PlayUke.net and Play Uke, LLC was founded by two ex-guitar players who fell for the ukulele. Douglas Reynolds started the ball rolling in 2005 after discovering the music of Jake Shimabukuro during his weekly, “have coffee and read their magazines” morning at Borders Books & Music. He bought a few ukes on eBay to get acquainted and fell for the little critters rather quickly.

Being a concert promoter on the side, he booked Jake to play the following summer in Carson City, Nevada and then went to Hawaii and spent an afternoon with Jake’s brother Bruce. This cemented his love for the instrument that continues to this day. Tahoe Area Uke Fest II took place in March of 2010 with another ukulele virtuoso, James Hill of Canada and a grand finale collaboration concert featuring as many as seven uke stars on stage at a time. Aldrine Guerrero of Ukulele Underground even hopped a red eye to take part in the big show.

Rich Dann volunteered to help with the first Tahoe Area Uke Fest and the two found that they had much in common. Both came from a guitar background. Both spent “way too much” on some nice ukes. And both wanted to do some kind of business revolving around their favorite instrument. So Play Uke, LLC was born. Sales, Lessons, (including Doug’s PSP teaching system), and Live Uke Events were the initial offerings. The Official Ukulele Chord Theory Tutor Gizmo™ and Uke In A Flash™ learning tools came next.

The Tahoe Area Uke Fest is now called the Reno-Tahoe Uke Fest and our fourth annual fesitval will take place March 30 – April 1, 2012.

Play Uke Group Strum-a-longs have now formed in Reno and in Minden and meet on alternating Wednesdays! Check out our calendar for dates and locations.