The How to Play Ukulele Strums ebook has been a big hit with people. It’s already sold over 250 copies. And if you want to get your hands on it, don’t hang about because the price goes up from $14 to $17 at the end of tomorrow (Wednesday 22nd July).

Here’s what people have been saying about it:

Thorough and thoroughly fantastic book! Thanks as always.

I’m sure my flatmates will be very grateful for it as well. With time, my practicing will (hopefully) sound like actual music rather than the sort of abstract noise that it was before and my flatties can stop voluntarily banning themselves from home until it’s clear that I’ve moved on to another task for the day.

In all seriousness: the book is wonderful, Thorough, easy to understand, and funny (as always). I am completely indebted to you for saving me from the depths of ukulele despair.

– Carrie Griffin

I shall be recommending the ebook to our Monday Ukearist ukers as I know many of them are interested in improving their strumming. I’ll also be unashamedly stealing your mnemonic way of teaching!

– John Hobson

Al’s topped himself this time which I wouldn’t have thought possible after the blues book.

This is a great read for beginners, but there are some strumming patterns at the end that are brilliant and will take some work to get the hang of.

When I started playing four years ago, I had no idea there would be such a great wealth of information available. Al’s books, in my opinion, are better than anything I’ve found elsewhere, as far as written instruction goes. And, he is rather hilarious when he wants to be.

– Lonna Brockway

I’ve already read this ebook more than 6 times and found something new with each read. A very important aspect for me was that the book covered basic things essential for strumming that are left out in other ukulele methods, such as rhythm and time signatures.
The examples and the videos are really helpful and you can even test out your newly acquired sense of rhythm through the exercises.
If there one book to buy on ukulele strumming, then it is definitely this one.

– Armelle

Read more and buy it here.

MP3

Cat Green Bike – Palm Tight Pass (MP3)
Cat Green Bike – Pretty Little Lob (MP3) via Foetal Orange

I’m very taken with Cat Green Bike’s latest EP Breakbeat/Thrash/Concrete. Don’t let the title fool you, there’s very few breakbeats, very little thrash, and it’s a whole lot more beautiful than concrete. You can get the CD (if there are any left) on a pay-what-you-like basis or download the whole thing free on Foetal Orange.

I caught up with Xenia Randle for some more info.

How long have you been playing uke and how did you get into it?

I have been playing Ukulele since October 2007. I got one because I wanted to start playing something and the Ukulele seemed so much easier to carry around than a guitar. I could take it out to the park with me and not feel like I was on show. Guitars seem to make such an exhibitionistic statement, but the Ukulele is so small, so humble and doesn’t seem to hold the same ostentation. I didn’t know any Ukulele players or music at the time and thus I guess there was nothing to compare myself to, which gave me a lot of freedom being a beginner to playing music. It wasn’t until my second gig (at Ukelear Meltdown 2008) that I realised just how big the Ukulele was! Since I got my first Uke (an Ashbury concert), I have never looked back!

I have to ask about the name. Cat Green Bike?

I just thought of three of my favourite things and then swapped them around until they sounded nice. Favourite animal, favourite colour, favourite mode of transport.

Your sound is very different from most ukulele acts. Who are your inspirations?

I only started hearing Ukulele acts since Ukelear Meltdown, so I can’t really place any Ukulelists as my inspirations (except Jake), though I was recently introduced to Beirut’s music and I think he is wonderful. His sound completely captivates me. I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of my time around many excellent musicians with diverse musical tastes over the last seven-ish years, so all of that has seeped in I guess. As far as my favourite bands go, I’d have to say; The Mars Volta, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, Jeff Buckley, Clutch, and lots of jazz. There isn’t really any genre I’d dismiss. I just like anything that intrigues me, or gets my head rocking uncontrollably!

Jake Shimabukuro is listed as your top friend on MySpace. He’s not someone I’d immediately associate with the music you make. What do you get from his music?

The Christmas after I started playing Uke, a relative showed me Jake’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on YouTube. I was astounded by his playing. He is my Ukulele hero, no doubt about it. If I could ever play half as proficiently as him I would die a very happy woman. It’s the technical dexterity that I admire. The more technical tools you have to your belt, the more techniques you have at your disposal. Having said that; you can be as technically brilliant as you like, but if there’s no soul coming through, it’s dull as s**t.

Is it right that you’ve contributed to Rose Turtle Ertler’s ukulele cookbook? What are your top cookery tips?

Indeed I did! My failsafe banana cake. Cookery tips? Hmmm… The only way I ever make anything worth eating is when I am cooking for other people. If I’m cooking just for myself, whatever it is always seems to end up as an ugly tasteless mess at which even a dog would turn up its nose.

What can we expect to hear from you in the future?

I have no idea.

Visit Cat Green Bike on MySpace, Facebook and Blogspot

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That ‘Literal Video’ thing got old fast. Nevermind, the Take On Me one was amusing.

Ukebucket did a rather fine cover of this tune. You can download it here.

Stop the (Word)press: Todd has put up Ukulele Hunt jingle. No doubt I’ll be mentioning that a few times.

This week’s most interesting video is a loose ukulele jam from, guitar virtuoso, Kaki King. She does some incredible things with a guitar, so it’ll be interesting to see what she ends up doing with a uke. It’s also heartening to see that someone as dexterous as her can sometimes be completely cack-handed.

Also this week is Will Grove-White (of the UOGB), a couple of blinding covers from Sophie Madeleine, a bit of Django and some Ukuyeye. But my favourite this week has to be Daddy Stovepipe. How any ukulele girl could resist his charm? Read the rest of this entry »

‘Window shopping’ isn’t accurate this week. I promised myself a new uke once the ukulele strumming ebook was finished. So I bought myself a Kala Lacewood soprano from the Southern Ukulele Store guys. No doubt I’ll be letting you know my opinion before too long.

If money had been no object, I might have gone for this Custom Kamaka instead.

With all the unusual shapes and looks of the ukes around at the moment, I’m amazed no one has resurrected the skinny waist look of the Kumalae like this one. I just love that shape.

My favourite photo this week: Hawaiian Pin-up Girl. Usually when there’s a photo of a Hawaiian girl and a ukulele it also includes all the cliches: grass skirts, lei, a palm tree. But this girl is way too hip for that. Check her out doing her Whitesnake pose.

All cliches present and correct in his cartoon (which doesn’t entirely make sense).

World War II era ukulele badge.

Marc Jacobs ukulele bags???

A bunch of new stuff on Uker Tabs: Home by Joey Cape, Harry Potter Theme , (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon, Rihanna’s Umbrella, Ace of Spades and Grandaddy’s A.M. 180 riff.

Here’s a cute little short. It does play into something I’ve noticed following mentions of ukulele on Twitter. I’m amazed how many girls (and it’s always girls) react to the wish for a ukulele with by tweeting, “Who’s going to buy me a ukulele?”

A little history of the ukulele from Australia (Thanks to Gary).

Jeff does some eagle-eyed uke spotting on the trailer for The Princess and the Frog. You might want to pause the video at the 1:50 mark.

Buster Keaton plays ukulele for a bust.

Blind Pilot do a ukulele version of 3 Rounds and Down for Daytrotter.

Time Out proposes a ukulele quarter for London.

The Mustache: a ukulele rock opera.

Fancy ukulele straps on Etsy.

Ukulele graffiti.

Sometimes changing ukulele strings is frustrating (some decidedly salty language in that one).

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Oooh, we’re Radiohead. We’re not going to abide by bourgeois constructs like time signatures.

Bastards. Makes this one quite tricky to play.

In case your eye-sight is a bit blurry, the first full chord is a dotted crotchet rather than a quaver. That chord is played with a down strum, the others are played with up strums.

By far the most frequently asked question on the blog is, “What’s the strumming for this?” It’s taken me about six months, but I think I’ve finally got an answer to that question.

I don’t mind putting up strumming patterns, but the question really demands a permanent solution for people’s strumming woes. So I’ve written a new ebook: How to Play Ukulele Strums. I’ve been promising this one to a lot of people for a long time but I’ve been holding it back until until I was satisfied that it would be able to give everyone a strong understanding of rhythm and more confidence in their strumming.

The problem is that there isn’t anything out there for the ukulele that gives you the ideas behind strumming patterns so you can work out strums for songs and come up with your own. They just give you a few patterns and leave you to get on with it. My aim with this ebook is to give you the knowledge to understand what’s going on behind the strums so you can play along with any song you choose.

How to Play Ukulele Strums

Price: $12

Buy it here

Get Your Timing Right

Knowing that a strumming pattern is down, up, up… is a good start, but you need to know how long each of those strums is supposed to last. So I’ve come up with a ukulele-brand based method that will help you get you strumming at the right time. It’s a case of matching up words to the length of the strums. It’s a simple way of doing it but it works great.

Never Be Stuck for a Strumming Pattern

Of course, I’m not going to neglect the strumming patterns themselves. The ebook contains a whole bunch of basic strumming patterns and some advanced ones in the style of ACDC, Nirvana, James Brown, Bo Diddley, The Specials and Bob Marley. There are mp3s of all the patterns (including slow and fast versions of most of them).

Get Your Technique Down

If you ever have problems with your arm getting tired after strumming, or your playing doesn’t sound bright enough, or your strumming sounds a little raggedy, or you can’t get your chnking down; the ebook will help you sort out your technical gremlins. There are videos of the various techniques including basic strums, chnks, muting and triplets.

Who Is It For?

This one is aimed at beginners and improvers who have learnt the basics but feel like there’s something about strumming that they’re just not getting. If you have trouble taking chord charts and matching them up to the song, or you feel like you’re muddling through and winging it a bit; it’ll increase your knowledge and confidence and improve your playing.

Everything is explained really simply, so you don’t need to have any knowledge of musical theory going into the ebook.

What Are People Saying About It?

Thorough and thoroughly fantastic book! Thanks as always.

I’m sure my flatmates will be very grateful for it as well. With time, my practicing will (hopefully) sound like actual music rather than the sort of abstract noise that it was before and my flatties can stop voluntarily banning themselves from home until it’s clear that I’ve moved on to another task for the day.

In all seriousness: the book is wonderful, Thorough, easy to understand, and funny (as always). I am completely indebted to you for saving me from the depths of ukulele despair.

– Carrie Griffin

I shall be recommending the ebook to our Monday Ukearist ukers as I know many of them are interested in improving their strumming. I’ll also be unashamedly stealing your mnemonic way of teaching!

– John Hobson

Al’s topped himself this time which I wouldn’t have thought possible after the blues book.

This is a great read for beginners, but there are some strumming patterns at the end that are brilliant and will take some work to get the hang of.

When I started playing four years ago, I had no idea there would be such a great wealth of information available. Al’s books, in my opinion, are better than anything I’ve found elsewhere, as far as written instruction goes. And, he is rather hilarious when he wants to be.

– Lonna Brockway

I’ve already read this ebook more than 6 times and found something new with each read. A very important aspect for me was that the book covered basic things essential for strumming that are left out in other ukulele methods, such as rhythm and time signatures.
The examples and the videos are really helpful and you can even test out your newly acquired sense of rhythm through the exercises.
If there one book to buy on ukulele strumming, then it is definitely this one.

– Armelle

…it’s definitely set up for everyone at any level to learn something new. I get frustrated when teachers take the small bits of knowledge that make a BIG difference to a new student for granted. Al does the opposite by making sure that everything is explained in an accessible way that takes the mystery out.

Al’s teaching is very clear and well illustrated, and I would rec any of his work. I have Chord Progressions too; I will be working through that for awhile as well, there is just so much great information and there’s enough in each lesson to keep me interested and moving forward rather than get me discouraged like other books or authors.

– “Teek” on Ukulele Underground

What Do I Get?

You’ll get a pdf file of the ebook and a pdf of a printable version of the file. You’ll also get mp3s files and WMV video files. They’ll all be in zip files (check out the FAQ page for more info).

This one is slightly different to the way I’ve done it in the past. There are so many mp3s and videos that it made it too big for a single download. So you’ll get the pdf files as a single download (the same as my other ebooks) and the mp3s and videos will be a separate download. The links to all of them will be emailed to you automatically as soon as you buy.

Guarantee

If you check out the ebook and you decide it isn’t for you, let me know within 7 days of purchasing and I’ll give you a full refund. Just email me and let me know the email address you bought it with – you don’t need to give me a reason or anything. If the ebook doesn’t make you a better player, I don’t want your money (because swimming around in it, Scrooge McDuck style, is only fun if you’ve earned it).

How Can I Buy It? And How Much Is It?

To order it click ‘Add to Basket’.

How to Play Ukulele Strums

Price: $12

Buy it here

If you’re reading this via email, head on over to the blog to get it.

Once you’ve paid, click ‘Complete Purchase’ to be taken to the download page. You’ll also be sent a link to the download page by email. So don’t worry if you miss it.

If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me a message.

Contents

The full contents of the ebook:

Introduction

1 Strumming Basics

1.1 Strumming Hand
1.2 Holding the Ukulele While Strumming
1.3 Where to Strum
1.4 How to Strum

2 Musical Basics

2.1 Tempo
2.2 Bars
2.3 Notation
2.4 Working Out Time Signatures
2.5 Exercises
2.6 Time Signatures and Metronomes

3 First Strumming Patterns

3.1 Down, Down, Down, Down
3.2 Down, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up, Down, Up
3.3 Notating Strums

4 Rhythm Basics

4.1 Foot Tapping and Counting Out
4.2 Mnemonics

5 Strumming Patterns

5.1 Ups and Downs
5.2 First Choice Strumming Pattern
5.3 Strumming Patterns in 4/4
5.4 Chord Changes Within Bars
5.5 Strumming Patterns in 3/4
5.6 Swing Strums
5.7 Strong Strums

6 Chnks and Mutes

6.1 Chnks
6.2 Mutes
6.3 Complex Strumming Patterns

7 Working Out Strumming Patterns

8 Advanced Strumming Techniques

8.1 Semi Quavers
8.2 Touch Strums
8.3 Triplet Strums
8.4 Changing Bar Lengths

9 Strumming and Genres

9.1 Blues Strumming
9.2 Bo Diddley Strumming
9.3 Reggae and Ska Strumming
9.4 James Brown Strumming

10 Strumming in Tabs

11 Conclusion

12 Exercise Answers

How to Play Ukulele Strums

Price: $12

Buy it here

Cover photo: New ukulele day! by Monsieur Gordon

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As a companion to the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series, I thought I’d do a set of ‘Not Guitar Riffs for Ukulele’ – mostly piano/keyboard stuff. And I don’t think I could start anywhere other than this. Sampled from Freddie Scott and made a million times better by Biz Markie.

When you’re playing this one on uke it’s worth adding in a few supporting strums between the notes. Which is what I did when I quoted it at the end of my version of Gossip

Come on, kids, pffff ha, pffff ha.