Listen
– New album from Ukulollo Devotion
– Victoria Vox’s Key
– Ukulele Hour on The Jason Crane Show
Pictures
– Steampunk Tenor Semi-Hollow electric ukulele (via @xor)
Watch
– A very young Molly Ringwald ukuleling in The Facts Of Life
– Megan Mullally, Alison Brie and Stephanie Hunt freak out Adam Scott with a ukulele song.
This is easily one of the best protest songs ever written. And one of the best songs of any sort. The lyrics are as nuanced and thought-provoking then any other. But it’s the music – written by Clive Langer – that really makes it shine.
The song is in the key of E minor but you’re hardly ever using the Em chord. In my arrangement there’s a grand total of three bars of it. So the song never feels relaxed or settled. It’s always shifting. The jazzy elements unsettle the tune. All that is added to in Robert Wyatt’s version with his vocal wobbles.
I could keep rambling on but I’ll let you play it.
Buy the Elvis Costello version.
Buy the Robert Wyatt version.
Every time the subject of the ukulele video of the year comes up, regular commentor, Ron Hale enquires as to the status of previous winners. So for him here’s a rundown of what happened to the ukulelists after the career peak of winning the award.
Back then: Bedroom-uker covering Jonathan Coulton.
Since then: As a direct result of this video, she ended up regularly performing and touring with Coulton and buddies like Paul and Storm, and John Hodgman.
She started writing her own songs in a similar comic style. In 2009 she released her debut album I Made You a CD, but I Eated It. And displayed no loyalty whatsoever by mercilessly crushing Paul and Storm, and her label boss Hank Green to win Masters of Song Fu #3.
What’s she done lately? Massively embarrassed Stephen Fry by serenading him in the hopes of having him impregnate her. And last year toured the US with The Doubleclicks.
Keep up to date: on sweetafton23.com
Learn to play it Tom Cruise Crazy Chords
Back then: A cuddly, jumpered ukulele strummer hanging out with sock puppets.
Since then: He’s gone all sexy and started releasing rather excellent disco music under the name Bright Light Bright Light.
What’s he done lately? Last year he released the debut Bright Light Bright Light album Make Me Believe in Hope which made an appearance in many album of the year lists.
Keep up to date: On BrightLightx2.com
Learn to play it Same Old Lines Chords
Back then: Adorable Japanese puppets covering Ventures songs.
Since then: They followed up the Ventures album with a set of Beatles covers. But whilst touring the record 900’s spiralling drug-use caused friction with U and the band split. U travelled to Bhutan and a spent a year’s retreat at the Punakha Dzong monastery. After a disastrous 13-day marriage to Heidi Hippo, 900 vowed to get sober.
What’ve they done lately? After patching up their differences, the band recorded an album of Michael Jackson covers and have returned to playing live.
Keep up to date: Follow them on Facebook.
Learn to play it Diamond Head tab
Back then: Uke-looping Canadian bluser.
Since then: Hal has been touring relentlessly and is a regular fixture at ukulele festivals. He released his follow-up to Huckster, Flirting with Mermaids, in 2010.
What’s he done lately? Hal’s just released the fantastic Devil on the Wall. It’s killer. You should give it a listen.
Keep up to date: On ManitobaHal.com
Learn to play it Poulet Shack tab
Back then: Bunch of Brazilian buddies having a blast.
Since then: They’ve released a self titled debut album (listen and download it here). And an EP Canções Que Vão Morrer no Ar
What’ve they done lately? The band’s ukulelist Rodrigo Lems has been busy releasing his own solo album and playing in the band Naked Girls and Aeroplanes
Keep up to date: Follow them on Facebook.
Learn to play it Oracao chords
I was a bit surprised to find not one but three ukulele songs on the new Paramore album. I was even more surprised to find I liked this one.
In the verses: Use our old friend:
d – d u – u d u
Twice for each on G and B7. Once each for Em and C.
In the intro
Mute the strings by resting your left hand across them. Do the verse strum twice then alternate soft down strums (d) with hard down strums (D)
In the chorus just replace the second d with a chnk:
d – x u – u d u
Once for each chord. But G is the only exception. Yes, G is the only exception. Oh, G is the only exception. The only exception is G.
For the G at the end of the second line do the strum twice. For the last G do five down strums.
John Paul Jones's lap steel Mya-Moe. Listen to it here
New Releases
– Manitoba Hal’s Devil On The Wall
– Debut release from the former Reentrants Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson.
Videos:
– Sesame Street thinks of some words beginning with U.
– Very ridiculous – and unofficial ukulele records (that hoop one definitely isn’t the longest I’ve seen).
“Ukulele ‘gangsters’ to shake up public transit commutes next month” – you might have noticed I’m a uke fan, but that would annoy me no end.
These hip hop riff posts fast becoming my favourite posts to do. With this one I’ve gone way down hill from the first two posts in terms of credibility. But at least there’s a long-overdue Nas riff in there.
This one requires a bit of jiggering for the uke. The first note should be an octave below where it is here. So if you’re using low-G you can play it on the G-string, 1st fret.
The chords to go along with it are G#m – B – C# – D# – F#
Things get a lot more uke-friendly if you move the song down a fret (or capo the first fret). That lets you use the open g to buy you some time:
And makes the chords more familiar: Gm – Bb – C – D – F
Unlike the other riffs in the post, this one is absolutely perfect for ukuleling. It’s based around fingerpicking a Gm chord. I use thumb on C, index on E and middle on A.
I’m going to backtrack from the title right away. Whether these scales sound weird to you depends entirely on your cultural perspective. But they are rarely heard on the ukulele.
There are plenty of good reasons to learn unfamiliar sounding scales:
– Rut busting: Ever find yourself playing the same set of notes over and over again?
– Lame Pastiches: This is how they’re most often used. And that’s what I’ve done for the demo examples in this post. But that’s certainly not the best way of using the scales.
– Integrating into your own style: Much more satisfying is take ideas and sounds and integrate them into your own playing.
So, for starters, here are three lesser-uked scales for you to try out.
How it Sounds
You Might Recognise it From: Miserlou
In C
C – Db – E – F – G – Ab – B – C
In General
1 – b2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – b6 – 7
How to Play It
An Example
Deeper Listening: Khyam Allami
How it Sounds
You Might Recognise it From: Metallica’s Wherever I May Roam
In C
C – Db – E – F – G – Ab – Bb – C
In General
1 – b2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – b6 – b7
How to Play It
An Example
Deeper Listening: Paco De Lucia
How it Sounds
You Might Recognise it From: The Simpsons Theme Tune
In C
C – D – E – F# – G – A – Bb – C
In General
1 – 2 – 3 – #4 – 5 – 6 – b7
How to Play It
An Example
Deeper Listening: Danny Elfman and Tim Burton Music Box
This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Brendan Maclean is going zeitgeist with this one combining ukulele with the vogue for dancing like nobody’s watching whilst hoping that everyone is watching.
And it seems to have work because I’ve had a few requests for this one. It’s a lot of fun to play and very beginner friendly.
The main strumming pattern:
d – d u – u d u
Do that twice for every chord in the verse, chorus and middle. (In the first chorus he just does one strum for each chord so you can do that as well if you prefer.) Slowed down it sounds like this:
The strumming for the intro and outro is a bit trickier. For the G chord do:
d u d
Then switch to the G6 for:
u – u d u
Which sounds like this:
If you can’t get the hang of that you can just do the main strum on a G chord twice.
Buy it on his Bandcamp.
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