Turning the brilliant up to 11 this week are Sigur Ros’s Jónsi (thanks to Fivetide who drew my attention to his performance on Lauren Laverne’s radio show last week at about 1hr44), Allo Darlin’ quoting El Scorcho at a band-bigger-than-the-crowd show as SXSW, Tricity Vogue with one of her handsome young men, Thos Henley and […]

No competition for the uke I want most this week. The Juke-a-lele is the latest addition to KoAloha’s Masterpiece series. Not as classic a design as the Sceptre, but that’s not going to stop me wanting one. I’m not much of a banjolele fan, but I could go for one that looks as good as […]

A mystery tabber was kind enough to let me post a bit slab of baritone ukulele tabs of classical and traditional tunes. The Re-entrants are trying to get their version of Ace of Spades into the charts. You can buy it on iTunes. Olive Thomas on a ukulele. She had an interesting lifestory, there’s a […]

Keston Cobblers’ Club – You-Go (Chords) This lovely tune from the Keston Cobblers’ Club got a great reaction when I featured it on the UkeTube. And Matt from the band was kind enough to share the chords and lyrics so I thought I’d write them up. Suggested Strumming For the most part it’s just down […]

Back in the olden days I had a fingerpicking mini-course available for people who signed up for my mailing list. It’s been unavailable for quite a while and a few people have been asking about it. So here’s the first part of it and the rest of it will be available once I work out […]

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass (Chords) I used to think this the was the best ukulele blog, but now I’m pretty sure it’s Ralph Shaw’s The Ukulele Entertainer. He’s full of great advice. And he’s one of the few people who agree with me that kids should be discouraged from making music. Two […]

The site has been throwing a bit of a diva fit this evening. At the time of writing, it’s sort of back on line. But don’t be too surprised if things look weird, aren’t working or the whole site disappears. I’m going to get some sleep and pray the interfairies take pity on me. A […]

MP3 Richard Ayoade makes some great videos but the one he made for Vlad the Impaler is a whole new level of astounding. Not least because of Noel Fielding’s moustache. The bass riff, of course, doesn’t work on ukulele at all. But why should that stop us? More guitar riffs for ukulele

Nothing made me laugh more this week than this video by Barbara Holm. I watch a lot of ukulele videos and, with the best will in the world, some of them are really bad. This parody is spot on (there’s always a danger declaring something to be a hilarious parody when you’re not entirely sure […]

30 Ukulele, 30 Artists – although all the best ones are sold already. Hilarious parody of ukulele boy. Demetri Martin busts out the uke at about 7:50 (thanks to Ben). Ukulele ad banned for reinforcing racial stereotypes. I got mentioned at SXSW (slide 37). Looks like an interesting presentation on the pentatonic scale. Rocky and […]