You can now pay for the How to Play Ukulele ebooks by credit card without all the PayPal hassles. Due to very, very popular demand (which I have a great deal of sympathy with). I’ve tested it and it should be fine, but if you encounter any problems just let me know.
In another bit of housekeeping, I’ll be switching the site to a new host next week. So if the site goes down, that’ll be why. On to business.
Everyone seems to be using the ukulele in their drama-dies these days. Modern Family had a ukulele rendition of Eye of the Tiger. Parenthood finished with I’m Into Something Good. And, showing a mind-numbing paucity of ambition, Glee‘s season climaxed with an yet another IZ inspired ukulele rendition of Over the Rainbow.
Brazilian ball-kicker, Julio Baptista has taken his ukulele to the World Cup. The English is under the Italian and worth reading for the phrase, “a passion that grows the Beast for years.” (Thanks to Ukulollo). And the terminally deluded of you who think England have a chance might enjoy this video.
If you answered, “Because no one listened to Think Tank,” correct answer. Take ten internet points.
I think it’s obvious from this track that Damon Albarn was happier making Gorillaz records than Blur records.
The track has a strong ‘on finding the studio ukulele’ vibe to it and they’re playing up the primitive side. It even sounds like it’s been recorded on a 1980s dictaphone.
I avoided watching Ralph Shaw’s Essential Strums for Ukulele for a very long time. I knew I was going to be writing my own guide to strumming and I didn’t want to be unduly influenced by it. The problem was I had nothing to tell the people who asked me if it was any good. So now I’ve finally got round to watching it I can let you in on my opinions.
What You Get
A 1 hour, 33 minute DVD covering basic strumming technique and strumming patterns in the following styles:
Songs:Take Me Home Country Roads, Mister Sun, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Kiss Me Once, Rolling Down the Hill, The Girl from Ipanema, Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World, The Darktown Strutters Ball, A Song to Bring Back Something Which is Lost. I’m Happy, Let Me Sing You a Country Song.
You also get two booklets: a chord chart and one with notation for the strums and song sheets.
The Good Stuff
Very Clearly Explained: The big question you ask yourself before you buy a uke DVDs is, “Is there’s anything here I couldn’t pick up on YouTube?” On this DVD, there isn’t. The big difference is that it’s much more clearly explained here. There are plenty of video tutorials on clawhammer and the split stroke. But this is more clear than any I’ve seen. And he’s also demonstrating good technique which isn’t always the case with YT tutorials.
Ralph is adorable: The DVD is very easy to watch and Ralph is a friendly and charming teacher. It’s enough to forgive him for the shirt and the strange chalk picture in the background.
Good range of difficulty: Takes from the absolute basics up to complex stuff like clawhammer and split-strokes. Although it’s heavily slanted towards beginners, most people will pick up something from it. He’s convinced me to have a proper go at getting the clawhammer technique down (which I hadn’t had much interest in previously).
The Not So Good Stuff
He doesn’t teach you how to fish: If you’re looking for a deeper understanding of rhythm and strums, this isn’t for you. The DVD doesn’t equip you with the skills to adapt the patterns he gives you, to understand how strumming patterns fit within songs or to decide which strumming patterns to use yourself.
Booklet: The booklet could be a bit more helpful. It uses guitar picking notation for the strums which isn’t very intuitive or easy to read and is inadequate for more complex stuff like triplets, clawhammer and split stroke. The song sheets in the booklet don’t have chord diagrams with them.
It’s a DVD: I’ve moaned about this before. DVDs make it hard to go over the bits you’re interested in and skip past the stuff you know already. It leads to a lot of shuttling back and forth trying to find things. For example, he carefully explains all the chords he uses – even the most basic. Which drags a bit and is probably familiar to most people using the DVD.
Overall
I’d say it was a worthwhile purchase for beginners and anyone concerned about their strumming technique. It’s clearly taught and will give you a solid technique. But there’s not enough here to justify the price tag for more advanced players.
She and Him – Gonna Get Along Without You Now (Ukulele Version) (Chords)
It’s a shame there isn’t any uke on She & Him records. But at least Zooey Deschanel is busting out her K-Wave for live performances of this cover version.
The live ukulele version of the song differs from the album version (and the original version). It’s the ukulele version that I’ve written up. The main difference is the use of E minor in the chorus instead of Am7 (and she’s missed out a verse in this version whether by accident or design).
Suggested Strumming
In the chorus (and intro) for the C chord:
d – d u – u d –
You could use the same pattern for Am7 or you could fancy it up with this:
d u d u – u – d u
For the F and G7 one of these each
d – d u
Then you’re back to C for a bar before you restart.
In the verses is that the F and G7 chords last for twice as long (and there’s no final bar of C). So you can use this for each:
Videos this week include the Wellingtons with Bret taking the lead on a Randy Newman song (subscribe to their new channel), a snippet Martina ‘used to sing with Tricky’ Topley-Bird and her ukulele playing Ninja (see him more clearly here) and Ukulollo being hilarious.
But my faves this week are a couple of originals from 4DJB25 and Myriam Parent.
The full line-up for Wukulele has been announced. And it’s the best uke festival line up this year. Bob Brozman is the big draw and there are plenty of Uke Hunt favourites including The Bobby McGee’s, Sophie Madeleine, The Half Sisters and The Re-entrants. Another interesting act on the bill is Richard Durrant a classical guitarist responsible for this bit of BBC ukery.
Hester Goodman from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain has recorded a solo album and you can hear a few tracks on her MySpace. Via UOGB Fans who also have news that the Ukes will be playing with Jake Shimabukuro next year.
Tamacun is a rare treat. A guitar instrumental that transports to the ukulele directly with hardly any finangling. The melody is played almost exclusively on the top three strings above the fifth fret. And the chords are dead simple (Am – G – C – E until the solo).
Having said that, the strumming – which is the real highlight of the piece – is a nightmare. It’s well worth watching this Tamacun tutorial from the pair themselves (it’s from the DVD bonus on the album). It’s pretty difficult to keep up with what she’s doing even when she slows it down. But her accent is adorable, so all’s forgiven.
The one part where things do get difficult for the uke is in the solo. There are a couple of ways to handle the intro to the solo (bars 21-28 in the tab). I’ve gone for moving everything up an octave. The alternative is to use a low-G uke (as Brittni Paiva did for her version) and substitute the open E and A strings of the uke for the open B and E strings of the guitar.
Next problem is the long E Phrygian Dominant sweep (bar 32). Here I’ve taken my cue from Brittni’s version and done a descending run instead. In the rest of the solo I’ve stuck in a few re-entrant elements but there’s nothing to stop you playing it the same way as the original.
The easy way to go about the solo would be to improvise around the E Phrygian Dominant scale (popular in flamenco playing). But be sure to emphasise notes from the chord that’s playing at the time (either Dm7 or E7).
I haven’t tabbed out the banging and clattering section of the tune. You’re on your own there.
Thank you, bye. And practice. *watish*
UPDATE Go Team Yam has just put up a video tutorial for Tamacun. It’s slightly different to my version so check out some of the variations.
This is a technique people have been asking me about since my Rockabilly Roustabout video although it’s a technique I use often. But if you want to see how it’s really done you have to check out James Hill.
Strum blocking is a way of playing single notes with strums. You block off the strings you don’t want to sound so only one note rings.
There are a few advantages to doing this. It makes for a much smoother transition between chords and single notes in terms of tone and in terms of playing. It also gives you much more attack and makes it easier to play quickly.
The first thing you need to get down is how much pressure to put on the strings. You want to rest your hand on the strings hard enough so they don’t ring but soft enough that you’re not fretting them. Test it out by resting your fretting-hand fingers on all the strings and strumming. If you hear a sharp click like the first half of this MP3, you’re doing in right. If you hear some tones coming through like in the second half, press a little harder.
The toughest part is finding the fingers to cover the strings. There aren’t any hard and fast rules here, but this is what I do.
If the note is on the A-string and I’m using my index finger to fret, I’ll use my thumb to block g-string, my middle on the E-string and ring on the C-string (with my pinkie floating around as an extra bit of cover. Like this:
If I’m using my ring finger on the A-string, I’d probably barre across the strings with my index like this:
Just because a finger is being used for fretting, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for blocking as well. Here I’m fretting the C-string with my index finger and using the underside of it to block the E and A strings.
In this situation I’d usually use my spare fingers to double up on the strings as an extra bit of safety.
Try out a few different finger and string combinations until you’re happy you’ve got the basic idea. Then move on to the examples.
Example 1
This example is all down strums.
Example 2
Here we’ve got down and up strums. And you’re alternating between block strums and fully muted strums.
Example 3
Here’s the main riff of Rockabilly Roustabout slowed down.
Example 4
And this is the part where you have to switch quickly between chords and single notes.
Alaska in Winter – Close Your Eyes, We Are Blind (Chords)
It’s been far too long since I had some Zach Condon on the blog. And the tune he did with Alaska in Winter is packed with Beirutisms (the Bbadd9 chord, hammering on the g-string, 2nd fret in the F chord, switching the song half-way through).
Suggested Strumming
In the first half of the song use:
d – d u – u d u
Once each for Bbadd9 and C7.
For the F chord do the same strum twice but on the first strum only hold down the E-string, 1st fret of the F chord and hammer-on the g-string 2nd fret. He does vary the strum in the second bar often. You could also use:
d u d u d u d u
With your finger off the g-string (so you’re playing 0010) for the second half.
There’s not much uke for the second half of the song, so feel free to make up your own strum. Once it picks up, you could use:
