You’ve just got your hands on a ukulele (or are just thinking of buying one). Here are a few things to read and songs to play that’ll get you up to speed quickly.
Extra Credit: Ukulele for Dummies – The (paper) book I wrote covering all the ukulele basics from buying your first uke, to strumming, chord shapes and far beyond.
Extra Credit: Joan Jett – Bad Reputation – Easy chords but you’ll need to have your chord changes down and a strong strumming-hand to play it up to speed.
Since his arrangement of In the Mood, I’ve been looking forward to seeing what David would come up with next and I wasn’t disappointed. His version of Mississippi Blues has plenty of bluesy licks. And he was kind enough to let me share the arrangement here.
As far as I’m concerned, the UOGB’s performance at the Proms is the high-water mark of the ukulele revival (so far).
If you’re not familiar with the Proms, they’re a series of straight classical music concerts that have been held at the Royal Albert Hall for the last 115 years and culminate in a display of chinlessness and nostalgic faux-nationalism at the Last Night of the Proms. They’re about as establishment as you can get. So having the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain play at the Proms is similar to the Queen breaking out an Abbott Monarch for a rendition of Five Foot Two.
If you hadn’t guessed from the last paragraph, I’m not much of a fan of the Proms. They represent a staid, backward-looking, elitist side of Britain. Which begs two questions: Who the hell put the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain on the bill? And why was I so pleased they were part of it?
Part of why I enjoyed it is that the music feels slightly homemade. The Ukes are good musicians but they’re certainly not virtuosi. George quotes of one fan’s response to his fears of not getting all the notes right, “We don’t come to your concert to see you get the notes right.” No matter how big they get, there’s still a sense that they’re one of us. Playing inappropriate tunes on the ukulele just for the fun of it.
And that idea reaches its natural conclusion with 1,000 audience members playing along with Ode to Joy. Anyone watching that hoping to hear the right notes is going to come away disappointed. But the sight of 1,000 people cheering and waving out-of-tune ukuleles feels like a vindication of everyone who has picked up an instrument (or a paintbrush, or knitting needle or a saw) and decided that making their own entertainment was more important than switching on the telly to watch someone competent.
Is should probably talk about the DVD itself. If you want a proper write-up, I highly recommend you read Acilius’s review. He asked a question: “Is it really worth paying £15.00 plus postage?” His answer was an emphatic yes. Mine is a bit more circumspect. It’s a must buy for anyone who, like me, wants to own a bit of ukulele history and UOGB completists. But people who just want a flavour of the Ukes would be better off with Live in London #1 and #2.
Buy Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain Prom Night on their website.
I think this tune has to be the most overused piece of music on television: reality shows, sporting montages, documentaries. And now it’s been covered by the guy off of G4. That would usually be enough to kill off any song. But this song is so magnificent it gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
For the uke arrangement I’ve moved everything up a fret from the original to the more uke-friendly key of C. The first half of tune is all played campanella style (i.e. one note per string letting them ring into each other). I know a lot of people don’t like this way of playing but, screw it, it’s easily the best way of arranging a tune like this.
The most important thing to get right is the dynamics (quiet and louds bits). The original gets this one spot on. Obviously you’re not going to have the same dynamic range as a full band and a string section. But try to let the music swell in the first half and blossom in the second half. The dynamics are what gives emotion to the tune.
Another important thing to get right – which I completely failed to do in the video – is to keep an even tempo. I speed up much too fast towards the end. So do as I say not as I do.
Favourite find this week is Cosmo Jarvis’s catchy, King-Blues like, bros-before-hoes anthem She’s Got You. Also this week (thanks to Oren) is super(ish) group Operation Aloha hewn from members of Gomez (it’s Ian Ball on uke), Maroon 5, Phantom Planet and others who met up on Hawaii and, inevitably, end up using a uke.
If you’re looking for something a bit more ambitious than the usual fare for you ukulele group/orchestra/band, James Hill has put a number of big band ukulele arrangements up for sale. It’s all high and low G friendly and in C and D tuning. To get an idea of what it sounds like, check out the Portland Ukulele Big Band.
The uke community obviously has a big love for woolen puppets. Last year it was Rod Thomas’s sock puppets and this year’s winner is the adorable Japanese duo U900.
It’s a deserving winner and I caught up with U900’s human representative Yosuke Kihara to learn more about them.
What’s the history of U900?
Rabbit U was knocked out by The Ventures guitar sound and wanted to be a guitar hero. But guitars were too big for his body and he had to give up his dream.
Then he started making a trip to find what he wants to be. On its way in Hawaii, he found a ukulele and decided to play this instrument.
After coming back to Japan he’s got a fateful encounter
—- one day in a park of Tokyo he met a guy playing the ukulele
—- it was Bear 900 who also picked up a ukulele for the same reason.
The two guys have got good vibes each other and started a ukulele band U900.
Usagi-no U (Rabbit U)
– Lead vocal & Ukulele
– Character: Cheerful and like to be eye-catchy. Quite indifferent about things but easily moved to tears on the other hand.
– Favorites: latest hit pops (a fan of Beyonce nowadays), carrot juice, dancing, playing tricks.
Kuma-no Kulele (Bear 900)
-Vocal, keyboards & others
-Character: not talkative and looks absent-minded, but well organized in fact.
Good at caring people and making things.
-Favorites: progressive rock & fusion, toast with honey, practicing instruments, taking a nap.
Who is it playing the ukulele on the tracks?
U900 themselves are playing as you see on the video.
(Like other people such as Micky Mouse plays instruments!)
What is it about the Ventures that appeals to you so much?
The Ventures is the first musician who turned us on and lead us to music. But of course we like many of other overseas artists & music.
Your obviously a very talented animator, what’s your background?
I’m a professional illustrator & animator and creating characters and those animations for books, TV programs, etc. And I make video games, too, like this : RIBBIT KING
And of course I make amigurumi (soft toys) by knitting !
Will you be releasing your stuff in the US and Europe? Will we be able to get it on iTunes in the future?
We’d love to introduce U900 and if any one is interested in releasing their album please contact our Japanese label, Pony Canyon.
What can we expect to see and hear from U900 in the future?
U900 has released 2 CDs so far and another album will be out thie year. And new video for Web like YouTube is under planning. I’m pleasing that U900 wins The Ukulele Video Of The Year!
Hope our music will be reached people all over the world.
Ian Dury is, obviously, irreplaceable. Which hasn’t stopped the Blockheads replacing him. With the best will in the world, Derek ‘The Draw’ Hussey isn’t up to the job. The vocals and lyrics might not be much cop, but there are plenty of nice musical moves going on. The tasty ukulele intro in this version is played on a low-G uke, but it works pretty well in standard tuning too:
A Little Knowldge (Intro Tab)
The ukulele intro doesn’t feature on the recorded version, but there is a uke on it playing the chords. The chord progression is quite a neat chromatically descending figure topped off with a classic turnaround.
More than anyone else, I look forward to seeing new videos from Michelle Blades on my YouTube subs page. Her songs are stunningly inventive and keep getting better and better. She’s just released a new albumOh, Nostalgia! so it seemed like the perfect time to ask her about improvising, Panama and Kerouac.
How did you come to pick up the uke? What appeals to you about it?
I grew up around guitars my whole life and would always fiddle with them but they never really kept my interest for very long. Then one day when I was sixteen I was humming a tune while walking to a set of monkey bars by my house and thought a ukulele would be nice.. they’re small and seem like fun, so I bought one the next week. I never put it down, haha.
I guess the uke has such widespread traditional ways of being played, there’s kind of this expectation as to what kind of genres of music you play once you mention you play a ukulele. That makes it really fun to just experiment on them and kind of throw people off, play differently. They’re a fun thing.
I read you improvise most of the set when you play live. Is that true? How on earth do you do it?
Haha I don’t know. I just kind of start singing or playing whatever is in my head and follow along until some theme emerges and it falls together. Improvising feels like the best way to be honest or sincere about whatever you’re singing about.. It’s easier for me to just improvise a song and memorize it than sit down and write one. Most of the videos on youtube are improv songs I wanted to record so I can memorize them later.. haha. I think the best way to explain it is it’s like falling in love. It’s scary but you just want to go about it naturally without forcing anything and you don’t know what you’re doing but it all goes about quite well, usually, and nothing is grander.
What are your top songwriting tips?
Since I usually improv the stuff, I think Kerouac said it best when he created the “rules” for spontaneous prose. Here’s a few that would answer the question:
2. Submissive to everything, open, listening
5. Something that you feel will find its own form
6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind
8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind
9. The unspeakable visions of the individual
10. No time for poetry but exactly what is
12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you
13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition
17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself
19. Accept loss forever
21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind
22. Dont think of words when you stop but to see picture better
24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge
25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it
28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better
29. You’re a Genius all the time
You were born in Panama and your uncle is Ruben Blades, how has that background influenced your music?
Spanish was my first language but when I moved to the states and learned english I was kind of enthralled with this new language. I got real into folk and post-rock and punk and whatnot and never really acknowledged my roots, I guess. It wasn’t until I was sixteen when I first started making songs in spanish and listening to my dad’s music and my uncle’s music and Devendra. I was still new to the uke and was still strumming G’s and Em’s but eventually I got real into classical Spanish and Flamenco music and all that crazy finger picking.. so it changed the way I played.
Just recently I’ve been listening to a lot of Cuban folk music. Pretty awesome.
Which three songs should everyone listen to?
Ah..
1: Bur Oak by Bowerbirds
2: Jump for Joy (take 1) by Duke Ellington
3: Maria Cristina by Duo Sauces
3.5: By Balloon or Sinking Ship by Jordan O Jordan
You’re coming over to Europe soon, what are your plans while you’re over here?
Play music, make music, take lots of pictures and make friends! ..and stay as long as possible. I’ve never been there and I can’t believe I get to go to play music. Oh, and eat.
