Jake Shimabukuro is touring the US at the moment. Uke Hunt’s roving reporters Shawn and Lonna B filed this review from Chicago.

Jake Shimabukuro

Old Town School of Folk Music
Chicago, IL
4/26/08
Early show

Set List
Let’s Dance
Dragon
Me and Shirley T
In My Life
Sakura, Sakura
Going to California
Blue Roses Falling
Orange World
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Ave Maria

Saturday, April 26th, renowned ukulele slinger Jake Shimabukuro made his second appearance at the school’s Gary & Laura Maurer Concert Hall at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. Old Town is the largest independent community arts school in the United States, offering not less than eight courses relating to the ukulele as well as a music store fairly crammed with ukuleles and other instruments.

We’d never seen Jake before, and we’d never been to the Old Town School either. We live three hours away in Indianapolis, Indiana. But if you play the ukulele and have the chance to see a performer of Jake’s caliber, you drop the kids at mom’s, gas up the car, pack up some smokes and a change of booze and off you go.

The venue exceeded expectations. As a community run venture, the vibe was very positive – none of that Clear Channel taint at all. Excellent beers were available and availed of. The hall itself featured sparkling acoustics and 250 seats, each of which was within 45 feet of the stage. We sat front row center in the balcony.

Alas, there was an opening act. Terrifically, it turned out to be husband and wife team Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion. Sarah Lee (she of Arlo and Woody descent) and Johnny charmed the crowd for an hour with their spare, acoustic numbers and witty (if obligatory) folk stage patter.

After a chance to replace our empty beers with full ones, it was finally Jakulele time. Jake Shimabukuro is easily the best known and most recognized face of modern ukulele and it’s not for nothing. Throughout the evening, he embellished his already intricate arrangements, lifting many songs stratospherically higher than their written form.

He opened with Let’s Dance, and soon rendered his forearm and hand a flesh-colored blur. He introduced his next song, Dragon, as having been inspired by Bruce Lee and Eddie Van Halen, and the ensuing fretboard fireworks did more than justice to those two worthies. Me and Shirley T and In My Life, the Lennon/McCartney song which serves as the title track on Jake’s latest cd, followed.

As he was introducing Sakura, Jake recalled the experience of hearing this traditional Japanese song played on a thirteen stringed instrument, the koto. He admitted to locking himself in his room for days at a time trying to turn his four strings into 13. Jake’s next choice in song was Going To California, which he proclaimed to be one of his favorite Jimmy Page songs. The mood mellowed out a bit as Jake played Blue Roses Falling, only to pick back up with a slamming version of Orange World. Confessing a predilection for such behavior, Jake admitted to having again locked himself in his room, this time after sharing the stage with banjo legend Bela Fleck. He joked that playing a bluegrass tune was a good way to ‘get it all out of your system’, and then did just that, peeling off finger rolls at a blinding clip while remembering to quote “Dueling Banjos” as a capper. Before hitting us with Gently Weeps, Jake told the story of making that now web famous video in Central Park, an event Jake believes changed his life.

As there was a second performance scheduled, there wasn’t time for a proper version of the encore ritual, so Jake simply remained onstage until the applause died down long enough for him to introduce the final number as having been written by a friend of his from Hawaii, Franz Schubert. A crystalline version of Ave Maria closed the show.

Afterwards, Jake made himself available for photos and autographs, which, being utterly shameless in every way we were pleased to take advantage of. Any hopes we’d had about being the coolest members of the audience were devastatingly crushed when we had the good fortune to meet up with the Australian couple Bosko and Honey (on their Ukulele Safari), as well as YouTube ukemeister and Chicago native, Seeso. They’d stopped selling beer at the concessions stand, so we returned to our hotel, congratulated ourselves on having the great sense to make the trip, and, well, you know.

Shawn and LonnaB

You can find Jake’s remaining tour dates here.

Every time I’ve turned on the TV the last few weeks it seems like this ad featuring Broadcast 2000 has been on (you can listen to the full song here). I didn’t really have much choice but to tab out its ukulele riff.

The time signature for this piece is a little strange. The first bar is in 3/4 time (the notes are counted 1 & 2 & £ &) and the second bar is in 4/4 time. It’s made to seem even more unusual by three against four phrase in the second bar (there are four notes to each beat but the repeated phrase is three notes long).

And the time signature changes don’t stop there. When the lyrics kick in, the second bar of the riff is shortened to 3/4 before going back to 4/4 for the rest of the verse. The chorus is three bars of 3/4 then one 4/4 followed by four of 3/4 (the second chorus is different again with the last bar in 4/4). I hope you’re taking notes.

Pre-order Get Up and Go on their website.

Lots of precipitation this week; two songs about rain and one about snow. And, of course, plenty of other great stuff including Roy Smeck, Ledward Kaapana and Shorty Long.

Meaghan Farrell – Sombrero Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve had this one written up and been intending to post it since the Ukulele Video of the Year (I think it was my favourite, still can’t decide), but I finally got a kick up the arse when it was featured on Boing Boing yesterday.

The chords to the song are very simple – there are only four of them – and this would make a great uke group song.

GUGUG are, as usual, tuned up half a step to G#C#FA#. If you want to play along with them, you’ll have to do likewise or put a capo on the first fret. If you’re just playing by yourself, there’s no need.

Chords for GUGUG’s version of Ruby here.

Visit GUGUG’s YouTube Channel

Watching Mike DaSilva’s video, is very inspiring. Unfortunately, after a rather spectacular woodwork lesson at school where my clumsiness left a number of class mates significantly short on limbs, I have an ASBO barring me from moving within 6 feet of tools. The solution offered to people like me is ukulele kits which require nothing more than gluing and decorating.

It has to be said, they’re not particularly inspiring. This soprano ukulele kit looks like it’s aimed at kids who want something to paint. This mahogany soprano kit is a bit more advanced with some binding to tackle. The next step up is a kit which requires a great deal more work. At the moment there’s mahogany baritone ukulele kit and a tenor ukulele kit up for sale. Rather ambitiously, they both come with full scale blue-prints of a vintage Martin ukuleles.

I’m sure these kits are instructive for people who are starting off with luthiery, but it does seem to take the fun out of it. What does excite me is the look of koa wood, but my technical expertise would limit me to nailing a lump of it to the wall.

So I’ll have to stick to ukuleles made by people who know what they’re doing. Speaking of which, the new Kala Translucent Red Mahogany Tenor Ukulele looks very nice indeed.

I’m embarking on a new mini-project on the blog. I’m going to list the definitive ukulele songs – the one’s most associated with the uke – and the definitive versions of those songs. If you’ve got any ideas about what should be included, leave a comment.

There’s a really great little feature of Mike DaSilva in his workshop. It’s fascinating to see how much care and attention he puts in to making the ukuleles and how fondly he talks about what he does. (A big thanks to Jeff for drawing my attention to it).

The latest episode of Ukulele Spotlight (mp3 link) is a killer with performances by Tippy Canoe and Uni and her Ukelele. There’s also a new Ukulele Spotlight website in development including instructional materials and backing tracks to jam along with (Thanks to Dave for that)

Performances from the Stockholm International Ukulele Festival

This week’s Uker Tabs: Paul Williams’ Give A Little Love (from the Coke ad) and Going to Resistencia.

Ukulala answers those burning uke questions from a urinal cake taste tester and an 18th Century English Lord among others.

Bill Tapia discusses his 100th Birthday gig.

Dubby Kirk and his ukulele get top marks on the Gong Show (it was like Pop/American Idol but the judges were forced to sit behind signs detailing what they like in bed).

Uke mp3s: Rock Insider has Ema and the Ghosts, What to Wear During an Orange Alert has Arms and ninebullets has the UkeJill endorsed O’Death.

ezFolk’s ukulele girl now flogging term papers.

You can listen to the statistically derived most wanted and most unwanted songs on UbuWeb. I was half expecting a ukulele to crop up on the most unwanted track but it’s edged out by the banjo. The most unwanted song is, predictably, brilliant and the most wanted is awful. Does nobody want humour in music? (Thanks to Dr J – you really should be reading his blog).

As far as I’m concerned, Mark Occhionero‘s arrangement of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is the definitive ukulele version. You’d have to be crazy to want me to do a version. Which might explain why Heather requested just that.

My version of the chords is half way between Mark’s version and George Harrison’s version.

The intro is the chords that go over the, “You’ve got me in between…” section. One of the great things about Mark’s version is that he often changes the chords and picks out notes to follow the melody notes. For example, you could play these chords over, “De-vil and the deep blue sea,” With a chord or single note for each syllable of the lyrics.

It’s a very effective way of playing. It’s well worth checking out Mark’s arrangements for more ideas.

The chords for the verse can be fancied up or dumbed down according to taste. You can replace the F#dim with a Dm chord (as George does) or you can change the F to an Fmaj7 for a more jazzy sound. Have a play around with different chords and see if you can find your own variations.

With all the stuff on the net about the ukulele, there’s very little about how to play scales on the ukulele. It’s a bit strange as scales are the building blocks of music in general and chords in particular. I wrote an ebook about how ukulele chords are made up, so I won’t go into it now, but the more you understand scales, the more you be able to adapt chords and add single note runs to your playing to make it more effective and interesting.

A good knowledge of scales is essential for improvising. If the chords you are playing over are in C major, you can play any of the notes in the C major scale and they will work. Of course, some will work better than others in certain places.

The most important scale is the major scale. This is the most common scale you’ll hear. It crops up in all the most well known songs from nursery rhymes to national anthems. The sound of the scale is completely natural.

The major scale is made up of eight notes with a set distance between the notes. You start on the first note of the scale (the root) and move up two frets to the second note, then another two to the third, up one to the fourth, up two to the fifth, up two to the sixth, up two to the seventh and finally up one to the octave. The distances are: 2,2,1,2,2,2,1.

You don’t have to memorise all these scales individually. It is much more important to remember patterns on the fingerboard and where the root note occurs in these patterns.

Take the D scale for example. Start on the D note at the second fret and move up the scale like this to the next D:

If you play this same pattern up two frets (so the E is the first note you play), you’ll have an E major scale.

The same goes for any other pattern you can spot in these scale maps.

C Major

C# (Db) Major

D Major

D# (Eb) Major

E Major

F Major

F# (Gb) Major

G Major

G# (Ab) Major

A Major

A# (Bb) Major

B Major

When I mentioned Soko in my best of 2007 posts, I had no idea she was a ukulelist. Not long after that post, I Will Never Love You More cropped up on her MySpace. I decided right then I’d have to put up the chords, but it wasn’t until I saw the above video at La vidéo ukulélé du jour that I got my arse into gear.

The chords are very simple: just C and G in the verse with F and G7 for the other sections. It’s a bit trickier to recreate her strumming pattern. First she plucks the G string with her thumb, then strums up, down, up with her index finger.

The Bobby McGee’s – No Friends (mp3) via MySpace.

The Bobby McGee’s are Great Britain’s premier ukulele group (and don’t the name of any orchestra suggest otherwise). Their music has been described as, “domestic violence with ukuleles,” and, “Dostoyevsky doing Lonnie Donegan.” I interrogated Jimmy (who, along with Eleanor,is the band’s singer/songwriter/ukulelist section) to find out more.

How did the Bobby McGees come into being?

The Bobby McGee’s came into being after I met El’ at a Libertines concert in Leicester. I was sad after watching my best friend marry an idiot and needed to do something to help make the world a beautiful place again…we formed the band that night, booked 3 gigs then decided we better write some songs…the name came from Bobby Gillespie & Alan McGee (who told me to “F@@K OFF!” after calling him on his drug habits…and then asking for a record deal….the emails are hilarious!)…and of course, the Kris Kristoferson song that my gran used to sing to us from the back of the car on long holiday drives…I think she would have hated our music, but it would have made my grandad smile!

What made you choose the ukulele?

Eleanor saw the band Herman Dune playing “funny guitars” and I bought her one for Valentines day… We both fell in love with them.
First chords I found were for “Anarchy In The UK” and “King Of The Swingers” and I knew that this was what I had been waiting 33 years to discover!

I have a MAHALO concert uke…I love it…I have a SHADOW pickup fitted in it which is great and AQUILA strings really do make a big difference….Eleanor plays what I believe is an old Slingerback banjo uke (looks just like one, but no makers marks on it!)…I had a lovely little old GRETSCH uke that I bought real cheap on ebay and repaired…but I ruined it when I slapped El’ on the ass with it during a recording session….I’d love a nice uke, but I’m determined to wait until someone offers to make one for me…so I’ll probably be playing MAHALO for the next 20 years!

Which ukulele players do you particularly admire?

Duke Marmapants (and his Hot Potato Synchopators) Have you seen this video?

Malcolm is a legend…a wonderfully honest guy and a great musician…he taught me everything I know…he has a great way of teaching, he just drops things into a conversation that spark my interest…”This is a diminished chord”…”This is a triplet”….then vanishes for six months while I work out my own way to play it!

We ran an fantastic open mic’ here in Brighton for 18 months THE UKULELE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY (T.U.R.D.S. if you must!)…we gave prizes to all performers and had comment books for punters to scribble their thoughts in…imagine my joy one night last year when I discovered Malcolm had written “Wow…Jimmy has finally learned how to play his uke!”….TURDS will be back in July as soon as Eleanor has finished her finals…watch this space!

I also hugely admire George Formby (Malcolm will cuff my ears!)…I love the solos he plays…they are great, I’m just begining to work out what he’s doing…one day i will work out HOW he does it….I think he’s very underrated as a musician, but that often is the case for people who write “comical” songs ;-) There’s something very English about his playing that (even as a Scotsman!) I love…and anyway, just look at all the people he made happy, isn’t that the whole point?

Are the Bobby McGees characters or is that you?

That’s a secret!

The gig last month where I spat in the guys face and threatened to punch him for walking out, that was character….

Is it true you taught Emiliana Torrini to play the ukulele? That sounds like fun.

She asked me to…but we were both really busy and never seemed to be in the same town at the same time….I didn’t recognise her at first, I was at a gig watching a friends band and when she came and spoke to me I asked her to shut up till the gig was over….”do you know who that was?” everyone asked me, but to be honest, i think she wanted me for my beard more than my uke….I still have her number.

Is it possible to buy your stuff on anything but vinyl?

Yes….write to us and ask…. I think you can also get them on itunes or something like that, check on our “ubercool” wee record label CHERRYADE:

I have two solo albums: “68 Love Songs (and a poem about shagging)”….and “Love Song 101″….that’s 170 songs all together (but if I’m honest, only 165 of them are any good)…I am desperate for someone to release those on vinyl, if anyone wants a “sampler” write and I’ll send them one….I love listening back to them and hearing all the wee improvements in my playing or thinking “How did I do that?” as I try to remember what chords I was playing!

Radio One have promised to play all the songs from the first album…but I think it would get them closed down!

Eleanor also has 14 new songs to record after her finals, most of which I haven’t heard…her music is beautiful, her uke playing is everything that mine isn’t, but she can play any instrument (well, anything but flute and clarinet!)…she’s getting really into Klezmer rhythms and chords so it will be real interesting to hear her new stuff.

We get to play with Kimya Dawson at Ladyfest in London next month…We’ve followed her for years and played with her 4 or 5 times, but I think post JUNO, things will be different!

A big thanks to Jimmy for answering my questions. You can visit The Bobby McGee’s MySpace (you can always judge a band by their MySpace friends, theirs include Uke Hunt favourites MJ Hibbett, Kimya Dawson and The King Blues and personal favourites of mine The Duloks and Spinmaster Plantpot) and buy their EP S’Amuser Com Des Fous on vinyl at Cherryade Records and the mp3s on iTunes.