So, to save you from the social disgrace I experienced, I’ve put together a mini-ebook covering the basics that every first time uke owner needs to know. Here’s what it contains:

Five Things to Know
Five Chords to Learn
Five Songs to Play
Five Websites to Visit
Five Things to Get Free
Five Things to Buy
Five Videos to Watch
Five YouTube Channels to Subscribe to

You can get it free by signing up to my How to Play Ukulele mailing list here:

I pinky swear I won’t pass your email on to anyone else and you won’t get any spam. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a beagle in my eye.

That’s all from me this year. I’ll be taking a blogcation and I’ll be back on the 16th January. (Except for a post tomorrow to capture people who get a uke for Christmas and make sure they’re turned into hardcore ukers).

To make sure my mum doesn’t get phone calls asking when my funeral is this time, I’ll write it in big, red letters:

I’m taking a blog holiday and I’ll be back on 16th January

Have a good one.

Tuesday Half Links

If you’re missing me already, you can read an interview I did with UkeToob.

And if you’re hurting for something to practice, Dav has posted a hat load of excellent tabs on Uker Tabs: Roy Smeck’s Music Box Waltz and Waltz of Yesteryear, Bob Brozman’s Ukulele Spaghetti, and Stars and Stripes Forever as done by Roy Smeck and as done by Jesse Kalima.

If you’re looking to download the So You’ve Just Got Your First Ukulele ebook, do it soon because from tomorrow you’ll have to sign up to my mailing list to get it.

The Guardian have a by-the-numbers bit about the ukulele being immensely popular this Christmas. It contains dazzling insights such as, “I’m not entirely sure why ukuleles have been so popular, to be honest… Who knows, maybe there is an underground ukulele movement going on,” “I don’t really know that much about ukuleles, but I’ve seen people play them on YouTube…” and, “I used it for about four months and then I just gave up.” And they say investigative journalism is dead.

Rather more insightful were The Re-entrants on Radio 4 - Click ‘Listen to the program in full’ and shimmy along about 8 minutes.

You’re A Mean One, Mr Grinch (Chords)(PDF)

I always use this song as the soundtrack to my pre-Christmas chores: stealing presents, setting light to trees and punching reindeer. So I’ve written up the chords for Jonathan K Miller’s excellent ukulele version.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree (Chords)(PDF)

The first and most famous version of Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree was by Brenda Lee, but these chords are taken from the version by Roses Polenzani and Cousins. All the chords are pretty simple. And I’ve substituted the E chord in the intro for an E7 to make it even simpler.

Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You (Chords)(PDF)

The secret is out; I’m a massive Mariah fan.

Or not. I decided to write up the song after watching the ukulele version by Mariel a la Mode and Uni and her Ukulele. But I ended up missing the jazzier chords in it and wrote up the Mariah version instead. But they’re both in the same key and not a million miles apart, so play along with whichever you prefer.

Plus, it has the de rigueur Christmas intro:

If you want a bit of vintage ukulele action but can’t afford a Martin, cross your fingers and add this Leonardo Nunes to your watch list. It’s listed in the ‘Hula’ section which might explain why, at the time of writing, bidding stands at $11.

Kala have taken ukulele portability one step further with their new, wafer thin travel ukulele.

Ukulele photo of the week.

If you were quick off the mark and downloaded an early version of So You’re Just Got Your First Ukulele, you might have found some of the links didn’t work (specifically, the ones with numbers in). It’s been fixed and you can download the new version here.

If you’ve been following UkeTube, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Jake Wildwood. As well as the old-timey songs, his videos always have him playing the gorgeous vintage instruments that he repairs and restores. And he’s now started a blog Antebellum Instruments. There’s already a healthy amount of ukulele pr0n including a Regal Soprano Ukulele.

Two excellent new ukulele CDs out: Craig Robertson’s DeChirico Street (buy it and get a free MP3 here) and Allo, Darlin’s Christmas EP (available on MySpace).

Friend of the blog, Tzu Ann discovered this Sapelele for sale whilst out Christmas shopping. It’s a cross between a uke and a sapeh.

Lee Evans’s ukulele song.

New fish-tacos/ukulele song from Flight of the Conchords. (Thanks to Zak).

Legolele.

Wii Music creator Shigeru Miyamoto plays the ukulele in real life.

Bucky Greenhorn: Hollywood’s next leading man.

ya see there is this guy i like. whenever he has a ukulele with him and i am near him or i passed my him him he plays im yours. does that mean he like me?

Jason Castro - White Christmas (Easy Chords)(PDF)

Jason ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow on American Idol‘ Castro has just released a ukulele version of White Christmas and you can get it free on Amazon (or on ReverbNation if you’re outside the US). I don’t want to be mean at Christmas time, but I’m guessing that isn’t him ukeing on the track because it being played well.

But he is playing it on this very simple version. I thought that, since I’ve already done a tricky tab for White Christmas, I’d write up these very simple chords

Contents:

1 Five Things to Know
2 Five Chords to Learn
3 Five Songs to Play
4 Five Websites to Visit
5 Five Things to Get Free
6 Five Things to Buy
7 Five Videos to Watch
8 Five YouTube Channels to Subscribe to

You can get it by signing up to my How to Play Ukulele mailing list here:

I pinky swear I won’t pass your email on to anyone else and you won’t get any spam. Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a beagle in my eye.