Not much catching my eye this week. Perhaps the raging UAS beast has been sated by my cave in to the Ukulele Shop’s current sale. I’m sure it won’t be long until it’s back.
The UAS beast might be having a post meal nap, but the URCAS (ukulele related crap acquisition syndrome) beast is still at work and hungering for kitsch Hawaiian uke shirt and a ukulele clock.
One uke that did catch my attention is this 5 string uke. The sound clip linked to in the listing is John King and well worth downloading and keeping.
Uncle Charlie wows the girls of Coney Island with his uke and pipe.
AAAAAARGH!!! Big blog problems at the moment. The site doesn’t seem to be updating. So no new posts are appearing on the front page or anywhere else on the site. Phew! Panic over. A big thanks to Armelle for alerting me to the problem. And a MASSIVE thanks to j-hob for fixing the mess. If you notice anything still looking screwy, let me know.
Ukulele MP3s: Stereogum are promising a listen to Death Cab for Cutie’s ukulele track later today (UPDATE: it’s up here). A week’s worth of ukulele mp3s on Doklands. Melophobe has a track from Those Darlins.
Is it safe to talk about Noah and the Whale again? The whole 5 Years Time thing did get a bit annoying. This one is definitely no three chord strumalong. There’s some very tricky picking involved.
When I pick it I use the one-finger-per-string (thumb on G string, first finger on C string etc.).
If you don’t fancy tackling that, you can make it easier by missing out the G string so you get this:
The chords in the last bit are A – Bm – C#m – Bm over and over.
You can blame the inclusion of this one on my increasing addiction to Guitar Rock Tour. It might be the endless repetition, but I really like this riff. And the Eddie Van Halen solo is widdletastic.
James Hill’s long awaited new album True Love Don’t Weep is out tomorrow. It’s a collaboration between him and his partner, dancing cellist, Anne Davison. You can listen to clips of it here and read him answering some of my impertinent questions about it right here:
It’s been more than two and a half years since A Flying Leap, how has playing developed in that time?
Yeah, it’s been a while. My deal with myself has always been: “don’t record a new album until you have something new to say.” It just took me a while to figure out what I had to get off my chest this time around. Lots of things changed in my life, too. We moved to the country, we started hanging with a lot more folk musicians, I grew a beard, and so on. It’s been three years but it feels like more.
How does duetting with a cello change how you are playing?
The cello is a good match for the uke. “Low and bowed” is a perfect complement to “high and plucky”! It was so obvious that we almost missed it; we were together for two or three years before we even considered playing as a duo. And it’s come a long way from it being “my thing” with Anne accompanying. Now she’s an integral part of the sound, vocally and instrumentally.
You’ve got a great voice. How come we haven’t heard it before?
Thanks. “Great voice” is too kind but I’ll take it. The point is this: if you want a certain depth of connection with your audience, you gotta speak to them. You have to open up. It’s hard to write instrumental songs “about stuff.” I mean, I tried. I still try and I’ll keep trying. But, you know, the stuff I’m talking about in Obedience Blues or in Travelin’ On… the only way to say it is, well, to say it. It took me a long time to get comfortable with that because it felt like I was “giving up” on instrumental music.
Your version of Sakura Sakura is bound to prompt comparisons with Jake Shimabukuro’s version. As the two titans of the ukulele, how closely do you follow what each other does? Is there any friendly rivalry between you?
That really wasn’t the point of me recording that song. I just love the melody and the “spaciousness” of the tune. Jake and I keep in touch but we haven’t been in the same room at the same time for years. He’s off doing his thing and I do my best to keep busy. The way I see it we’re both still cutting our teeth and finding our way.
What are your top ukulele practice tips?
For technical stuff, practice with a purpose and stop once you’ve done what you set out to do, whether it takes 10 minutes or 2 hours. For creative stuff, noodle constantly and don’t get too attached to your first inspiration!
Are you ever going to come to the UK?
I’d love to. When’s the first Ukulele Hunt Festival?
When I raised the subject of the sexiest ukulelist, you were the clear winner. How does it feel being a ukulele sex symbol?
“Ukulele Sex Appeal” would make a good uke workshop, don’t you think? Or maybe even a DVD…
A little respite after the difficulty of the last two. You can beef it up a little by adding the G string at the same fret for each note to make them power chords.
The most difficult riff in this series, but well worth it if you ask me. It’s mainly power chords but they do jump around the neck and it’s tricky switching to the picking for the last two notes. You could make it a little easier by just using the C and G strings for the chords.
Back in the day I felt the need to argue that the ukulele wasn’t just for uggos like Tiny and Formby but sexy people played it too. How the times change. Now I feel the need to say, “Ugly men play the ukulele too.” So this edition of UkeTube features plenty of facial hair and stretched t-shirts; and smells of sweat and Lynx.
After last week’s Tiny Tim heart attack ukulele, this week sees a bunch of ukuleles with rather more modest claims to fame. But they’re very nice ukes. And plenty of very nice, none famous, ukuleles too. I should get a job as a banker so I can be incompetent and walk away with millions because I need all of these:
– Martin Tenor ukulele signed by Chris Martin. No, not that Chris Martin. Chris Martin as in C.F. Martin IV.
– Gibson Tenor once owned by Harry Von Zell: Yes, THE Harry Von Zell.
– Martin once owned by Al Hendrickson: Off of Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw.
– 1920s Gibson Style 3: Love the colour of it.
– 1920s Koa Taropatch: Restored by Jake Wildwood.
– 1930s Dobro
– Tangi Violin Ukulele: Why did they stop making something that cool?
– Balalaika adapted to play like a ukulele.
– Photo of a guy playing the uke whilst hanging off a horse.
The American Astronaut is one of my favourite films. So I was very excited to see the trailer for the follow up Stingray Sam. I was even more excited when a ukulele cropped up in it. Cory McAbee (director, star and music guy) was credited with the ukulele at the end of American Astronaut – but I can’t hear one on there.
Speaking of which. Now the ‘cute ukulele girl’ thing is getting boring boring – it’s morphed into a new trend: cute girl desert ukulele jumping. Example 1. Example 2. Get on the bandwagon while it’s still hot.
