A few ideas for people who want to start making their own arrangements of tunes.

For this post I’ll be using Ode to Joy because the melody is very simple and you can play it against one chord (in this case C). Here’s the snippet:

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You’ll have to forgive any sniffles, coughs and hocked loogies you can pick up on these MP3s. I’m down with a nasty cold at the moment.

Melody and Strums

The most common way to combine melody and chords is to strum the chord and add the melody note on top of that.

In this case, we can strum the open g, C and E strings (make up a C chord) while we play the melody on the top string.

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To make the melody note stand out make sure it’s the last note you hit. So when the melody is on the A string use a down strum, when it’s on the g-string use an up strum. Because the melody here is all on the A-string, you use all down strums. I’m using my thumb for the strums and the single notes but for more complicated pieces varying your strumming and picking will make things more interesting.

Check out Mark Occhionero arrangement of Blue in Green for an idea of what you can do with this technique.

Melody and Harmony and Strum

You can spice up the chord soloing idea by harmonizing the melody. Here I’m harmonizing with notes a third below the melody.

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Back-up Picking

Here we’re adding in a simple fingerpicking pattern behind the melody. The picking hand is one finger per string (thumb on g-string, index on C-string, middle on E-string, ring on A string).

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There are all sorts of patterns you can use for this type of accompaniment. Take a listen to Rick Hulett’s arrangement of Falling Slowly for some ideas.

Alternate Picking

Fingerpicking again but this time, rather than having a dedicated finger for each string, the thumb flips between the g and C strings. On the guitar this type of playing is referred to as Travis picking or Cotten picking.

Here’s a typical pattern with the thumb playing the g and C strings, the index on the E and the middle on the A.

And here’s how you could use the pattern to play Ode to Joy.

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Here are a couple of tunes played in this way.

Which is the Best?

The one that sounds best to you.

There isn’t a right answer. Try them all out (and try it campanella style).

I’ve already put up two arrangements of Ode to Joy and neither of them sound anything like any of the arrangements on this post. If I was going to pick one for this tune, I’d go with the alternate picking. Which I never even thought of trying before this post.

There are so many ways of arranging any tune the only way to go is choose the one that suits you best rather than blindly copying the way it works for someone else.

I was tempted to bust out some Boyoyo Boys licks, but this was the only choice for the Malcolm McLaren tribute post.

Twiddly Bits

The chords for this one are pretty simple, but there are plenty of opportunities for showing off as well

There’s a simple bit at the end of the lines in the verse:

You can mix it up with the little picking pattern Will plays like this:

For the general widdling, use the G major scale (there’s a fretboard diagram here) for runs such as this:

In the run up to the first break create a bit of tension with something like this:

For the first instrumental break, use notes from the A Dorian scale. That sounds way more complicated than it is. The A Dorian scale has exactly the same notes as the G major scale. The only difference is the key you’re playing it in.

The end of the first break goes something like this (on a low-G uke):

For the second break concentrate on notes from the A minor pentatonic scale and throw in some of the other notes from A Dorian for a bit of colour.

Buy it on Live in London #1 or the Prom Night DVD

The idea behind these little snippets is that you memorize them and roll them out at an appropriate moment to make yourself look like you have a quick wit and a huge repertoire (or make yourself look like a smart-alec knob).

Cheesy Joke

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If you had a drum you’d go ba-dun tsss. But you’ve got a uke so play this.

Phone Call

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I wonder how Tarrega would feel about his Gran Vals being one of the most recognisable tunes on the planet but only known as the Nokia tune.

Here’s an easier version:

Someone’s on the Pull Tonight

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You don’t have to be accurate with the frets here, just make sure you play it with irony.

Spooky

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Are You Trying to Seduce Me?

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Yes, I do have to work this one up into a full arrangement.

Grand Entrance/Big Unveiling

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Playing a grand fanfare on the ukulele is inherently hilarious and particularly appropriate when the thing being revealed isn’t particularly impressive. Anyone know where this tune comes from? The folks on Twitter were no use at all.

Sad Trombone

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Thanks to SamD for suggesting this.

Tied to the Tracks

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Suggested by Jodi and Scott.

Big Clock

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This one uses harmonics but it works fine playing the same thing without them. It just won’t sound so chime-y.

Suggested by turgis.

Anyone have any suggestions for other tunes that could come in handy?

I’m not quite sure if I’m allowed to post Buke & Gass. The ‘Buke’ part of the name comes from the modified baritone ukulele they use. It might not be a ukulele but I’m willing to overlook the ‘4 strings good, 6 strings bad’ commandment because they make a wonderful racket.

Also this week: the welcome return of Howlin’ Hobbit with wonderful facial hair, a lovely cover by theicetray and plenty more.

Read the rest of this entry »

The more I hear of Mya-Moe resonator ukes, the more I’m dying to have one. Particularly the lap-steels. There’s this non-lap tenor up on eBay at the moment.

Another name that’s been gradually moving up my gimme-list is Gibson. This Gibson Uke 1 is beautiful. At the other end of the condition scale, this beaten up banjo uke is charming.

Pete Howlett dreadnought.

What on earth makes this Texas Centennial ukulele worth two and a half grand?

Jake plays for Google, chats ukulele and – my favourite part – does a Q&A in this hour long appearance at GoogleTalks.

Ukulele April Fool of the year goes to this article from NPR about the discovery of demos from a very young Kurt Cobain including, “”Nixon Must Die (Or Resign)”… “Shazam!”; and the collection’s lone cover, a ukulele version of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker.”” Like all good April Fools, it’s just bordering on believable. The ‘news’ was still being reported as fact several days later.

Fluxblog interview Dan Kois about his Israel Kamakawiwo’ole biography. The interview is well worth a read and there’s also a video of Pearl Jam covering Hawai’i ’78.

Guitar Magazines realise what people really want.

Ugulele via Humble Uker

MP3s: Wisdom Tooth has a new EP out (and a lovely cover of Panic on her Tumblr

The ukulele bit on Malcolm in the Middle.

Elliott Brood on Uker Tabs.

Racy ukulele meets Mills and Boon action.

Misery Loves Sherman – getting it wrong on ukuleles and moustaches.

Pictures: Make a Wish, rock out with your spock out, ukulele, another graphical representation of Ukulele for Geeks (this time including me – yay – and ezFolk – boo).

I thought while I had my baritone out for the Jonsi tab, I’d do a long overdue post of Patrick Wolf’s Gypsy King.

The first thing you’ll have to do is retune the uke. The tuning is DGCE – so you need to tune the B-string up a semitone.

The time signature of it is a little tricksy. 6/8 is the way it makes most sense to me. But I’m not really to be trusted in such matters.

There are only two riffs in the whole song:

This tab is from the studio version which is slightly different from the live version above. In the blank bar he does a few pull-offs from the third fret on the E string. And in the chorus he just strums out the chords that are picked in the studio version.

The ukulele seems to attract more than its share of bullshit. So here’s a list of stuff – much of which I may have propagated at some point – that whiffs heavily of balls.

Some of these are written from a devil’s-advocate perspective and I haven’t made my mind up on some issues. So feel free to disagree with any or all of these in the comments.

1. It’s easy to play the ukulele.

There was a lot of this talk at Ukelear Meltdown. Their website embarrassingly declares that the uke can be, “mastered in a matter of months.” But that’s not as embarrassing as the act took to the stage saying how easy it was to play the uke, then went on to fluff chord changes so badly he ground to a complete halt on a couple of occasions.

The ukulele might be a relatively simple instrument to pick up and get going on but to make it an instrument you can do wonderful things on is, as with all instruments, very difficult.

For more of this argument, check out 10 Reasons It’s Easier to Play the Guitar than the Ukulele

2. Ukulele means ‘jumping flea’ in Hawaiian.

The story of Edward ‘Jumping Flea’ Purvis and his love of the instrument has become the default translation, but it has plenty of competitors. And it didn’t take hold until long after the ukulele pioneers were long dead. And Queen Liliuokalani herself said ukulele means ‘gift from afar’.

John King, who is the foremost scholar on this sort of thing, refers to George Kanahele’s five competing stories of how the ukulele was named.

It’s also worth noting that, as well as ‘flea’, one of the definitions of ‘uku is, “small, tiny.” which would seem to be a more likely candidate for naming. And there’s a theory it developed from the Hawaiians’ previous instrument of choice the Ukeke.

3. Ukuleles should be taught in schools.

The most worrying aspect of the current ukulele boom is how much their use has taken off in schools. Schools tend to be very bad at imparting a life long love of anything – I can’t think of a single thing I was introduced to in school that I still enjoy. I dare say if I’d been forced to play the uke at school I wouldn’t be playing it now.

If schools inculcated a life long love of a musical instrument, the recorder would be the most popular instrument in the country.

4. Ukulele festivals are a good idea.

I don’t want to rag on Ukelear Meltdown again – plenty of people obviously loved it – but it has convinced me to reduce my ukulele festival outing plans this year (possibly as far as zero).

It’s safe to say I have a higher ukulele-tolerance-threshold than most. But even I wouldn’t choose to listen to only ukulele music for three days straight. And there does seem to be a tendency to include acts for the instrument they use rather than any talent.

A ukulele festival really needs a very diverse bill to be interesting – something some of the line-ups I’ve seen this year don’t have.

5. The ukulele is a good instrument to learn before progressing to guitar.

While being able to play the ukulele is going to give you a good grounding for playing the guitar, the ukulele isn’t just a guitar with training wheels. It’s worth learning in its own right. There’s a vast gulf between what is most effective on a ukulele and what is most effective on a guitar.

If you want to play the guitar, learn the guitar.

My argument does collapse when you look at a list of people who started on ukulele before “progressing” to guitar: Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Dick Dale.

6. Koa is the best wood for ukuleles.

Koa ukuleles come with a big premium these days. Just compare the prices of a Martin 2K and a Martin 2M.

It does look nice but does it sound any better than mahogany? Not to my ears.

7. Tenor ukuleles are louder.

Not always. The size of the uke is relatively unimportant compared to factors like wood, thickness and lightness of construction.

8. ‘Ukelele’ is a misspelling.

Not according to Merrium Webster or pretty much any dictionary you care to consult. ‘Ukelele’ is a perfectly acceptable variation.

9. You should write ‘ukulele with an ‘okina.

Some people are very vociferous about the use of the Hawaiian ‘okina when writing ukulele, even editing it in to people who choose not to use it. The second half of this article makes a great job of fighting pedantry with pedantry by pointing out that if you’re using ‘ukulele as a foreign word in an English text you should have it in italics.

10. Record labels are shooting themselves in the foot attacking YouTube covers and lessons.

If I was the head of a record company and desperate to preserve my moribund way of doing things, I’d be banning every tutorial, tab and YouTube cover as well. Anything to stop people finding out that a) you don’t need and A&R guy’s approval to make music and b) making music is more fun than listening to it.

Last Minute Addition: There aren’t enough ukulele competitions around.

This one was inspired by Ukulala’s post today about the benefits of ukulele competitions.

As a reader, I’m am very bored of ukulele competitions. There’s no real value to them in the long term. I’m never much interested in entering a competition where there’s a prize I could just buy if I wanted.

From the blogging perspective, competitions might provide a nice boost in traffic for a few days but they aren’t a substitute for putting in the hard work and building a site worth visiting.

For the people who, quite sensibly, don’t bother reading these bits: YOU NEED TO RETUNE TO EABE.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Sigur Ros. So I was very pleased to hear Jonsi was sporting a ukulele. And I love this tune. It’s glorious. I love it so much I even busted out my Ohana baritone to work it out. You can tell how little use it gets; my fingers tips were black by the time I’d finished.

I worked out this version from the stripped-down acoustic version he’s been performing although you can play exactly the same thing along with the studio version.

Tuning

He’s using the tuning EABE. Which means you have to tune the D string and the G string up a tone.

But it doesn’t present any major problems to play it in standard tuning. You’ll just have to move everything on the D string up two frets. For example, the first bit of the verse would be played like this:

The only problem you’ll have is in the strummed section. The best thing to do there is block the G-string from ringing.

Picking

Thumb on the 4th string.
Index finger on the 2nd string.
Middle finger on the 1st string.

Happy Easter, you guys.

There aren’t many Easter ukulele songs around. Particularly compared to the amount of Christmas junk. Gerald Ross did a version of Easter Parade which Dominator has tab for. But my favourite is Cory McAbee‘s song with the Billy Nayer Show Slim. And he’s giving it away via Twitter.

Chords

Or, more accurately, ‘chord’. It’s D6 all the way through. Which is all the strings open in D-tuning (which seems to be his tuning of choice) or this in C-tuning.

Strumming

The fancy way of doing it is to use a triplet strum (down with your index finger, down with your thumb, up with your index finger) but use it for straight quavers. Do that twice then one down, up. So it’s:

d d u d d u d u

The easier way of doing it is with all down strums but emphasizing certain strums like this:

D d d D d d D d

Twiddly Bits

Here’s the solo bit in D-tuning :

But it’s playable in C, just move everything up two frets like this or you can move things around a little like this.

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