Nickel Creek – Anthony (Chords) Sara Watkins has a few ukulele songs knocking around but this one – from Nickel Creek’s Why Should the Fire Die? – is the standout. The tuning she uses in this one is rather unusual. It’s like a low-G ukulele tuned down two frets (to F Bb D G). I […]

A few posts to help you get going with one of the most popular non-traditional ways to play the ukulele. For this section you’ll need a good understand of ukulele tab. Step 1: Basics Blues Scales: – Minor pentatonic scale – Blues scale Five steps to blues mastery How to Play Blues Ukulele – ebook […]

Fingerpicking Basics Fingerpicking First Steps Easy Fingerpicking Playing one note at a time. Stephin Merritt – Smile Earlyguard – Busy Bee Silent Night Oh Christmas Tree Moderate Fingerpicking Introducing chords and melody notes. Hawaii Five-O Indiana Jones Super Mario Theme Godfather Theme Tricky Fingerpicking Introduction to campanella playing You can use the campanella technique to […]

As far as I’m concerned, the UOGB’s performance at the Proms is the high-water mark of the ukulele revival (so far). If you’re not familiar with the Proms, they’re a series of straight classical music concerts that have been held at the Royal Albert Hall for the last 115 years and culminate in a display […]

Sigur Ros – Hoppipolla (Tab) I think this tune has to be the most overused piece of music on television: reality shows, sporting montages, documentaries. And now it’s been covered by the guy off of G4. That would usually be enough to kill off any song. But this song is so magnificent it gives me […]

I very much enjoying Charlie Brooker’s new show GamesWipe this week. The highlight of the show was a ukulele-featuring song/game review by Rebecca Mayes. I do hope that’s a regular feature. Also this week are rib-tickling videos from Amelia Robinson and Ben Lerman (whose song is definitely NSFW), The Leisure Society, some hapa-haole a beautifully […]

I do worry a great deal about keyboards coming into fashion again. If we tolerate this, it’s only a matter of time before we’re wearing shoulder pads, watching Dallas and having competitions to see who can spunk the most money up the wall. Having said that, Daylight by Matt and Kim is a damn fine […]

Stop the (Word)press: Todd has put up Ukulele Hunt jingle. No doubt I’ll be mentioning that a few times. This week’s most interesting video is a loose ukulele jam from, guitar virtuoso, Kaki King. She does some incredible things with a guitar, so it’ll be interesting to see what she ends up doing with a […]

I Wanna Be Like You (Chords) This one is a big favourite with ukulele groups (as ably demonstrated by the Hull Ukulele Group). But it could have been written for Hobbit to sing. It’s a perfect fit. Which is a whole lot more than you can say about the Jonas Brothers. I somehow find it […]

Coastal towns beginning with ‘Bri’ seem to be uke hotspots at the moment. This week Brighton representative is Sophie Madeleine (she’s finally got her own YouTube channel). And Bristol is represented by Cat Green Bike (whose Breakbeat/Thrash/Concrete EP is rather fantastic) and Lulu and the Lampshades (this video, despite being uke-less, is a must-watch). And […]