Watch the video here.

For his review of the new Star Wars film, BBC film critic, Mark Kermode has forgone the raised eye brows and in-depth analysis in favour of playing the theme tune on the ukulele with his skiffle band The Dodge Brothers.

He inspired me to tab out a ukulele duet of their version. It looks like he’s in D tuning, but I’ve written it up in C. This version differs significantly from the original, so I’ll probably do a full uke version at some point in the future.

You can also watch Mark on his uke here.

Buy The Dodge Brothers

I had a nightmare time deciding which video to feature on the front page this week. I couldn’t decide between Rod Thomas’s ukulele pop, the eagerly anticipated – by me at least – return of Hailey Wojcik and Poopy Lungstuffing’s cover of The Kink’s Oh Demon Alcohol (many times better than the pretty terrible original). Read the rest of this entry »

Purple is obviously this season’s colour. Kanile’a are producing a range called ‘Exotic ukuleles’ and a purple heart wood tenor ukulele has cropped up on eBay. This purple SG-alike is described as a ‘four string guitar’, but with a scale length of 19.5″ it’s fair to call it baritone ukulele.

A couple of nice, vintage Hawaiian ukes: 1927 Kumalae and a Nunes Taropatch.

If this banjolele looks like it’s been through the wars, that’s because it has. According to the etching on the uke, it was at the Somme during WW1. As much as I love the uke, I think lugging that thing around the trenches would be a hassle I wouldn’t need. But obviously this is my lack of battle experience talking as this photo from WW2 features a very similar 8 string banjolele.

Prize for most kitsch item I have ever seen goes to this Marilyn Monroe ukulele strumming figurine.

Herald Tribune interviews the guy who took the infamous picture of Neil Armstrong strumming his ukulele on return from the moon.

ukebucket have just released two albums: one of originals, Bad Ukulele, and one of covers, Covered. You can download the covers album for free here. And buy the originals album, and I can tell you it’s worth it, here (although if you’re stuck in the 1920s and want a rotating disc, you’ll have to wait a while).

The LA Times comes out in defence of ukuleles.

17 Dots (the blog of eMusic) has a series on the ukulele.

Todd the Ukulele Evangalist sings of life as a Ukaholic (MP3 link).

Tab for the X Files theme on Des Cordes er Dubois.

The Curtis Covers Project is a kind of karaoke request blog. People suggest a song for him to cover and he posts his version – often played on ukulele. My personal favourite is Jet’s Are You Gonna Be My Girl.

Blogotheque’s Take Home Shows is an idea too good not to steal. The latest imitator, Shoot the Player, has some fine ukulele videos from Via Tania here and here. But my favourite is Laura Jean’s So Happy It Hurts.

Eddie Vedder discusses the uke’s size to melody ratio.

Fawlty Towers and Dream a Little Dream on Uker Tabs.

How much should you pay a menstruating ukulele player?

Martin Simpson – Rico (Tab)

Martin Simpson is one of the finest acoustic guitarists around. His collaborations with June Tabor are some of the best English folk records ever made. On his album Righteousness and Humidity, he finally picked up the uke. He has plenty of guitar tabs on his site, but nary a ukulele tab to be seen. So I’ll have a go at it.

You can listen to a short clip here. I couldn’t find a full length one, so I’ve had a quick go at an arrangement myself (without the added guitar of the original version).

Rico (MP3)

The tune is made up of four main sections. The intro is a very loose section based on the G major scale. I haven’t tabbed it out note for note, since I’m fairly sure he improvised most it, but just the main parts that you can riff on.

The first main section contains a fast hammer-on/pull off phrase. These are very common in solo folk guitar playing but not so common on the uke. You have to work quite hard to make sure that third finger arcs above the A string to make sure it rings out clearly.

The final section includes another feature of fingerstyle guitar playing: mixing high frets and open strings in a melody line. This works very well on the ukulele and something worth keeping in mind when you are arranging tunes yourself.

Finally, a beginner’s ukulele book that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

I’ve been moaning about the quality of ukulele beginner books for a while now. They all seem very dated in the songs they select and nowhere near comprehensive enough to cover everything a beginner should know when they out. Luckily, Mike Dickison (he of Mike’s Ukulele Page) has written the book that the ukulele deserves. He covers the basics comprehensively, but what really makes it stand out is that he conveys where the ukulele scene is at right now. There are chords for ukulele classics (Five Foot Two, Ukulele Lady), uke/punk crossovers (Anarchy in the UK, Blitzkrieg Bop) and indie ukulele (Ukulele Me).

All the basic chording, strumming and picking are put across effectively and concisely with top notch illustrations (not surprisingly).

As well as the playing side, he also covers the other essential parts of the modern uke scene that none of the other books mention: ukulele clubs, recording yourself on your computer and ukuleles on the net.

The book does have a New Zealand focus (I’m ashamed to admit that I couldn’t have named the New Zealand national anthem in either language before reading the book), but set your New Zealand prejudices aside. It deserves to get picked up and adapted by an International publisher as it’s by far the best introduction to the ukulele I’ve ever read.

Mike will be putting up extracts from the book here and you can order it online here.

To answer Vampire Weekend’s question, Lynne Truss and no one else. But plenty, of people, give a, fuck about, Vampire Weekend,s Oxford Comma, so I decided, to give it, a write, up,

Dead simple chords for this one (G, C, D and Am). And the first part of the solo works really well as a ukulele strumming solo.

The easiest way to play this is to keep your first finger barred across at the 7th fret the whole way.

This year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival kicks off this Sunday and, as ever, there are a handful of uke acts plying their wares.

Learn to Play the Ukulele in Under an Hour (How George Formby Saved My Life)

Donal Coonan (from Channel 4’s thisisaknife) and Sam Brown (not Joe Brown’s daughter) set out to show the joys of the ukulele by teaching the entire audience to play the ukulele in under an hour. Ably assisted by Sally Phillips and her ukulele machine.

Venue: Gilded Balloon

Sideshow is billed as “The Weirdest Show on Earth” and featuring, “freaks, outcasts, and attention seekers.” For some reason, they thought Jimmy from the Bobby McGee’s would fit right in. The presence of a great number of bendy and busty women convinced him to join them in Edinburgh.

Nigel Birch in Dancing On Your Grave

Or The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs present ‘Dancing On Your Grave’ featuring Corpse De Ballet to give it its full title.

Nigel Burch has been strumming on his banjolele the Flea-Pit Orchestra for more than a decade. This year he’s been providing musical back up to The Cholmondeleys‘s twisted music hall show.

Venue: Assembly @ George Street

Liz Bentley-On-Sea

I wrote about Liz Bentley when she appeared at last years festival. This year she’ll be some aquatic strumming at the Sweet Grassmarket Swimming Pool.

MP3

Transatlantic comedy adaptations are usually a catastrophic failure (Coupling and IT Crowd are two that leap immediately to mind) but both versions of The Office are great. I may well be lynched for saying this, but I actually prefer the US version of The Office to the British one. The only thing I don’t like about both Offices is the way Jim/Tim is held up as a kind of hero. He’s much more of a loser than Micheal/David and Dwight/Gareth who actually seem to enjoy their lives and their jobs. And, worst of all, he takes his frustrations out by bullying people. Anyone with half a brain can see that Dwight is the real hero for being himself no matter how out of step with the rest of the world that might be. Anyhoo, on to matters musical.

The theme tune translates fairly well to the uke, but there are some tricky parts. There are some rapid notes on the A string that have to be picked alternately by the index and middle finger (like you’re doing a running man with your fingers). Also, the run at the end goes up to the 17th fret. My uke doesn’t have a 17th fret, so I had to do a bit of fretless playing. Alternatively, you could give it a shorter ending such as this:

The boys and their fretboard wankery are back with avengeance this week with videos from James Hill, Aldrine Guerrero, Dominator, Takashi Nakamura and Bobby Tomei.

In other news, the Ukulele versus Major League Baseball campaign is gaining momentum.

Aldrine Guerrero – Bodysurfing

There are a bunch more UU tour videos here.

James Hill – Summertime

Aldrine, Ryan and Dominator – Reason

KokoKaina – The Meadow

Rachel Goodrich – If Your Mine

Takashi Nakamura – Spanish Guitar and Ukulele Battle

Ken Middleton – The Colosseum Hornpipe

Fabio Koryu Calabro – Zbylenka Tournée

Bobby Tomei – E Ku’u Morning Dew

Poopy Lungstuffing – Why Don’t You Do Right?

The Be Arthurs – Rock Your Body