One event I’m very much looking forward to following this year is Bosko and Honey’s Oz Safari. Compared to New Zealand, we hear very little about the Australian uke scene. So I’m eager to learn more.

One Australian I don’t expect to be seeing on the Safari – I believe he lives in the US now – is Scott Matthew. But it’s a good enough segue for me because I’ve been meaning to post this one for an age.

Before you tackle it a couple of things you need to know:

– It’s played in D-tuning
– It’s in 3/4 time.
– For the picking use your thumb on the G-string then one finger each for the other strings.

“And IIIIII…” part is A7 then one strum each on D – D7 – D6.

Suggested by Emilie and Antwan.

Time to look back on the ukulele videos of last year. And it was a bumper crop. If you need any proof check out the list of some of the contenders below. And – to be honest – that’s the real purpose of the vote: to get people watching excellent musicians. So if there’s a video you think has been cruelly overlooked, be sure to give it a nomination because I’ll be watching anything I missed first time round.

For the first stage, everyone gets to nominate up to 5 videos – leave them in the comments. From those nominations, I’ll cobble together a list of ten (ish) to go to the big vote.

The rules remain as ramshackle as ever:

– There has to be a ukulele in there.
– Videos must have been recorded and uploaded in 2009.
– Videos must be publicly available online.
– Maximum of five nominations per person.
– Post your nominations in the comments.
– Nominations close midnight Monday 1st February (Hawaii time).
– Ten acts with the most nominations go into the final vote with their most nominated song going forward.
– No prize. Just the love and admiration of the heaving masses.

UPDATE: New rule: no sucking up by voting for me.

Don’t panic if your comments don’t show up right away. When a comment contains a few links it gets held back for spam checking.

My Nominations:

John King and James Hill – Larry O’Gaff & Swallowtail Jigs
Sophie Madeleine – Take Your Love With Me
Peggy Sue – Lover Gone
The Bobby McGee’s – Go, Tiger, Go!
tUnE YaRdS – “Hatari” Part I – Pastport Office

Others you might like to consider:

Michelle Blades – Rie Rio
U900 – Diamond Head
Miss Jess – Philadelphia
Rocky and Balls – I Heart You Online
Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer – Chap-Hop History
Arborea – Beirut
Gensblue with Bosko and Honey – Earthquake
L’Uke and GUGUG – Girl U Want
Kalei Gamiao – Mach 4
Honeycomb – Cough Syrup
Craig Robertson – Wrong’s What I Do Best
Todd Baio – No Tears in Heaven
Dent May – Meet Me in the Garden
Victoria Vox and Boulder Acoustic Society – America
Ukulolo – Ravel’s Bolero
Garfunkel and Oates – Present Face
Tiny McItchyFace – I’m Yours
Agathe and Fine – Pirate’s Gospel
Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra – Dreaming of You
Elliott Brood – Valley Town
Ukulelezo – Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun

There seems to be a natural synergy between the ukulele and knitting. Both much maligned, both newly hip and both excellent, low-key ways for people to be creative. There are certainly a lot of people who do both. And I’m very much in favour of it. Perhaps I should take up knitting. Anyone offering lessons?

Suggested Strumming

For the Em and D chords:

d – d u – u d u
– u d u – u d –

For the shorter chords after that:

d – d u – u d –

And the same patterns for the middle.

Twiddly Bits

The solo uses the same chords as the middle. It’s a tricky progression to solo over and she’s gone for the smart (and easy) way of dealing with F# chord: play notes from the chord itself.

Buy it on BandCamp and you can now get Life.Love.Ukulele. with killer artwork on vinyl (it’s a spinning disc with music on apparently – I can’t see it catching on) – Discount code “love” for 15% off.

Phredd, being a purveyor of goofy songs for kids songs and worship songs, is an act I would expect to hate. Yet he has a knack of winning over grumpy atheists like me and Craig Robertson. I think it’s because his songs sound naturally fun. It’s so easy for this sort of thing to sound forced and done by the numbers. But he always gives the impression that this is what he’d be doing anyway. You certainly don’t get an attitude of, “That’ll do, it’s only for kids,” that a lot of children’s acts come with.

Phredd has a brand new album out, Phreddtastic!, which is packed with good-timing tunes about about monkeys, pirates and monkey pirates.

Highly recommended for anyone who gets the occasional urge to dance around their bedroom like a monkey pirate (no matter how grown up and grumpy they pretend they are the rest of the time).

Essential tracks: Zoo in Space, 4 Monkey Pirates, 42 Monkeys.

You can get the CD on WJTL, pick up the MP3s on iTunes, subscribe to his YouTube and visit him on Phredd Central.

Before I start, a quick update on the Sebi situation. After having his channel suspended for covering a song owned by WMG, he’s set up a new one with two videos sharing his love for Warners.

I’ve already covered most of the best ukulele albums from 2009 (like Sophie Madeleine‘s Life. Love. Ukulele. and L’appropriation Bourgoisie de la Bobby McGee’s), but I’ve almost completely ignored BiRd-BrAiNs by tUnE-YaRdS (perhaps because it’s such a pain in the arse to write the name). A horrendous oversight since it was one of the most exciting and interesting albums of the year.

As with all things tUnE-YaRdS, her ukulele tuning is somewhat unusual. As revealed in her interview with UkeToob, she plays a tenor ukulele but tunes it baritone style dGBE (with a high-D string). That means you can play it as written on a standard ukulele but it will be five frets higher.

Part two of the UkeTube features a beautiful song from Matt Kresling, shouty Scots GUGUG, fleat-fingerwork from Martin Wheatley and Ian Emmerson and plenty more.

Read the rest of this entry »

A two parter needed for all the videos that have cropped up during my break. The first includes Emily Ritz’s newly christened band Honeycomb, Jake Wildwood, part of the UOGB’s Proms performance and Supercute! the new band of Rachel Trachtenburg (of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players) covering the Mighty Zeppelin.

Read the rest of this entry »

There are a few bits and pieces from, the big guitar shindig, NAMM flying around but easily the best finds come from thejumpingflea. He came across Mid-East Ukuleles which have ukes based on the oud, the balalaika and (OMGOMGOMG!!!!1!) a sitarlele. There’s a brief and dark video of one here.

Other new stuff:

– Is that a ukulele in your pocket or do you just have a strangely shaped penis? Kala have a new 16-inch Pocket Uke. Here’s the pocket uke being played by Bob Brozman and here’s a clip of a guy telling you how to use it to pick up chicks.
– aNueNue have made a Nunes style ukulele. I’ve been wanting a company to make something like this and they’ve done a great job with it. I hope the make it a regular.
– Blackbird carbon fiber ukulele (sounds and looks fairly nasty in the video).
– Jake Shimabukuro MIGM.
– Ibanez Iceman.

On to ukuleles you can buy right now.

Kalos ukuleles are a new one on me. Unusually, they charge the same price for soprano, concert and tenor ukes.

New Kala Reggae ukulele.

Photos: sailors dance the Charleston, clown string band.

I’m back!

If you’re in the London area, there are going to be beginner and intermediate ukulele workshops from Martin Wheatley and Colin Tribe in February and March. Here’s a pdf with all the info (dates and contact details on page two):

Ukulele Workshops (PDF)

New free recordings from a few Uke Hunt favourites:

– Jake Wildwood has a new album out Destoyers of Venus. It’s a bit of a step away from his albums about trees and woodland creatures. It’s a sci-fi concept album set on Venus. You can download the whole thing free here. Essential tracks: Bully War, Give Up the Ghost.
– New EP from Todd Baio which you can grab free here. He also argues a good case for Tiny Tim.
– New album from Matt Kresling. Grab it from the sidebar of this video.

You can pre-order Bosko and Honey’s Ukulele Safari Compilation CD.

Sebi has had his YouTube account suspended by WMG because he covered a couple of Chili Pepper songs. That’s right, COVERED.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain will be appearing in the latest series of Skins. Pictures from the set here and here via UOGB fans.

Printable ukulele tags from Shelley Rickey.

Tongan ukulele legend Sione Aleki has died. Watch him doing his wild thing here.

Tom Courtenay and Harry Hill play ukes to save the Half Moon.

Garfunkel and Oates with some hilarious news anchors.

Mark Occhionero expounds on his approach to jazz theory.

Bill Cosby gets together with KoAloha.

Flight of the Conchords and The King Blues on Uker Tabs.

Ukulele pictures: mcbess (if you’re not familiar with mc bess you have to watch WOOD), FOTC poster, Portland Ukulele Project win at being cool, Howlin’ Hobbit’s promo technique, Americana: Uke, not finish

UPDATE: Voting closed. Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote.

I’ve been dragged from my Christmas break to bring you an important announcement.

The Bobby McGee’s are one of the contenders for Xfm’s New Music Award and need your help to get through to the shortlist phase.

Go to this page and write in:

First Choice Artist-
The Bobby McGees

First Choice Album-
L’Appropriation Bourgoisie De La Bobby McGees

You don’t need to log in or anything annoying like that. And you can vote once for each email address you have (I’ve already voted three times).

You need to vote for three – the contenders are here. If you can’t be arsed wading through them, the other known ukers on the list are:

Florence And The Machine – Lungs
(Hear them doing Postcards from Italy)
Tom Allalone & The 78s – Major Sins Pt. 1
(Hear them doing Casillero Del Diablo)

You’ve got until Friday to cast your vote.

More from the Bobby McGee’s

Learn Ukulele with the Bobby McGee’s
Forever and a Day (Chords)
Bobby McGee’s Interview