Last post of 2011 (except the usual one for the Christmas uke-getters and possibly a podcast). I’ll be back mid-January.
Until then, happy holidays (if you’re into that kind of thing) whatever that may be and however you choose to spend it. I’ll be eating, drinking, gambling and letting my servants wear my clothes in celebration of Saturnalia.
Here’s a selection of my favourite ukulele Christmas videos. See you in 2012!
Tis the season to be jazzy. And I’ve thrown some decidedly jazzy bits into this tune from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
I’ve added an intro with a few licks (using the E minor pentatonic scale) and some discordant chords. It’s played very loosely so feel free to change whatever you like or – even better – come up with your own.
Other than some unfamiliar chords, the tune isn’t too challenging. The right hand is all done with the thumb (except for the last chord).
Revelation of the week is LP. I wasn’t hopeful when I clicked on the video but I was blown away. Also this week, Kate and Janelle sing to save their schoool and break the shit out of Neko Case’s heart in the process. And the uke-adjacent clip of the week is Tamburica 5 sing the Croation folk song that inspired Lili’uokalani to write Aloha ‘Oe which in turn inspired this Cajun tune (I’m not sure why that lady is so scared of such an adorable dog).
UPDATE: You can download an MP3 of LP’s performance on her website for free. (Thanks to SamD)
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I’ve only bought one ukulele this year (my aNueNue harp ukulele) and I haven’t entirely formed my opinion on that yet. But there’s other stuff I’ve bought this year (or wangled for free) that has been well worth the money.
The ukulele albums I’ve listened to most this year are:
Givers – In Light
Leftover Cuties – Places to Go
Emily Scott – i write letters i never send
Tune-Yards – W H O K I L L
But there are plenty more great ukulele songs released this year. I’ve made a Spotify playlist of some of them I could find on there.
And I’ve put together a Spotify playlist of my favourite non-ukulele songs of the year.
Both are a random assortment of tracks that happened to pop into my head. I’m sure I’ve left out plenty of stuff (and quite a few great uke albums aren’t on Spotify).
I am, of course, going to be completely biased and suggest you buy a copy of Ukulele for Dummies.
On less self-interested note, I’d highly recommend Lil’ Rev’s 101 Ukulele Licks for anyone looking to do some ukulele soloing.
My copy of Ralph Shaw’s The Ukulele Entertainer has yet to wing its way across the ocean but – since it’s based on his blog posts – I feel confident that’ll be well worth the money.
On a non-ukulele front, and after some initial skepticism, I took the plunge and bought a Kindle. It’s part of my drive to get rid of as much junk from my life as possible. I’ve tackled the biggest problem (CDs) and books are next on the list (ukuleles are third – don’t know what I’m going to do about that). Best thing about it: you can hook it up to Instapaper and make it a whole lot easier to read long articles on the net.
If you’re worried about me being easily bought (a very fair position to hold) the stuff I got free was: Leftover Cuties, Emily Scott and 101 Ukulele Licks. I would have gladly paid full whack for all of them.
That crack when Steve Martin stands up after singing Tonight, You Belong to Me? It’s the sound of a foot going through a Martin ukulele.
I wrote a bit about ukulele songs and cultural appropriation. The short version: the mock-Hawaiian songs from the early years of the ukulele-boom are really horrid.
Amazon US are offering $3 off my book Ukulele for Dummies (click where it says ‘Clip this coupon’).
The book of Ralph Shaw’s blog, The Ukulele Entertainer is out now.
More free Christmas ukulele tunes from Patsy Monteleone and Shiny and the Spoon.
Will from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain discusses the tracks of his years.
Good news for Aquila, bad news for cows. They can make real gut strings again (via @danieladuck).
It’s the best day ever to be a bartione player.
Learn pieces quicker backwards.
Ryan Gosling is Time’s Coolest Person of the Year mostly due to his ukulele playing.
Un Ukulélé pour Junior (you can buy it here)
I thought I’d do a tab to give you an idea of what the stuff in the How to Play Christmas Ukulele ebook is like. Which, by the way, you can get $2 off if you use the code ‘armadillo’ by the 18th December.
But I’m not sure why I chose this one. I can’t stand the ‘baby Jesus meek and mild’ lyrics. I’m more into the ‘Jesus is here to fuck shit up‘ songs. But the tunes nice.
Like in the ebook, I’ve done two arrangements for this. The first one is a full arrangement that has the melody and back played on one uke. It’s arranged very simply. The right hand is all done with the thumb. And the left hand is based on familiar chord shapes (F, Bb, Gm and C).
The second arrangement is even simpler. The tab is just the single note melody which stays in the first position (except a quick trip to the fifth fret). And the chords above it.
For the strumming I’m doing this once for each bar:
d – d u d –
Here’s that being played:
I’ve put the chords and melody on different sides so you can adjust your balance and play along with either.
Buy How to Play Christmas Ukulele
This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Instructions:
– Grab a piece of paper
– Display your uke knowledge
– Check the answers here (no peeking)
– Leave your score in the comments along with your dangs/woohoos.
What chords are these on a standard C-tuned (gCEA) ukulele?
1.
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5.
Which famous person is ukeing in these pictures?
6.
7. Half a point each.
8.
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10.
Who is singing these ukulele songs? (Update: Round ruined by YouTube changes!)
11.
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What brand are these ukuleles? (You don’t have to name the model but I’ll be suitably impressed if you do)
16.
Photo by: Monsieur Gordon
17.
Photo by: Metal Chris
18.
Photo by: TEDxHonolulu
19.
Photo by: Vicki and Chuck Rodgers
20.
Photo by: cartoixa
In tab for standard C-tuning (gCEA) what notes are these? (e.g. C, D, Eb)
21.
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25.
Which act are these ukulele orchestras covering?
26. Baines Ukulele Orchestra
27. Ukulele Orchestra of the Western Hemisphere
28. Hull Ukulele Group
29. Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra
30. Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Go here and check your answers.
An easy 3-chord Christmas song. And the benefit of being a twofer since Little Queenie (worth clicking for the video) is exactly the same.
You can just stick with a simple down-up pattern with a bit of emphasis. Like this:
d u D U d u D U
Or you can throw in a few sixth chords like this:
I’m doing all down strums on this:
An essential Berry intro:
And a not so essential harmonized outro:
This week’s selection contains the most popular video I’ve ever featured on UkeToob.com: Raymond Penfield’s Addicted to Love. Universal 5 star votes and it’s not hard to see why.
Also up this week: The Jive Aces, Imelda May, Injured Birds using a banjolele in a new way and plenty more besides.
You can blame YouTube for this week being shorter than usual. They took away the x button that allowed you to get rid of videos in your subs box (even after you’ve watched them). And then they took away the two pages that still let you do that. So I’ve probably missed a whole load of good stuff.
I’ve got my hands on a new ukulele! It’s an aNueNue harp ukulele. I’m still getting to grips with it but I’ve done a couple of videos with it: Here Comes the Sun and Albatross. I’ll be doing a review of it next year but you can read Tim’s thoughts right now.
Two sweet looking (and very expensive) DeVine ukuleles: DeVine 1 and DeVine 2.
1928 National Style 3 Resonator.
John Wayne lunch-boxalele.
Young man with ukulele.
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