Most of the UOGB stuff that turns up on YouTube is DVD rips, which makes lizardonuke’s channel very refreshing with lesser seen songs and backstage shenanigans. As well as the UOGB, this weeks vids include Mr B schooling us, Lulu and the Lampshades going bandstand busking (watch the whole thing here), The Bobby McGee’s fighting off zombies, Plushgun making a video on the cheap, Peter Moss soundchecking, Luca Gemma with the UKEit guys and plenty more. Read the rest of this entry »
Bosko and Honey are auctioning off ukuleles to raise funds for their Safari. First up is a Kiwaya KC-4.
The solid body Ko’olau CE-1 is a very nice piece of work.
Broken Lanikai LU-21TE. Asking price: $95,000. If you’re thinking of buying it, I have some magic beans you might be interested in.
I can’t begin to imagine how it’s possible to play one comfortably, but that’s not going to stop me wanting a Harmony Aero ukulele.
A pair of Lyon & Healy 5Ks.
Ukulele pictures: Odd man, Marilyn shaking her ass, ukulele calendar pin-up
Pam ‘Nerd’s Eye View‘ Mandel has a lovely little story about travelling with a ukulele.
William King has been making some very sexy, solid body electric ukuleles.
The Bobby McGee’s crop up in the new Dizzee Rascal video (not the first time he’s had a uke in his video) thanks to cardboardfrog for spying that.
Whilst I was working on the updated Buy a Ukulele section, I realised I hadn’t seen a Black Bear ukulele for sale in a very long time. So I actually did some investigative journalism and got in touch with Duane. Turns out the eBay rules and fees got too high and he now sells them on Flea Market Music.
Rumour has it my version of Upstairs, Downstairs will be on Radio 4’s PM next week.
Help Ukulele Movement find 101 reasons to play the ukulele.
The Qatari royal family are learning to play ukulele.
Tiny Tim Overdrive are a new uke covers band from Vancouver. There’s a recording of their rehearsal in the sidebar (including covers of Sam Roberts and Eddie Vedder) and I can’t wait to hear more.
Photos: Sophie Madeleine shoot, Bongolele (thanks to byjimini), ukulele swimming pool (via Shelley).
Ukulele spotting: in the intro to Neighbours.
Billy Connelly has been uking it up with Jack Black and Emily Blunt.
Megg Farrell hooks up with the Beatles Complete on Ukulele guys.
Old-school riffery from Richie Valens. But the song is probably best known for Los Lobos’s cover version. The highlight of that version being the outro. Here’s the start of it in the same, uke-friendly, key as I used for the riff.
If you want to play it in the original key, move everything up 7 frets – something like this. It’s much more difficult but still playable.
Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.
Amongst the videos of the Wine Country Uke Fest that have been uploaded, I noticed a few from Oceana Ukuleles. I wasn’t at all familiar with them, so to get myself up to speed I threw a few questions and Oceana mainman Zac Steimle.
How long have you been making ukuleles and how did you get started?
As an artist I have always been fascinated with the dynamics between instruments and musicians…. . The beauty and and mystery that surrounds an instrument! In 1995 I worked for a few months with a Luthier in Quito Ecuador, and that experience really piqued my interest. About 5 years ago I had the opportunity to do an apprenticeship with a world class luthier in Southern Ecuador that specialized in small instruments. All my passion and love fell into this work… as a surfer and surfboard shaper I found an easy flow into this art… It is fun to see all the different things I have done in my life come together and make great ukuleles and other instruments!
What sort of players are your ukuleles aimed at?
Oceana Ukuleles are aimed at people who love and play music. So far our buyers are both players and professional musicians….. but I’m not sure we’re aiming our Ukuleles at one group or the other, we just make great instruments that bring the best out of the people that play them!
What separates Oceana from other ukuleles?
The biggest difference between us and most Ukulele companies is the simple fact that we truly hand build the Ukuleles, we hardly use any power tools. What that means is that we spend a lot of time with each piece of wood that goes into a uke. We get to know it’s voice and we are able to utilize the wood so it reaches its maximum potential! We are building Ukuleles with the same techniques and traditions that the best builders used 80 to 100 years ago, but also bringing some great new school elements in as well. We don’t fabricate ukuleles we create them!
What do you think makes a great ukulele?
Music is very personal and the instrument you play is an extension of yourself. A great ukulele is an instrument that you want to play because it draws the music out of you. You will find a new song, one you did not know you had in you being expressed because the Uke you are playing is that good!
Some of your ukuleles have unusually placed sound-holes. How does that change the sound? Or is it just for show?
You must be referring a Kasha braced uke I built as an experiment, the sound hole was placed down by the first string and has a different look. I also built an Acoustic Bass Guitar with an off set sound hole, both these instruments have unconventional bracing that push the sound hole off to one side or the other…. other than that most things on our uke are where you would expect them!
We have not been simply following plans as we developed the Oceana ukulele but have been constantly refining our sound and look. For the past 5 years we have been putting them in the hands of musicians and working with their feed back. That means we have moved some things around. Our ukes have great playability and sound.. the balance is so smooth, none of this is an accident.
What made you choose to set up shop in Ecuador?
My family and I were living in Southern Ecuador working with a small non-profit clinic providing health education and care in rural communities. We came to respect Ecuadorians the more we worked in their culture with deep traditions that were birthed with the fusion of the Incas and Spaniards. In many ways Ecuador is a time bubble 10,50 and in some times up to 100 years behind many western countries, this is not mean in the “development” sense but rather in a very positive way such as, social values, connectedness, time not valued as we value it and that way more patience is applied to the craftsmanship. So building ukuleles in Ecuador was a natural step in the process. It was fun to see the Ecuadorians react to the “pulgas” (uke) I built and hear new melodies coming alive! One huge advantage to living high in the mountains of Ecuador was the perfect year-round relative humidity and tempter to build instruments.
After nearly five years of working with the Master Luthier he remains an integral part of Oceana Ukuleles. He is building ukuleles in Ecuador and now I’m building ukuleles in the North West of USA…We build instruments that your grandkids will fight over!
Enjoy your day and play music!
Visit Oceana Ukuleles.
Yep, more Tom Morello. After the whole rap/metal crossover started so promisingly – the Judgement Night soundtrack, Body Count, Rage – it’s a real shame it ended up with Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park.
UPDATE: Bugger, that 8 on the G string in bar 4 should be a 6 on the A string. I’ll try to get it fixed later.
Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.
If you’re looking for some Halloween themed tunes to play on your uke, there’s a full list of the Halloween stuff on this blog here:
But if you’re looking for someone else to do all the hard work, you absolutely have to pick up a copy of Mad Tea Party’s Crampstastic Halloween EP Zombie Boogie. You can buy the downloads on BandCamp or the vinyl (ask your grandad) on their website.
I surprised I haven’t been knocked up side the head for not featuring this one yet. What was I thinking doing Enter Sandman before this? It’s easily one of the best riffs of all time. I believe the correct word is ‘immense’. And the bigger a riff is the more fun it is to play it on the ukulele.
If you’ve listened to the MP3 already, you might have noticed that I’ve used a pick for this one (blasphemy). The notes come to fast to play it any other way. And you need to do a fair bit of palm muting (i.e. rest the underside of your picking hand lightly on the strings just in front of the bridge to dampen the strings).
Part of the Guitar Riffs for Ukulele series.
This week’s must-subscribe channel is spankyukes. As well as being incredible strummers themselves, they roped in Zoe Lewis. Other videos include high slapping fun from Polka Dot Dot Dot (who seem to be keen hamboners), Victoria Vox hooking up with Boulder Acoustic Society, Ingrid Michaelson, Mad Tea Party and plenty more. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve given the Buy a Ukulele section an overhaul. The used for that section stopped being updated and I haven’t been able to change anything on it for a long time. So I’ve switched the whole thing over to WordPress. I’ll probably be adding to it and messing around with the layout in the next couple of weeks. So if you’ve got any suggestions, let me know. You can still find the old version here for the time being at least.
The Southern Ukulele Store (henceforth to be referred to as SUS) have the new Joe Brown signature Kala ukulele.
And the other TLA seller (MGM) has two new ukuleles from Kala: cedar top.
Mandolin on one side, ukulele on the other. The main picture looks very different from the actual item.
If you have twelve and a half million dollars burning a hole in your pocket, check out this Queen Lilioukalani music box.
Ukulele kitsch: Marilyn Monroe on the ukulele Christmas tree ornament.
