Whoever put together Apple Music’s UkeBox – The Ukulele Today playlist has been paying attention. The short list includes James Hill, Tune-Yards, Magnetic Fields, Beirut, Mr B, Garfunkel and Oates, Sophie Madeleine, Shiny and the Spoon, Victoria Vox and other Uke Hunt favorites. The only misstep is the incongruous inclusion of Arlo Guthrie’s version of Ukulele Lady.
Continuing the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s 30th Anniversary celebrations with my first attempt at doing a UOGB style version of one of their tunes: Misirlou (most famous as the Pulp Fiction intro played by Dick Dale). I had a lot of fun putting it together and it gave me a new level of appreciation for what they do.
My arrangement is based on theirs but pared down to four ukes and a guitar/bass part.
This is main melody of the tune. I don’t use the g-string here so you can use either high- or low-G. It’s played with a pick.
There are two bits of notation you might not be familiar with. The dots above the notes in the first few bars and the last few bars indicate that the notes are played staccato i.e. they’re very short. The two thick lines under notes in the loud section (bars 38 – 70) mean the note is tremolo picked. More on tremolo picking here.
This part is very simple for the first half of the track. It’s just two notes strummed – – d u – – d – (the same pattern as the rhythm guitar in Dick Dale’s version).
I don’t have a bass (I’m not an animal) so I used a guitar for the bass part. But I’m just using the bottom four strings so you can transfer this tab directly to bass or bass ukulele.
Percussive Ukulele
This part has the least to do. In the intro and outro it makes the very high notes by picking the strings above the bridge. Then in the loud section (bars 38 – 70) it strums all the strings muted with the left hand in the same pattern as the rhythm ukulele in the quiet sections i.e. – – d u – – d -.
There’s no baritone on the track but here’s a baritone version of the lead ukulele part.
Alternatively, you could just play the lead tab for standard tuning on a baritone as it is. For example, if the standard tuning tab says 3rd string (C) 4th fret then you’d play the baritone 3rd string (G), 4th fret. That provides a readymade harmony for the lead part. But it does clash with the second uke sometimes so don’t use them both.
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Wuthering Heights (Chords)
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are celebrating their 30th anniversary at the moment. And I’m celebrating it as well with a series of posts. Starting with the first song of theirs I heard: Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights.
The track first appeared on A Fist Full of Ukuleles but I worked from the version on Live in London #1. Because that song ends “Biiiiiiiii-llllly Shears” and nothing Kate Bush says can change that.
Suggested Strumming
Just down-strums will get you through the song.
Verses: Four down-strums per chord.
Bridges: Two downs for the first two chords on each line. Then four for C# chords except the last one: two lots of four there.
Chorus: It’s a little tricky to keep track of the changes in the chorus.
I’ve watched a few movies featuring ukuleles to various degrees (they’re all on US Netflix because that’s the only good one). If you’ve got any other suggestions leave them in the comments. In decreasing order of ukulele-centricity:
– Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings: I was worried there was going to be too much Jake-talk (“If everyone played the ‘ukulele there’d be no war” and that) but there’s very little of that and a lot more of Jake’s personal life than I was expecting. Being so personal it gets his philosophy on music across much more effectively than his speeches. I’m not the biggest Jake fan but I really enjoyed the movie and found it very affecting towards the end.
– Austin to Boston: Ben Lovett off of the Mumfords takes a bunch of folky acts on the road: The Staves, Ben Howard, Bear’s Den, Nathaniel Rateliff and Gill Landry (off of Old Crow Medicine Show). Being hipsters, they do it in the most impractical way possible. There are some great bits but it’s very frustrating. Lots lovely music interrupted by pretentious jibberjabber. I don’t know why you’d talk all over The Staves telling us how good their harmonies are when you could just shut up and let us hear it for ourselves. Worth it if you’re not a fan of the new folkies. Otherwise steer clear.
– The Dirties: I loved this film. If you’re into low-budget indie movies I recommend watching it without reading anything about it. Other than the fact that Kate and Janelle pop up for a quick ukulele cameo.
I’ve pretty opinionated with my anti-pick stance. I find the common advice of, “Use a pick if you want to, or don’t,” entirely fair and entirely useless advice. I assume you’re here to find out what are think and are capable of rejecting if it’s bollocks.
Despite my anti-pickery I do think there are some occasions where a pick is useful. So here are my tips for using a pick and where I think using one is more effective than using fingers.
Picking Basics
Which Pick?
Over time I’ve moved towards thicker and thicker picks. Now I’m using the Dunlop Jazz III picks which are thick and pointy. That makes for precise picking. On the downside, they do take some getting used to. Picks are pretty cheap (except when they cost $75 a throw) so you can pick up a variety pack and seeing which takes your fancy.
How to Hold It
I like to hold picks between the pad of my thumb and the side of my index finger.
That feels the most secure to me. But plenty of people do well by holding it between the thumb and the tip of the index finger or the tips of the index and middle fingers. Either way, don’t hold the pick with too much pressure and keep your hand as relaxed as you can.
Picking Motion
Don’t let the picking motion come from your elbow. You’ll tire out very fast. Long teenage nights of experience have taught me that swinging from the wrist gives you more stamina than swinging from the elbow.
Move from your wrist. Concentrate on moving the pick as little as you can. It’s not as easy as it sounds.
Rest the underside of your hand against the bridge of the uke so you’re brushing against it a little as you pick.
When I need to pick really fast I put my pinkie on the soundboard. It’s not good technique (because it restricts your movement a bit). I’m working on it but for now I find I need that stability.
To pick really fast you don’t need to move your hand more frantically. Build up speed by making the smallest movement you need to pluck the string.
Best Uses
1: Alternate Picking for Speed
If you need to play a flurry of notes on a string it’s much easier to do that with a pick.
The best way of achieving it is alternate picking i.e. you always pick downstroke, upstroke, downstroke, upstroke etc.
This example has alternate picking all the way through. In tab downstrokes are indicated with a square that has its bottom missing. And upstrokes are a V.
Alternate Picking Across Strings
Alternate picking makes sense when you’re playing one string. It’s not so obviously useful when you’re playing multiple strings. In this example you play a downstroke on the C-string then an upstroke on the E-string. So you have to move the pick past the E-string then come up when it would be quicker to do another downstrum. There are advantages to that way of picking (known as economy picking). But alternate picking keeps your hand moving at a constant rate and gives the notes more definition.
This lick uses the C blues scale (much more about that in my Blues Ukulele ebook if you’re unfamiliar).
2: Tremolo Picking for Sustain
There’s no denying that ukuleles are lacking in sustain. You’re lucky to get much more than a *plink* out of a soprano played up the neck. One way to recreate sustain is to repick the string in a constant rhythm for the length of the note. This is something mandolin players do all the time.
To play them just fret the note then alternate pick the string (usually with eighth notes or sixteenth notes) for as long as the note lasts.
The tab for tremolo is one or more thick diagonal lines under the note. Strictly speaking, one line means eighth note picking and two lines means sixteenth note picking. But that is sometimes ignored by the lazy and semi-competent (i.e. me) and it’s left up to you how quick your tremolo strum is.
This technique is really useful in a ukulele orchestra. You can use it to build up chords one note per ukulele. In this example four different ukes are playing one note each to create an Em – G – D progression with Uke 1 playing a little melody.
The harshness of picks can sometimes be a big advantage. When playing a single string line in a group of strummers a pick really helps you cut through.
I did this UOGB stle version of Misirlou recently (more on that coming later). Using a pick gives the notes a piercing tone that suit the tune perfectly. And when it gets loud at the 1:47 mark you can get an attack that isn’t possible with just fingers.
With the intro you need to miss out the down strum on the first bar. So it starts with u d u. You can follow that with the main strum. But I like to do alternate bars of d u – u d u. So that makes the strumming for the very start of the song:
u d u
d – – u d u
d u – u d u
d – – u d u
d u – u d u
