Introducing The Ukulele Alphabet

26 letters. 52 songs. No repeats.

There are 52 weeks in the year and 26 letters in the alphabet. 26 times 2 equals 52.

It all works out perfectly for The Ukulele Alphabet: my 2025 ukulele project.

I had so much fun doing the Taylor Swift Surprise Songs Set Project in 2024 that I wanted to continue my ukulele practice with another structured personal challenge.

And here’s how it’s going to go down.

THE RULES

• I’ll play one song per week and publish each performance in my newsletter¹ as well as on my @tangerinetrex account on Instagram. This will be in addition to my regular non-ukulele newsletter posts, so you won’t be missing anything.

• 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.

• All solo artists are categorized in the alphabet by last name (library-style). John Denver, for example, would fall under D.

• If an artist plays in two different bands or has a solo album or side project, they can only appear in the alphabet under one of those projects. So Jenny Lewis could only appear once: either with one of her solo songs OR with the Postal Service OR with Rilo Kiley.

• “The” and “A” do not count in the alphabet. “The Ballad of John & Yoko” and “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” would both be categorized as B songs.

• Even though I don’t get any bonus points² when both the artist and the song start with the same letter, I did include a few instances of those for extra fun.

• There won’t be any Taylor Swift songs this year.³ Not because I’m sick of playing her music, but as an extra challenge to choose other songs in my library for a change of pace.

U ready for the ABCs?

The first song will drop the week of January 6! I hope you’re as excited as I am for this new weekly project.

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

(Oh, and all the songs have already been chosen, but if you want to make guesses, go right ahead in the comments.)

1. I’m not committing to playing each song live this year because I feel like I’ve already accomplished what I wanted to do with that particular stricture. But playing live is fun, so I might do a few live performances if I feel like it!

2. I don’t get bonus points for anything, I guess, since I made up the rules. But you can always send me a tip!

3. Oh, but I could easily do a Taylor Swift Alphabet. In fact, off the top of my head in the middle of the night, I came up with a full alphabet list of her songs except for X and Z. And all except J and Q are songs that didn’t appear in my Surprise Songs Set, so I might do this as my own little side thing.