Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Tab & Chords)
November 12, 2009
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Chords)
Another one from the wonderful WIUO. This Prince cover is the standout track on their latest EP The Dreaming. Another good one for ukulele groups – easy chords for the beginners and twiddly bits for the showoffs. The only unusual chord in it is Ab. If you can’t get your fingers around that you can just move the whole G chord shape up a fret and reach your thumb round to stop the G string sounding.
Suggested Strumming
d – d – d u d u
Will see you almost all the way through.
In the verse: once for C, once for G and twice for F.
In the chorus: once for F, once for G and twice for F. Once for the other chords (except the final G – two down strums for that).
Twiddly Bits
There’s a lot going on in the intro. I’ve written it up for four parts:
And here’s me playing that arrangement slowed down a bit.
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More WIUO
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra interview
Hey Ya
The Bucket
Israelites
Blue Smoke (Chords)
RISA Uke-Solid Electric Tenor Ukulele Review
November 11, 2009
The RISA solid ukulele isn’t like any other ukulele out there: it’s shaped like a hollowed out cricket bat, the tuning pegs are at the wrong end, it doesn’t have a head, its bridge is aluminium. Obviously, I had to have one.
Stats
Construction: Solid walnut.
Fretboard: Walnut 17 frets.
Neck: Solid walnut.
Bridge: Aluminium.
Tuners: Friction
Pickups: Passive Piezo.
Sound
The sound of an electric ukulele is going to have more to do with what you run it through than the uke itself. But here are a few clips of it through a Boss GT-10 to give you an idea.
Clean Tone
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First time: as it comes out of the ukulele. Second time: through pre-amp. Third time: pre-amp, EQ and a bit of reverb. Fourth time: cheesed up (pre-amp, EQ, a bit of reverb, quite a lot of chorus).
Country Slapback
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Rocked Out Widdle-Fest
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Maximum Effects
Link
All sorts in there: looper, slicer, wah, delay.
The Good Stuff
- It’s very easy to play: The neck feels very slick. The action is low. It’s very light. Unlike a lot of ukuleles that pack on useless frets, all the frets are playable with any finger. Because the body and neck are all one piece you can also do a bit of fretless playing above the top fret.
- Design: It’s not just a ukulele with pickups on. RISA have obviously given a lot of thought to what is required of an electric ukulele and designed towards that. It’s also pleasing as an object – to look at and hold (it’s very light).
My only grumble is the big RISA logo slapped on it. There’s a reason you don’t see chairs with ‘THOMAS CHIPPENDALE’ scrawled across the front of them. The design of it says it’s a RISA more clearly than the logo.
- It’s well made: No flaws in mine. And the intonation is spot on.
- It’s solid: Not just in the sense that it’s not hollow. It’s also very sturdy. As the shape suggests, you could play cricket with it.
The Not So Good Stuff
- It takes a lot of getting used to: It’s very different from any ukulele you’re used to. I found myself falling off the end of the neck a few times. The tuning pegs are on the body and it took me a while to get used to which tuning peg goes with which string and which way to turn them. You need to buy a strap to play it comfortably.
- The tuning pegs: This is the main drawback of the ukulele as far as I’m concerned. Even after getting used to the system there are problems. Like a lot of friction tuners, it’s hard to tune them accurately and they’re placed too close together for comfortable tuning.
- Aaaargh, the string is jammed: During some over-enthusiastic widdling I broke the A string. I went to take it off to find that the string was jammed in the hole at the nut end. There’s no way of getting direct access to it either. I had to bash a pin through the hole to free it. Even after setting it free, the rest of the string changing experience was also a pain in the arse.
I haven’t heard about this happening to anyone else, but the fact it can happen seems like a pretty big design floor to me.
- Passive pickups: That means you don’t get the on-board kajiggers like tone and volume controls. Not necessarily a big disadvantage. But you don’t get a headphone socket like you do with the EleUke which comes in handy for quiet practice.
Overall
I enjoy playing the RISA. The string jamming incident has soured me against it a little, but it’s a way better ukulele than the EleUke.
RISA Uke-Solid on eBay UK and on UkeSurfer.
Brandi Carlile – Oh Dear (Chords)
November 10, 2009
Brandi Carlile – Oh Dear (Chords)
I must admit I had no idea who Brandi Carlile was until I saw this clip. But when I posted it on the Saturday UkeTube there was an outpouring of love from the ukers. It’s not hard to see why. This is a lovely little ukulele tune.
Suggested Strumming
Dead easy. It’s all down strums on the beats.
Ricky Rodriguez: Monday Exposure
November 9, 2009
Ricky Rodriguez – I Wouldn’t Call It Love (Live)(MP3)
Ricky Rodriguez – BFF not GF (Live)(MP3)
Ricky Rodriguez – Moustache (Live)(MP3) via One Night Music
Ukulele? Check. Kazoo? Check. Song about facial hair? Check. Nerdy disposition? Check. Zeitgeist confirmed. Rush him through for a Monday Exposure.
Visit Ricky Rodriguez’s photography site and One Night Music
Laurel and Hardy Theme (Tab)
November 8, 2009
Laurel and Hardy Theme (Dance of the Cuckoos) (Tab)
After Steve sent me this slightly worrying video, I decided this is perfect for the ukulele. It’s simple to play, works perfectly on the uke and I’ve been strumming it the whole time.
I’m using D-tuning in the video, but C-tuning will work fine. The D-tuning does add a bit of plinky-plonky to it though.
