This Facebook group is trying to get Tiny Tim inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame. I’m not quite sure of the Ukulele Hall of Fame’s status, they haven’t inducted anyone since 2007. Nevertheless, it provokes two interesting topics for discussion. Should Tiny Tim be in the Ukulele Hall of Fame? Who should be in the Uke Hall of Fame? Leave your answers in the comments.

The full line-up for Wukulele has been announced. And it’s the best uke festival line up this year. Bob Brozman is the big draw and there are plenty of Uke Hunt favourites including The Bobby McGee’s, Sophie Madeleine, The Half Sisters and The Re-entrants. Another interesting act on the bill is Richard Durrant a classical guitarist responsible for this bit of BBC ukery.

Ralph Shaw’s Ukulele Entertainer continues to be the best ukulele blog on the net. Recent must reads include posts about polar exploration, pain and why watching YouTube can be destructive.

Hester Goodman from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has recorded a solo album and you can hear a few tracks on her MySpace. Via UOGB Fans who also have news that the Ukes will be playing with Jake Shimabukuro next year.

On the subject, Jake has some interesting things to say about the uke’s missing bass notes and the Ehime Maru. And according to Jake, his brother Bruce Shimabukuro is giving away free ukulele lessons via his Facebook.

If my finger-maths are correct this audio story from NPR will be up by the time you read this.

U900 visit London.

Mel Bay are targetting seniors with their latest ukulele book.

Ukulele shoes? (Thanks Jenny)

Pictures: Greta Garbo on uke, Pinstripe ukulele (much more sympathetic and understated than most ukulele paint-jobs), will play for chocolate

Tamacun is a rare treat. A guitar instrumental that transports to the ukulele directly with hardly any finangling. The melody is played almost exclusively on the top three strings above the fifth fret. And the chords are dead simple (Am – G – C – E until the solo).

Having said that, the strumming – which is the real highlight of the piece – is a nightmare. It’s well worth watching this Tamacun tutorial from the pair themselves (it’s from the DVD bonus on the album). It’s pretty difficult to keep up with what she’s doing even when she slows it down. But her accent is adorable, so all’s forgiven.

The one part where things do get difficult for the uke is in the solo. There are a couple of ways to handle the intro to the solo (bars 21-28 in the tab). I’ve gone for moving everything up an octave. The alternative is to use a low-G uke (as Brittni Paiva did for her version) and substitute the open E and A strings of the uke for the open B and E strings of the guitar.

Next problem is the long E Phrygian Dominant sweep (bar 32). Here I’ve taken my cue from Brittni’s version and done a descending run instead. In the rest of the solo I’ve stuck in a few re-entrant elements but there’s nothing to stop you playing it the same way as the original.

The easy way to go about the solo would be to improvise around the E Phrygian Dominant scale (popular in flamenco playing). But be sure to emphasise notes from the chord that’s playing at the time (either Dm7 or E7).

I haven’t tabbed out the banging and clattering section of the tune. You’re on your own there.

Thank you, bye. And practice. *watish*

UPDATE Go Team Yam has just put up a video tutorial for Tamacun. It’s slightly different to my version so check out some of the variations.

This is a technique people have been asking me about since my Rockabilly Roustabout video although it’s a technique I use often. But if you want to see how it’s really done you have to check out James Hill.

Strum blocking is a way of playing single notes with strums. You block off the strings you don’t want to sound so only one note rings.

There are a few advantages to doing this. It makes for a much smoother transition between chords and single notes in terms of tone and in terms of playing. It also gives you much more attack and makes it easier to play quickly.

The first thing you need to get down is how much pressure to put on the strings. You want to rest your hand on the strings hard enough so they don’t ring but soft enough that you’re not fretting them. Test it out by resting your fretting-hand fingers on all the strings and strumming. If you hear a sharp click like the first half of this MP3, you’re doing in right. If you hear some tones coming through like in the second half, press a little harder.

MP3

The toughest part is finding the fingers to cover the strings. There aren’t any hard and fast rules here, but this is what I do.

If the note is on the A-string and I’m using my index finger to fret, I’ll use my thumb to block g-string, my middle on the E-string and ring on the C-string (with my pinkie floating around as an extra bit of cover. Like this:

If I’m using my ring finger on the A-string, I’d probably barre across the strings with my index like this:

Just because a finger is being used for fretting, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for blocking as well. Here I’m fretting the C-string with my index finger and using the underside of it to block the E and A strings.

In this situation I’d usually use my spare fingers to double up on the strings as an extra bit of safety.

Try out a few different finger and string combinations until you’re happy you’ve got the basic idea. Then move on to the examples.

Example 1

This example is all down strums.

Example 2

Here we’ve got down and up strums. And you’re alternating between block strums and fully muted strums.

Example 3

Here’s the main riff of Rockabilly Roustabout slowed down.

Example 4

And this is the part where you have to switch quickly between chords and single notes.

Example 5

Finally, here’s the tab for the strum-blocking section of Rockabilly Roustabout

It’s been far too long since I had some Zach Condon on the blog. And the tune he did with Alaska in Winter is packed with Beirutisms (the Bbadd9 chord, hammering on the g-string, 2nd fret in the F chord, switching the song half-way through).

Suggested Strumming

In the first half of the song use:

d – d u – u d u

Once each for Bbadd9 and C7.

For the F chord do the same strum twice but on the first strum only hold down the E-string, 1st fret of the F chord and hammer-on the g-string 2nd fret. He does vary the strum in the second bar often. You could also use:

d u d u d u d u

With your finger off the g-string (so you’re playing 0010) for the second half.

There’s not much uke for the second half of the song, so feel free to make up your own strum. Once it picks up, you could use:

d – d u d – d u

More Beirut ukulele

I pilfered no less than three of this week’s videos from Jeff’s sites Humble Uker and Humble Baritonics. He’s been turning up some great videos recently so you should subscribe to both blogs.

Hot on the heels of Billy Corgan is another 90s hero converting to uke: Trent Reznor. The uke crops up in the latest track from his new band, How to Destroy Angels. It’s safe to say he hasn’t been converted to Hawaiian music.

Also this week are the Naive Thieves displaying the two ends of facial-hair fastidiousness spectrum, Crooked Still and Coralie Clement.

Read the rest of this entry »

I find Weissenborn ukuleles very appealing. But $3,000?

Always wanted to have “Kelly Boy De Lima” scrawled across your fretboard? Other than that, a rad looking uke.

Charity auction for ukulele signed by Ingrid Michaelson.

Photos: Handsome young man smoking, Baltimore beach gang.

I’m officially the number one ukulele site again.

Ukulelia returns after falling down the back of the internet. Don’t forget to update your subscription too. The old one isn’t working.

Amanda Palmer promises an EP of Radiohead covers on ukulele.

In the comments: Good knowledge from David, Foxboy and 4DJB25 who pointed out that South Park’s Tardicaca Hula Gal references Sol Hoopi’i’s Hula Girl and the Warner Brother’s exploding musical instrument tune Endearing Young Charms.

Emily Ritz’s Honeycomb turn in an incredible session for Chasing the Moon. They just keep getting better.

Ukulele act, the Blackbirds are doing well in Australia’s Got Talent.

Mrs. Myrtle Graesch (R) playing the ukelele for dancers Earl and Margie Zinn (L) in Gay 90’s revue (thanks to Jenny Flame).

Apple have finally released the iPad over here. If you’re looking for a justification to buy one (and I frantically am because I can’t think of one) here are 4 iPad apps that can make you a better musician and here’s Lang Lang playing the iPad.

Sanford and Son never made it over here so I’m wasn’t very familiar with the theme tune before I started working on my version. Which might explain whey I go rogue at a few points in the arrangement. Particularly in the middle section where I’m improvising between the main theme (although the main theme itself isn’t very strong in this section).

There are a couple of techniques you’ll need to use quite extensively in the tune: right-hand muting (resting the underside of your hand on the strings just in front of the bridge) and strum blocking. Strum-blocking is something I’ll have to write a full post about. Briefly, it involves playing single notes by strumming and blocking the strings you’re not playing by muting with left-hand fingers (or right-hand fingers if you’re left handed). The advantages of this way of playing is that it gives you more attack and makes it easier to switch between chords and single notes.

If you’re anything like me you’ll often hear, “Wow, I didn’t know they could be that small. Does it even work?” And I expect I’ll hear it even more often now I’ve bought a Kala Pocket Uke.

The Pocket Ukulele is Kala’s sopranino size ukulele (although they do the smart thing market-wise and avoid the term ‘sopranino’). And it’s certainly tiny. Here’s a photo of it next to a standard soprano.

It has obvious gimmick appeal. But with a significant price tag (MGM currently has them for $279) they have to go beyond that to make them a worthwhile purchase.

Stats

Size: Sopranino (scale length: 11 inches)
Construction: Solid Acacia
Fretboard: Rosewood.
Frets: 12
Tuners: Friction

Strum Test

Music: Sister Kate

All the examples are played in E-tuning (four frets up from standard tuning).

Picking Test

MP3

Music: Staten Island Slide – Craig Robertson.

Intonation Test

MP3

12th fret harmonic followed by 12th fretted on each string.

Sustain Test

MP3

3rd string open,1st string 3rd fret, 1st string 10th fret.

The Good Stuff

Novelty Value: The big appeal of it certainly is the cute-factor. And there’s a lot of fun to be had playing it. I couldn’t resist pulling out some of the old music hall tricks on it.

Strumming: With some fast paced strumming it sounds great. ‘Primitive’ is the word I’d use (and I certainly don’t mean that in a bad way). And it’s louder than I would have expected.

Transportability: It fits comfortably length-ways in a laptop bag. The gigbag is very sturdy too (although significantly bigger than it needs to be).

Smell: Strong, almost burnt smell to it. I like it. (I don’t know how this became an official category for judgment, but it is.)

The Not So Good Stuff

Playability: Even with my tiny lady-hands it’s difficult to play. Fretting accurately is very difficult (even Bartt has trouble keeping it in tune). The intonation test is a bit misleading really. I had to fret incredibly carefully to make the test fair. In real playing you won’t be able to fret accurately further up the neck.

Tone: Compared to a standard solid wood ukulele, there’s not much tone there. Unless you’re giving it some welly, it’s very lacking. And I’d avoid any single-note playing on it.

Friction Tuners: They didn’t have any choice but to use friction tuners on here. They’re decent enough but they’re always going to be more of a pain to work with than geared tuners.

Overall

The Kala Pocket Ukulele is a soprano ukulele turned up to 11. All the things you love about the soprano are amplified. And so are the annoying things about them.

There’s certainly a place for it. I think it’s best use would be adding an extra tonal layer in a group. The sound is distinct from other ukuleles and it does what it’s good at very well. But don’t buy it as an all-purpose ukulele.

A ukulele song cropped up on South Park. So it was inevitable it’d end up on here.

The song was interrupted various times, but I think I pieced together the first verse and the chorus.

Twiddly Bits

Quite possibly the first time in history the words, “We want the ukulele solo!” have been used.

Here’s the version that makes the ukulele explode.

And it really is a B flat that does it. Interestingly, B flat seems to be the note and key of choice for comedy. I seem to remember George saying, “We should have done it in B flat,” after the UOGB’s song on Skins.

Buy the South Park OST

Requested by Tuscadero