Yes, Uke Hunt is four years old. I’ll forgo the usual self-indulgent post and do a quick look back at the last twelve months on the blog and in the ukulele world.

Stats

My mind continues to be blown by the number of people who visit. In the last year there have been 3.4 million visits and 17.5 million page views. Both up about 75% on the year before.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who visits the site. And in particular to everyone who gets invloved by commenting, emailing and mentioning the site around the net. Knowing that people appreciate the site and find it helpful really makes the difference when I feel like packing it in.

May 2010

In chords: Billy Corgan and South Park.
In video: Trent Reznor busts out the uke and Honeycomb do an incredible session.

June 2010

The internet debated if Tiny Tim should be in the Ukulele Hall of Fame.
Frank Sidebottom died.
In tabs: Rodrigo Y Gabriela
In chords: She and Him

July 2010

The Uke Hunt podcast makes its debut.
I released How to Play Classical Ukulele and tabbed up O Fortuna.
I bought my favourite ever ukulele.
I considered the upside of having ads on the site.
I listed the essential ukulele records of the 2000s.
In tab: Tallest Man on Earth and Bjork
In chords: Darren Hanlon and Amanda Palmer

August 2010

I listed songs with chords you know (an update to that coming soon).
I talked ukulele history with Jim Tranquada.
The Big Foot and Tiki Show hit the net.
I listed my tools of the trade.
In tabs: Kaki King and Top Cat.
In chords: Cee-Lo Green, Mumford and Sons, Paolo Nutini and Smashing Pumpkins.

September 2010

I got my hands on the Mighty Ukulele DVD.
In tab: Fraggle Rock.
In chords: Rocky Horror Picture Show.

October 2010

I went to Wukulele without anyone noticing and caused such a ruckus with my write-up that I took a post down for the first time ever.
Ukulele in poetry.
Jim Boggia covers Springsteen.
In tabs: Duelling Banjos, The Stripper and Falling Slowly.
In chords: UOGB and Carly Simon
Riffs: Dillinger Escape Plan, Deee Lite

November 2010

I discuss why you should give a crap about copyright terms.
I round up ukulele iphone apps.

In tabs: Ellie Goulding, Sonic the Hedgehog and five Black Keys riffs.
In chords: Florence and the Machine and Sophie Madeleine.

December 2010

Ukulele Quiz 2010
Christmas chords for: The Hives and Cyndi Lauper, Rocky and Balls, Weezer and Hello Saferide (one of my favourite Xmas tunes of all time and it gets zero comments).

January 2011

Amanda Palmer grows that shit like a jungle.
I find out about quelbe and fungi.
In tab: Gorillaz.
In chords: Charlieissocoollike’s entire album

February 2011

Manitoba Hal wins ukulele video of the year.
The UkeTube takes a trip to Madeira.
In tabs: Manitoba Hal and ABBA.
In chords: Beach Boys, WIUO and Ryan Gosling.

March 2011

Kahauanu Lake (writer of Pua Lililehua) passed away.
I do my best to stick up for Tiny Tim.
In tabs: Crazy by Willie Nelson and Gnarls Barkley
In chords: Eddie Vedder, Bee-Gees and The Pogues.

April 2011

Musicguymic shut up shop due to ill-health.
The name U K L Lee crops up on Obama’s birth certificate.
I have a shot at explaining Bosko’s CAGFD system.
In tab: tUnE-yArDs, John King and the Cabral manuscript.
In chords: Mumford and Sons

May 2011

I wrote the post you’re reading right now.
In tab: Five grunge riffs.
In chords: Garfunkel and Oates and The Smiths

It used to baffle me how people could describe The Smiths as depressing when they’re one of the funniest bands there’s ever been. Now I’ve figured it out: they were trying to work out how to play this song on the uke and it made them want to crack their skull open. Yes, it’s a bit of pisser. But this week is Manchester week and it couldn’t be Manchester week without The Smiths.

Johnny Marr, being a flash bastard, isn’t happy just playing the chords. In the first chorus, for example, the bass suggests the same chords as the verse but the guitar is doing something completely different. I’ve written up the chords as played by guitar in the first and third chorus, and as suggested by the bass in the second and fourth.

And don’t go asking for a strumming pattern.

Twiddly Bits

The original guitar intro uses open strings which makes it tricky to play on the uke. This is what I adapted it to:

Intro

The solo, on the other hand, works quite well.

Solo

The Uke Hunt podcast first took shape this time last year when Lou ‘Bossarocker’ Armer somehow managed to talk me into being interviewed for her Ukulele! show on Manchester’s Chorlton Arts Radio (my first, last and only talking interview). I enjoyed the show so much (except for that one wanker) that I asked her to present the Uke Hunt podcast.

She’s back again this year with her Ukulele! show this year. You can listen live online here Monday at 8pm UK time (time zone converter here). If you missed it, there’s a listen again feature promised and I’ll be sure to let you know about it.

In celebration, I’m dedicating this week to the music of Manchester starting off with the lady herself.

How did you first get into the ukulele? And what made you stick with it?

My friend bought me a Blue Moon pear shaped f hole uke for Christmas 2008 & I haven’t looked back since. I already played other instruments but the uke completely stole my heart, which I wasn’t expecting. It also really opened up a lot of stuff for me & my songwriting has developed no end. I found myself playing more complex chords on the uke that I’d always shied away from on the guitar & it got me out of falling into the same old patterns. I think I’ve written my best songs on the uke & it just feels so much nicer to play than a guitar. I can’t imagine life without it now.

How did the CAR Ukulele show come about?

I’ve loved radio since I was a kid & got involved in community radio when I moved to Manchester about 8 years ago. I started out as a volunteer at ALL FM, producing & presenting various shows including the weekly Friday Night Fish Fry/Chip Shop Sounds which ran for about 3 years. I then worked as a radio trainer before going on to set up North Manchester FM, so I stopped doing regular broadcasts as most of my time was spent training & supporting other people to get on the air. When CAR asked me to do a show for their first broadcast in 2010, it kind of brought me out of retirement. I almost said no! Previously I’d played a lot of jazz & weird stuff but I wanted to do something different, so my ukulele obsession was an obvious choice. There’s still plenty of jazz & weird stuff but even more besides; I love the sheer diversity of music that people make with ukuleles.

You’ve got some ukulele music in your family tree. Can you tell us about your granddad?

Yes! I only recently found out that my grandad, Frank Pickford (who also shares my dad’s name), was pianist & musical director for Felix Mendelssohn’s Hawaiian Serenaders for a while. You can see a picture of the band here. (Grandad is second from the left at the back, next to the pretty woman sprawled all over his piano).

Sadly, my dad & my grandad were separated when my dad was five years old & they never saw each other again, so I never met my grandad but I grew up knowing he was a musician. Although my dad never became a musician, music was always his passion which was something he instilled in me. It was only when Dad’s mum died that he went on the trail to find out what he could about Grandad & discovered he’d actually been a very successful musician. As well as playing with the Serenaders, he worked as an army musician during WW2 in India, where my dad was born, before leading his own orchestra in Singapore & then retiring to Bondi Beach, Australia. Not bad for a working class lad from Ashton Under Lyne!

It’s only very recently that I’ve started to piece a lot of this stuff together. I wasn’t even really aware of the Serenaders until I found the photo of Grandad in an album after Dad died last year. I’m surprised at how little information there is on the internet about them, considering what a class act they obviously were. If anyone out there has any information or a tale to tell about the Serenaders, I’d love to hear it. I may well turn into that random nutjob who takes up the baton of Serenaders Ubergeek!

You seem to be involved in a number of musical projects. Can you give us a rundown?

As well as working on my own stuff, I sing & play with Paula Darwish & the Country & Eastern Band. We perform songs in Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic & English & have quite a following in Turkey, where we toured last year. I’ve always loved Balkan & Eastern European music so it was a natural progression really. I really enjoy collaborating with other people & recently worked on a couple of tracks for Craig Robertson’s next album, which is an honour. I’m also working with writer Gavin White & artist Tom Greenslade on a web comic ukulele musical. It’s still in the very early stages yet as we’re all so damn busy, but I hope we will have something to show soon. Gav has a penchant for writing nonsense so putting his lyrics to music has been really good fun. I also increasingly teach music for a living.

How’s work on your solo record coming along? When can we expect to hear it?

Slowly at the moment as life keeps getting in the way. But it’s getting there, thanks in no small part to Craig Robertson who is helping me produce it & generally poking me with a big stick. It will be a 6-track EP & should be ready in July.

If you could get anyone – no restrictions – in to do a session on the podcast who would it be and why?

TuNe-YaRdS – I just think she’s amazing. And James Hill, in the hope that I could figure out wtf he’s doing to that uke! I’d also love to get in Gwyn Edwards, Mathias Kom, Sanford & Song, Rose Turtle Ertler, Ukulelezo & Brenna Macrimmon, to name but a few, because I just love what they do. Of course, if we’re really talking no restrictions – like time, life & death – then it would have to be Felix Mendelssohn’s Hawaiian Serenaders while my Grandad was with them. And my Dad would be there too.

When’s your website going to be up and running?

My website will be going live in the next couple of weeks. If anyone is really that bothered, they can sign up to my mailing list & I’ll send them an email when the website is ready.

Listen to Chorlton Arts Radio here.

Some outstanding videos posted while I was away including Bartt and James covering Led Zep, Misty Miller finally winning my wholehearted support by doing a song to benefit the Woodland Trust, Matt Kresling on the rapture (which will mean only wicked heathen sinners are reading this post – just like every other week) and new (to me) bands The Haunted Windchimes and The Honey Month.

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Ukulele I’d buy if money were no object: Breedlove Soprano Prototype. Ukulele I’m a bit tempted by and is within my budget: Ohana TK35G-5 5 string. I love my Ohana TK-35G and the prospect of a uke that has both low and high-G strings is intriguing.

The number of heavily decorated ukuleles just keeps going up: Kapono soprano, leafy Blueberry, floral Blueberry. As well as the odd shapes: Electric Concert Ukulele C17

Kala’s slimline travel ukuleles have been a huge hit. So not a surprise to see a bit of horning-in: Mele Slimline.

Photos: Black man playing a ukulele, Child in rocking chair with a pipe and ukulele, Evil forest sirens play the ukulele.

More ukes at the movies:

“Sucker Punch” star Oscar Isaac is set to play the male lead in Walden Media’s drama “Still I Rise,” which will be released stateside by 20th Century Fox.

Inspired by America’s current education crisis, pic stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as two frustrated mothers who team up to transform an inner-city public school.

Isaac will play Michael Raymond, a sexy, ukulele-playing teacher who helps inspire, challenge and romance Gyllenhaal’s character throughout the film.

And to prove ukers have always been sex-symbols in the movies here’s Gordon McRae Jack Smith pitching woo at Doris Day (thanks to Jenny for the video and Andi for the correction).

The world’s best ukulele blog, Ralph Shaw’s Ukulele Entertainer is becoming a book. You can preorder that and Ralph’s next CD on his website (I have done).

New releases from All Young Girls Are Machine Guns and Rocky and Balls.

Ukulele on Eurovision.

Neil Innes does a session for NPR.

Highly dubious but very entertaining: Eddie Vedder sings the Samsung ringtone.

It’s an unwritten rule that all ukulele-playing dolls must be creepy. This one is no exception but you have to admire the attention to detail on the ukuleles.

Someone has been harvesting keywords (the stuff people search for on the net) and setting up ‘Ukulele Hunt’ related sites (that have nothing to do with me). This one and this one are expected. This one is just depressing.

Time for a little blogcation. I’ll be back on Friday 20th May. Expect some posts dedicated to music from Manchester (put your requests in the comments), game music from Portal 2 and Angry Birds, and some shameless whoring of my upcoming actual-paper book.

This week’s videos include O’Death doing a track from their new album, blues growling from Hal and the Baron, Janne Saar (Estonia’s Britney Spears) and plenty more good-timing action besides.

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New ukulele releases: Ukulollo’s Completely Unbroken (you can get MP3s here – The Beat of the Strum is essential), UOGB’s Still Live (essentials: Hot Lips and Good Sculptures), Howlin’ Hobbit’s Taking the Plunge. And Nellie McKay has an EP available for free. On the way: Aaron Keim’s Quiet American II.

Zach Condon will be releasing a new album in the summer and he has a new outlook on the uke, “this year I buckled down. It’s an interesting instrument. My trouble was taking it seriously myself.”

Bossa is doing her Uke Hunt podcast inspiring ukulele show for Chorlton Arts Radio. So if you want to be involved hit her up.

Uke of Carl has been putting up plenty of TV theme tabs including Dallas, Black Adder and Family Guy.

How Clean Is Your Ukulele?

Ralph Shaw discusses how to be a sensitve banjo-uker.

Acoustic alarm clock.

The Hitachi contest/boob entry hullabaloo continues with the owner of the boobs saying, “I would have expected better from the people at Uruti School who should be teaching their eight students good sportsmanship, not hate.”

Photos: Final image, Me and My Uke, adorable, Prince Charles forgets his ukulele.

Excellent news on the Eddie Vedder front. Not only is the new video out but there’s a a ukulele songbook on the way (thanks to Ric Jo for the info). Which means I don’t have to bother tabbing it up. Instead, I can transfer a few grunge riffs to uke.

The usual riff rules apply: they’re not necesarrily in the same key as the original and all requests for the rest of the song will be pelted with cabbage, tied to a donkey and driven out of town.

Soundgarden – Spoonman

With all the focus on Nirvana and Pearl Jam, Soundgarden got a bit overlooked. I think they were as good as either of them. This riff is easily one of the best that came out of the scene. I’ve adjusted it a lot for the uke, giving it a C chord drone. It’s also two frets lower than the original (unless you’re using D-tuning or have a capo on the second fret).

The time signature for the main riff is, frankly, I have no idea. I went and looked around at other people’s tabs and they seem to have copped out a bit too. So I just did the same.

The verse riff is similar to the opening riff:

And the chorus riff is a bit like this:

All together they sound like this:

Riffs

Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box

I’ve moved the riffs in this song down a fret to make it more ukeable. Otherwise it sounds pretty good on uke.

Riff

The chorus riff, being all distorted, doesn’t transfer quite so well. But it’s still playable. The open A-string here is optional – I added because I like how nasty it sounds.

Chorus

Pearl Jam – Alive

This fits pretty well on the ukulele in the original key.

Here’s the uke version:

Riff

Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike

Little known fact: my name when I was born was Andrew Wood like the guy from Underworld and the guy from Mother Love Bone (who inspired this song). Then my name was changed so I shared it with the leader of a ceilidh band and all hopes of rock and roll stardom were dashed before I was a week old.

This one is in the original key.

Riff

Alice In Chains – Them Bones

Another one in the original key and another one with an awkward time signature. But once you’ve got the hang of that it’s fairly easy to play.

Riff

More Grunge Riffs

Nirvana – Come As You Are
Pearl Jam – Jeremy
Nirvana
– Smells Like Teen Spirit
Pearl Jam – Can’t Keep