Workshops to suits all levels
We are delighted to present a really fantastic selection of ukulele master workshops for the 2022 festival.
As well as an opportunity to pick up new ways of playing, they are also great fun. There is a workshop to suit everybody, so book yours ASAP – they always fill very quickly, and you don’t want to miss out.
This is your opportunity to join a class of skilled and talented ukulele musicians.
Each of the workshops at the Eblana Avenue Festival HQ lasts approximately an hour.
All workshops are on Saturday 27th August.
We have 4 workshops taking place around the Eblana Avenue Festival HQ and are €15 each.
Workshop Schedule
- Christopher Davis Shannon – Clawhammer
- Sage Harrington – Songwriting Playshop: Use Song Structure to Build Engaging Songs
- Fred Goossens – Tips & Tricks to enhance your ukulele playing
- Chris Uff – Escaping from the first three frets!

Songwriting Playshop: Use Song Structure to Build Engaging Songs - Sage Harrington [All levels]
Sage Harrington – All levels
Songwriting Playshop: Use Song Structure to Build Engaging Songs
Are you ready to level up your songwriting game? Are you excited to write songs, but don’t quite know where to begin?
In this all levels workshop, we’ll write a song together as a group. We’ll explore strategies for composing melodies, approaching chord progressions, marrying lyrical content to the music, and building an emotional arc into a song—all topics that are essential to keeping your songwriting practice going after you’ve left the festival. Let’s tackle any remaining fear you might have about diving headfirst into the songwriting process.
The workshop will suit all levels.
Workshop at 10:30am
Workshop takes place at the Eblana Avenue Festival HQ on Saturday 27th and costs €15

Tips & Tricks to enhance your ukulele playing - Fred Goossens [Beginner/Intermediate level]
Fred Goossens – Beginner / Intermediate level
Tips & Tricks to enhance your ukulele playing
So you know your first few chords and some basic strumming patterns? Maybe even some picking? Where to go to next? How do you make playing your uke even more fun? In this workshop I’ll share some tips and tricks on strumming, chords embellishments, progressions and positions that can be applied to any type tune. By the end you’ll be entertaining and amazing friends and family with your increased ukulele skills!
After witnessing a Leon Redbone concert in 1993, Fred “Winin’ Boy” Goossens became totally smitten with the old Tin Pan Alley songs of the teens and twenties. No sooner, he started performing those tunes on the ukelele in The Left Hand Band, a trio of like-minded, left-handed buskers. He continued as the frontman of the stringband Winin’ Boys. Fred not only is a big uke enthusiast and collector. In 2007 he was also one of the organisers of the first International Ukelele Festival of Belgium, the forebearer of a string of ukefests all around Europe. This year will mark the 10th visit of Fred to the Hooley, something which he is really looking forward to.
Workshop at 10:30am
Workshop takes place in the Eblana Avenue Festival Club on Saturday 27th and costs €15.

Christopher Davis-Shannon - Clawhammer - [Confident Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced]
Christopher Davis-Shannon – Confident Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced
Clawhammer
Forget everything you know about playing the ukulele and learn how to adapt an old time banjo technique to ukulele (High G recommended). We’ll break down the basics of the clawhammer style and learn a simple arrangement of ‘Cornbread and butterbeans’. If you can play a G major chord then you’re all set for this workshop!’
This workshop will suit Confident Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced players.
Workshop at 12 noon
Workshop takes place in the Eblana Club on Saturday 27th and costs €15.

Escaping from the first three frets! - Chris Uff [Beginner/Intermediate level]
Chris Uff – Beginner/Intermediate level
Escaping from the first three frets!
Many ukulele players spend most of their time playing around the first three frets. This is not a new phenomenon, just look at the fingerboard wear on many vintage instruments! While the ukulele sounds great being played in just first position, once the whole fingerboard is opened up to you, you may feel like you have whole different instrument and in a good way!
In this workshop I will show you a simple pattern and group of chords that will enable you to play in any key anywhere on the fingerboard!
Workshop at 12 noon
Workshop takes place in the Eblana Avenue Festival HQ on Saturday 27th and costs €15.

Become a friend of the festival
The Ukulele Hooley is a not-for-profit, family-friendly, community event now in its eight year and growing in popularity and reputation as each August comes and goes.
We’d like to ask for your assistance.
Putting on a free, not-for-profit, community-based event such as the Ukulele Hooley costs money.
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council has been very generous to us over the years as our Main Sponsor but, as costs rise, we could do with a little more support to bridge the financial gap.
That’s why we are asking if you would like to pitch in and help out. Become a Supporter of the Ukulele Hooley.
As a ‘Thank You’, each ‘Friend of the Festival’ will receive an exclusive ‘Friend of the Festival’ button badge.