Jason ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow on American Idol‘ Castro has just released a ukulele version of White Christmas and you can get it free on Amazon (or on ReverbNation if you’re outside the US). I don’t want to be mean at Christmas time, but I’m guessing that isn’t him ukeing on the track because it being played well.
I’ve written a mini-ebook as a bit of an introduction to the ukulele aimed at people who got a new ukulele for Christmas. It’s free and released under a Creative Commons License. So you can email it people, let people download it on your site, print it out and hand it round to people – so long as you keep the content as it is.
Contents:
1 Five Things to Know
2 Five Chords to Learn
3 Five Songs to Play
4 Five Websites to Visit
5 Five Things to Get Free
6 Five Things to Buy
7 Five Videos to Watch
8 Five YouTube Channels to Subscribe to
I caught up with him to find out what he’s cooking up this Christmas.
Why only Christmas albums?
Well, the first one just happened to be the only record I had recorded. I had only been playing for about a year at the time and it was as a christmas present for all of my friends and family. But at the same time, I heard another friend of mine rocker Stuart Davis (who’s recorded over 13 albums) when asked once “when are you going to make a christmas record?”, he yelled back “What are you talking about?! I’ve done nothing BUT Christmas records!” So in my time writing songs, I’ve decided that for the past three years – going on four – that IS genuinely hilarious. So that’s all I’ve recorded officially. Though I have written and recorded some demos for some other (hate to admit it) NON-holiday songs.
What can we expect on this year’s EP? Any more originals?
I’ve been really trying to work out this arrangement of The Christmas Song, that I’ve always wanted to do, but with a 3/4 swing beat I heard in a recording, but it’s taking a little bit of effort in the translating. So we’ll keep our fingers crossed. But I hope also to record two more originals. And this might be my first foray into traditional christmas carols with Good King Wenceslas perhaps. Maybe not, we’ll see. I’ve kept so far with more secular Christmas carols, which, yes, I know is an oxymoron, but it’s my style.
What makes for a good Christmas song?
My instinct is to say novelty, but really a catchy tune plus a good story I think really make it. There’s so much great imagery with Christmas to work with, that just like any good song, if you can combine those with a tune you enjoy, whether it’s peppy or melancholy. But I really am a big fan of so many obscure Christmas songs that I might have only found because of their novelty. Like Lord Nelson’s “A Party For Santa Claus” that is almost impossible to find, but is a straight calypso tune and is a FANTASTIC Christmas song. So story, plus tune first. And then novelty just sets some out from the pack for me.
What’s in your uke collection?
I really only have one uke. It’s a dark mahogany-shaded Hilo concert uke, from Cotton Music in Nashville, that I bought for $50, and that’s been like my best friend. I remember buying it, even without a case and before I could even play it, and seeing myself reflected in a glass window down the street as I walked to my car, and thinking “I’m a real Nashvillian now. I own a stringed instrument.” Because just about everyone plays something, mostly guitar. And I picked the uke because it’s obviuously not a guitar, but it’s cute and different and easy, and it’s hard to be taken too seriously on it which I see as a plus. I also once owned a Hilo baritone that was on the first record, but it’s since wandered into someone else’s possession in Colorado.
What tips would you give someone looking to spice up their YouTube videos?
Add the tag “erotic” to everything you have. I’m not saying it’s ethical, but it works. It’s a sad erotic state of the internet.
What’s on your Christmas list this year?
This year? Probably financial support. But seriously, like socks and dress shirts. I’m such an adult now. There may be a song on this new record that goes into detail on some other “christmas requests”. I’ll let you know.
Download Ballard’s Christmas records here and watch his films here.
In the ukulele harmonics post I promised tab for a harmonics only version of Silent Night. I hope you’ve been practicing the stuff in that post, because here it is. And it’s tricky.
This version starts off fairly easy. The natural harmonics at the twelfth fret shouldn’t cause too many difficulties. It’s much more difficult to get clean harmonics at the fifth and seventh frets.
In bar 14 the artificial harmonics start. here you have to keep track of where both your left and right hands are. I find it easier to start the artificial harmonic technique at the beginning of bar 13 to avoid switching hands quickly.
The hardest note in the entire piece is the first note in bar 18. You have to fret the A string with your left hand and play a harmonic at the eighth fret (seven frets above the note you’re playing). It’s very difficult to get that one to sound cleanly.
Even though it’s tricky, I think it’s worth playing. The harmonics give it a Christmas bell feel to it.
If you want a non-harmonic, easy to play tab of Silent Night there’s one in my Christmas ukulele ebook.
How often do you get the chance to get some kickass ukulele tabs and do your bit for world peace at the same time?
You may well have heard of Ukuleles for Peace already. The charity is based in Israel and run by Paul Moore who teaches ukulele to Jewish and Arab kids and brings them together in a ukulele orchestra. The goal is to create friendships and links between otherwise entirely separate communities.
But they do need money to keep up the good work and, hopefully, expand into other towns in the region. To that end, I’ve got together with the the glittering elite of online ukulele tabbers and put together and ebook of tunes from around the world arranged for ukulele. It features tabs/arrangements from Brian Hefferan, Dominator, James Hill, Ken Middleton, Mark Kailana Nelson, Wilfried Welti and me. You can find out more about it, read the contents, listen to tracks and buy it here. And the money goes directly to Ukuleles for Peace.
And you really should buy it. Look at their little faces (and in this video). Not giving these kids ukuleles is exactly the same as going round strangling puppies.
If you can’t afford it, you can help even more by spreading the word about Ukuleles for Peace and the ebook by talking about it on blogs, forums, MySpace, Facebook, Live Journal and anywhere you can find people who might listen.
This week’s vidoes include some hip hop ukulele, Jake playing Jackson, Jodi and Amber playing Jackson, another hit from Toy Horses, and Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome putting their acting chops to good use. But the song I’ve listened to most this week has been Sarah Kinlaw’s Guilty Love. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve been ever such a good boy this year and if your list says an different it must be an administrative error because the police station was on fire when I got there.
eBay to ban people using the words ‘Martin’ and ‘ukulele’ in the title of items that aren’t Martin ukuleles. I don’t care if it’s ‘like Martin’, ‘has Martin strings’ or is a Martin Rival.
Another Christmas song with no reference to Christmas in it but I loved the version by keonepax with Bosko and Honey I had to write it up.
In the chord chart I’ve shown the chord inversions that keonepax is playing, but it’s great to mix them up with other inversions. Here are a few possibilities.
In the solo Bosko is using quite a few sixths:
And finishes of with a cool little variation on the Hawaiian turnaround. Here’s my take on the same idea:
As well as his classical and traditional tab book, Wilfried Welti has also put together an ebook of German Christmas carols. Some of these – such as O, Tannenbaum and Stille Nacht – are very familiar outside of Germany. Some of them are less recognisable – such as Ihr Kinderlein Kommet (O Come, Little Children). Others are entirely new to me but have great tunes such as Lieb Nachtigall. All of them are beautifully and simply arranged for the uke.
