For the people who, quite sensibly, don’t bother reading these bits: YOU NEED TO RETUNE TO EABE.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Sigur Ros. So I was very pleased to hear Jonsi was sporting a ukulele. And I love this tune. It’s glorious. I love it so much I even busted out my Ohana baritone to work it out. You can tell how little use it gets; my fingers tips were black by the time I’d finished.
I worked out this version from the stripped-down acoustic version he’s been performing although you can play exactly the same thing along with the studio version.
Tuning
He’s using the tuning EABE. Which means you have to tune the D string and the G string up a tone.
But it doesn’t present any major problems to play it in standard tuning. You’ll just have to move everything on the D string up two frets. For example, the first bit of the verse would be played like this:
The only problem you’ll have is in the strummed section. The best thing to do there is block the G-string from ringing.
Picking
Thumb on the 4th string.
Index finger on the 2nd string.
Middle finger on the 1st string.
There aren’t many Easter ukulele songs around. Particularly compared to the amount of Christmas junk. Gerald Ross did a version of Easter Parade which Dominator has tab for. But my favourite is Cory McAbee‘s song with the Billy Nayer ShowSlim. And he’s giving it away via Twitter.
Chords
Or, more accurately, ‘chord’. It’s D6 all the way through. Which is all the strings open in D-tuning (which seems to be his tuning of choice) or this in C-tuning.
Strumming
The fancy way of doing it is to use a triplet strum (down with your index finger, down with your thumb, up with your index finger) but use it for straight quavers. Do that twice then one down, up. So it’s:
d d u d d u d u
The easier way of doing it is with all down strums but emphasizing certain strums like this:
D d d D d d D d
Twiddly Bits
Here’s the solo bit in D-tuning :
But it’s playable in C, just move everything up two frets like this or you can move things around a little like this.
Instrumentals don’t usually get much attention in these posts but, screw it, this week I’m sticking up for my instrumentalist brethren and going heavy on the tunes. But, don’t panic, I’ve bookended it with cute ukulele girls to keep you happy.
UPDATE: An extra instrumental added, Wilfried Welti doing an incredible version of Bach’s Bourre in E Minor on a Makapili.
The Kala Pocket Ukulele is up for sale and we’ve finally got some measurements. The scale length is 11 inches which makes it an inch shorter than the KoAloha Sopranino and the Ohana sopranino. Of course, such measurements are abstract so MGM has done the old trick of putting it next to a familiar object (a coin, a pencil) to provide perspective. MGM went for an alligator head.
More guitar makers are jumping on the ukulele bandwagon: Texas Guitars uke, Eastwood Guitars Airline Ukulele (a solid-body electric).
TVNZ chat with WIUO about their tour: “So you’re back out on the road again – you guys clearly enjoy the touring? Not really. It’s just that Andy lost a t-shirt during our last tour, so we are retracing our steps to find it.”
Every so often I take a look at the site analytics and the pile of rejected requests to find out what people are turning up on the site looking for and leaving unfulfilled. The answer is usually very depressing. And very dangerous. The last time I caved in to pressure ended up with me in hospital.
So this time I’m resisting requests for that damn Train song. Instead I’ll go with the second most searched for: the chords for Happy Birthday.
Suggested Strumming
All down strums. Simple. The only slightly unusual thing is that it’s in 3/4 time. That means the down strums are in groups of 3 rather than, the more common, groups of 4.
Twiddly Bits
The tab I did of Happy Birthday before but it was far too jazzy (and too crap). So I’ve put together a simple one that’s easy to do at a family occasion.
If you’ve been following my fingerstyle arrangements for a while you’ll have noticed – and probably been frustrated by – how much jumping between strings goes on. It’s certainly not the easiest ways to arrange tunes but it’s very effective and gives the uke a harp-like sound of close harmony notes ringing into each other.
What is Campenella?
The campenella technique was developed for the ukulele by John King who took long forgotten techniques for playing re-entrant instruments and gave them new life. In this style of playing you play one note of the melody on each string and let them ring into each other.
If you can avoid it, you never play two consecutive notes on the same string.
Here’s a standard way of playing a melody:
And here’s how you could play it campanellla style:
To get the full effect, it’s vital that you let the notes ring together. So you want to have your fretting hand moving as little as possible – holding chord shapes rather than playing single notes – and have your picking hand doing most of the work.
Why Play This Way?
The harp is my absolute favourite instrument (take a listen to Savourna Stevenson). If I had been richer and not so lazy as a kid you’d reading an article on Harp Hunt about how to make your harp sound like a ukulele.
I love to recreate that sound of notes cascading into each other on the uke.
It also creates a sound that is unique to the ukulele. Of course a uke is never going to sound like a harp. Playing single notes on the uke can often just sound like a guitar played high up the neck. Whereas the campanella sound couldn’t be achieved recreated quite the same on any other instrument.
How Do You Arrange This Way?
The way I do it is trial and error. When you play this way there are any number of different ways a simple line could be played.
The example we looked at earlier could also be played like this:
Or like this:
Finding the right one depends on a combination of playability, fluidity and note emphasis.
It’s also well worth keeping an eye out for open strings you could use. These will give you an opportunity to change positions whilst keeping a note ringing.
I’m going to a quarter break by no-Beatles rule today and post Paul McCartney’s ukulele tune. The original has some very dodgy tuning in it, but Greg Hawkes’s cover makes it much more obvious what a nice little tune it is.
I’ve put up the tabs but you can just play the chords without missing out on too much.
On my wanders around the net I stumbled across a few mp3s from the former band of, Katzenjammer ukestress, Marianne Sveen (and, no, I wasn’t looking for compromising pictures and any server logs you find that suggest otherwise are forged). They’re not quite as genre-hopping as the Katzenjammer stuff but display what an incredible voice she has. Makes you wonder why the other ones in the band get a look in.
Charlie McDonnell – Exterminate, Regenerate (Chords)
My post on the adorable Charlie ‘charlieissocoollike’ McDonnell’s A Song About Acne proved very popular, so I thought I’d follow it up with his latest tune despite the fact I don’t understand a single reference in it. I’ve only watched two episodes of Dr Who (one set in Rome and one with Peter Kay in) and they were both unremittingly dreadful. I didn’t even get that it was a song about Dr Who until he explained it at the end. Turns out I fail at video games as well.
The chords aren’t the standard fare – there’s not an open string in the whole tune.
Suggested Strumming
For the intro:
d – d – x u – u
– u – u – u d –
The verse starts with some single strums then doubles up the tempo with this strumming pattern twice for most of the chords but once each in the E – F# move.
