Cloggheads – Graveyard
Thanks to Ron Hale.
Hein Overbeek – Swing Gitane
Thanks to Ron Hale.
Svavar Knútur and Marius Ziska – Tokan
New Releases
– the Spark & the Fire by Leftover Cuties.
– Keston Cobblers’ Club hop on a bus with Bob Harris to launch their new EP: A Scene of Plenty.
– Calamitous Liaisons by Tricity Vogue.
– R&B singer and jazz trumpeter has a new EP for free: Sam Trump Plays The Uke (download is at the bottom of the page).
– Answer Sheet – Chapter I : Istas Promenade.
Uke Talk
– Amanda Palmer talking a lot about ukuleles.
– In case you were wondering about the source The Independent‘s claim that, “a Frank Skinner-inspired ukulele craze has actually led to an unwanted surplus of the instruments being sold for as little £1.12 on eBay.” It’s the parody news site The Daily Mash.
– Former teacher, 104, remembers Johnny Cash’s school days: “He had a sweet smile and he played the ukulele. He brought it to school.”
Videos
– Now that’s commitment to making a ukulele video.
– Glenn Haworth is going to attempt to play the ukulele for 24 hours.
– Ian Whitcomb talks to Google about ukulele heroes.
Blood analysis of a UAS sufferer. Are we closer to a cure?
David Beckingham – Spanish Flea
It’s a great pleasure to have David Beckingham back on the blog. His arrangements are always a treat. And I’m obviously not the only one to think so. His version of In the Mood
the trailer for the documentary As Time Goes by in Shanghai.
David was kind enough to let me post his tab of his arrangement of Spanish Flea.
Links
Whether you’re spending your summer lounging on the beach or – like me – curled up in a darkened room praying for it to end, you’ll need a good book to read. If you’re looking for suggestions here are six great books by ukulele players. Some are ukulele related, some music related, some just excellent reads.
If you’re looking to improve your ukeing rather than your mind this summer I can highly (and self-interestedly) recommend Ukulele for Dummies and – for more advanced players – Ukulele Exercises for Dummies.
If you can recommend any other ukulelist authors or any good reads leave a comment.
Jim Tranquada and John King – The ‘Ukulele: A History
You can read my review of this book here. But the tl;dr version is: “It’s the best ukulele I’ve read. Buy it if you care at all about the history of the instrument.”
If you’ve heeded my previous calls to read this book you’ve got two follow ups:
– Another posthumous book co-written by John King this time with Tom Walsh: The Martin Ukulele: The Little Instrument That Helped Create a Guitar Giant. It’s only just come out and supply is limited. Amazon recently let me know I could expect mine sometime around the end of October.
– If you’re looking to fill in on wider Hawaiian history Sarah “off of This American Life” Vowell’s Unfamiliar Fishes. It’s informative, humorous and occasionally snarky. And it finishes up with a thought provoking comparison of IZ’s take on Over the Rainbow with his Hawai’i ’78.
Charlie Connelly – Our Man in Hibernia: Ireland, the Irish and Me
As well as being a ukulelist and a top bloke Charlie Connelly is one of my favourite authors. If you’re into Bill Bryson’s understated humour and sharp observations you have to check out his books. They’re all great but the account of the move to his ancestral homeland of Ireland Our Man in Hibernia is my fave.
If you’re more into audiobooks then Charlie’s are a no brainer. Most of his books have been adapted for BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week and Attention All Shipping was voted second best audiobook of all time after Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Jem Roberts – The True History of the Blackadder
Speaking of Hitchhikers, ukulelist, Cilla coverer and historian of British comedy Jem Roberts is currently writing a guide to the Hitchhiker galaxy. While he’s working on that you should check out his guides to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and Blackadder. Just in time for you to get the Prince George references on Twitter.
Sylvie Simmons – I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen
Sylvie Simmons has been one of the top music journalists since the seventies. She’s interviewed the most important musicians of the last 40 years for all the rock magazines that matter.
Her latest book is a biography of Leonard Cohen. She’s been promoting it with performances of Leonard Cohen songs on her uke. Thus becoming the first person in history to do a ukulele cover of Cohen song that isn’t Hallelujah.
Mark Wallington – The Uke of Wallington
After his blues band couldn’t get a gig Mark Wallington took refuge in the one place where musical ability is never a bar to performance: ukulele open mics. The Uke of Wallington tells of his trip around the country playing his uke at every open mic he could find.
This one was also a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. They clearly hold ukulelists in high regard.
Vincent Cortese – Roy Smeck
Official Wizard of the Strings Roy Smeck was a master of the ukulele and an unsung hero of music. Vincent Cortese sets the record straight with a biography of the great man. Cortese was a student of Smeck so he can offer personal reminiscences as well as a thorough history.
Have I missed someone out? Let me know in the comments.
Skinny Lister – Colours (Chords)
I’m slightly dismayed I managed to miss this when it was released last year. Perhaps I had to wait for the hot weather before I could take the song in. But I’m very glad I did. You should certainly check out their music if you’re digging their modern-day Dexy’s Midnight Runners/Mumfords without rods jammed up their arses thing.
Colours is a lot of fun to play and a very good piece for beginners to play.
Suggested Strumming
The actual strumming pattern on the ukulele is dead simple. It’s just all downstrums:
d – d – d – d –
If you’re playing it by yourself you might want to try something a little more involved. I like this for most of the song:
d – d – d u d u
And if you’re feeling brave a bit of semiquaver strumming for the big buildup at the end.
d – d u d – d u d – d u d – d u
Twiddly Bits
The guitar solo in the song (similar to the intro and played through the song) works well on the uke if you move it up an octave.
Here’s how that uke version sounds.
Links
Buy the MP3
SkinnyLister.com
Play a song called Colors without the u.
Pierre Borghi was kidnapped by the Taliban. He kept himself sane with thoughts of ukuleles.
Leftover Cuties are Kickstarting. Many uke rewards for grabs.
Custom designed pocket ukulele.
The xx – Intro (Harp Ukulele Tab)
The xx were the highlight of my sofa-Glastonbury this year. It might have been Arctic Monkeys if it weren’t for that weird gameshow host thing and the cheesy, Oasis-style string arrangements. For a better example of arranging for pop bands have a listen to Alex Baranowski’s work with The xx.
Anyway, their performance inspired me to have a go at this instrumental piece. I first tried it on standard uke but it didn’t work out. I moved on to low-G with was better. Then I went insane and decided to drag my aNueNue harp ukulele out of deep storage.
Harp Ukulele
The harp strings on the uke are supposed to be tuned C, D, E, F. But I retuned the bottom two to A. One to pluck and the other to give a bit of sympathetic resonance. The sympathetic resonance turned out quite well. You can particularly hear the reverb-like effect at the beginning.
Important: The letters above the tab represent the bass note being played in that bar they’re not the chords.
Low-G
The strings tabbed are just tuned like a normal low-G. And it’s tabbed in the same key as the original. So if you’re playing a low-G you can just play this tab along with the record or a bass-playing friend.
Standard Tuning Version
To play it with a high-g ukulele you’ll need to move the whole thing up an octave. Here’s a tab for that. This time with the chord names above the tab.
The xx – Intro (gCEA Tab)
Links
But the MP3
Thexx.info
Crystalised Intro Tab
Here Comes the Sun on Harp Ukulele
The last Three Weird Ass Scales proved popular so here are three more to introduce some new sounds to your playing.
A quick restatement of the disclaimer:
– The “weird ass”ness of the scales depends entirely on your perspective.
– The examples are a lame pastiche rather than an authentic example of use.
Double Harmonic Minor – Hungarian Scale
How it Sounds
In C
C – D – Eb – F# – G – Ab – B – C
In General
1 – 2 – b3 – #4 – 5 – b6 – 7
How to Play It
An Example
Japanese In Scale
How it Sounds
You Might Recognise it From: Sakura, Sakura
In C
C – Db – F – G – Ab – C
In General
1 – b2 – 4 – 5 – b6
How to Play It
An Example
Dominant Bebop Scale
How it Sounds
In C
C – D – E – F – G – A – Bb – B – C
In General
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – b7 – 7
How to Play It
An Example
