When I got my first ukulele, I was completely clueless. This was in those dark, long forgotten days before the internet had been discovered. I didn’t even realise that the strings weren’t supposed to go thickest to thinnest and restrung it.
But you can save yourself from the social disgrace I experienced. I’ve put together a free mini-ebook covering the basics that every first time uke owner needs to know. Here’s what it contains:
Five Things to Know
Five Chords to Learn
Five Patterns to Strum
Five Songs to Play
Five Websites to Visit
Five Things to Get Free
Five Things to Buy
Five Videos to Watch
Five YouTube Channels to Subscribe to
I had to do this tab to celebrate the finale of the first series of Serial. The plinkiness of it was just dying to be uked. To keep it extra-plinky it’s played right up the neck.
Time for the annual Uke Hunt Christmas time-waster.
– Grab a pen and paper
– Display knowledge.
– There might be spoilers in the comments.
– Check the answers here (no peeking).
– Return in triumph or despair and share you score in the comments.
Who first released the songs these ukulele orchestras are covering?
11. Durham Ukulele Orchestra
12. Otley Ukulele Orchestra
13. Ukulele Turin Orchestra
14. West Cork Ukulele Orchestra
15. The Ukulele Club
Name the Actor – GIF edition
Which actor is playing/crotch-spinning the ukulele in these gifs
16.
a) Zooey Deschanel
b) Emma Stone
c) Katy Perry
d) Shailene Woodley
17.
a) Doris Day
b) Diana Dors
c) Marilyn Monroe
d) Greta Garbo
18.
a) Peter Dinklage
b) Alfie Allen
c) Charles Dance
d) Tywin Lannister
19.
a) James Franco
b) Ryan Gosling
c) Shia LaBeouf
d) Leonardo di Caprio
20.
a) Christopher Walken
b) Christophe Waltz
c) Chris Pratt
d) Christopher Guest
Name the Lyric
Which song – oft covered on ukulele – are these lyrics from?
21.
See her walking down the street / Now I ask you very confidentially
22.
Though the days are long / Twilight sings a song / Of a happiness that used to be
23.
Somewhere in her smile she knows / That I don’t need no other lover / Something in her style that shows me
24.
Ukulele small and fierceful / Ukulele brave and peaceful / You can play the ukulele too, it is painfully simple
25.
Yeah it’s pretty clear, I ain’t no size two / But I can shake it, shake it like I’m supposed to do / ‘Cause I got that boom boom that all the boys chase / All the right junk in all the right places
Carrie Hope Fletcher – Somewhere Only We Know (Chords)
When I mentioned I was doing this song to Uke Hunt’s US Cultural Affairs Correspondent her reaction was, “Somewhere Only We Know?! Isn’t it several years too late for that song?” So I feel I should explain. Last year Lily Allen did a cover for a Christmas advert. The ad was everywhere, the song was everywhere, it went to number 1. I thought that was the end of it but it’s been cropping up again this year as Christmas song even though there’s nothing particularly Christmassy about it (other than containing a Jesus4 chord). But it’s a nice song so I’m not complaining.
I’ve written up the chords for Carrie Hope Fletcher’s version. Partly because it’s dead easy and a great place to start if you’re looking to get into fingerpicking. And partly because that makes this the first time I’ve featured separate a brother and sister ukulele songs.
To play along with the video tune up by one fret or put a capo on the first fret.
I thought I’d join with this week’s face sitting protests and put up the chords to this Monty Python protest song. The song is based on Gracie Fields’s Sing As We Go with some lyrical adaptation by Eric Idle.
Suggested Strumming
The main strum I use for this is just:
d – d u
I use that everywhere except in the descending intro/outro line. There I just done one downstrum per chord. Here’s how it sounds together:
When I got my first ukulele, I was completely clueless. This was in those dark, long forgotten days before the internet had been discovered. I didn’t even realise that the strings weren’t supposed to go thickest to thinnest and restrung it. 
