New Ukulele Orchestra CDs and more Ukulele Links

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain have got two new CDs coming out this month: Live in London #1 and Christmas with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. You can listen to extracts and pre-order them on their website.

The Jumping Flea Market is open for business and I’ve already bought myself some uke goodies. You can see their at the bottom of the post. (By the by, my username is ukulelehunt if you want to list me as the referrer).

New uke painting from Amy Crehore.

I’m a PC. And I’m Jonathan Coulton. John Hodgman rips it up on the uke.

The MP3 blogs have some great uke action this week: Look at me, I made a blog has, Strokes’ Fabrizio Moretti’s new band, Little Joy, linesthroughlines has Ingrid Michaelson’s Oh What a Day, Let Me Like It has Rachel Goodrich.

Who taught Queen Victoria to play the ukulele?

The Telegraph does a ho-hum, by-the-numbers article on the ukulele.

Friday time waste: Musipedia search for music by whistling into your computer. (Via Dr J.).

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

Will Grove-White and The Others

Will Grove- White & The Others - Sally Ann (MP3)
Via his website (where you can pick up two more free mp3s)

Will Grove-White has been the youngest (and handsomest) member of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain since he joined them in 1989. He has just put out a solo album Will Grove-White & The Others and kindly agreed to chat about lost ukes, Pebble Mill and strum holes.

How did you get involved with the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain?

I joined when I was 16, in 1989. I’d not been tempted to take the guitar path at school and so I formed a little uke trio, playing 1920s and 30s stuff. I read about the Ukulele Orchestra in a newspaper and became a total fan. From then on I always went to see them play in this pub in north London, started pestering them for music after gigs, and when someone left the band I was asked to join. I started off as a quiet little lad, just strumming, but began singing after a year or so, and have ended up mostly squawking gibberish. I had to get the day off school do my first gig, we played ‘Chinatown, My Chinatown‘ on Pebble Mill at One, with Ronnie Spector watching us.

What was the impetus for your solo project?

In recent years, the Ukes has become more of a full-time job, making it harder for all of us to do other work, as the Orchestra’s demands grow and grow. I now find myself, at 35, a full-time Ukulele player - not something I ever thought I’d say, of course - I used to have a proper job. This album was really about seeing what it would sound like if I did something on my own, that could sit happily alongside the Ukes. The impetus was really from my wife, who kept telling me to get on with it.

What can we expect from your solo stuff?

Well, of course there are Ukuleles, but also plenty of other much maligned and overlooked instruments - the Musical Saw, Tuba, Melodica, Clarinet and Cardboard Boxes. I wish more mainstream musicians would cast their nets a bit wider in their choices of instruments. Bass, guitar and drums is a pretty tired formula. I think I can say it’s a good-time album, upbeat and optimistic - sort of Sid James meets Hoagy Carmichael and Tom Waits at a bluegrass concert.

What are your three favourite songs to play on ukulele?

Tricky question, but three I like are: Robert Johnson’s ‘They’re Red Hot‘, otherwise known as ‘Hot Tamales’, in C, really falls off the fingers; Syd Barrett’s ‘Here I Go‘ was the first song I worked out for myself on the uke; and at the moment I’m a big fan of the Ukes version of Limehouse Blues, a real mad strum-fest which should appear on an album soon I hope.

What’s in your ukulele collection?

I mostly play my Martin Ukulele which I got from a second-hand shop after I left my old Martin on the Tube (it was given to me by Ian Whitcomb). I’d fallen asleep and woke up at my stop, rushed off the Tube and only realised I’d left it when the train was gone. No-one ever handed it in, I always
imagine some guy picking it up and thinking, “Oh, a toy guitar! My kid will like this”… it was a pretty terrible day. Since then I’ve added some geared tuners (shock, horror!) to keep it in tune with the bashing I give it (I’m aiming to strum a hole in it buy 2010).

I recently got an Ohana uke from the Ukulele Shop which has a great sound for the price.

As spares we carry flat, black Bruko ukes, which we got from the eccentric Thomas Allander (Ukulelemannen) when we were in Stockholm. They’re Black Maple Ukes (S001) and are great for throwing in a suitcase. You can even post it to your friends through the letterbox. Other than that I mostly own old battered ukes that decorate the bookshelves, and even a few old banjo-ukes that get the occasional outing…

What advice do you have for the wannabe international ukulele superstars?

Pick some good fellow band members, who you can envisage sitting with for hours and hours on a bus, then a train, then a plane, then a bus, then another train, then another bus, and then share a room with. And never fart in the dressing room.

What can we expect from you and from the UOGB in the future?

At some point soon I’ll start more recording of my own, and get some live shows together with The Others. As far as the Ukes go, a hectic gigging schedule looms, lots of stuff in Britain, as well as Germany, Sweden and Austria, also some interesting new projects coming up next year. Right now
we’re in the final stages of assembling our first live CD - to be titled ‘Live in London #1‘ - which should be ready in the next month or two. I think it’s a real cracker, really captures the whole spirit of the band in a way we haven’t quite done on a CD before. And after that, of course, we shall all be enjoying a nice quiet Christmas together.

You can buy Will Grove-White & The Others on the UOGB site and visit his website here.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain/Isaac Hayes - Shaft

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Shaft

After complaining that the Isaac Hayes obituaries kept going on about Shaft, I’m going to be a complete hypocrite.

It’s the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s version of Shaft in this video that I worked out the tab from (Director: “They’re playing Shaft. Quick, get me a shot of the only black guy at the Cambridge Folk Festival”). But with all those ukuleles on the go, it’s a compilation of parts.

The main chords are Fmaj7 and G6, but I haven’t always tabbed the full chord. For example, in the intro I’ve got the Em chord shape (all the notes in Em are in G6). This makes it easier to keep the sound of the chord short by releasing the chord right after you strum it.

For the next section, I’ve combined the chords with the melody. If you want to play just the melody, it’s the highest note of each chord.

Next up is the bass riff which, obviously, doesn’t entirely work on the uke. The way I’ve tabbed it, it’ll be right on a low-G uke. On a high-G, it’s not quite right but still fits.

There are a couple of places in the song where you really need to use a pick: playing over the bass riff and over the verse. In the tab, where you see a single note with two diagonal lines under it, that means you are tremelo picking semi-quavers (sixteenth notes).

Buy Precious Little

And if you’re yet to be convinced that Isaac Hayes’s real talent was for songwriting, you should download the mp3s from Soul Sides.

Jake and Bach, Pete Howlett, Ukes for Obama and other News

Jake Shimabukuro discusses JS Bach for a documentary and plays some stunning Bach uke.

Pete Howlett has a video series on how to build a ukulele.

Ukes for Obama: “a hub for ukulele players who share our desire for a better America.” Apply here for Ukes for Hilton.

Let’s Play Ukulele has been shut down after legal threats. Very worrying.

Uke Gal visits the Waikiki Ukulele Festival and hugs James Hill and Roy Sakuma.

The Ukulele Evangelist interviews Dale ‘Fluke’ Webb and Ken Middleton (and me in case you missed it).

Google have recently released their Wikipedia-killer, Google Knol. The idea, I think, is that one person writes the knol and others can come along and edit it. I gave it a test run and wrote one on ukulele history. I’ve left it fairly sparse, so feel free to add to it (and any inaccuracies you might find are there on purpose to get people involved, honest).

The Guardian’s Maddy Costa tests Sam Brown and Donal Coonan’s claims that you can Learn to Play the Ukulele in Under an Hour. (Thanks to John)

MP3s: Cover Me has Kirk Kelly’s uke cover of Springsteen’s Downbound Train, Guilt Free Pleasures has The Do’s Stay.

The UOoGB join the ukulele headgear crowd.

Hot for Words advises us to sell everything and invest in ukulele stock

Pineapple ukulele.

Uni and Her Ukulele and Her Ice Cream Truck.

Ukulele Orchestra on Radio 4 and more Links

Ukulele Tonya covers the Portland Ukulele Festival.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain interviewed on Radio 4 and written about in the Daily Express.

Todd talks to GUGUG on Folkster’s Findings.

The Rip by Portishead on Uker Tabs.

MP3s: Dent May on Fantastic Avenue, Tada Tátá on Swedesplease, Ain’t Superstitious, But has George Harrison’s Rising Sun.

“lately all I do is talk about my ukulele, but I honestly love it more than life. sometimes I just hold it to my heart and sigh because I love it so. I think maybe I’ll be a good mother if I love an instrument this much?” Quote from probably the coolest girl on the planet.

Cecil Myers the dealer with a heart.

Competitions, Buy a Ukulele, Ukulele Hero

Technical difficulties abound: It looks like there are a few problems with the RSS feed updating. The emails and the feed itself seem to be fine. If you resubscribe by clicking here, it does return the latest posts (hopefully). Also, there was a problem with the tab and chords page in Internet Explorer and now all the tabs and chords are on one page.

Just one day left to enter Ukewarehouse’s contest to win a ukulele. But still plenty of time to enter my Review Your Ukulele competition to win a Kala Pineapple.

There’s still work to do on it, but as of now the Buy a Ukulele section of the site is officially open. It’s been prettified and has a load of reviews of various ukuleles (gosh, a lot of people have Lanikai ukuleles).

If you can’t wait until Friday for your ukulele news fix, you should follow Ukulele Hero. He covers everything ukulele related on the web (and I mean everything).

YouTube had a front page covered in ukulele videos earlier this week, along with Ukulala on the YouTube blog and Aldrine on the LA Times blog.

Join JoCo on stage in NYC and uke-out.

Rush’s Closer to the Heart on Uker Tabs.

MP3s: Frekvens has Thos Henley, Stop Okay Go has Mareva Galanter’s version of Bang, Bang, Hero Hill has The Burning Hell and Popsense has Mirah’s Engine Heart.

UOoGB on the Beeb next Tuesday and Saturday. (Thanks to both Garys for that).

Worst film review ever: “Mad Dog Time should be cut into free ukulele picks for the poor.”

Ukulele Orchestras

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Life on Mars
Wuthering Heights
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Satellite of Love
Should I Stay or Should I Go

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra

Hey Ya
Take On Me

In Other News…

Those of you highly attuned to this sort of thing will have noticed that Uke Hunt has a new look. If you’re reading by email or on a reader come over and have a look.

There has also been some very scary behind the scenes jiggery-pokery. So if you find something not working as it should, I’d be grateful if you let me know in the comments or by email.

The Saturday UkeTube

I want to clear something up before we get started: I do not use manga trivia to chat up hookers.

Back to business, watch the best of the week’s uke videos over the fold [Read more]

Friday Links

Musicguymic has new KoAloha Sopranino ukuleles. Only nineteen and a half inches long. Aww bless.

San Francisco’s MoCFA is currently holding an exhibition on the Evolution of the Ukulele. It includes a two day ukulele festival featuring Jake Shimabukuro, The Paper Dolls and many others. If you can’t make it, you can still read another excellent article by John King.

Temporarily Distraught has the artwork and tracklisting for the forthcoming Beirut album.

BlipTV has an interview and performance from UOoGB and mad ukulele/bikini skills.

Hipsters/dupes can tune their ukuleles with their iPhones.

BKLYN Song of the Day has an mp3 of Bob Brozman and Rene Lacaille collaboration. Highly recommended.

Fretboard Journal alerts us to the danger that scented plugins pose to the happiness of your instrument.

Flame On! Rock Uke - a death metal ukulele.

Jenny Flame of Ukulele Nation has discovered a family history of ukulele. She was digging around in old family photos when she came across these two amazing photos of her great aunt in the 1940’s. It’s quite clear her great aunt knew how to rock the ukulele and tilted hat look back in the day.

Nancy Sinatra/Mareva/Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Bang Bang

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s latest album, Precious Little, contains a version of this song (made famous by Nancy Sinatra’s version on the Kill Bill Soundtrack) but they’re not the first to do it on the uke. Former Miss France, Mareva Galanter did a ukulele version on her Ukuyeye album (which combined two of my musical loves that I never thought I’d see together) she also has the only flash website so cool it doesn’t make me run away and look at a blank sheet of paper for half an hour.

Ukulele Boogaloo has the chords and tab for the intro but the way they’ve written up the intro strikes me as crazy. It makes more sense to play it this way:

At the start of the intro bar your index finger across the third fret and leave it there until bar 4. Let as many notes as possible ring into each other - to recreate the sound of the original. The notes in brackets are ‘ghost notes’ i.e. played more softly than the others. These aren’t fully part of the tune but help to support it - it’s your choice whether to play them or not.

Buy Kill Bill Soundtrack US UK

(that must be the first time I’ve anything cheaper in the UK than in the US)

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