A quick guide to what little gift to get your uke obsessed love one for Christmas. (Or what you might like to get for yourself because everyone else is getting you socks).

Ukulele Strings

A good set of strings is the fastest and cheapest way to improve the sound of any ukulele. But if you’re buying them for someone else, be careful. Type in ‘ukulele strings’ on eBay and you’ll get a dizzying variety.

One particular problem is buying the right size. If the person you’re buying them for has a number of ukuleles, you don’t need to worry – they’ll probably have one of each size. If they’re a relatively new player, your best bet is to buy strings for a soprano ukulele.

The most popular brands of uke strings are Worth and Aquila. If you’re lucky enough to come across some KoAloha pink strings, get them and send them to me.

Ukulele Tuner: Intelli IMT-500 Tuner

“Ever tried tuning in a room with lots of noise or in the dark?” asks musicguymic.

I can’t say that tuning my ukulele in the dark is a big problem for me. Tuning in a noisy environment, however, is. The Intelli tuner clips on to the end of the uke and picks up the pitch by vibration of the uke itself – avoiding any confusion with ambient sound.

It’s a chromatic tuner i.e. you can tune to any pitch you want. This means that, as well as ukes, it can be used to tune guitars, mandolins, banjos etc.

The cheapest I’ve seen these advertised is musicguymic on eBay.

The perfect present for: those who torture you with out of tune playing, ukulele group members, regular live players, buskers, multi-instrumentalists, those with noisy kids/housemates, those who play the uke while potholing.

Humidifier

One for the serious uke player, this. Because they’re made of wood, ukuleles can warp and crack over time as they dry out. Humidifiers stop this happening.

Someone who’s getting their first, cheap ukulele doesn’t need a humidifier. But if you know someone lucky enough to be getting a good quality uke (particularly a vintage one), I’m sure they’d be very pleased to get a wax and humidifer set to go along with it.

The perfect present for: a uke collector, someone’s who’s getting an expensive uke for xmas.

Metronome

I’m very guilty of speeding up as I play (and generally wandering out of time) and so are many players. I know I should use a metronome but I don’t. It’s probably because I’ve only got a nasty little, electronic metronome that emits a sharp ‘bip’. If I had a nice vintage metronome, I might use it as often as I should.

The sexiest metronomes on eBay at the moment:

Cadenzia Palmer Pocket Metronome

Baldwin Tempo-Matic Metronome (yes, it’s electronic – but it’s gorgeous).

Ukulele Felt Picks

Guitar picks are death to ukuleles. They sound too harsh. Felt picks are made for the uke’s more delicate disposition. Besides, they’re a cheap stocking filler.

Perfect for: recovering guitarists.

More Christmas gifts for ukulele players.

Now that we’ve reached December, it’s time to grab your uke and start practicing a few Christmas tunes.

With that in mind, I’ve put together a tab ebook for a dozen Christmas favourites all arranged in a simple fashion. The full list of tabs is:

– Twelve Days of Christmas – Auld Lang Syne
– Carol of the Bells – The Holly and the Ivy
– Deck the Halls- Good King Wenceslas
– Hark! The Herald Angels Sing – Silent Night
– In the Bleak Midwinter – Sussex Carol
– Here We Come A Wassailing – God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Being Christmas, I’m selling this book cheaply: $7.

You can read more about it and listen to mp3s of the tunes here:

How To Play Christmas Ukulele

I’m selling this ebook using a slightly different method which has a couple of advantages: as well as being taken to the download page after you pay, you should get an email with a link to the download page as well; and, unlike my other books, those in the EU do not have to pay VAT. It’s a new system, so if you experience any problems let me know and I’ll do my best to sort it out.

Hells Bells midi

Back to AC/DC to end up the list of riffs – they are THE riff band.

Buy Back in Black

UPDATE: Aw crap, it seems to have disappeared. If anyone has a copy, let me know.

DOUBLE UPDATE: Big thanks to Kempo who had a copy: John King – Carol of the Bells (Tab)

I was going to start December with a quick selection of Christmas uke videos, then I discovered that a video of ukulele master John King playing Carol of the Bells has just been uploaded to YouTube. It pretty much trumps any other video.

You can download the fiendishly difficult tab on Nalu Music. Or, if you’re a mere mortal, you’ll be able to get your hands on my more simple arrangement in this post.

More (re)entrants into world of ukulele blogging:

– Ukulele Review does what it says on the tin with instruments, accessories, CDs, DVDs and books.

– Ukulele Ghetto is the diary of a UAS ‘sufferer’.

Probably the best uke article I’ve ever seen in the press in the San Francisco Chronicle. It even introduced me to High Hopes who I wasn’t familiar with and am very glad to find out about.

The 4th Peg opens a ukulele tab section with some Xmas treats.

Posters for uke gigs are always that little bit more stylish.

The Super Awesome Squad interview Jens Lekman who seems to be giving up the uke.

Sigourney Weaver watches her hubby jamming with the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra.

The first ukulele in a hip hop video? Dizzee Rascal’s new video for Flex.

The UkuLady doesn’t have Thanksgiving with Hugo Chavez’s great grandson.

Pin midi

Nick Zinner of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs is one of my favourite guitarists around at the moment. All his parts are simple but interesting and very individual. It almost makes it worth putting up with that screaming harridan of a singer.

This riff is very staccato. You can produce this by releasing the pressure with your fretting hand shortly after you’ve played the note and, particularly on the open notes, muting the strings with your picking hand.

Download Pin on Amazon

Not A Crime Midi

I’m very taken with this song and Gogol Bordello in general. The riff was originally an Italian folk tune called Tromba degli Zingari.

I play this riff with the A string ringing throughout to give it a bit more weight on the uke. I use my thumb to play the melody notes and my ring finger to play the continuous A note.

Buy Gypsy Punks

Come As You Are Midi

I’ve always hated Smells Like Teen Spirit. It’s an incredibly boring riff. I find this one much more interesting.

Download Come As You Are on Amazon

Layla Midi

I had considered tabbing the acoustic version of this before I realised it was incredibly dull in comparison. In the original version, there are a few screaming string bends. String bends tend not to work too well on the uke, so I’d suggest you use slides instead (and plenty of vibrato to keep the string ringing).

Download Layla on Amazon

Enter Sandman midi

I’m going to get sued for putting this one up, just as you will be if you ever play an E chord followed by an F chord. Oh well, it has to be in the list.

I couldn’t decide whether playing the penultimate note of the riff at the eighth or fifth fret was better, so I’ve tabbed both and you can make your own mind up.

Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.