I’m currently down with a bit of a cold. So please forgive any disgusting sniffs and snuffs that might be audible on that MP3. And you don’t want to be tackling this one in a weakened state because it is seriously tricky.
The first section is trickiest. There’s a quick succession of notes on the same string so you’ll have to use your index and middle fingers for the picking. For bars 3 – 8 it’s one finger per string. And for the main body of the song it’s a Travis-picking pattern with the thumb covering the G and C strings, the index on the E string and the middle on the A string.
A recent comment from George made me realise that I’d completely forgotten to include rests in the How To Read Ukulele Tab series. So here it is. Better a year and a half late than never.
Rests indicate that there shouldn’t be anything playing at all. That means if there was a note played before you should stop it ringing. Rests look different depending on how long they last.
Whole Note/ Semibreve Rest
Half Note/ Minim Rest
Quarter Note/ Crotchet Rest
Eighth Note/ Quaver Rest
Sixteenth Note/ Semi-quaver Rest
You’ll sometimes see rests with a dot after them. This means you should increase the length of the rest by half (e.g. a minim rest with a dot after it would last for three beats).
What can we expect from the new album? How’s it different from Jealous Sees?
The new record, Diorama, is very different from my previous one. First of all, it has full band arrangements, and is almost exclusively electric guitars (aside from the songs on which I don’t play guitar, of course) – so it is louder! But I also feel like it is more eclectic and much more mature. It was produced by Dan Romer, (who produces Jenny Owen Youngs, Ingrid Michaelson, April Smith) and he is just fantastic and brilliant. It’s a much stronger, more thought-out record I think. I made a diorama to represent each song (hence the title), and pictures of these are the album art. Also though, I like to think of the album itself as a diorama of my life at a particular moment. So conceptually it feels like a more complete record to me as well.
How did you come to pick up the ukulele?
I randomly got a ukulele while in Hawaii (I thought it fitting), but I completely fell in love with it, and it is now one of my favorite instruments.
Your songs are very individual and original. Who are your inspirations?
Thank you! I am inspired by a lot of artists – both musical and otherwise – so it is hard to pick. I try to be as omnivorous as possible. Literature and film often inspire my songwriting; some of the songs on the record reflect this (“Holden Caulfield“; “Samsa Morning” – referring to Gregor Samsa from The Metamorphosis). While working on the record I was reading Infinite Jest and a lot of other David Foster Wallace stuff – I’m not so sure that’s reflected at all in the music, but maybe on the next record! I’ve been listening to a lot of Mountain Goats and Neko Case lately. I’m also a huge fan of Jack White (and Meg White!), and I find I can always go back to artists like Tom Waits and Patti Smith. I’m always trying to compose a Top Five Songwriters of All Time list in my head, but I can never quite get myself to agree on anything.
What’s in your ukulele collection? You had a fantastic banjolele on Midnight Ukulele Disco.
I play an Oscar Schmidt at shows and on the record… I also have a Lanikai and a beautiful old banjolele from the ’20s.
What plans have you got for the future? Any plans to resurrect the dinosaur outfit?
I am playing with a band now – collectively we are Hailey Wojcik and Her Imaginary Friends – and we are planning a tour at the moment, as well as a music video, so keep an eye out for that… The dinosaur outfit is on an indefinite hiatus, but I am a girl who loves costumes, so you can be sure there is more where that came from. My band now incorporates some animal masks into our live show for the song “Raised in a Zoo”.
The Lancashire Hotpots – Oh No, He’s Turned Emo (Chords)
After some Manglish from Zee Avi, here’s some Lanclish from the Lancashire Hotpots. If you’re planning on going to see the Hotpots on their Northern tour you’re in for an extra treat. They’re being supported by the Re-entrants (find the dates here)
Suggested Strumming
Dead easy song, this one. There are only two chords. And this strum will see you through.
d – d u – u d –
Really, that strum works for just about every song.
If you want to add an extra bit of fanciness to the chords, add a few G diminished chords at the start of the G7 bars.
Twiddly Bits
Even if you’re not interested in playing this song, it’s well worth learning this little lick. It’s a standard.
You take one week off and a whole bunch of much anticipated videos show up.
So this isn’t a proper UkeTube, just a few videos from old favourites tackling various social issues including the long-awaited Rocky and Balls reunion, the long-awaited reunion of Agathe and Fine and the long-awaited union of Jen Kwok and every single Asian man in a new video directed by fellow uker Ballard C Boyd (she’s set up a new site just for the video: Date An Asian). Jen and Garfunkel and Oates both use language unbecoming of a lady in their songs. But what did you expect?
8. Brunswick Telecaster – I’m too cheap to get a K-Wave, so this will do nicely.
9. Obama with uke dashboard doll – The phrase ‘Only in America’ was invented for items like this. I don’t think there are many people buying Gordon-Brown-plays-the-bassoon hood ornaments.
Hello from Venice!* Since I haven’t been spending 17 hours a day scouring the internets for ukulele links, I don’t have anything new to share. So here are some links to places that are awesome and don’t get the attention they deserve.
There are a bunch of great sites in French:
– Ukulele Dav – tabs from Roy Smeck and other ukulele classics.
– Des Cordes et Du Bois – more excellent tabs including many classical pieces.
– Ukulpic – Chords, tabs, indie ukulele music. Sounds like a good idea for a blog.
– Le Soir Ukulele Sessions – Top notch take-away type sessions.
Jeff’s Humble Uker Ramblings is always packed with great photos and interesting info. Some recent posts well worth checking out:
Jake Wildwood’s Antebellum Instruments is packed with pictures of wonderfully restored vintage ukuleles along with mandolins, banjos and guitars. But my favourites are the unusual stringed instruments that cross his path.
I love this sort of thing. I wish people would sing in their own languages more often. So full credit to Zee Avi for writing a song in a language I didn’t even know existed: Manglish (a cross between Malay and English). I would have thought this was a sure thing for Ukulele & Languages, but apparently not. Anyhoo, given that there are Zee Avi makeup tutorials online, her uke playing deserves some more attention.
Suggested Strumming
The main pattern you’ll need is:
d – d u – u d –
The intro: once for each chord.
First line: two for C, two for G7.
Second line: two more for G7, Two for C.
Third line: once for each chord.
Fourth line: one down strum for each chord.
Middle section: once for every chord except C (which is twice)
