James Hill, Ukulele Masters, Emilyn Brodsky on Video

In this week’s videos: James Hill breaks out some hip hop beats and a pair a chopsticks, Byron Yasui, Lyle Ritz, Ledward Kaapana, Bob Brozman, Joel Eckhaus and Jim Beloff play together, while Craig Robertson and Phredd participate in Take Your Daughter to YouTube Day. [Read more]

If this is your first visit here, you can find the chords/tab in those posts by clicking on the song title in red.

Free Ukulele MP3s on eMusic: Part 3

The big, exciting eMusic news is that Beirut’s new album The Flying Club Cup is available on eMusic ahead of its release on those funny round things people used to listen to. The downside is it’s not available to Brits (yet). You can read my review of The Flying Club Cup here. My must downloads are The Penalty, Cliquot and Forks and Knives.

Back to the task in hand. I’ve come up with a list of ukulele tracks on eMusic and have selected 25 for you to grab for free before they start charging you. Read more about it in part one.

George Formby

15. Why Don’t Women Like Me?
16. Ain’t Nobody’s Biz’ness…/Goody Goody/I Like Bananas

I don’t mention George Formby very often on this blog. Not because I’m snooty about him or don’t like but because he’s well covered by many people who know his techniques much better than I do (I recommend all uke players check out Matt Richards’ split stroke lesson).

I have a high regard for Formby and his popularizing of the uke and there are many songs that still sound good today (and quite a few that haven’t). There are a number of compilations of Formby’s songs on eMusic, it’s worth picking and choosing carefully.

“If women like them like men like those, why don’t women like me?” A question I’ve asked myself many times.

Roy Smeck

17. Ukulele Bounce

The Wizard of the Strings. My ukulele hero.

Bob Brozman

18. Ukulele Spaghetti

Another musical hero of mine. His latest album Lumiare is a virtuoso tour de force. Each track started life on a ukulele or a similarly diminutive instrument (the charango seems to be his current favourite) and was built up with layers of other stringed instruments.

Ukulele Spaghetti is his real ukulele tour de force which he regularly breaks out at gigs.

Ho’opi’i Brothers

19. Hawaiian Cowboy

There are plenty of Hawaiian ukulele albums on eMusic. Unfortunately, most of them are of the reggae-lite variety that drives me up the wall. There are some honourable exceptions: IZ, the legendary King Bennie Nawahi and the Ho’opi’i Brothers.

The Ho’opi’i Brothers are no relation of Sol Ho’opi’i as far as I can tell but they certainly embody his spirit. There’s plenty of the laid back Hawaiian sound on the album but I’ve chosen the speedy Hawaiian Cowboy for its unmissable Hawaiian yodeling.

Kimya Dawson

20. Blue Like Nevermind

Kimya Dawson’s gravelly voice and ‘Tina Turner first thing in the morning’ hair style take a little getting used to but it’s well worth it. Her songs are absolutely fantastic. Particularly when she’s backed up by David-Ivar Herman Dune on ukulele as she is in this case. You can see the two of them together in this clip.

To check out clips of all these songs and more ukulele treats click here.

Friday Links

The blog of Durham Ukulele Club has chords and mp3s for some classic tunes.

A Noob and his Uke: The ukulele world seen through the eyes of a newbie.

Lars Larsson’s themed guide to the best uke videos on YouTube. (The forum was having some decidedly NSFW spam problems earlier in the week so tread carefully).

Vote for the Giant Uke of Liverpool (not that Liverpool) as one of the 7 Wonders of Nova Scotia.

The Night of 100 Ukes performance of Ring of Fire at Bestival is available on Rob Da Bank’s album of the event.

The mp3 blogs are awash with tracks from the new Beirut album, The Flying Club Cup.

Transpose a chord progression a chord progression into the most suitable key for the ukulele using the Uke-ifier.

Listen to tunes from Bob Brozman’s lastest album on NPR. Each song was built up from an initial improvisation on a small instrument such as the ukulele or the charango.

Follow the Adventures of Bad Jenny the uke-playing pipe-cleaner doll as she drinks, poops and plays uke in the fridge. Update: Learn Bad Jenny’s fellatio tips.

What he has to put up with at the office.

Kick out the jams Mother Hubbard: The class of Room 4 have some sound advice on dealing with teachers.

 

UkeTube

Check out the best ukulele YouTube vids I’ve come across this week after the cut.

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