Dominic Pieranunzio Roseville, CA Dominic fell in love with the ukulele on a trip to Hawaii in 1997. It was also when he first heard Jake’s music. Dominic is self-taught and played lead guitar (aka Dominator) for most of his life. Why do you want to play for Jake Shimabukuro? Jake and his music have had such a positive impact on my life. It’s been a dream of mine to share the stage with Jake ever since I saw him perform “live” for the first time at Borders in Sacramento. At Borders I presented him with a copy of the tab I had just prepared from the video of While My Guitar Gently Weeps (the video in Central Park that he has become so famous for). Being able to spend some time with Jake and play music for him means so much to me. Tell us something unique about yourself! After coming back from Hawaii with my Pure Heart CDs in hand I started trying to find tablature for his music. A Google search for ukulele tablature for Jake’s music produced no results. In fact, at that time there was absolutely no ukulele tablature available on the Internet. That’s when I decided I was going to have to learn to play his songs myself. Over the next few years I kept practicing and started attempting to learn Jake’s music as well as other ukulele music I had become exposed to. I wanted to keep a record of my work and so I decided to create tabs to have as a reference. As I began creating the ukulele tabs I became more aware of other ukulele players that were eager to learn and anxious for …
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Jus’ Press – CAAM’s Jake Shimabukuro Contest: Gino Silvestre
Gino Silvestre Los Angeles, CA, USA Gino learned to play the ukulele in the 3rd grade in Honolulu, Hawaii, from an instructor named Jody Kamisato. He later was taught by Bruce Shimabukuro for 3 years. In the summer of 2009, he moved to LA, and is now teaching himself through his own original pieces and YouTube. Why do you want to play for Jake Shimabukuro? I’ve been a huge fan of Jake Shimabukuro ever since I was a kid. I first watched him perform on 2004 at Waikiki. He came up to me and I asked him from an autograph. I remember that the only thing I had with me for him to sign was a piece of napkin paper from Zippy’s, but it was a heart-warming experience. I’ve always wanted to perform for Jake for a really long time and I feel that I can finally reach that goal. Tell us something unique about yourself! Ever since I moved to LA from Honolulu, I never had lessons or any professional guidance. However, I was able to find some friends that also had the same admiration for Jake Shimabukuro. My drummer, Haruka Komiyama, and my bassist, Cory Ng, formed an ukulele instrumental band called “Love&Peace” after the March earthquake that happened in Japan on 2011. From that we joined a “Help Japan” charity concert in southern California. Soon we started to gain recognition locally and started performing at various venues, whether it’s a volunteer charity event, or a professional gig. I have also started a club at my school for musically talented student who wants to perform at …