Two excellent new instrumental albums: from Finland Markus Rantanen’s debut Ukulele and from Israel, composer and producer, Ziv Grinberg’s Ukulele Fantasies.
Vulfpeck‘s Cory Wong chats with Jake Shimabukuro about technique, gear and touring with Bela Fleck. A big step above the standard Shimabukuro interview. (Thanks to Dan for the tip-off.)
CPR Classical ask James Hill and Anne Janelle how their raising their son to love music.
The UOGB have released a new DVD collecting their COVID restricted videos: The Ukulele Lockdown
Patreon
A massive thanks to Uke Hunt’s Patreon backers for keeping the site up and running. And double thanks go to October’s Tenor backers:
– Arthur Foley
– Dan.
– Fiona Keane.
– Joseph Freeman.
– Katherine Penney.
– Kie77.
– Mr Daniel Barclay.
– Nick Parsons
– Olga deSanctis.
– Pat Weikle.
– Pauline LeBlanc.
– Sandi Clement.
– Thorsten Neff.
– Trevor Mccravy.
October’s Patreon exclusive for Concert and Tenor level backers is Neil Young’s Harvest Moon.
Frankie Valli – Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Tab)
For this arrangement I’ve mashed-up elements of the Andy Williams version and the original Frankie Valli version. Like the Williams version, mine is in the uke-friendly key of C all the way through. Whereas the Valli version starts in E and modulates to G.
The verses are fairly straightforward. A simple melody with descending notes on the g-string. Things get a little harder with preposterous Austin Powers bridge. Then ramp up to a chorus with fancy chords and a few jumps around the neck.
Links
Buy the Frankie Valli version
More 60s tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
It’s Uke Hunt t-shirt season again! Most years around this time I do a run of t-shirts. This year you can buy them from either the US or the UK:
I’m using Teespring again this year. If you want one of the shirts they’ll only be available until 27th November.
They’ve changed how it works slightly since the last time I used them. Instead of waiting until the end of the campaign to print the shirts, they’re printed every three days. So you won’t have to wait until the end of the campaign to get your shirt.
I’ve been using Teespring for many years now and it’s always worked well. My shirt came here (the UK) quickly and without any hassle. It’s nice quality. The one I have is five years old and it’s still in good shape.
For more information on the shirts and the system take a look at Teespring’s FAQ.
Sylvan Esso – Rooftop Dancing (Tab)
There’s been a healthy crop of great albums this year. My current favourite is Sylvan Esso’s Free Love. So I grabbed my uke and put together a cover of Rooftop Dancing.
The song fits nicely on uke. The chords are simple and the melody is contained in the first five frets. There’s only one trip up the fretboard in bars 15-18. This section is essentially the intro moved up an octave. So you can substitute the intro there if you prefer.
The challenge in the song is the speed of some notes in the melody. I’ve made things a little easier by removing a few notes. But you’ll still need to do some alternate picking to keep up.
Links
Tracklist
Kamakakehau Fernandez – He Mele No Hina
Elisabeth Pfeiffer – Galliarde
Ziv Grinberg – Ukulele Fantasie no.2
Winchester 7 & the Runners – My Super 8
Maia & TJ Mayeshiro – Nada Sou Sou
Natasha Ghosh – ily.
Ukulele Death Squad – Insano
Birch Pereira – I'll Come Running Back To You
Ukulele Solos – Clair de Lune
Harold Melvin – Don’t Leave Me This Way (Tab)
Don’t Leave Me This Way was originally recorded by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes. But by far the most well known version in the UK is by the The Communards. It’s also been covered by Thelma Houston and briefly popped up in Moulin Rouge. This version is based on the Melvin version with shades of the very similar Communards version.
The biggest element of this song is the switch from D minor in the intro and verses to D major in the chorus. Unlike the strange change from major to minor, the change from minor to major is pure fun and lifts the song as it enters the big hook.
The outro for both the Melvin and The Communards version are very loose. So I went into the outro with that spirit and improvised around the D-C-G progression. I’d encourage you to play around with your own ideas in that section.
Links
Buy the Harold Melvin version
More soul tabs and chords
Uke Hunt Patreon
Now you’ve got your suggestive zither costume together, here are some tunes you may wish to bone up on before the big night.
Addams Family Theme Tune
Black Sabbath – Paranoid
Chopin – Funeral March
Jonathan Coulton – Re: Your Brains
Dance Macabre
The Decemberists – Shankill Butchers
The Doors – People Are Strange
The Fall – Mansion
The Gothic Archies – Freakshow
Halloween Theme
Harry Potter – Hedwig’s Theme
The Last of Us II –
Through the Valley
London Bridge Is Falling Down (From Halloween)
The Misfits – Dig Up Her Bones
The Misfits – Halloween
My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade
Mike Oldfield – Tubular Bells (from The Exorcist)
One Night Ultimate Werewolf – Fantasy Theme
Ray Parker Jr – Ghostbusters
The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil
Gustavo Santaolalla – Last of Us Theme
Skrillex – Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites
This is Halloween (From Nightmare Before Christmas)
Tom Waits – Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard
Twilight Zone Theme
Twin Peaks Theme
The Walking Dead Theme
Warren Zevon – Werewolves of London
The White Stripes – Little Ghost
Five Halloween riffs/intros: Thriller, Devil Went Down to Georgia, Sweet Dreams, Don’t Fear the Reaper and Jump in the Line
Five More Halloween riffs: Voodoo Child (Slight Return), All the Good Girls Go To Hell, Suspiria Theme, Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, Evil Eye.
And a tutorial to spookify your playing:
Black Sabbath – Paranoid (Tab)
I put a call out for Halloween-suitable songs on this month’s Patreon request thread ad Sam requested Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album in celebration of the 50th Anniversary. Which was a great and also ridiculous idea.
It is, of course, entirely unsuited to ukulele. Which makes it all the more fun to play. It uses forceful picking almost all the way through. With just a few quieter sections to keep things chugging along.
And then there’s the solo. My take on it is pretty shambolic. So feel free to concoct your own. Or take then sensible option and leave it out entirely.
Links
Tracklist
Gilberto Gil & Eliel Carvalho – Parabolicamara?
U Can Uke & Vinícius Vivas – The Reason
tenspd – G O N E
SeattleUke – Airmail Special
Thomas Zwijsen – You Give Love A Bad Name
EmiSunshine – Hibiscus
Bob Guz – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots
Aline Kelly – Killing Me Softly
Jonathan Lewis – Tourdion
