Mark Nelson's mastery of the Appalachian dulcimer, `ukulele and guitar wows audiences from coast to coast. His numerous recordings, books and instructional videos have redefined what the dulcimer is capable of – in his hands, it becomes an instrument of uncommon expressive power.

In demand as a session musician (check out his inspired percussion track played on an antique Primo beer bottle on legendary Hawaiian musician Keola Beamer's award winning Island Born CD), touring artist and workshop leader, Mark is also an outstanding player of the Hawaiian slack key guitar. Co-authored with Keola Beamer, his Learn To Play Hawaiian Slack Ley Guitar (Mel Bay Publications) has introduced thousands to Ki Ho`alu – the sweet-sounding tropical guitar style of Hawai`i.

Just to keep things interesting, he maintains a recording studio and often free-lances as an engineer– clients include the Terra Nova Consort, Keola Beamer, Hear to Him Productions, Sonny Smith, The Oregon Shakepeare Festival and many, many others – and writes about music technology for O'Reilly Digital Media and other publications.

You can hear some of Mark's music here.

Visit Mark's MySpace page-won't you be my friend?

Learn Slack Key Guitar On-Line! One Week Free!!!

Thanks to JamPlay.com, you can now take video lessons with Mark online. His first set of 15 lessons starts with the basics of Taropatch tuning and moves up to some fairly complicated slack key songs. A second set of 15 lessons explores new songs and techniques in Double Slack and Drop C tunings. If you have always wanted to learn slack key, you'll love these lessons. Learn at your own pace-JamPlay charges only $19.95 per month for unlimited lessons!.

You can take a free week of lessons with no obligation. Click on the image below & enter your top secret password: 8C9B613893. If you like what you see, sign up for only $19.95 per month. Get started learning slack key today!

Direct from the `Ukulele Happy Hour, it's time for Funtime UKE-A-RAMA!

Mark's long awaited `ukulele CD is now available. It's not just Whirled Music-- it's a Uke-a-Rama!