The vote for video of the year is very close between U900 and Ukulelezo (one vote between them as I write) with Sophie Madeleine and Mr B not far behind. Go and cast your vote if you haven’t done so.
This year’s ukulele festivals are stacking up:
– Ukelear Meltdown (in Newcastle, UK) always has the most interesting lineup. This year it includes acts from the US, Pakistan and Finland as well as the UK debut of Mighty Uke. Most of the acts on the bill are a mystery to me (as is the ticket ordering process).
– Lone Star Ukulele Festival including James Hill, Pops Bayless and Ukulele Bartt.
– NYUF early-bird tickets available.
In the comments: Jimmy made a few interesting points in his comments on the video of the year vote. A particularly contentious one: “Well, we’ve gotta rule out all the covers on the ground that they are covers and therefore have little of merit other than wankery.”
Phredd – Elmer’s Electric Tricycle (Chords and Tab)
I wish we had songs this good when I was a kid. All we had was Fingerbobs (okay, so Bagpuss was pretty amazing). I can certainly relate to the story of a mad scientist working away in the shed with everyone wondering what’s he building in there?
This track turned up on the Phredderiffic in a uke-less form. But I’ve written up the uke version from Phreddtube because, of course, it’s far superior.
Suggested Strumming
In the verses, he’s using the same figure as the intro. But if you’d rather strum, you could go with:
I think the fact that The Who – one of the hardest rocking bands in history – had a ukulele song deserves a bigger mention than it usually gets. Perhaps it will do now that Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey both regularly play the song live on uke.
They both play Blue, Red and Grey slightly differently to the version on The Who by Numbers (which is the version I’ve written up). The original is played in D-tuning but both now play it in C-tuning. Daltrey uses the same chords as the original while Townshend uses – broadly – the same chord shapes as the original (so it’s a tone lower). Another difference is that Townshend uses the F – C7M progression from the bridge in the verses as well.
Suggested Strumming
Time to invent a new bit of shorthand: t = touch strum (i.e. a down strum only hitting the g-string).
Last year, the ukulele world lost two of the classiest players and arrangers for ukulele: John King and John Kavanagh.
John Kavanagh’s arrangements of ragtime tunes on his album Parlour Music were a particular inspiration for me. He managed to make those insanely tricky pieces sound clean and elegant. So I was very privaleged to have been able to exchange emails on our shared passion for playing ragtime on the ukulele and delighted when he was generous enough to say nice things about my Ragtime arrangements – in this excellent article on Ragtime ukuele – despite my obvious noob status.
The same mastery of ukulele arrangement is on display on the album he was working on when he died Small Rooms. The album has been completed and released by John’s friends and family – who have done a great job with it – and it’s well worth checking out. You can stream clips of it on johnkavanagh.net and buy it here
I feel a bit guilty for all the UK-centric theme tunes I do. The only US shows I watch have doom laden intros (House, Heroes) or featureless backing for a voiceover (The Daily Show, Mythbusters). So if you have any suggestions for non-UK theme tunes that would work well on the uke, let me know.
Having said that, the Coronation Street theme tune doesn’t work too well on the uke. It’s a little too slow for the uke’s sustain. Which is why Ian Re-entrant’s funky version works well. But it’s a more faithful version that I’ve tabbed up.
Back to this year, two fantastic videos include loops, beats and electric ukes from Kilgore Trout is Dead and Little6ster (which I think is the first contender for video of the year 2010). Also this week is the swearier of Sebi’s two odes to WMG (his story has been picked up by the Swiss press), Judy Marshak and many more.
If you can’t wait for the Ohana resonator to turn up, this nickel-plated bell brass Recording King Resonator seems like a sweet deal. But it’s still the National resonator that makes me go all gooey in the knees.
Keli’i are turning out some curly koa ukes at a reasonable price.