Craig Robertson – Frontporch (MP3)
Craig Robertson – The Dark Derby (MP3)
Craig Robertson – Bleeding Love (MP3) via robertsonstudio.com

Craig Robertson towers over the ukulele scene. His Ukulele Noir and the Ukulele Caravan events have given a platform to some of the most exciting ukulele acts around including Hailey Wojcik, Michael Wagner and Megg Farrell. But, of course, there’s his own music and he has just released his latest CD DeChirico Street which he was kind enough to send me.

If you’ve been following Craig’s music, and you really should have been, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect: darkly humorous songs of love, drunkenness and death delivered with jazz chord progressions and a lived-in voice. Has a real knack for writing evocative and atmospheric songs and character focussed songs like Mamie Thurman and The Ballad of Blanche Barrow. He makes it all sound so easy and you start to wonder why all songs aren’t this good (until you try to write one and find out it’s impossible).

The standout tracks on the CD:

The Leopard: An instantly memorable tune about his penis/libido*.

Goodbye Paul Tibbets: If you’re going to write songs about death and murder, then Paul Tibbets is a very interesting candidate for a song. By taking it down to the personal level, it avoids the traps that most protest songs fall into. There are some excellent lines in this song that I don’t want to spoil by writing them down.

The Gate: A song inspired by Giorgio de Chirico’s Mystery and Melancholy of a Street (recreated on the back of a ukulele by Moogly Moo for the cover). The painting also inspired Robyn Hitchcock’s DeChirico Street and Craig finds equally dark and strange goings on with murder and a satanic getaway set to a Motown bass riff and a country-tinged chorus.

Buy DeChirico Street here and follow Craig’s blog here.

*Or it could just be a simple song of animal husbandry and I’ve just revealed far too much about my own penis/libido.

MP3

Davy Graham has never really got the attention he deserves. He developed the style of guitar playing picked up by the likes of Bert Jansch, Nick Drake, John Renbourn and even Jimmy Page’s acoustic outings. But a lot of his stuff was a little too out-there for the early sixties with heavy Indian influence and deep jazz experiments that wouldn’t take off until the latter half of the 60s. Added to that, his decades spent in Syd Barret like solitude meant he never had much commercial success.

But his tune Angi was immediately accessible and became the must-play piece for the aspiring guitarists of the 60s folk revival. It’s been covered by pretty much everyone, almost always with a different spelling, Bert Jansch recorded it as Angie and later by Simon and Garfunkel as Anji. I’ve tried arranging it for ukulele in the past and could never get it right. But with him passing away in December I reapplied myself to the task and got an arrangement that I’m happy with.

My arrangement is heavily based on Bert Jansch’s and is quick tricky to play. In the fingerpicking sections I’m usually coving the A string with my middle finger, E string with my index finger and G and C strings. There are a few places where I switch to one finger per string (such as bar 6).

I was busking it rather than strictly following the tab for the MP3 so it does differ slightly from the arrangement in the tab. But you get the idea.

Two versions of MMMBop this week (thanks to the Ukulele Underground thread). But they’ve both found a creative and new way to play it. Also this week is Ian Emmerson of the Re-Entrants‘ epic version of Bat Out of Hell.

Usually I wouldn’t include a video where the uke is painfully out of tune, but I’ve made an exception for Madeline Ava. Partly because I really like the song and partly because of, “It’s OK, Madeline. Your soul’s not out of tune.”

And don’t forget to get in your nominations for Ukulele Video of the Year Read the rest of this entry »

Note this down as the week ukulele makers started going completely insane. WaverlyStreet have made an aluminum ukulele (there’s a video of it here). Here’s a ukulele with a whammy bar which sounds nasty (thanks to vialde for finding that). Kealani have gone safariing and have come back with leopard skin and zebra wood ukuleles.

But the real ‘I don’t care how ridiculous it is, I want it’ ukulele is the doube neck ukulele from D&D.

It looks like BugsGear have been raiding the Kala design cupboard for their new pineapple and f-hole Eleukes. The big selling point seems to be that you can plug your ipod into them and play along with it. Just the sort of gimmick that would hook me in. Even if those f-holes are very unsexy and blob-like.

Reports and videos of new ukuleles are filtering in from the big NAMM. Cali Rose has a report here. Fretboard Journal talks about the Collings Guitars’ new uke and you can see it played here. Here’s a picture of a $7,000 ukulele. And here Derick Sebastian checks out the Fender ukulele.

If you’re anywhere near Edinburgh, there’s a new ukulele gathering: Monday Ukearist where you can hang out with friend of the blog, J-Hob and Mr Kazookeylele.

Ben Lerman enters the running for the American Idol songwriting contest.

On Uker Tabs: Flaming Lips’ Fight Test, Arteuke’s Lucciole and Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah

Recent Le Soir Ukulele Sessions include Jolie Holland (make sure you click the first time it says ‘Pierre-Yves…’ to hear Darlin’ Ukulele), Joan As Police Woman and Phosphorescent.

How to attain ukulele authenticity.

Radio 1’s Nihal interviews ‘ukulele virtuoso Julia Nunes’.

Souled On discusses Has-Lo’s sampling of Herb Ohta and offers up MP3s of both.

Mike ‘The Streets’ Skinner picks up the ukulele (scroll to the bottom).

Book yourself on a ukulele cruise. (Thanks Donnie)

Spookalele.

I need to swear a whole lot more.

In case you were mislead by my ineptitude yesterday, nominations for Ukulele Video of the Year close on the 27th January (not the day before they opened as I previously stated).

This year’s winner of the always fiercely fought Hat Wearer of the Year Award is chipswow for her fine work on her cover of Cocoon’s Chupee (technically uploaded this year). She also narrowly missed out on Best Hair to Misanthrope Jackalope.

Over a Christmas break full of drizzle, sport-talk and ugly people, I’ve been asking myself one question: Why the hell am I living in England when France is this far away? *indicates small distance with fingers* Things France is famous for: food, wine, good-looking people, surrendering, existentialism and cute ukulele songs. Things I love: food; wine; pretty but slightly depressed girls; cute ukulele songs. Plus, I’m jaw-droppingly handsome and a spineless coward. It’s a perfect match.

But until I’m sat outside a cafe chatting with Coralie Clément about ‘pissing by the bonk’, I’ll make do with strumming this song.

As you can see on their Le Soir Ukulele Session, he plays all the chords in the verse with his finger barred across the second fret. But I prefer playing the G and Em chords in the more usual way.

For a basic strum pattern you can use: down, up, up, down, up

I get asked quite a few questions about various repair and restoration questions and I am absolutely the worst person to ask about anything practical. I don’t even open a wine bottle without a fully stocked first aid kit and three fully trained medical professionals on standby. So I’ve enlisted the help of instrument repairer extraordinaire Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments to answer the questions.

I found a Martin uke at an estate sale. Probably a 1940’s era. The plastic on the tuners is completely rotten and beyond salvage. Where can I get original Martin tuners (parts) to keep it original and perhaps a case to carry it in?

Bill

Good luck! You can find vintage tuners once in a while on eBay or other online auction sites, or possibly pay a high price for a set that a collector might have on some obscure backwater website. Fortunately for you, new tuners don’t seriously (or at all?) hurt value on an old Martin, because friction tuners due to their nature will wear out after a time. I’d suggest some of these to replace them.

Those are nice, simple, and look the part, but if your tuner holes aren’t big enough to accept the new bushings, do yourself a favor and don’t enlarge them, but rather use properly-sized washers to install with instead and forget the bushings.

As far as a case: watch the ‘bay, and pray. You can always find new cases, and I strongly vouch for those Asian-built tweed ones, but vintage cases command pretty steep prices, in general, unless they’re beat to a pulp and barely-functional.

I have a Mahalo UK2LTD2. Not sure how much it was or what quality level it is and don’t really want to ask, but it seems to have a drama with the second string down(C) where it doesn’t seem to keep its tune as you go up fret by fret. I play piano so I have a tuned ear, but it seems maybe the bridge gap where the string sits is too narrow which causes it to grab and stretch the string making every chord sound a bit funny.

Kelwyn

I’m not familiar with your uke, but the “bridge gap” (is this the cut that holds the strings?) should not be the issue here. It sounds like either the nut is too high or the saddle angle is bad. Does the uke go out of tune sharp or flat as you go up the board towards the soundhole? When you tune the uke perfectly, and fret the C string on the first fret (C#) is the C# a lot sharper than it should be? That would be a sign that your nut is too high — and that when you have it in perfect tuning open, it will play a little sharp on all the frets except the ‘zero’ (though dropping off in degree of ‘extra sharpness’ towards the soundhole) on that string. This is due to the extra length the string has to bend when traveling from ‘above’ the fret to contact with the fingerboard. You’ll see this on lots and lots of older ukes which had less precise setup work done at the factory, and very often on Asian-import instruments with the same problem.

Also — if this is not the case — have you tried different strings? I find that many people have problems with brand-new ukes simply because the factory (cheapo) strings are still installed and simply don’t play in tune due to bad thicknessing, poor materials, etc. Try a set of new strings — I suggest fluorocarbon or nylgut strings — I don’t use anything else anymore due to the fact that they stay in tune better (in changing weather and temp), sound better, and have a smaller diameter in general as opposed to standard nylon — in sizing they are comparable to the thickness of gut strings.

Do you know if there is a way to preserve a signature on a high-lacquered ukulele so that it will not rub off with contact?

Depending on what kind of pen or marker made the signature, a similarly-glossy varnish applied very carefully should do the trick. One thin coat over the signature should be enough to keep general handling wear from ruining the signature. Be sure to check first if the varnish/finish you’re using will make the ink run beforehand, however!

I found an old 6 sting ukulele (or toy guitar) at a thrift store that I want to turn into a project. It is missing the nut, bridge, a tuning peg, and strings.

– April

While I’d agree that the music store was right in saying that your project seems to be more effort than worth, you have a couple of things to consider. First, if this is a small (or child-size) six-string guitar, your neck width will be far wider than a typical uke fretboard, making string spacing, even if you were to simplify it to four strings, rather cumbersome. If it is a six-string uke, you’ve made a good find, though lacking a bridge, peg, and nut, you may be dissuaded from the project. I’d really need to see photos to advise you better on how to advance: whether the project is worth it monetarily or not, or if you have the necessary tools and knowledge to proceed.

Suffice to say, you can craft a nut fairly easily, even out of something as simple as a birch paint stirrer or scrap of plastic that you cut down. You can also find uke bridges for sale, or on eBay, in various places… but in all likelihood you’ll need to craft a bridge to fit the instrument you have, as bridges are something that need to be perfectly placed, glued well, and of the right height to function well. If you have someone else do this work, the cost will skyrocket — bridge work is some of the most expensive repair work you’ll find as it is some of the most difficult, after neck resets.

So — unless you’re crafty, willing to learn about instrument setup, have some tools on hand, and have your heart really set on this uke/guitar — I’d say call it quits and invest the time and effort into something you’ll be happier (most likely) with in the end — either a project uke with more parts and less wrong, or a new uke in serviceable condition.

You can visit Jake’s blog here and download his latest album for free at JakeWildwood.com

Man, there are a lot of ukulele videos being uploaded. It seems like the rate their being added goes up every week. Which makes the choice of Ukulele Video of the Year even harder than it was last year (when Sweetafton came out on top).

Luckily, it’s not down to me.

For the first stage, everyone gets to nominate up to 5 videos – leave them in the comments. From those nominations, I’ll cobble together a list of ten (ish) to go to the big vote.

Rules:

– The ukulele must be the primary instrument.
– Videos must have been recorded and uploaded in 2008.
– Videos must be publicly available online.
– Maximum of five nominations per person.
– Post your nominations in the comments.
– Nominations close midnight Tuesday 27th January (Hawaii time).
– Ten acts with the most nominations go into the final vote with their most nominated song going forward (this stage took a bit of fudging last year).
– No prize. Just the love and admiration of the heaving masses.

Don’t panic if your comments don’t show up right away. When a comment contains a few links it gets held back for spam checking.

My Nominations:

The Barnkickers – One Less Tear
Kelli Rae Powell – Some Bridges Are Good To Burn
Max the Ukulele Punk Rocker – Jade
Rod Thomas – Same Old Lines
GUGUG – Surfin’ Bird

Other stuff I loved:
Bosko, Honey and Ukebox – If I Didn’t Care
James Hill – Ode to a Frozen Boot
Poopy Lungstuffing – Oh Demon Alcohol
Michael Wagner – Love Song
Rio en Medio – Kill the Messenger
Timesbold – All Readymade
Ukulelezo – Optional Accessory
Maddi J* – Away

No doubt about my favourite guitar riff of 2008: Vampire Weekend’s A-Punk. And it fits great on the uke as well. I’ve arranged it for D tuning (for the original key) but you can play it in C tuning with a capo on the second fret or just have it two frets lower.

MIDI

The trickiest part of playing this is handling the G string in the second half of bar one. I do it by damping the string with the thumb of my fretting hand. If you’re quick enough, you can play it at the second fret to make a full F chord.

And the flute section also works pretty well. I’ve beefed it up a little bit for this arrangement.

Nelson also did a tab for this which you can find here.

If you need any evidence of the increase in people buying ukuleles, just look at the number of new models of ukulele that have come out in the last year or two. And now the biggest name in the guitar world has entered the field and brought out their first ukes.

Today Fender are launching a range of three tenor ukuleles: the Pa’ina, Nohea and Hau’oli. I caught up with Mike Lewis from Fender to find out more.

Fender are the biggest name in guitars. Why move into ukuleles?

It all started around six years ago when we noticed the Uke’s growing popularity in Japan. When we asked about it, our friends there explained that because the Uke is tuned like the first four strings on the guitar, it was easy for guitar players to adapt to it. Being guitar players ourselves, we gave it a try and like everyone else, got hooked!

When people buy a Fender ukulele, what are they getting that they wouldn’t get with any other ukulele?

The Fender Ukes were in development for quite a long time and we experimented with a lot of different designs. What we were looking for was an instrument that sounds great, looks great, is easy to play, tune, and change strings- all at an affordable price. The Ukes also come with a padded carry bag.

One thing we wanted to avoid was for someone to buy their first Uke, take it home and then get discouraged because they didn’t know how to tune it, play some basic chords, or change a string. That’s why we include the instruction book with care, feeding and basic how-to-play info. Playing Ukulele should be fun, not frustrating!

There are many Fender-a-like ukuleles out there but – other than the distinctive Telecaster headstock – they’re a very traditional design. Why did you go in that direction?

The form followed the function really. We had specific sonic results in mind for the various price points so we experimented with numerous body shapes, bracing patterns, bridges, materials, etc. This is just how they ended up! The Telecaster® guitar headstock not only adds the distinctive Fender vibe, it’s quite functional in that it provides straight string pull over the nut and easy access to all four of the geared tuning machines.

Where are the ukuleles manufactured?

Crafted in Indonesia with oversight by our U.S. manufacturing and quality assurance operations.

There’s a big Hawaiian theme in the ukuleles. Do you see yourselves as part of the Hawaiian tradition of ukuleles rather than those made in the mainland US?

Even though the instrument was first introduced to the Hawaiians by Portuguese immigrants, it didn’t become a Ukulele until the Hawaiians named it that. During our research for this project, the Hawaiian connection was of course all pervasive. We even studied the Hawaiian language a bit, which is where the model names came from. Just seemed natural to stick with it!

Why did you go with all tenor ukuleles? Are there plans for other sizes in future?

Our customers are primarily guitar players. The Tenor being the largest “my dog has fleas” Uke, is a good option for the first-time guitarist turned “Uke-ist”.

Are there any plans for future models in the Fender ukulele range?

Let’s hope so!

Visit Fender ukuleles and friend them up on MySpace.