Ovation’s Applause ukuleles are probably the most popular electric ukes around. Ukulele4u are currently selling the new Applause Tenor ukulele. Personally, I much prefer the natural wood look of these ukes to the black finish of other models.
On the Martin front, there’s a Martin 2K and a Martin Tiple.
Ukulele built by Leonardo Nunes son of ukulele pioneer Manuel Nunes.
Roland Ordonio Supreme Curly Koa ukulele: “Don’t sell out for a “dime-a-dozen”, factory, overseas made ‘ukulele like Pono, Lanikai, Oscar Schmidt, Kala, Applause…Buy Hawaii!” Meow!
If you want to play Street Spirit on the ukulele, just forget it. Impossible. Can’t be done. Having said that…
…if you make enough changes, you can move it from ‘impossible’ to the merely ‘too difficult to bother attempting’. With that in mind, I’ve tabbed out a difficult version based on the guitar part and come up with an easier version which fits more comfortably on the uke.
Difficult Version
For the ukulele version, I’ve transposed everything up 3 frets (so it’s in C minor rather than A minor). Here’s the first, and most played, riff in the song:
For the right hand picking, I use my index finger on the E-string, middle finger on the A-string and thumb to cover the other two. I’ve also put some fretting hand suggestions in the tab. Strictly speaking, the second note of this tab should be the G-string open, but this makes the right hand picking much more tricky.
The second little riff (“All these things…”) is a little trickier.
The G at the beginning of the bar is an octave above where it should be. Try to bar your little finger across the E and A strings for those notes at the tenth fret. Otherwise, it’s a big jump down to the sixth fret.
If I was attempting this song (which I’m not, because it’s impossible), I’d just play the chords for this section (Eb, Gm, Cm) even in the hard version.
Easy Version
This first part of the song is derived from the vocal melody and the picking pattern.
If you wanted to make it even easier, you could strum out these shapes. So it would be 0033 for the first half of the first bar, then 0233 for half a bar, 0333 for half a bar and so on.
For the next section, I hold down a Gm chord shape and pick with one finger for each string (thumb on the G-string, first finger on the C-string etc.
Hammer-ons are produced by plucking a note on the uke then ‘hammering on’ a finger at a higher fret – making the sound of the higher note without picking it. You can watch this being done here.
Example 1
In tab, hammer-ons are shown by an arch between the two notes (with the second note always being higher than the first). These arches can appear above or below the notes themselves.
Here the string is being played open, then the middle finger hammers-on at the second fret (without the string being repicked).
Some tabs will represent a hammer-on with an ‘h’ between the notes.
Pull-Offs
Pull-offs are the opposite of hammer-ons. They are produced by playing one note then lifting your fretting finger off the string so that a lower note sounds. You can watch it being done here.
Example 2
The tab for pull-offs is also the opposite of that for hammer-ons. Again, there is an arch between the two notes but this time the first note is higher than the second.
Here the string is being played second fret, then the middle finger pulls-off the string (without the string being repicked) to let the open string sound.
Some tabs will represent pull offs with a ‘p’ between the notes.
Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs
You can have a combination of hammer-ons and pull-offs in a single run. In this case, there is an arch over all the notes that are produced by hammering-on or pulling-off rather than being picked.
With its laid back island vibes, it no surprise that Colbie Caillat‘s summer hit Bubbly inspired plentyofukulelecovers, despite using the term ‘bubbly face’ as a compliment.
Her album also features a similarly laid back catchy tune played on uke: Tied Down. It’s also very simple to play. Most of the chords will be very familiar to you (F, Am, G, C). You might not recognise C6 but it’s just all the strings open.
The strumming pattern is also pretty simple. Strum up, down, up four times for each chord. After the second up strum, stop the strings ringing by bringing your picking hand down on the strings – or do a chnk.
Interestingly, the chords in the live version are slightly different. Instead of F and C6 in the verse, it’s F6 and C. Well, it’s interesting to a nerd like me.
I’ve gone and set up a community to run alongside Uke Hunt.
It’s called (rather cheesily, I admit) YouKulele. It’s got a bunch of web 2.0 type features. You can see them in action on my profile here. You can upload mp3s, videos and photos, blog and make friends. The message board, and this is my favourite part, lets you record videos or mp3s as a reply. Which could come in handy in musical discussions.
Final Fantasy is one of those games that completely passed me by and I’ve never actually played any of the Police Academy sized oeuvre. What didn’t pass me by is the fact that ukuleles crop up in the ninth version of the game. Ukulele de Chocobo is the tune that starts playing every time you jump on board a Chocobo (like getting a piggy back from Big Bird). You can hear it in the game itself here. That clip also has Aloha de Chocobo – another uke tune which I’ll probably work out sometime.
I’ve written up the chords in tab form – to give you a better idea of where the changes come. In the original key, the melody goes a little too high for comfort on the uke:
Far too many videos this week. A couple of Hawaiian masters, a ukulele/melodica cover of Beck, GUGUG, a bit of English folk music, loads of other stuff. Click More to see them all. Read the rest of this entry »
Uke Hunt’s Rag Bag is a new page I’ve put up of tab and chords I’ve done but not posted (yet). There are various reasons why I haven’t posted them, so you’ll just have to take your chances.
Let’s Play Ukulele is a really interesting new site. It takes chords from guitar sites and adds uke chords to them. The site is still in its early stages of development, but it’s well worth checking out. Particularly fun is its integration with Last.fm. You put in your username and it’ll show you chords for songs you’ve been listening to. If you’re a fan of The Pipettes or Half Man, Half Biscuit, you won’t be able to get away from me.
Two ukulele festivals for the price of one. Attend the Stockholm Ukulele Festival, join all the ukers on the official uke cruise, then visit the Finnish Ukulele Festival. This is part of the new Nordic Ukulele Alliance intended to encourage more ukulele players to tour the region. If you’re interested in the festival or performing up there get in touch with Juha.
The uke that’s most tempting me to reach into my pocket at the moment is the KeliiKoa Pili Koko. The ukes are solid wood and, while not actually koa, are made from a close relative of the koa. They’re as pretty as koa and sound very similar judging by this video by musicguymic.
But the most attractive thing about them is the price:$219 for the soprano, $249 for the concert and $289 for the tenor. You’d be hard pushed to find a better deal than that on a solid wood uke.
The only potential stumbling block with the chords is the Fmaj7. You can make it easier to get to in the chorus by fretting the C chord with your index finger rather than the ring finger. But that’s not going to help you in the middle section where it goes from G to Fmaj7. If you find it too big of a jump, play the standard F chord there (you can use the standard F chord in the chorus too, it’ll sound right).
The song’s guitar solo sounds really good on the uke if you use the re-entrant string and let the notes ring into each other like this:
This creates a cascading effect. Much more interesting than the boring guitar way of doing it:
Ovation’s Applause ukuleles are probably the most popular electric ukes around. Ukulele4u are currently selling the new Applause Tenor ukulele. Personally, I much prefer the natural wood look of these ukes to the black finish of other models.
The most unusual uke up for grabs this week is the Harp Ukulele. As well as the four standard ukulele strings, it has four bass strings (intended to be tuned to an open chord). You can read more about this and other harp ukuleles here, see the photos of the first family of harp instruments the Knutsens, and watch Andy McKee pwning the harp guitar (as I believe the kids are saying nowadays).
