One of the easiest ways to make an audience sit up and take notice is to play a snippet of something they recognise and weren’t expecting to hear on the uke. It’s a trick that Taimane Gardner uses regularly and to great effect.

With that in mind, I’ve decided to tab out the top ten most recognisable guitar riffs for the uke. As far as possible, they’ll be in the key of C. Transpose them to whichever key you are playing them and insert them into a song or tune any time you think people are getting bored.

10. Iron Man (Black Sabbath)

Iron Man midi

The slow tempo makes this seem like a very easy riff to play. But the slides in it make it tricky. You could replace the slides with hammer-ons and pull-offs but you’d lose some of the effect.

Buy Iron Man

In between hanging out with rockstars and boinking models, at least one member of The Stokes got acquainted with God’s instrument. You can see a clip of Albert Hammond Jr with a uke right here.

They also wrote one song with a few chords that stretched beyond the usual rock power chords. Someday has add9s and 6 chords in there to add some interest. But if that’s not your bag, you can still strum along with the basic chords.

The chords fit very nicely on a D-tuned uke and that’s what I’ve written them out for. I’ve written out the full chords in the intro and the basic chords for the verse (although one of the guitars is playing the fuller chords throughout). If you’re playing the simple chords, there’s no problem with using C-tuning. But playing the chorus part in C-tuning would be tricky. The first three bars of the chorus riff (in D-tuning) go like this:

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eMusic is my favourite place to get music (and the only place I download music online). You might have noticed from the blog that my taste in music is for modern indie and classic old-school songs – which is pretty much the eMusic catalogue. For those who don’t know, it’s a subscription service – you get so many downloads per month – and they cover independent record labels (so stay clear if you’re into James Blunt and the Crazy Frog).

Since I started subscribing (well over a year ago) I’ve been adding to a list of ukulele tracks on eMusic. There are some big, popular acts there like Magnetic Fields (US only), James Hill, Beirut, IZ and George Formby; as well as many unusual and obscure sounds such as Malaysian ukulele and hip-hop ukulele. So, if you’re a subscriber, chow down and use up this month’s allocation.

If you’re not a subscriber, you don’t have to miss out. You get 25 downloads for free when you sign up, after which you can cancel before they grab any of your money. So here’s a list of the 25 essential ukulele mp3s you have to get from eMusic.

James Hill

1. Skipping Stone
2. Uke Talk
3. One Small Suite for Ukulele Part I

James Hill is THE best ukulele soloist around at the moment. There’s no competition. He’s incredibly technically adept but he never falls into the trap of sounding like a robot as some others do. His album A Flying Leap is on eMusic and, to be honest, you need it all.

Hailey Wojcik

4. Nabakov’s Butterfly
5. Bad Modern Art
Indie chanteuse, Hailey Wojcik caused a bit of a stir in ukuleleland recently with her track Nabakov’s Butterfly getting a mention on Ukulelia and a spin on UkeCast and I’m happy to report the album lives up to the promise. Even the non-uke tracks are fantastic. Check out Dinosaur Bone.

The Kalima Brothers

6. Stars and Stripes
A rollocking version of this tune. The best I’ve ever heard on the uke. And there have been a few.

That should get you started. Stay tuned for the rest of the list or skip ahead and check out my list of ukulele tracks on eMusic.

According to Google Trends, a higher proportion of searches in Sweden are for ukulele than any other country in the world (strange, since the climate of Sweden couldn’t be much more different from that of Hawaii). So when Jeff told me he was searching for a Swedish tune to play I went on the hunt for a couple to tab out for the uke.

Midi

This is a little Christmas tune. It has made it’s way all across Scandinavia. The tune is Swedish, it was used for a Danish hymn before the lyrics were translated into Norwegian. you can listen to, A-Ha frontman, Morten Harket’s version here.

Midi

This version is based on the one I found on this page of folk tunes. The description there mentions that it is a Swedish tune but heavily influenced by German/Danish music. That is particularly evident when the tune slips in to waltz time (3/4).

It seems like every week there are more and more great ukulele videos being uploaded. Check out this week’s after the fold.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new site full of classic songs tabbed for the uke.

Ukulele Hot has uke feeds galore include the blog aggregator I set up, videos and photos.

Uke player comes third in the beard and moustache championships (there’s not one word in that sentence that doesn’t please me immensely).

The giant uke of Liverpool made the list of the seven wonders of the South Shore.

KT Tunstall‘s new album Drastic Fantastic features a uke solo. From Paste Magazine: “The disc promises other surprises, too. ‘One shocker is that I’ve become a monster of the ukulele,’ she chuckles, noting that its popularity amongst schoolkids in Bath prompted her to put together a four-stringed workout for the youngsters on the track Funny Man.” You can hear a snippet of the song (including a smidge of the uke solo) on her website.

A Tahitian ukulele.

Bass ukuleles. Whatever will they think of next?

The real dark side of the uke.

Even the fishies can’t resist an ukulele. (Thanks to Heather).

And so we reach the end of the Jack Pepper trilogy with part 1.

The song is written out in C tuning but the Jack Pepper version is two frets higher – in D tuning.

Thanks to Arch for working out the chords to this and I’ve Got A Mama…

Well done to The Klaxons and their Mercury Prize. I was cheering for Bat For Lashes but they were so happy/high when they win. Bless ’em.

I’m apparently trying to start a Uke Rave movement, so here’s a song by Brazilian New Ravers CSS for you.

The opening riff fits nicely on the uke:

The chords are fairly simple (all open chords apart from a B). The only thing to watch out for is the Am in the middle 8. You can replicate the little guitar riff in this part by switching between the two inversions of Am in the chord sheet. Or you could just chose one version and stick with it – it sounds fine.

Buy Cansei De Ser Sexy US

No uke on this song – other than it being wafted around in the air. But it does work very well on the uke. The chords are in D-tuning to match the uke in the other songs in this set.

The chord progression at the start of the tune reminds me of The Beatles. The chord change from major to minor on the G chord (IV – IVm) has a particularly Beatles-y sound to it. They used it many times; most effectively on Blackbird (All your life…). It’s such a Beatles-y move that Oasis ripped it off for Don’t Look Back In Anger. It goes to show what a debt The Beatles owe to the classic songwriters and aren’t the beginning of songwriting that they’re often made out to be.

I Got A Mama In New Orleans Another Mama Up In Maine (Chords D Tuning)

Yes, I’m starting a series of posts with part 3. Anyone who has a problem with that is stuck in the Web 1.0 world. Start thinking outside the box or get left behind, people.

The reason I’m starting with part 3 is that Heather requested the chords for the third song in the Jack Pepper medley which I posted a while ago. Luckily for me and my lazy attitude, the chords have already been sussed out by chord connoisseur Arch Larizza.

I’ve put up the chords in both C and D tuning. Pepper plays the song in D tuning but the chords work just as well, if not better, in C tuning. There’s a great change from G to Eb7 made by sliding your index and ring fingers down a fret. It sounds very different from the same change in D tuning.

As well as the chords, Pepper plays a little riff after, “Most all the time.” He plays the D string at the second fret and bends it (pulls it downwards) until it is the same pitch as the third fret. Do that twice then play the string open and then at the second fret (without the bend).

The other two songs will be coming up soon so subscribe if you don’t want to miss them or enter your email in the box at the top left.

I couldn’t find any of Jack Pepper’s music to buy on the interweb. If anyone has any ideas please let me know in the comments.