As wonderful as they are, there’s no doubt that mahogany and koa are not environmentally concious choices. Bamboo on the other hand is “one of the most eco-friendly building materials there is”. So it’s heartening to see a trend for bamboo ukuleles. Cordoba have been on board for a while. Tall Grass have one. Kiwaya are putting their name to the Bamboo Paulele. And Pono unveiled one at NAMM.
But I’m afraid I’m not convinced. Ukeeku has a review of the Paulele (good to see smell catching on as a judging criteria). The sound seems very wimpy to me – here’s a quick demo. Plus it has to overcome the burden of being as barren and featureless as Jennifer Aniston’s film career.
How on earth is the asking price for the numberplate M9 UKE £1,350? Even if it is ‘FORMERLY CELEBRITY OWNED’. I suppose that’s reasonable given that bidding on the apparently meaningless YLP 729 has passed £600. Perhaps there are more American expats with the initials YLP born on the 29th July than I think.
Pictures: Ukes and harp guitar, I don’t usually care about signatures but I did squee a little over a signed photo of Roy Smeck.
This year’s ukulele playing American Idol contestant, Deandre Kamele Brackensick, has already been eliminated. Not surprising since he can actually sing and didn’t cover Over the Rainbow.
With it being everyone’s favourite video of last year, there were no shortage of requests for this one. And I was very happy to comply because I’d already half worked it out so I could purloin a few funky blues licks. I based this tab on the video version but it’s very similar to the album version.
The big hurdle for recreating the song is the technology. Hal uses one pedal to move the opening notes down two octaves and a looper to continue playing the riff under the rest of the song. There are full details in Hal’s interview.
Other than that there shouldn’t be too much to trip you up. Just remember to keep most of the notes short and funky.
I’m a big fan of Lil’ Rev‘s playing and have featured him a few times on the site. So I was really looking forward to checking out his latest book 101 Ukulele Licks. And Rev was kind enough to send me a copy for review.
What You Get
48 page book containing tab and standard notation for 102 licks (according to my count) of either one or two bars in length. They’re divided by genre (and within the blues section also by key). Here’s my count:
Blues: 68 licks
Country: 16 licks
Bluegrass: 16 licks
Rock ‘n Roll: 2 licks
36 track CD containing examples of the licks (usually four per track) and backing tracks to play over.
There’s a short guide to reading notation but you’ll need to know how to read tab before you tackle the book. There’s not much text and what there is focuses on uke history and players. So you’ll need to be familiar with how to play bends, slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
The Good Stuff
Variety of licks: There are a whole lot of ideas in here and there are loads of really tasty licks. I’ve found plenty that have caught my attention and I’ll be integrating into my playing. The licks are spread across most keys (and most are movable). A few ideas are repeated in different keys, but the variety of the licks is very strong.
The only thing I’d say if I was being really picky is that almost all the licks start exactly at the start of the bar.
Good range of difficulty: If you are used to single note playing, you’ll find plenty here you can play. Most of the licks are very straight forward and there are a few more challenging ones.
Short on fluff: The book is very lean. The focus on the book is very strongly on the licks. There’s very little padding.
Good price: It’s cheapest on Amazon where you can get it for 10 cents per lick (don’t get me started about rip-off Britain).
The Not So Good Stuff
Not much explanation: It’s obviously not meant as an instruction book, but a bit more guidance in areas like fingering would have been nice.
Being an arrangement nerd, I’m really interested to know the thinking behind some of them. Like this very tasty lick. The book shows it the top way, I would have played it the bottom way.
It’s a bit guitary: Most of the licks sound like guitar licks transported to ukulele (and guitarists are mostly cited as influences). It’s fair enough being a lick library, but it would have been nice to see more use of the re-entrant string and some chord based licks.
The ukulele history bits are superfluous: The book is aimed at more advanced players so I don’t think there’s any reason to rehash ukulele history again. I’d have much preferred that space to be used to discus the techniques used.
Overall
101 Ukulele Licks isn’t aimed at everyone and it’s all the better for that. If you’re looking to make your soloing more interesting and you find yourself repeating the same stuff, definitely get this book. There are loads of ideas in there that will inspire you. I tend not to memorize and slavishly follow licks, but I always store away ideas that I can drag out and this has given me plenty.
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – Short People (Chords)
Randy Newman seems to be popular with a lot of Uke Hunt readers. He topped the what should Molly play? poll and came third in the Video of the Year vote with this one. He is a completely individual and unmistakeable songwriter. Which makes him very easy to parody.
He also uses plenty of jazzy chords. Which sound nice but can be tricky to figure out. Andy did a version of this which differs a little from mine. So compare, contrast and decide which chords you want to use.
Baritone Version
I included the standard tuning chord shapes in the chart. But if you want to make like Bret and do a baritone version use these shapes:
Suggested Strumming
In the intro and chorus, this for each chord:
d – d u
In the first half of the verses verses you can do this once for every chord:
d – d – d u d u
In the second half you can continue with that or do what the WIUO do and strum once for each chord.
You could also use that pattern in the bridge section. Or just strum once for each chord.
It was a close run contest, but in the end Manitoba Hal won Ukulele Video of the Year 2010 with his funky blues of Poulet Shack from his latest album Huckster ( you can buy it on BandCamp, you can also get a ukulele songbook for it on his website).
Rather than a huge gong and a substantial cash prize, this award only carries with it the chance to be pestered with some of my question.
(And before you ask, yes, I will be putting up tab).
How did you first get into playing the uke? And why did it become your main instrument?
My grandfather had a 1955 Martin Soprano Ukulele in his house. He was a piano player and I’d never seen him play the uke. I asked him about it when we were moving him from his house into a seniors care home. He gave it to me on the sole condition that I learn to play it. I loved my grandfather very much and I would do anything for him. So I agreed and it changed my life. When I started to learn there were no resources anywhere nearby to use. There wasn’t any YouTube or online lesson sites. The were no radio stations playing ukulele music (there still aren’t here in Canada). I literally had to buy old sheet music and learn to read music to hear the way this instrument should sound.
Right away I noticed that sonically it occupied this space that was in pitch above my voice. This gave my vocals a lot more room in the song without colliding with the notes of the accompaniment as they did when I played guitar also I noticed that people seemed amazed at the sounds I was producing with the ukulele. The last thing that clinched my decision to switch to uke full time was that for all the years and concerts I’ve given as a guitarist, people usually didn’t tell me stories of their life when I played guitar. There is hardly a show where I play the uke where I don’t hear about the first time people heard a uke or how their uncle Alex used to play. People seemed compelled to communicate about their life when the uke is played. I like that.
You went with a very stripped down sound for Huckster. What was behind that decision?
I wanted to show the uke off as a qualified blues instrument. I think there is a great deal of popular ukulele that is just strumming and even many “blues” players that simply play the basic chords with the occasional riff thrown in for good measure. I wanted to do more than that. I wanted to show that with nothing more than a ukulele, my voice and a foot to stomp that I could deliver a solid honest blues performance such as one would expect from a slide delta blues player. Not sure if I got there but I think I did alright.
Do you approach playing blues ukulele differently to playing blues guitar?
Yes. I think you have to. Even though the guitar and the uke are related it’s a very different thing to have those two other strings and all the bass available. I generally think in terms of bass riffs on guitar and they don’t exist on the uke. My guitar background comes again from that “solo blues guy” delta background where I would sit on a stage and play a groove that would get people moving, sing a lyric that would move their spirit and add some slide soloing to impress the ladies (as they say). The uke makes me think more in terms of pure rhythm when I play solo or of melodic chord based soloing. There is more space for the vocal to be evocative and that space demands an extra bit of confidence and ego to fill the stage.
What are your top blues-ukulele playing tips?
Know your chord vocabulary and your scales! That’s it. Well getting a mojo hand or a John-the-Conquerer root doesn’t hurt none either.
What’s your uke and effects set-up on the Poulet Shack video?
For Poulet Shack I ran the uke through a Boss Blues Driver for the “edge”, an Electro-Harmonics POG octave generator for the bass sound and a Boss RC-20XL Loopstation, to create the background, then the signal was amplified through my little acoustic amp. The vocal mic also went through the same amp. The sound on the video is the audio my video camera recorded from that live set up. The track developed like this. First I set the POG for a sound 1 octave below the root of the uke, then I turned on the loopstation and captured a simple quarter note bass pattern. After that the rest of the song is just me playing on top of the loopstation groove.
What else is in your uke collection?
I own two RISA tenor ukulele’s which are basically identical except for the tops and strung GCEA with the low G. Other than that I’m running lean right now. I have a signature model aNueNue uke coming out this spring, and a double neck custom uke this summer. That’s my compliment right now. I am looking into a good cigar box uke though….
Who are your favourite uke and non-uke musicians?
I gravitate to good songwriters over pure virtuoso picking. As for uke players, Melvern Taylor, Tim Sweeney, James Hill, Craig Robertson and Gerald Ross pretty much top the list. I’m always open to more and new voices though and I love discovering someone who just floors me with a lyric.
I listen to alot of blues performers (both old and many newer unknown acts) and as I said gravitate to the solo singer-songwriter types. Taj Mahal, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Willie Dixon, Mississippi John Hurt, Seasick Steve and Otis Taylor for the more famous names. Colin Linden, Kelly Joe Phelps, Harry Manx, Ray Bonneville, Paul Thorn, Rick Fines for the lesser known roots guys.
What can we expect to hear from you this year?
Well I’ve been working on this one-man-band concept alot this year and I think it really showcases well in my latest live video Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women. This song was recorded much like Poulet Shack with the video camera recording the audio live as it happened in my little studio room. The sound is more of a traditional electric blues band with some funky beats and a solos over the groove. I think the next recording will definitely be moving more in this direction. Right now though all I’m thinking about is getting out on the road this year and playing Huckster live to folks all over the US and Canada. I’d love to get over to the UK and Stockholm too though. Know anyone who can arrange a gig?
Official ukulele video of the year winner is Manitoba Hal. More on that next week. But this week there’s a new one from him and looks like a strong contender for this year’s contest.
Also this week a glorious song from Seryn (those indicoustic bands do like to hang out in gloomy rooms), rawuke covering Metallica, Raiatea Helm (who deserves the two Hawaiian Grammys that Tia Carrere has inexplicably won) and plenty more.
Molly ‘Sweetafton23’ Lewis is raising money for a top secret mission. You can commission a signed CD, a doodle, or a cover song. Which is exactly what I’ve done. And you can help me decide by voting at the bottom of this post or here (it’s just four songs I want to hear covered on uke and haven’t). Poll closes when I remember to close it on Monday.
When I asked about instrumental versions of songs, the message was they’re fine but could I do some easier ones. Your wish is my command (unless it’s a stupid wish) so here’s a very straightforward arrangement of Pua Lililehua. There’s no fancy picking – it’s all done with the thumb – and you don’t move higher than the 4th fret.
If you’re looking for a more interesting arrangement, check out John King’s version.
