Plenty of videos to choose from over the break. The most striking is Amanda Palmer returning to her outrageous (and NSFW) best with a new style and a welcome ode to big muffs from her new album.
Also up General Fiasco (looking dapper in their Burberry makeovers), Uni with the least Uni-like song title you could imagine, a good cover of Tip Toe… and plenty more.
Plenty of ukes at NAMM to salivate over but the one that’s got me warming up the credit card is aNueNue’s harp ukulele (designed with Pete Howlett). I got in touch with Johnson from aNueNue for more details:
Tenor Size/Scale
Canadian Sitka Spruce
Khaya Mahogany
Sub-bass side with Pegheds Machinehead
Included a Hardshell caseI have not yet calculate the cost, Price wise I don’t know, it maybe in the USD$900-1000 retail range. They are in production in about 4-6 months.
Hello Kitty ukulele only $1,500. Lucky for us, it’s free to read the description:
Sanrio × [korabo] of VOX becomes in the sound hole and it becomes the ukulele of the specifications not collected valuable and 100 limited in the designed fan…
It plays and ringing improves further it is made of HEADWAY and making and the real thing and the sound are making the first class as musical instruments from the real thing by a crowded thing.
The ‘Ukulele: A Portuguese Gift to Hawaii. I’d love to read that book. But perhaps not at that price.
Celtanowoodworks have been putting out a number of strange ukuleles but this Roc-Em-Soc-Em Robolele is the first to catch my attention.
Photo: Girls and ukulele.
Bossa has set up a Facebook page for the Uke Hunt podcast. So like it or friend it or do whatever it is you do on Facebook.
Lots of ukulele stuff flooding in from Winter NAMM 2011. Ukulele Underground have been interviewing all the players, Ukeeku has a look at the Martin S1 and there’s a look at Kala’s Ukeadelic range and solid U-Bass.
The Bushman Contest has finally officially kicked off. But if you’re thinking of entering do be aware that last year’s winners haven’t received their prizes yet. Lorenzo (aka Ukulollo has been in touch with me about it and I’ve had this comment.
Kate Miccuci has appeared on Raising Hope as – if you can believe it – a cute, quirky ukulele girl: clip 1, clip 2 and clip 3.
Please let this be the end of ukuleles in adverts.
On Uker Tabs: My Heart Will Go On and Shambala.
It’s amazing how much stuff is going on in London. Mighty Ukulele has a full list of London ukulele events if you’re in the area.
Pictures: Ukulele.fr have come up trumps with this post and this post. Also: Christopher Guest, Tron with a Ukulele, Ukuwaile
When I got my first ukulele, I was completely clueless. This was in those dark, long forgotten days before the internet had been discovered. I didn’t even realise that the strings weren’t supposed to go thickest to thinest and restrung it.
So, to save you from the social disgrace I experienced, I’ve put together a mini-ebook covering the basics that every first time uke owner needs to know. Here’s what it contains:
Five Things to Know
Five Chords to Learn
Five Songs to Play
Five Websites to Visit
Five Things to Get Free
Five Things to Buy
Five Videos to Watch
Five YouTube Channels to Subscribe to
You can download it free by clicking here:
And get playing by following the beginner ukulele lessons.
That’s it from me for another year. I’ll be back on 21st January. Until then be sure to keep the true meaning of Christmas in your hearts with, “Drinking, noise and games and dice, appointing of kings and feasting of slaves, singing naked, clapping of frenzied hands, an occasional ducking of corked faces in icy water,” and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Tripping Lily – Santa Will Find You
Thanks to tuscadero.
Josh Skaja – John King’s Gloria (Angels We Have Heard On High)
Alexa Goddard & Brett Domino – Fairytale Of New York
Michael McDonald – This Christmas
16 years in the making, the documentary of the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain in Japan has arrived (half an hour long).
If you’re looking for some uke music on Boxing Day, Resonance are broadcasting four hours’ worth of performances from the Wukulele Festival including Sophie Madeleine, The Re-entrants, The Bobby McGee’s and an unmissable set from Bob Brozman. It starts at 8pm (GMT) and you can stream it on their website (or listen on 104.4FM if you’re in London). And take a listen to the Uke Hunt Christmas podcast if you haven’t yet.
The Melbourne Ukulele Festival has grown to encompass a whole week (25th of February till Tuesday the 1st of March, 2011) and a number of cities. The program includes The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra, Bosco and Honey and Shelley O’Brien
Ken Middleton has a new ebook out, 12 Hymn Tunes for Ukulele, which you can buy on his website.
Google have invested $600,000 in Miso Media (who made the miSonata app with KoAloha).
Corktown Ukulele Jam mix up ukes and strings for the Hallelujah Chorus.
Holland Greco (who opened the first Uke Hunt podcast) has a uke cover of Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance on the Frank Zappa birthday album.
UPDATE: Must be the season for books. Lil Rev has just sent me info on his latest book 101 Ukulele Licks (PDF link).
I’ve made this quiz much easier than last year’s (and number 16 is there to ensure no one gets 0) but there are some very tricky ones in there. If you’re reading by email or feed you might want to head over to the site so you get everything.
If you’re looking to waste a bit of time:
– Grab a piece of paper
– Display your uke knowledge
– Check the answers here (no peeking)
– Leave your score in the comments along with your dangs/woohoos.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Photo: intellichick
7.
Photo: NotoriousJEN
8.
Photo: MightySelbor
9.
Photo: adampiggott
10.
Photo: Paxsimius
To which group do/did the following ukers belong?
11. Pete Townshend
12. Eddie Vedder
13. Billy Corgan
14. Trent Reznor
15. Jonsi
I’m looking for the brand rather than the exact model. And, no, number 16 isn’t a trick question.
16.
Photo: teachernz
17.
Photo: EDubya
18.
Photo: joesuspense
19.
Photo: Monsieur Gordon
20.
Photo: uketeecee
Who are these ukers covering?
21. James Hill and Victoria Vox
22. Amanda Palmer
23. Molly Lewis
24. Jim Boggia
25. Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain
Name the type of C chord. There is: C (0003), Cm (5333), C7 (0001), C6 (0000) and Csus4. You’re very definitely allowed to get your uke out and compare sounds.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
It could be the swearing that does it for me rather than the Swedishness. But that would make this my favourite Christmas song.
All down strums for the first bit (and the odd other bit in the song). And this one should see you through:
d – d u – u d –
Twice for each chord in the verses. Once for each chord in the bridge and chorus (except the last ones).
It’s always a bit of a fag moving stuff from piano to uke but this just about works.
If you don’t have a 15th fret, just go with a standard C chord at the end.
(Holy crumble, Gary Glitter is on that album – maybe don’t buy the whole thing).
Does anyone use the word ‘spawny’ any more? For those of you not exactly my age and level of geekiness, ‘spawny’ was a word commonly used in early 90s computer magazines by people like Radion Automatic to describe inept gamers who managed to succeed in a game despite obvious lack of skill by, for example, unleashing Chun Li’s spinning death kick at a critical moment via random button mashing.
Despite being lazy, gluttonous and irascible; I’m somehow solvent, healthy and loved. For which I regard myself to be exceptionally spawny indeed. But I live in constant fear that someone will discover this administrative cock-up and enact a cosmic realignment by giving me the face of Ben Elton, or the wisdom of Sarah Palin, or the sense of humour of Ben Elton. So I’ve been desperately pedaling to do the minimum amount of good deeds possible to give myself plausible deniability should the karma police turn up.
If you’re similarly karmicly advantaged, here’s a few causes I’d recommend.
We all know how careful banks are with the loans they make. They would never lend money to anyone who couldn’t definitely pay it back. So it falls to us to lend money to people who would make good use of it but don’t have access to loans. Kiva let’s you loan money directly to people in developing countries who want to start or grow their own business. You lend money, they pay it back, you lend it to someone else (or take it back). Sometimes loans don’t get paid back (though it’s never happened to me) but you can always hedge against that by bundling the loans into a Kiva backed security and selling it to Lehman Brothers. What could go wrong?
Start lending now and you can win a Mainland ukulele by joining the ukulele group.
What’s good about it? Because it’s a loan, the people receiving the money are spending their own money on themselves so you can guarantee it’s not being wasted. And you can very easily decide who exactly your money goes to without any of it going on admin (unless you choose to give towards that).
My favourite solution to the Israel/Palestine situation is the one proposed by Richard Herring: get one side to divide the country into two then the other side decides which half they want. Until that’s enacted, the best solution is the Ukuleles for Peace route: get kids and their families on both sides hanging out together. You can learn more by watching Part 1 of Ukulolo’s film.
Give to Ukuleles for Peace by donating via their website, buying the CD or buying the tab ebook with tunes arranged for ukulele by, among others, James Hill, Dominator and the world’s handsomest ukulele blogger.
What’s good about it? It’s pretty clear that the leaders on both sides have little interest in peace, compromise and human dignity. Grassroots organisations like Ukuleles for Peace are the only ones likely to enact real change.
When one of their number died from Duchenne muscular dystrophy, members of the Ukulele Underground forum got together to make an album for the Duchenne Foundation. Duchenne is an incurable muscle wasting disease and the most life-threatening form of muscular dystrophy. The Duchenne Foundation gives help to those suffering from Duchenne and there families, funds research and increases awareness.
What’s good about it? Members of the opposite sex will see you have Bosco and Honey’s Road Trip, Baron’s Captain, My Captain and krabbers’ The Message in your collection, correctly identify that this means you are a sexual dynamo and have an overwhelming desire to do depraved acts with your genitals.
I’m not sure why it should be, but my two favourite indie Christmas songs are both from Swedish bands. One, by the Hives, is coming up on Tuesday but today’s comes from Hello Saferide. I don’t think it’s available anymore (depending on what this page says) but you can pick it up from a few blogs like this one.
The chords don’t work perfectly on the uke. You could switch it up a semitone so that:
A = Bb
C#m = Dm
Bm = Cm
E = F
But I think it sounds better in the original key.
Just down strums will do for the first part and this will get you through the rest of the verses:
d – d u – u d –
In the chorus go with two down-strums each for the Bm – E move.
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