Having had my uke-lust temporarily sated by the Sceptre, there’s not much leaping out at me this week.
Although Ukulelia did direct me to UkuZoo which has a few collections of vintage ukuleles for us to peruse. I we were playing the ‘you can take one thing home with you’ museum game. I’d go with this Lenoardo Nunes.
This fancy Kamaka would make a nice addition to any collection.
Photos: Super hot stud plays the ukulele, beach girl plays ukulele.
“Racy ukulele website ad sparks complaint“. ukulelesongs.com got in hot water for having a ‘Date hot girls in your area’ type ad on the site which lead to a page with a girl holding a sign saying, “I love Auckland guys that play the ukulele.” . Maybe I should have ads on this site. That sounds like exactly the sort of trouble I want to get into.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain have re-released two old long players Hearts of Oak (1989) and Pluck (1997). It’s fascinating just listening to the previews. By Pluck they’ve hit on the formula that’s made them huge. But Hearts of Oak is entirely different.
Savannah Smith’s video that I posted a couple of weeks back caused a bit of a stir. It was picked up by Boing Boing and featured on the front page of YouTube. Best of all, it inspired Craig Robertson to record a version which you can listen to and download here.
Salwa Azar has her Live EP available for download on a pay what you like basis.
U900 have put up the first video from their Beatles collection. In less happy Beatle-uke news, the Beatles Complete on Ukulele guys have gone their separate ways. Coming soon Wings Complete on Ukulele, Plastic Ono Band Complete on Ukulele and Thomas the Tank Engine Complete on Ukulele.
Charlie Connelly talks ukuleles with the Radio Times. “My girlfriend once told me she can always tell when I’m thinking because I start playing the ukulele. She thought for a moment, then added that I don’t play the ukulele much.”
Site dedicated to the Chordmaster.
LA is not impressed with Smumpkulele.
Your own ukulele paper doll.
I’ve had quite a few requests for the little guitar figure from this song. Perhaps because the high capo takes it just about into ukulele territory. And I’m happy to do it because it’s a beautiful song and it gives me the shivers. It was the highlight of the film it was written for, The Bucket List. It’s very difficult to write a song on this subject without being mawkish or tiresomely literal (neither of which you could say about this Tim McGraw song) and John Mayer pulls it off perfectly.
Posting this has got me thinking about my own bucket list. It’s too personal to post here so I’ve put it up on the site I bought years ago and haven’t done anything with. There’s no sky-diving or witnessing the majestic on there.
Riff for High-G
Despite the sound of it, the riff is really tricky to play on high-g uke. I’ve simplified it to this:
Riff for Low-G
If you use low-G and a capo, you can play it the same way he plays it on the guitar (according to the tabs on the net). The uke is in low-G with the A-string tuned down to G and a capo on the third fret.
Chords
Verse and Chorus: Bb – Eb – Gm – F
Bridge: Cm – Eb – F
Outro: Gm – Bb – Eb
I’ve been lusting after a KoAloha Sceptre for a long time. So much so that as soon as the Southern Ukulele Store got one in they contacted me for an easy sale. With these things, there’s always the possibility it’d be a let down once I got it. So…
Size: Tenor
Construction: Solid Koa
Frets: 20 (comfortably playable: 17)
Fretboard Koa
Nut and Bridge: TUSQ (man-made ivory substitute)
Neck: Koa
Tuners: Grover geared tuners.
Finish: Gloss.
Craig Robertson – Staten Island Slide
C-string open. A-string 3rd fret. A-string 15th.
12th fret harmonics followed by 12th fret fretted.
Playability: My Flying V experiences have taught me to be wary of unusual shapes. So I had some trepidation picking up a Sceptre. But it immediately felt very comfortable to play. Sitting down my arm naturally rests on the first curve and standing on the second. The beveled edges are a nice touch too.
The action is perfect for me. It’s very easy to play and doesn’t create too many buzzes and flubs even with my sloppy playing.
Construction: Flawless as far as I can tell. No fudging or corners cut.
Volume: Alvin Okami makes a big deal about the volume of the Sceptre. And he’s right to. It’s very loud. But he demonstrates the volume by playing loud. Which isn’t when you notice it most. It’s when you’re not playing loud that you really notice the response. When you’re fingerpicking on it you don’t have to force it to get decent volume. You can play very softly and still hear it. Which gives you a lot of dynamic range to play with.
Look: It is one sexy plank of wood. It’s not to everyone’s taste. But I love it.
Smell: Light and sweet.
Hmm. There’s not much I don’t like about it. If I’m being really harsh, the tone of it isn’t very rich and I’m not completely sold on the koa fretboard. The shape does cause some storage issues and renders most stands useless.
That’s about it.
After yesterday’s discussions, I decided to do a Sceptre version of Carmina Burana to compare to the Ohana version. I tried to keep everything else the same – even the shirt (thus provoking more “you looser does you only has one shirt lol” comments).
The extra volume does distort the Sceptre version (although to be fair, I was closer to the mic). The main thing that strikes me is how clearly the higher notes sound compared to the Ohana. And it was certainly much easier to play up there.
I love it. Right now I want to redo every video I’ve ever made with this ukulele.
Confession time. I originally started arranging this on the assumption it was a good hundred years or so old and would go in my How to Play Classical Ukulele ebook. Only after hours slaving over it did it occur to me to check. 1935.
But it’s such a hilariously pompous tune I couldn’t resist finishing off a version for the ‘umble ukulele. The piece is so over the top it’s almost always used tongue-in-cheek. The only people who don’t get the joke are those putting on displays of Aryan superiority.
Main tip for playing: after the big intro, keep the first part as quiet as possible to give you somewhere to go later. I’m quite tempted to redo this video with my Sceptre because the Ohana version needs more volume towards the end.
This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
Top of the crop this week are two videos from Mathias ‘The Burning Hell‘ Kom’s Spring Breakup. Also up is a stunning Tongan send-off, Bartt and Ukulollo ripping it up, a band that bears a passing resemblence to The Folksmen and, horror of horrors, a football song.
Another ukulele hybrid: the sanlele. A cross between a uke and the sanshin a traditional instrument from Okinawa. Seems to be only available in Japan. You can listen to the sanlele here and some rocking sanshin here.
I’ve never read a convincing justification for slotted headstocks. The best I’ve heard is that they reduce wind resistance when you spin round on stage. Jake Shimabukuro discussed it when he appeared at the Corktown Jam. He says that a thicker headstock gives you a fatter tone but the slots are required to stop it getting too heavy. I’m still not entirely convinced but he has some interesting things to say in that video.
Kala have fancied up their bicote ukuleles and they’ve emerged as butterflies. I still don’t like that grain though.
There are a bunch of charity painted ukes on eBay Australia. This is my favourite (Thanks to @AnIdleDad).
First chance I’ve seen for an Ohana Resonator.
Ukulele nail clippers.
In case you missed it, the latest Uke Hunt ebook How to Play Classical Ukulele was released yesterday.
One of my favourite uke tunes this year, Keston Cobblers’ Club’s You Go is one of the Storm the Charts tracks. I don’t much care what’s in the charts but it’d be nice if this song were better known. So if you’re in the UK pick up the track from Amazon for 50p (thanks to shameless).
The Boston Globe chats uke with Amanda Palmer and One Happy Island.
Vote for Sophie Madeleine on Ellen Degeneres’s eleveneleven thing (mercifully no login required).
Jake says there’s a video of him playing with Tiny McItchyFace.
In the comments: reckons Martin ukuleles are over-priced: “I will still look for martins, but i refuse to pay a ridiculous amount of money for one. In reality the only reason they are so expensive is because they are very popular and vintage.”
MP3s: Craig Robertson is offering up a free track from his latest album, Tinyfolk and Wisdom Tooth have a new split album up for free, Indiehere have a lovely MP3 from Panic Attract (although they seem to be having problems with the band’s name).
Pictures: grumpy mountain band uke tattoo, ukulele bot.
I promised delivery on July 1st and here it is.
After you pay you’ll be taken to the download page and get it sent to you by email.
You get tabs for 7 classical tunes arranged for re-entrant ukulele:
Blue Danube – Strauss
Bridal Chorus – Wagner
Elephant – Saint-Saëns
Gran Vals – Tarrega
Orpheus in the Underworld – Offenbach
Pizzicato by Delibes
Toreador Song – Bizet
The focus is on tunes that you’ll have fun playing and that people will recognise and be impressed by. The focus isn’t on good classical technique or faithful recreations of the original works (in some of them I’ve sythed out the less famous sections).
You get individual pdf files of each of the tabs along with an ebook (fancied up by Ben Lew) with my usual blathering and a few general pointers on playing. It’s not a full on guide to classical technique, more along the lines of the stuff that usually accompanies tabs on here. It’s all delivered digitally. Check out FAQ for more info.
I’ve decided just to go with the YouTube videos this time round. It cuts down on download size and technical problems. So there are no videos or MP3s included in the download. Just links to the YouTubes.
In the spirit of bad marketing, you might not want to buy it if:
– You’ve never done any fingerpicking. There’s a variety of difficultly but none of them are suitable for beginners.
– You’re looking to develop classical technique.
– If you play soprano only: Some of the tunes use frets above the 12th.
As with all my stuff, if you don’t like it let me know within 7 days (with the email address you used to pay with) and I’ll send you full refund. No questions asked or seething resentment.
After you pay you’ll be taken to the download page and get it sent to you by email.
If you have any questions, queries or problems you can email me at ukulelehunt@gmail.com or contact me here.
Usually when I’m arranging for the uke I try to spread things across the strings, campanella style, so you’re not playing the same string many times in succession.
But there are times when that doesn’t work out. It’s then I bust out the running man:
You pick the string (the E-string in the case) alternately with your index and middle finger. That dramatically increases the speed you can play things at.
Here’s what the technique looks like when you have to swap between strings:
When you really have to bust out the speed, you can bring your ring finger in for support.
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