musician Josh Ritter wrote, “I’m singing for the love of it — have mercy on the man who sings to be adored.” This is my space for sharing my love of playing ukulele for my own personal joy. There’s no pretense here, just pure fun.

For people like me who never thought they could play an instrument, who always felt tremendously awkward and uncoordinated and lesser, the ukulele gives us a sense of accomplishment and pleasure.

Playing the ukulele unlocks a different part of my brain than writing or drawing or sewing or any of my other creative endeavors. When I give myself 30 minutes to practice at the end of the night, it's like setting my brain to reboot.

All the churning worries and concerns and to-do lists are pushed out of mind for a while, replaced by the happy hum of my simple strumming.

On this page, you’ll find links to all my ukulele projects and various cover songs. I hope they make you as happy as they make me.


My 2025 Project: The Ukulele Alphabet

There are 52 weeks in the year and 26 letters in the alphabet. 26 times 2 equals 52. That math adds up to The Ukulele Alphabet.

Each letter gets two songs assigned to it:

  • one by a band or artist whose name starts with the letter in question

  • and one song itself that starts with the letter in question.

I’m playing one song per week in 2025 and publishing each performance here.

You can always access the complete archive of The Ukulele Alphabet performances as well.

THE UKULELE ALPHABET ARCHIVE

And read my introductory post for the full details and rules of The Ukulele Alphabet project.


My 2024 Project: The Taylor Swift Surprise Songs Sets

In 2024, I played every song from the acoustic sets (the nightly surprise songs) that Taylor Swift performed on the 2023 North American leg of her Eras Tour.

I performed each set in the order in which Taylor played them, and played them live — all mess-ups included! — to keep myself accountable. Hey, if Taylor could do it, I could too.

Watch every weekly performance of my 2024 ukulele project, the Taylor Swift Surprise Songs Set Project.

WATCH ALL THE SURPRISE SONGS SETS

And read more about why I decided to embark on the 2024 project in the first place.


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