Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Tab & Chords)
November 12, 2009
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man (Chords)
Another one from the wonderful WIUO. This Prince cover is the standout track on their latest EP The Dreaming. Another good one for ukulele groups – easy chords for the beginners and twiddly bits for the showoffs. The only unusual chord in it is Ab. If you can’t get your fingers around that you can just move the whole G chord shape up a fret and reach your thumb round to stop the G string sounding.
Suggested Strumming
d – d – d u d u
Will see you almost all the way through.
In the verse: once for C, once for G and twice for F.
In the chorus: once for F, once for G and twice for F. Once for the other chords (except the final G – two down strums for that).
Twiddly Bits
There’s a lot going on in the intro. I’ve written it up for four parts:
And here’s me playing that arrangement slowed down a bit.
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More WIUO
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra interview
Hey Ya
The Bucket
Israelites
Blue Smoke (Chords)
Ukulele Cookbook: Friday Links
October 23, 2009
What do ukulele players like to eat? Rose Turle Ertler has answers from James Hill, Cat Green Bike, Jen Kwok and many others.
Voting has started for Bosko and Honey’s Join the Safari Contest. The process of selecting a winner is closely modelled on that of the election of the Doge of Venice; I think you vote for one video from each country and then your overall favourite. Those favourites and possibly others go through to various rounds of judging by Safari participants, sponsers and relatives. Then the winner is paraded round Piazza San Marco on Easter Monday.
Help Victoria Vox record her new album and get yourself mp3s, a house concert or a chance to chat her up depending on how much you’re willing to donate.
Uke, Ubu, Uke! is a new uke blog that already has some cool posts.
The New Zealanders didn’t manage to break the mass-ukulele record. But they did have Bret McKenzie. His opinion: “It looked better than it sounded.” Keep fighting those New Zealand jibes, guys.
Mark Nelson has put up tab for Moana Chimes on Uker Tabs.
Ukulele zeitgeist on the wane according to The Guardian (via Mr D).
Roger Daltry: “Is it worth tuning it?” And Steven Tyler plays Little Grass Shack for Oprah.
Mike DaSilva has some interesting things to say about ukulele tone.
Ukulelezo won last year’s Bushman Contest. Yes, it definitely happened. And anyone who tells you a cover of Mmmbop won is obviously joking.
The Leisure Society are looking for an army of ukulele players to join them on stage in London.
Sheena Beaston has an interview with and track from Via Tania.
Ukulele pin-up of the week: Sari (a slight misunderstanding of the roots of the ukulele but who cares?).
Ukulele Prom DVD, Play Ukulele by Ear: Friday Links
August 28, 2009
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s performance at the Proms will be released on DVD and Live in London #2 will be out soon. This review of the ukulele prom by Howard Jacobson is fantastic. “Seid umschlungen, Millionen!” indeed.
Jim D’Ville has released a DVD called Play Ukulele by Ear and has set up a website to go along with it. You can read Ukulele Tonya’s review of it here.
The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra will be releasing a new EP, The Dreaming, on 28th September. Tracks include Africa, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man and Blue Smoke.
Bookulele – A Love Story (via Ukulelezo).
Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome) release their debut album.
Download a bunch of tracks from Toy Horses in exchange for your email address.
Metallica’s Seek and Destroy and Seaside by The Kooks on Uker Tabs.
Friday Links
March 13, 2009
Three videos that had me clutching my sides with laughter: Hilary Clinton and John McCain do the Ukulele Forum Rap, Ukulele en Francais and Unicorn Fantasy (that last one is NSFW and via Zym).
The Guardian Music Blog discusses the ukulele resurgence with Dent May, Jens Lekman (who seems to be a titanic knobhead) and the world’s handsomest ukulele blogger. If you’re at all interested in what I said in the rest of the interview, you can read it here.
The Ukulele Movement comes to Singapore.
Win an Ohana by designing the logo for the Wine Country Uke Fest.
Getting Serious… about Ukulele: “The thing is — with a very few exceptions — for my money there isn’t that much creativity around in the world of uke design.”
Come Sail Away by Styx on Uker Tabs.
Ukulele Chord Tool for Palm OS.
WIUO rock the hat and goatee look (and, gosh, doesn’t Megan have hairy shoulders).
The Ukulele Bible: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Ukulele shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not Ukulele, and that obey not the gospel of our Ukulele. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Ukulele, and from the glory of his power.” (Thessalonians 1:7-9)
Wellington International Ukulele Trio – Blue Smoke (Chords)
March 1, 2009
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – Blue Smoke (Chords)
Lest you think ukuleles and New Zealand are a new phenomenon, the first record entirely produced in New Zealand, Blue Smoke, was a uke-featuring hapa haole song recorded when the technology was just reaching New Zealand way back in 1993 (you can read the full, and more accurate, story here). And a slimmed down version of the WIUO recorded it at the Ukulele Cabaret
Suggested Strumming Pattern
Blue Smoke is in waltz time (3/4) so here’s a strumming pattern that suits it:
d – d u d u
Buy Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra EPs
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Desmond Dekker- Israelites (Chords)
February 28, 2009
WIUO/Desmond Dekker – Israelites (Chords)
The ukulele seems to be a big hit with the ad makers at the moment. A few that leap to mind are McDonalds, Travelocity, e.on and, of course, the Hawaii Chair. And the Wellingtons have got in on the action providing tunes for a series of Whitcoulls ads (including Ruby and Israelites). But Israelites is already seared into brain from another advert. So much so I always find myself singing What ‘m I gonna spread on my toast?.
Suggested Strumming
For the reggae strumming, make sure you keep the chords short and sharp. And emphasise the 2 and 4 beats. Here’s a simple strum you could use.
- – d u – - d -
Twiddly Bits
There’s this little run after, “… the Israelites.”
Which gets expanded with a few bends for the solo section where this is repeated:
Buy Israelites by WIUO
Buy Israelites by Desmond Dekker
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/Kings of Leon – The Bucket
February 26, 2009
WIUO/Kings of Leon – The Bucket (Chords)
An excellent choice of song for any ukulele group: dead easy chords and plenty of widdling for the flash Harrys.
Megan’s intro is based on the chords switching between the major and the 5 chord:
The twiddly bit that comes after that, and crops up a few times in the song, goes like this:
Or, if you want to play it fingerstyle, you can play it like this:
And there’s the little inbetweeny bit in the chorus:
Buy The Heartache EP
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra/OutKast – Hey Ya (Chords)
February 24, 2009
WIUO/Outkast – Hey Ya (Chords)
Hey Ya was the first song I – and I suspect most people here – heard from the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra. It’s coming up on half a million YouTube views and over 500 comments – most of them saying, “Is that that dude off of Flight of the Conchords? Awesome!”
The easiest way I’ve found of playing the chords is to play the D 2225 to make it an easy slide up to 4447 for the dreaded E chord.
Suggested Strumming Pattern
For most of the chords you can use this pattern:
d – d u – u d -
But there is a time signature change in there. The D chord is one bar of 2/4. So just do two down strums for that chord. Or you could really cheat and play a baritone like that dude off of Flight of the Conchords.
Twiddly Bit
Every uke group song needs a twiddly bit in to keep the show offs in the band happy.
First part of the phrase played a bar later than in the original.
I’m way too lazy to move up and down the neck, so I prefer to play it like this:
Visit ukulele.co.nz
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra Week: Interview
February 23, 2009
If I had to pick one group to represent where the ukulele scene is right now, I’d go with the Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra: a big bunch of sexy people singing songs with huge grins on their faces. In honour of that fact, this week is dedicated to the WIUO kicking off with and interview with three of the band: Age Pryor, Gemma Gracewood and Megan Hosking.
With your EPs and shows selling by the barrow-load over there, when are you going international?
AGE: We’re working on it – currently in development of tour plans for USA in either, or both, 2009 and 2010, and also getting excited about somehow blagging our way over to Japan. Know any friendly Japanese ukulele enthusiasts we can stay with? With room for 12 people on their couch? Those little apartments weren’t designed for touring Ukulele Orchestras, eh…
What’s your role in the orchestra?
GEMMA: Well, first of all, everybody apart from Dan plays the ukulele. Dan plays the double bass. He describes himself as ‘the anchor that keeps 11 helium balloons from floating off’. We’re not sure whether that’s an insult.
Musically we’ve organically developed various roles by virtue of our technical experience and/or our personalities… Age really is our band leader, Nigel fine-tunes the vocal arrangements, Andy is our default lead singer (when we haven’t figured out who should sing a song yet), Sam’s the left-hander, Steve shreds up the solos, Francis strikes perfect rhythms, Megan gets to shout ‘1, 2, 3, 4’, Carmel dances and does a nice line in 50s-style songs, Bek is our punk rock star, I deliver a lot of unnecessary trivia and Bret services the ‘international’ part of our name.
We also assign ‘ministerial’ roles when we go on tour because you can imagine that it’s like herding cats. So we’ll have a Minister of Well-being (makes sure we’re eating and sleeping), a Minister of Hi-Jinks (makes sure we’re having fun), a Minister of Hot Licks (makes sure we’re practicing new tricks) and so on. The people in those roles rotate on each tour.
What makes for a good ukulele cover?
AGE: Anything goes. In our group we tend to favour songs with tasty vocal harmonies, and catchy numbers that are hip with the kids (or used to be hip with the kids 40 years ago). Sometimes you go for the element of surprise (eg a heavy Metallica number) and other times the classics (eg I Did It My Way), but ultimately, it’s about how the tune and the performer fit together.
You’ve had some high profile collaborations. Who would you most like to jam with?
MEGAN: Woah there. It’s a long list. Basically, all the international living legends whose songs we have had the privilege of playing and/or recording. Y’know, Cohen, Wonder, the Followill Brothers, Andre 3000… And since this is a wish list, some of the not-so-living legends like Lennon, Kermit, Cash…
What’s your favourite song to cover on the uke?
MEGAN: Just one? That’s pretty unfair. My favourite cover is Toto’s ‘Africa’, which Age, Nigel and Andy do with a few little added extras from the rest of us. Including a gong, African thumb piano, and soul claps. (So, no, we are not a purist Ukulele Orchestra). I am not sure if we have crossed the line into Stone Soup territory, as these elements are still the garnish. It’s when we start bringing in tubas, timpani drums and violins that I will start to worry.)
What’s the ukulele scene in New Zealand like? Any other NZ ukulele acts we should be checking out?
GEMMA: The absolute godfathers of the contemporary scene are the Big Muffin Serious Band guys (who also go under The Serious Ukulele Ensemble moniker). They paved the way for us. They hail from Hamilton, a city that services the farmlands south of Auckland. Their outfits are outrageous and they’re a brilliant act.
And I would have said they’re not particularly serious, until I heard TSUE’s newest album ‘Mostly Harmless’. It’s all instrumental and it has some seriously incredible covers such as ‘Albatross’ and ‘Paint it Black’. They’ve got a MySpace site.
MEGAN: It’s true that the uke is having a bit of a revival Down Under and it has made its way onto loads of new pop albums around here – like Tim Guy’s latest album.
But perhaps more importantly, the ukulele seems to have been one of the best selling Christmas presents last year, and so you will find one in many houses in New Zealand (in various states of being ‘in tune’).
The tricky thing is converting the ‘having a uke’ to ‘playing the uke’. The ukulele is being taught in many New Zealand schools and ukulele groups are sprouting up everywhere. And we are doing our very best to grow the scene by hosting winter workshops which have spawned several new orchestras and bands.
All of this equates to more people playing and singing together – because with 3 chords under their belt, they can. And that’s what we love about it.
What is it with islands and the ukulele?
GEMMA: I dunno! Maybe because it’s hot, it’s just easier to play something with fewer strings? Maybe the slack-key styles perfectly suit the laid-back feel on the islands? I like to think it’s something to do with minor key tunes sounding prettier and less plaintive on the uke, so you can trick people by making sad songs sound happy under a tropical palm tree (and we have so many of those here in Wellington).
The thing about New Zealand is that in the 1940s and 50s we had a lot of dancehall big bands that were led by Pacific Islanders – Bill Wolfgramm, Bill Sevesi – and ukuleles were always a feature of their bands. So the four-string has pervaded our pop music from fairly early on. In fact, it appeared in NZ’s first ‘official’ pop song, a wartime classic called ‘Blue Smoke’, way back in 1949. We’ve done our own recording of that song – it’s coming out this year sometime. Well, that’s a rumour I just started.
What advice would you have for anyone starting up a ukulele orchestra?
GEMMA: Don’t hesitate, do it! Start by playing your favourite songs. Try to write your own songs (we’re giving it a go). Meet often. Set goals. Think of a shorter name for your orchestra than we did. Find a local café that will let you practice in it – I only got good by having to play in front of strangers. Play everywhere, all the time.
Do you ever have band arguments? How do you resolve them?
AGE: We never argue. It’s un-ukulele-like. Occasionally we have different points of view, but these all get sorted out on the bandstand. It’s about the walking, not the talking. Or so I’m told.
What can we expect from you this year? Any new releases planned?
GEMMA: Yes, we have a new release planned! We recorded at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios in late 2008 so we need to do something with those songs. Other than that, more gigs, more tours, more fruity vocal harmonies to work on… More fun, generally. That’s our bottom line – when it stops being fun, that’s when we stop. We haven’t stopped yet.
Friend up The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra on Myspace and buy their EPs on Amplifier
Friday Links
February 6, 2009
Kate Micucci made a very big impression as the Scrubs ukulele girl. She was the second biggest Google Trend of the day (officially ‘Volcanic’) and the day after was the second busiest day of this blog’s history.
Warren Buffett discusses the possibility that Obama’s election is a turning point in the struggle against ukuleleism, teaching Bill Gates to play the ukulele and how the ukulele is the new stimulus package. Someone give that guy a million cool points.
Sweetafton puts MP3s of MyHope and Road Trip up for sale. And Ukechick has also released an EP on Amie Street under the moniker cc.tran.
WIUO take New Zealand by storm.
Amy Crehore finds Man Ray’s banjolele and discusses her Dreamgirls & Ukes show.
