This is one of those rare occasions when you can use a guitar pick without me telling you off. There are many notes doubled up in this riff. One option is to make ‘running man’ shapes with your index and middle fingers. However, if you want to keep the muted the strings (by resting the edge of your picking hand lightly on the strings just above the bridge) your only option is to use a pick.
If you decide against the pick, you might prefer to play it this way:
Requested by Ray
This spooky little riff which was used as the theme tune to The Exorcist fits very nicely on the ukulele in the original key.
The biggest challenge in playing it is the time signature. I’m not even sure I’ve tabbed it right, but it makes most sense to me as three bars of 7/8 followed by a bar of 9/8. However you choose to count it, it’s difficult to keep track of. But it’s worth sticking with because it sounds great on the uke.
Suggested by West
The Misfits – Halloween (Chords)
It’s not quite Halloween season yet, but I’m kicking off my Halloween series of posts to give you plenty of time to practice ready for the big night. Although you probably won’t need three weeks’ practice to get this tune up and running.
There’s only one band that could kick off Halloween season. The Misfits dedicated their entire career to writing songs based on low-rent horror films. They even went so far as to write two songs called Halloween – so I didn’t have much choice but to write up the better Halloween song.
The chords are fairly simple. The main challenge comes in the instrumental section in the middle. There are some quick moves from E to F, so I’d recommend using the same chord shape for both – sliding it up and down – rather than trying to switch to the open F shape.
There’s a very good chance The Misfits will crop up again in this series, but if you can’t wait there are loads of Misfits chords here.
Suggested by Maduke and indigo jones.
Big things are happening in the world of Uke Hunt. In the near(ish) future Uke Hunt will have a baby-sister website. This website will be home to a range of new ukulele ebooks I’m working on – the first two of which are nearing completion – and am hoping to sell.
It’s an exciting time to be part of the ukulele world. New people are coming to the ukulele all the time from a wide range of genres. Players are pushing the boundaries and expanding what the ukulele can do. But still, with a few honourable exceptions, it’s still the same tired old instruction books that are being flogged. So, I’ve taken it on myself to write something new for people who want to improve their ukulele playing.
If you want to be first to get the news, sign up to my new mailing list. As well as getting updates, you’ll get exclusive extracts and a introductory video course on fingerpicking ukulele. (This is different to the ‘Get Uke Hunt by email’ list in the sidebar – you won’t get the stuff on the mailing list anywhere else)
The course will be a series of five emails giving you tips on using fingerpicking for accompaniment and a number of patterns to try out.
To get all this, just fill in your email address here:
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I do solemnly swear, by God and the King, that I won’t spam you. The emails are delivered via iContant and you can read their strict anti-spam poicy here. The email list is a double opt in, so once you enter your address you’ll get an email asking you to confirm your subscription. Then you’re away.
This is all very new, so if you have any trouble with it drop me an email or leave a comment.
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele – Meet Me In The Garden (mp3)
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele – When You Were Mine (Prince Cover)(mp3)
Dent May and His Magnificent Ukulele – Howard (mp3) via MySpace
‘Magnificent Ukulele’ is no idle boast; Dent May is my new favourite ukulele songwriter.
Irresistible 60’s melodies and harmonies, 80’s ‘bumblebee in jam jar’ keyboards, a uke strumming away and a MySpace plastered with Jacques-Henri Lartigue photos. There’s nothing about him I don’t love.
Except his website consists of one line of Times New Roman. But that’s promised to change as he’s going to be giving away his EP A Brush With Velvet. I’m going to be checking back there regularly and I suggest you do the same.
Update: You can download Dent May’s EP, A Brush With Velvet, from his MySpace.
Probably the strangest chord progression I’ve put up so far. There’s a chord at every fret between B and D. It’s so strange I kept going back to check I hadn’t got the chords completely wrong (and I’m still not sure I haven’t).
I’ve written out the chords for a uke with a capo at the first fret. It seemed to make most sense that way. But there are still some tricky chord changes to navigate along the way.
You can listen to some of the song in this video and you can get a few more Boingo chords here.
Click here to watch the best of the week’s ukulele YouTube videos. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, the Berkeley Ukulele Club message board disappeared and took along with it the excellent list of the best ukulele videos in various categories. The list was compiled by Jeff West of the Berkeley Ukulele Club, the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz and the Deutscher Ukulelenclub. He’s very kindly supplied me with the lists and has let me put them up.
Here’s the first list, dedicated to the distaff side of ukulele.
Karen Langlie (w/friend) / Money
Honey with Bosko / Dance with Me
Kelli Rae Powell / Handmedowns
Sweet Soubrette / Tenderness Has Teeth
Heather Lev / Ukulele Afternoon
Mercedezz (Banjo Uke) / I Will Survive
Honey with Bosko / Baby It’s You
Zoe Woodbury / There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Janet Klein / Tonight You Belong to Me
Revolution is in the air again in Boston. Not content with the seditious act of adding tea to water, Viva La Revo-UKE-tion will be kicking off on Monday with the fantastically named The East Boston Make-Out Club Band, the equally fantastic but more boringly named Michael Wagner, Ed White and Ian Schwartz. All you non-Massachusettsians can check out TEBMOCB’s Davina Yannetty on next week’s edition of MUD. EDIT: I’ve been chided for failing to mention that they’re raffling off a homemade uke.
Win yourself a Bushman ukulele. All you have to do to enter is upload a video of you playing ukulele to YouTube and mention the competition at the beginning of the video. Have a go if you think you can beat this.
Chuck Moore makes some gorgeous ukuleles and lives in even more gorgeous surroundings.
Can anyone on the correct side of the Atlantic tell me what the deal with the Nalts ukulele freak is?
Fin Raucous: not just the toast of the ukulele world.
KDUS does more great work, bringing us Bugs Bunny on the ukulele.
Uke Gal tackles a couple of golden oldies and meets Jake S.
Giggity, giggity, giggity. Just look at those curves. God, I’d love to run my fingers up and down that neck. Those KoAlohas are hot. Oh, and Gina Gershon is in the picture too. (via the New York Post, MANY thanks to Uncle Budd for that one).
Former Test Icicle and current Lightspeed Champion, Dev Hynes with a Mahalo in The Guardian.
Old Blue Bus has mp3s of Miss Ada Powers on the uke and her family.
How do you stop feedback from an ukulele pickup?
Suggest lyrics for a ukulele/fez song and join Howlin’ Hobbit in the Order of the Fez.
Musicguymic boasts that the Kiwaya KTS-7 Mahogany Soprano Ukulele, “has the tone and sound rivaling any Martin ukulele. In fact I think its sounds more like a Martin should than many vintage Martins do.” There’s no doubt it’s as good looking as the Martin Style 3.
A cavaquinho with a nicely carved head.
Ukulele Tone-Gard: The idea is that they keep the uke away from your body letting it ring out more clearly. They’re more common with mandolins (as their not entirely changed description makes clear).
Ukulele bracelet. How much?
Signed photo of Ukulele Ike. How much?
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Custom uke with a soundhole on the side. I like the look of ukuleles without a frontal soundhole, but how do they sound?