“The hell with that damned guitar. It’s a haole-made instrument. And how’s my ukulele playing?” Kahauanu Lake died last Sunday. He’s most famous for writing Pua Lililehua (which I tabbed a little while back) and was a militant supporter of traditional Hawaiian music, Hawaiian culture and the ukulele’s place in them. As you can see in this interview. Ukulelia has a round-up of links.

Geek Pop’s sampler Geek Like Me is out now and features ukes from Helen Arney (as featured in the podcast), Jonny Berliner and MJ Hibbett.

Vingtage Ukulele Ike songbooks on Ukulele Cosmos. And less vintage chords for Uni and her Ukelele songs.

Charlieissocoollike did a ukulele song with Tim Minchin – and forgot to turn the mic on. There aren’t enough heads or desks in the world to do that one justice.

Musician microfunder site, Pledge Music has set up a publishing and made Sophie Madeleine their first signing. (Those three guys behind her do make her look like a cheery despot parading prisoners of war).

Amanda Palmer comes up with a clever solution to the playing ukulele whilst standing problem.

I was halfway towards doing a version of the Patsy Cline Crazy when I heard Don Ross’s cover of the Gnarls Barkley Crazy and decided on that instead. Or maybe as well as; I might do both.

I play this one quite loosely – strumming when the mood takes me and messing around with the verses – so the tab shows the melody and the chords and you can strum as you see fit. It’s also worth hitting a few extra notes along with the melody to keep things going.

There are lots of rapidfire note sections which are quite tricky to play. You could pare these down a bit to make it easier to play and still recognisable.

Yesterday – it being International Women’s Day – I was musing on how gender balanced the ukulele world is (compare the average ukulele festival to scenes from NAMM). I like to have a healthy mix on the site and writing about the ukulele makes it very easy.

But it goes beyond gender. The ukulele scene is generally inclusive and has long been home people who are not fitters-in. It’s one of my favourite aspects of the scene. And it got me thinking of Tiny Tim.

When the campaign to induct Tiny Tim into the Ukulele Hall of Fame came along I was more than a little sceptical. And I still have my doubts. But I’ve started to change my mind.

The uke has always been an outsider instrument. It was built by immigrants and adopted by Hawaiians quickly being elbowed out of their own country. Ever since it’s been taken up by the misunderstood, the misshapen and the mentally other. And Tiny Tim is the embodiment of all those things. Best of all, he was happy to be that way. It never seemed like he was putting on an act but just gleefully being himself. It’s a point Penn Jillette makes in this video:

What I really love most about Tiny Tim is the complete lack of irony and the complete lack of cynicism in Tiny Tim.

Whether you’re seven hundred pounds, buck-toothed, slightly deranged or all of the above, Tiny Tim means you’ll never be the weirdest person to pick up a uke. And that’s the way it should stay. No matter how many skinny, straight-toothed popstars pick it up.

Tiny Tim should be in the Ukulele Hall of Fame because he is the ultimate representation of one concept: the ukulele will always welcome freaks, weirdos, outcasts and outsiders.

Amanda Palmer’s new one Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under is a very enjoyable listen. Particularly Map of Tasmania (C6 – D) and this simple little waltz. She’s really good when she manages to get her ukulele in tune.

Suggested Strumming

Almost all the way through it’s this four times for each chord:

d – d u d –

The exception is at the end of what I’ve called the chorus. There do this for the C:

d – d u d – d – d – d –

And just one down strum for the D.

Links

Buy it on Bandcamp
More Life is Strange tabs and chords

Requested by Amy.

Favourite video this month comes from Keston Cobblers’ Club. There seem to be more cobblers in the club with each new video. Not that I’m complaining. They make a lovely noise.

Also this week Lil’ Rev busting out some of his 101 licks with Dominator, Francesca Belcourt in the snow and Nicholas Abersold with my favourite line of the week.

Gleeks might want to watch this premiere of Matthew Morrison’s single. It’s written by the people who wrote Hey, Soul Sister with Train so take that as a warning before you click the link.

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Fretboard Journal heads to the movies.

Agathe’s self-titled EP is available on iTunes and on eMusic.

Successful February Album Writing Months for MJ Hibbett and Tally ‘live2tivo’ Deushane. And while we’re on the subject here’s Tally’s How I Met Your Mother song as it appeared on the HIMYM DVD.

Emergency ukulele: every jeweler should have one.

UKULELE: The Sound of Life. And if you’re into your animation you have to check out this channel (not uke-related).

Tróndur’s song.

Direct Current has a couple of tracks from the new Misty Miller record for download (and they’re sounding rather fine).

Playing ukulele backwards on a bike.

I am so excited that there’s a new Lefties Soul Connection album on the way. They’re easily the funkiest Dutchmen ever to strut the earth. So in anticipation I decided to tab up a few of the funkiest ever riffs.

I’ve tried to keep them in the original key. It’s not always the best key to play them in but it does mean you can funk along with the songs.

The Meters – Cissy Strut

Cissy

The Meters – Funky Miracle

Two riffs from The Meters because they were so badass. The only band badassier were The Bar-Kays and I might end up doing a full rundown of Soul Finger sometime.

Funky

Stevie Wonder – Superstition

Superstition

Funkadelic – Hit It and Quit It

HitIt

Rick James – Super Freak

SuperFreak

Download Podcast #5
Subscribe on iTunes

Time for the slightly belated (but only because it’s a stupid month) February edition of the Uke Hunt podcast. No feature segment this month but it’s packed with excellent tunes (including one from my current favourite uke album from Spring Breakup It’s Not You, It’s Me) and the usual quota of potty language. Thanks, as always to the artists for letting us use their tracks and to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review on iTunes.

You can find a full list of the podcasts here.

The full playlist:

1. Helen Arney featuring Professor Elemental – Animals

2. Spring Breakup – It’s Not Me, It’s You

3. Todd Baio – Old Time Blues, New Time Cheer

4. Craig Robertson – I Can Make Elephants Disappear

5. Doug Hoyer featuring Jessica Jalbert – Oh, The Wind Will Blow

6. Lloyd Gabriel – There’s Nothing Funny About A Ukulele

7. Howlin’ Hobbit – For An Old Man

8. Luke Fitzpatrick – Ocean Waves

9. Uke’s Not Dead – Uke! Authority

10. Ezza Rose – 2%

11. Ukulele Sunnyboy – On A Sunny Day

12. Jo Stephenson – PCS-O-S

13. Ukestar – Battle Song

14. Tricity Vogue – Big Band Blues

Time to bust out your disco pants for some Bee Gees action.
d0y0uwantt0‘s rather fine ukulele version. It’s in the same key so you’re safe playing along with the original version.

Suggested Strumming

This is the trickiest part of the song. It’s best to keep things varied with plenty of syncopated, muted strumming. But here are a couple of ideas.

You can use this for the intro but for the first down strum start with your index finger off the g-string them hammer it on. Remember to do muted strums for the Xs.

Then you can move into this for the verse:

Twiddly Bits

The riff in the original version has to be moved up high on the uke to play it in the original key.

Requested by Torr

Something a little different this week. Rather than ukes, I thought I’d post some videos from the uke’s ancestral home: Madeira. Most of the videos feature uke-related instruments (braguinha/machete/rajao) and two guys: Roberto Moritz and Roberto Moniz(you should subscribe to them). Both members of Madeira’s top traditional band Xarabanda.

It’s very interesting to see the similarities and differences in technique and tunes.

UPDATE: Check out this photo of the Orquestra Caracteristica Madeirense from 1890 via Roberto Moniz’s blog.
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