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:

– Buying a 2nd ukulele.
– Confessions of a Martin collector
– Interview with Winin’ Boy

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.

– Octofone – so named because it’s supposed to be 8 instruments in one.
– Fretless banjo – give it a listen here.
– Unmarked Archtop Guitar
– Bohm Waldzither

*Actually, I’m writing this beforehand and I’m in still in Derby – the Venice of the Midlands.

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)

I tried a bit of archery recently. The best part of learning to shoot projectiles is that you get instant feedback on how well your doing. If you’re getting it wrong, you know about it straight away and you know how far off you are.

It’s much trickier to do that when you’re learning an instrument. It’s difficult to play and listen objectively at the same time. If you regularly record yourself and listen back you’ll have a much clearer idea of what you can work on to improve how you sound.

Ideally, you’d tape your entire practice session and listen to it back. But that’s not really practical. I usually record myself playing a couple of times through the tune I’m working on at the end of a session and make a few notes on what I need to be practising.

Since you’re only listening to it yourself, it doesn’t have to be great quality. A cheap desk mic and Audacity will do the job fine.

Things to listen out for:

Tempo – Does it sound rushed? This is one thing I’m always getting wrong. I tend to rush ahead of the tune and speed up as I go along.

Bum notes – Are you getting the same part/chord change wrong over and over? Focus on that bit by itself. Slow it down completely and practice it in isolation.

Dynamics – I.e. loud and quiet bits. Does it sound the same all the way through? Varying the intensity of your playing can make things more interesting. For example, if you’re playing the same line twice you could play it loud the first time and softly the second (creating a type of echo effect). You can also slow the tempo at certain parts to add more interest.

Emphasising notes – Can you hear the melody? If you’re playing a piece that includes melody and accompaniment it’s important that the melody notes stand out against the backing.

This little uke tune cropped up on the B-side to Shape of My Heart. It doesn’t seem to be available any more, but it’s rather lovely and a simple three chord song so I thought I’d write it up. The video cuts off but you can hear the whole thing on their MySpace.

Suggested Strumming Pattern

d – d u – u d –

Twiddly Bits

The uke doubles up the whistling part in the intro and after the choruses.

MIDI

Buy Noah and the Whale

Southside Cemetery Choir – Raise the Dead/Raise a Family (MP3)
Southside Cemetrry Choir – Weightlessly in Love (MP3) via Sleeping in the Aviary

How could I resist featuring a band who call their debut album If We Bury You Ass Up, We’ll Have a Place to Park My Bike?

Southside Cemetery Choir is a side project of Sleeping in the Aviary (who have the the best worst website I’ve ever seen). Once a week they’d head off to a graveyard, spend an hour writing songs and record the results.

Judging by the tracks on the album (many of which feature the uke) it’s a policy many bands should adopt. There are a few I’d like to see take up permanent residence in a cemetery.

You can download the full album for free here.

MIDI

A strange tune this one. Each time the theme rolls through it goes up by a semitone. To make it easier to remember, I’ve kept pretty much the same arrangement each time through (rather than going for the easiest arrangement each time).

The twiddly bits go a bit high, so you’ll need to play it on a tenor. I’ve made a few changes to the tune: one of the twiddly bits is lowered an octave and I’ve sliced a bit off the end.

Dolly Parton voice + awesome shades + describes herself as a loner = huge new uke crush.

Also this week: The Hoosiers use the uke to flog some Coke (or Pepsi, whichever), Japan’s two nuttiest ukers together, I kill Seeso’s chances in another contest and more. Read the rest of this entry »

Mango seems to be the wood-du-jour. Most of the big uke makers now have a range of mango ukes. Perhaps as a reaction to koa being increasingly difficult to get hold of. The curly mango ukes Kala’s curly mango) certainly offer a similarly beautiful look. For some particularly good examples of curly wood take a look here – you would swear some of those weren’t flat.

But the big eye-catchers are the spalted mango ukuleles – such as the Lanikai spalted mango and Pono’s mango ukuleles – with their dark, wavy figure. This effect is created by fungus in the wood (I had to look it up). Personally, I think I prefer the more subdued and elegant look of the curly mango.

Can anyone give me a definition of flamed wood? On the site I with the curly wood pictures they say, “Terms such as “feather” and “flame” should not be relied on if you haven’t actually seen the wood, as they are used VERY freely. I’ve seen one gun-stock maker who states on his web site that he always calls all crotches flame crotches because ‘it sounds more impressive’. ” Which is what I suspected.

Lots of good photos this week:

– Dour girl next door.
– The belter.
– Ukulele/accordion duo.
– Seaweed swimsuit.
– Teen boy and girl.

First off, a quick parish notice. I’m off to Venice for a week tomorrow. Thanks to the magic of the internets, there’ll still be posts turning up (hopefully), but I won’t be replying to emails and comments. Yes, it would have made sense to time my blog break to match up with it. On to more important things.

It must be the season to makeover your blog. Both UkeToob and Ukulele Languages have sleek new looks and new urls. And KDUS has rebranded itself Ukulele Club de France.

Bosko and Honey are offering a chance to fly out to Australia and join them on their safari via the usual, “This is my entry…” video contest thing.

Aaron Keim has released a two-chord songbook.

Sophie Madeleine’s Life. Love. Ukulele. is now available on CD.

Rod, Jane and Freddie bust out the ukes on Rainbow including the traditional Hawaiian reference to the hokey cokey. (Thanks to Andy)

Get the Gus look.

You can catch the online premiere of Stingray Sam here on the 16th September and watch the trailer here.

Oh, Yahoo Answers. I love you and hate you: Help! I can’t stop fantasizing about Julia Nunes. Windmill it in your right arm then let go?

Another tab based on the adorable two-some’s version of a Ventures tune.

I say ‘based on’ because I think they’re using low-G ukes. That would certainly make a few bits easier to play. Particularly the D note (C string, 2nd fret) which would be easier to play on the G string, 5th fret on a low-G. But it’s perfectly playable on a re-entrant. You just need to remember to slide your hand down for the A string, 5th fret rather than playing it with your index finger.

Visit them on MySpace
Buy the CD on YesAsia.com
Buy the original.