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Friday Links

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New Releases

- Pineapple Shakes by Monika Cefis
- 12 Songs by Sage Harrington

Learning

- Ukulele Bartt has made his Ukulele Workshop Booklet available for free.
- Tablature is not cheating.

Ukes

- 1920′s Gibson ukulele owned by Bob Dylan.
- There are a heap of Lanikai’s with factory defects on eBay. Most with modest discounts that mean they’re still more expensive than Amazon. But there are some with more damage and a larger discount on them.
- A string of handsome banjoleles from Jake Wildwood’s shop: c.1925 Stromberg-Voisinet/Kay-made 8″ Rim Resonator Banjo Uke, c.1930 Slingerland-made/sold 7″ Banjo Ukulele, c.1920 Harmony-made Olympian “California Style” Banjo Ukulele.
- Eko suitcase ukulele amp


Jim Boggia, Spoon: UkeTube

Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (Chords)

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Garfunkel and Oates – The Fade Away (Chords)

It’s been a long wait but at last Garfunkel and Oates finally have a TV show. And it’s fantastic. You can watch an episode on YouTube if you’re in the US (or can convince the internet you are) (you used to be able to). I couldn’t find a legit way to watch it in the UK but IFC shows usually show up on iTunes and Netflix eventually.

You can get the chords for all the songs from their two albums on their iOS app. But The Fade Away – the closing song on the first show in the series – isn’t on it. So here goes.

The chords are very simple (just remember to put a capo on the first fret) so there’s plenty of cognitive space to memorise the thousands of words in the song.

Suggested Strumming

A fair chunk of the song is just one down strum per chord. This should see you through everything else:

d – d u – u d -

Twiddly Bits

Here’s the simple little bit at the start:

FadeAwayIntro

Links

GarfunkelAndOates.com
Garfunkel and Oates, Season 1 on iTunes
Chords for songs on Garfunkel and Oates’s first two albums are on their app

Best Ukulele Videos of 2014 So Far

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David Beckingham – Stardust (Tab)

Ukulele Grades: Friday Links

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Learning

- I haven’t heard much about Victoria College of Music ukulele grades since they launched. But the Registry of Guitar Tutors are offering ukulele grades as well. Read about it here and here.

Pre-Order

- Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra’s new album.
- Keston Cobblers’ Club new EP A Pocket Guide to Escaping.

Pictures

- Shimo Guitars’ “boo’sarthtop” and Boo’s triple neck ukulele.
- Newsboy & Uke (c.1930)
- “Ukelele pintado para Roque
- “A girl wearing a pretty hat strums a Martin style 3 ukulele

Video

- A couple of great uke-featuring NPR Tiny Desk Concerts: Irene Diaz and Saintseneca.

Poetry Corner

- Sandra Beasley reads her poem Ukulele on NPR

Meghan Trainor, Saintseneca: UkeTube

Blind Melon – No Rain (Tabs and Chords)

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Blind Melon – No Rain (Chords)

I originally had this one planned for the Acoustic Intros post. But in a fit of nostalgia I blundered into writing up the entire thing.

The chords are a bit tricky. There’s a fast switch between G and the dreaded E chord. You can make the transition a little quicker by using these alternative chord shapes. Or you can put a capo on the second fret and play it like this.

Suggested Strumming

For the intro, chorus and solos do this on the E chord:

d – d – d u d

And this on the D:

u – u – u – u d u

Notice that you switch chords on the up strum. Together they sound like this:


MP3

In the verses you can use this twice on E and D and once on A:

d – d u – u d -

One long down strum on A and two down strums on G.


Verse Strum

Twiddly Bits

Here’s the intro. It’s nice and simple.

NoRainLead


Intro

No Rain (Lead Tab)

The verse follows a similar pattern and includes a few bends. Things get very tricky in the solo. I’ve had to move things around to fit them onto uke.

Here’s how it sounds:


MP3

Links

Buy it on iTunes


Tabs and Chords in a Minor Key

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A while back I got a comment by Michael asked me for suggestions of songs in a minor key. Which struck me as an excellent idea of a post because I’m always looking for an excuse to stick it to the ‘it’s impossible to play the ukulele without smiling’ brigade.

If you’ve got a favourite minor key song to play leave it in the comments.

So here are lists of tabs and chords in a minor key (or at least minor enough to be glum):

Tabs in a Minor Key

Angi (Davy Graham)
Angry Birds
Blue Skies
Breaking Bad Theme
Cantina Band
Carol of the Bells
Danse Macabre
Diamond Head
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Hawaii 5-O
He’s a Pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean Theme
Hedwig’s Theme
I Am the Doctor
The Last of Us Theme
Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
Mississippi Blues
Rolling in the Deep
Safe and Sound
Shades of Cool
Sherlock’s Theme
Shipbuilding
Sonic the Hedgehog Boss Level
Street Spirit
The Sweeney Theme
Tamacun (Rodrigo Y Gabriela)
Tetris
The Godfather Theme
Video Games (Lana Del Rey)
Walk on By (Burt Bacharach)
We Three Kings
While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Chords in a Minor Key

Anyone Who Had a Heart (Dionne Warwick)
Back to Black (Amy Winehouse)
Bei Mir Bist du Schon (Sophie Madeleine)
Big Bang 2 (Charlie McDonnell)
The Chimbley Sweep (The Decemberists)
Cliquot (Beirut)
Daisy Fraser (Snake Suspenderz)
Down in the Hole (Blind Boys of Alabama)
Elephant Gun (Beirut)
February Snow (Peggy Sue)
Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros (Flight of the Conchords)
Girl (The Beatles)
Golden Skans (The Klaxons)
Gulag Orkestar (Beirut)
Guyamas Sonoroa (Beirut)
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Daft Punk)
I Love the Things that People Make (The Burning Hell)
Standing Next to Me (Last Shadow Puppets)
You’re a Mean One, Mr Grinch
Mount Wroclai (Beirut)
Mary (Oingo Boingo)
Somebody that I Used to Know
Stayin’ Alive (The Bee Gees)
Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard (Tom Waits)

Pharrell Williams – Happy (Instrumental Tab)

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Pharrell Williams – Happy (Tab)

To counteract yesterday’s gloomfest I decided to do a version of the most cheerful song of the summer. Plus I was feeling like a room without a roof so this is the smiliest I have looked in any video ever.

Technique Notes

For the most part I’m playing the verses and the middle picking and the chorus with strums.

In the chorus I’m using a triplet technique (although I’m not actually playing triplets) by strumming down with my index finger, then flicking my index finger up, then my middle finger up. But that’s very much optional. You can strum it however seems appropriate to you.

In the middle section I’m recreating the soul-claps by playing muted notes on the g-string.

Variations

In the tab I’ve just indicated to repeat the verse twice. Which you can certainly get away with. For my version I’ve done a few variations in the timing. The only big difference is the “No offence to you…” bit. There I play this:

Happy2

Making it Easier

This one is a bit tricky. So a couple of pointers for making it easier.

You can drop the harmony in the riff and just play it like this:

EasyRiff

The muted notes in the middle section are very tricky. So you can just drop those in that section and play it with just the sparse melody.

Links

Buy the original on iTunes
Ukulele chords for Happy

Friday Links

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New Releases

- Tricity Vogue All Girl Swing Band Live at Earl Haig Hall
- John Nash’s Moment

Pictures

- Asilomar 1918
- Bass ukuleles how they should be done.

Video

- Preview of the new Pixar short featuring Uku. A singing volcano voiced by Kuana Torres.
- You might have seen the movie Frank loosely based on Frank Sidebottom and other outsider musicians. Frank with an American accent is no big deal but Frank playing a guitar is egregiously wrong. But you can watch Frank play his ukulele and chat with Tony Slattery and Stanley Unwin. (Via Things I Saw that I Love.)
- Ukulele tap dancing.

Olympic gold medal diver and ukulelist, Matthew Mitcham is starring in an autobiographical ukulele musical.

Sanshin/ukulele/sanlele.

Ukelites, Peter Moss: UkeTube

Joe Brown – I’ll See You in My Dreams (Chords)

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Joe Brown – I’ll See You in My Dreams (Chords)

I’ve been decidedly tardy putting up this 1920s song by Isham Jones and Gus Kahn. It was meant to go up about 7 years ago. But it’s here at last.

The song has been recorded by a huge number of people including Ukulele Ike. But it became an instant ukulele classic when Joe Brown played it at the Concert for George Harrison. And it’s his version I’ve written up.

I’ve tried to capture all the nuances of the arrangement. Which has resulted in 26 chords. Equaling So Long and Thanks for All the Fish as song with most chords. So I’ve also written up a simplified version.

Simplified Version


I’ll See You in My Dreams (Simplified Chords)

26 chords is a lot to get your head around in one go. So I’d recommend having a play through this version first so you know what’s going on. Then you can introduce elements from the full version as you see fit.

For this version I’ve also simplified the F – F6 – Fmaj7 move to F – Dm – Am to make it easier to play.

Twiddly Bits

There’s a few little ukulele licks in the song. Here’s the line that leads into the solo:

SoloStart

The solo itself uses notes mainly picked from the chords. With this to end it off:

SoloEnd

And the lick right at the end:

SeeYouInMyDreamsEnd

Links

Buy the Joe Brown version
Buy the Cliff “Ukulele Ike” Edwards version

Kimo Hussey’s Ukulele Masterclass

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If you’re looking for someone to inspire your ukulele playing you couldn’t do much better than Kimo Hussey. He’s about the smoothest and classiest ukulelist around.

Lucky for us he’s also a great teacher and he’s put up a series of masterclasses on his YouTube channel. I find them incredibly inspiring and highly recommend you give them a watch. To start you off here’s a selection of my favourites.

Patience in Ukulele

TL;DW:

- “We’ve become very accustomed to hearing and playing music on the ‘ukulele that goes relatively fast. But the degree to which we play the ukulele slow opens up some wonderful horizons in what we can hear the ‘ukulele do.”
- “One of the things about the right hand that we can utilise in terms of musical interpretation – the way we express songs – is how we use tempo and dynamic.”

Right Hand Technique

TL;DW:
- “The degree to which you try and improve the quality of your music is the degree to which you create a balance between the left and the right hand.”
- “The right hand controls five things that are extremely important: melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamic, tempo.”

Chord Funtions

TL;DW:
- Try out these chord shapes.

Kimo

Strum Patterns, Melody and Harmony

TL;DW:
- Play a descending C scale:

DescendingC

- Then for each note play a triplet strum on all the strings:

DescendingTriplets

Tobias Elof Take 2

TL;DW:

- “One of the wonderful things about ‘ukulele is that it can play anything. This little instrument is so smart it can play any song that’s ever been written.”
- Tobias: “With the ‘ukulele you can have so many layers. You can have the rhythm, the chord and the melody at the same time.”

Left Hand Technique

TL;DW:
- “I think it’s most important for you to learn 36 chords: 12 major chords, 12 minor chords and 12 7th chords.”
- You don’t have to memorise them all but you have to know how to derive them if you need them.

Links

Kimo Hussey on YouTube
KimoHussey.com

The Swamp Whistler from Rayman Legends (Tab)


Marko van der Horst: Friday Links

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Very sad news this week that Marko van der Horst of The Uke Box and the Jumping Flea Circus has died at the age of 45. My thoughts are with Shelley and Marko’s family.

Kickstarting

- Jim Boggia is Patreoning his ukulele videos.

Learning

- Will “off of the UOGB” Grove-White’s ukulele book is now available for pre-order.
- Ukulele Bartt’s book is out in paperback
- Helen Arney Songbook :: free songs & PDF

New Releases

- Another magnificent record from the Keston Cobblers A Pocket Guide to Escaping.
- thank goodness’s Echo Park 7″

Videos

- Luthier roundtable with Gordon “Mya-Moe” Mayer, Rick Turner & Eric Devine.
- “Unknown Chinese Variety Performer with a Ukelele (1925)”.

Pictures

- Custom Kanilea.
- Where all music in vlogs comes from.
- Holographic ukuleles (the effect is somewhat lost in pictures).

The Prettiots, Ben Ahn: UkeTube

The Smiths – Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (Chords)

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The Smiths – Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want (Tab)

I’ve written up a few Smiths songs in the past but there aren’t many Smiths songs that translate smoothly to the ukulele. This one is a rare exception. It’s a strumalong with some nice, jazzy chords.

Plus it’s been on a bunch of movie and TV soundtracks so people are bound to know it.

Suggested Strumming

It’s in 6/8 time so this strum should see you all the way through the song:

d – d u d –

When there are quicker chord changes just change half way through this pattern.

Twiddly Bits

Please, Please, Please (Outro Tab)

The song finishes up with a tremolo picked mandolin solo. You can do the same on ukulele if you like but I’ve gone with just picking each note once.


Outro

Links

Buy it on iTunes
More Smiths tabs and chords

Uke Hunt T-Shirts

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UHTeeCrew

It’s Uke Hunt t-shirt season again! I’ve had a few requests for another run of the shirts. You can pre-order yours here.

I’m using Teespring again this year. It is sort of a Kickstart for t-shirts. So you put in an order for your shirt, if there are enough orders by the end of the campaign the shirts are made and sent out. You’re not charged until the end of the campaign (and you’re not charged at all if the shirt doesn’t reach its goal). This way of doing it means all the shirts are printed at once and exactly the right shirts and sizes are made.

So if you want one of the shirts they’ll only be available until 14th October. After that you’re all out of luck.

The system worked very well last time. My shirt came here (the UK) quickly and without any hassle. It’s nice quality and it’s still in good shape. You can see me modelling it in my recent videos.

The Shirts

UHTeeVNeck

There are two different styles. The standard fit American Apparel crew-neck (at the top of the post) and after a couple of requests for a v-neck the other is a Bella Missy slim fit (directly above). Both are $22 plus shipping.

This time you can combine the different shirts into one order. Just click ‘Reserve now’ then ‘Add another style’.

Pre-order both of them on this page.

Delivery

Teespring is based in the US so shipping outside of that is more expensive and will take longer.

Domestic (United States): shipping $3.85 + $1.00 for each additional t-shirt. Your shirt will arrive within 7-14 days from the end of the campaign.

Domestic (Canada): $9.50 + $4.00 for each additional t-shirt. Your shirt will arrive within 14-21 days from the end of the campaign.

International Ahipping is $12.50 + $4.00 for each additional t-shirt. Your shirt will arrive within 14-21 days from the end of the campaign.

For more information on the shirts and the system take a look at Teespring’s FAQ.

Alexander Wandrowsky – Canzone Danza

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Alexander Wandrowsky – Canzone Danza

After posting this tune a few weeks ago on the UkeTube I immediately got a couple of tab requests. And Alexander “DerMitDerUkulele” Wandrowsky was kind enough to send me his tab. Two versions, in fact. The one above is in D tuning as it’s played in the video. And here’s one in F minor and played in standard tuning:

Alexander Wandrowsky – Canzone Danza in Fa Minore (Tab)

Quick warning: the chords here have been changed to match F minor but the standard notation is still in G minor.

My Version


Canzone Danza (Uke Hunt Version)(Tab)

I absolutely love this tune so I had to have a crack at my own arrangement.

I’m playing it in G minor but in C-tuning. I start of playing the tune campanella style. Then go into combining the melody and chords. Then back to the campanella style to rip through the tune at double(ish) speed.

Links

Alles-Uke.de
Subscribe to Alexander’s YouTube channel

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