Melissa Polinar – Beyond the Blue Horizon (Chords) I almost skipped straight past this song on YouTube because I was familiar with Lou Christie’s version of the song and absolutely hated it. But I’m glad I didn’t because Melissa and Yonder Yore‘s version shows it works great on the uke. It’s similar to Over the […]

The E chord – the bete noire of all ukulele players. Trying to cram all your fingers into a tiny space on the fretboard. Impossible. So here are ten possible ways to play the E chord. Try them out and see if you like any of them (I don’t). 1) The Way the Books Tell […]

Sophie Madeleine – Beard Song (Chords) Before we get down to business, a little time-sensitive news: The Ukulele Shop is having a closing down sale. It’s a bit of a disaster for UK ukers, but you can pick up a few bargains on the site for now. orlandosoyyo did some chords up for this on […]

Kate Micucci is a busy bunny. There’s the TV shows, the solo music, the theatre show, the movies, the duo, the web series and the sandcastles. But I managed to find the time in my busy schedule to ask her a few questions. When and why did you first pick up a ukulele? I got […]

Robert Johnson – They’re Red Hot (Chords) Of all the Robert Johnson songs, this one suits the ukulele the best. The quickfire chord changes make it a lot of fun to play. UOGB’s Will Grove-White listed it as one of his favourite songs to play on the uke. But this version wasn’t taken from UOGB’s […]

Three old videos from people recklessly making great uke music without tagging it to make things easy for me: Watercolor Paintings (who aren’t, as I first thought, covering Mirah), Cousin Alice and Charlot Webster. Along with plenty of more diligent ukers. One uker who didn’t make the cut is Aaron Carter (who is now, apparently, […]

The Ohana CK-65D is a bit of a strange beast. As well as the off-centre soundhole, it has a fretboard that is a mixture of rosewood and maple. I think the Kala travel ukulele is a good idea. I can see how shaving a little off the size could help. But then way make one […]

15 year old uker Killian Mansfield has been putting together an album in aid of children’s cancer charity Hope and Heroes (Killian himself has cancer). The album includes collaborations with some serious musical heavyweights: Dr John, Levon Helm, Todd Rundgren and John Sebastian. If the music is anywhere near as good as the photos, I’m […]

I couldn’t let Robert Johnson week pass without covering the Baron’s version of Come On In My Kitchen. It is a fairly standard I – IV – V progression in A (A – D7 – A – E7), so I thought I’d focus on the twiddly bits. Here’s the intro with two typical Johnson-style descending […]

I couldn’t take a look at Robert Johnson without covering slide playing. And using the slide on the ukulele seems to be a trend of late. Just in the last few months I’ve seen videos of it used by James Hill, Tomotaka Matsui (of the Sweet Hollywiians), Peter Madcat Ruth and plenty of other people. […]