White Christmas (mp3)

I couldn’t let Christmas pass without working up a version of this tune. It’s a classic.

This arrangement keeps it fairly simple. It’s mostly just strummed chords. When you’re playing a chord based solo like this one, it’s important that you emphasise the melody notes. There are a couple of main ways to do this.

Firstly, by making the last note you hit in a strum the melody note.

Secondly, by giving a bit more omph to the chords on the melody beats. For example, in bar 6 the melody note is the first beat (the ‘I’m’), so play this chord stronger and the rest of the strums in the bar more softly.

If you like this style of arrangement, you can find more Christmas songs arranged like this in How To Play Christmas Ukulele.

If you’re in Hollywood this Friday, head over to the Egyptian Theater for their screening of White Christmas where Ukulele Davey will be leading a sing-along.

Bob Brozman’s Ukulele Tunes & Techniques (DVD)

Bob Brozman is one of my musical heroes. A quick check on YouTube will show you why. It’s not just his playing, it’s his musical philosophizing too. He’s always interesting and often highly quotable (the quote of him on my About page is from this DVD). All that meant that buying this DVD was a bit of a no-brainer for me.

The DVD has Brozman playing through different arrangements of a number of Hawaiian and American tunes tabbed out in the accompanying booklet. Towards the end, he is joined by Hawaiian guitarist and ukulelist Ledward Kaapana. Brozman’s tunes are arranged on D-tuned ukulele and Kaapana’s tunes for low-G ukulele.

The full tab list is:

Hi’ilawe, Meleana’E, The Beach at Waikiki, Ukulele Blues, Sweet Georgia Brown, I’ll See You In My Dreams and Spanish Eyes (Kaapana).

There are also untabbed performances of Ukulele Spaghetti, Tomi Tomi and L&D Slack Key (Kaapana).

The Good Stuff:

– Techniques. This DVD was a huge inspiration on my playing. Each time I watch it I’m itching to to try something new I’ve picked up from it.
– Some of the stuff Brozman pulls off is just fantastic to watch and hear.
– There’s a lot to be learnt here about how to use chord inversions and how to incorporate them into chord solos.
– Some very good examples of how to arrange the same song in different ways to keep it interesting.
– Ledward Kaapana. He’s a big teddy bear and probably the most adorable man in the world. He also pulls of tricks in L&D Slack Key that are worth the price of admission by themselves.

The Not So Good Stuff:

– Tunes. I haven’t learnt a single tune from the DVD. It’s sometimes hard to work out exactly which piece of tab is being played. Sometimes what is being played isn’t tabbed out at all. Brozman turns in a fantastic fingerpicked version of The Beach at Waikiki but all we get tab for is the strummed version. When I watch this DVD I promise myself I’m going to learn one of the songs but it never happens.
– Kaapana isn’t a natural teacher. Bob has to play both faux-naif “What ya doing there, Led?” role and the know-it-all teacher role.
– Tunings. Bob’s in D-tuning which makes chord names confusing for C-tuners (particularly if they’re a bit slow in the head like me). Led’s in low-G which isn’t really a ukulele.

Overall: Inspirational.

More Christmas gifts for ukulele players

I couldn’t imagine Christmas without this song. When I picture the nativity, I imagine Joseph screeching, “It’s KRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSS-MAAAAS.” But, I’m guessing, most people outside the UK will be completely baffled by it.

The song starts out with a series of ‘slash chords’ which need a little reworking on the uke (you can read about how to do it here) and is a little fiddly to play. But, other than that, it’s fairly plain sailing through the rest of the tune.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday dear me, Happy Birthday to me.

I turned thirty today which makes me officially over the hill. If we were in a Logan’s Run-style future my palm-light would be blinking and I’d be running for my life – pausing only to make out with Jenny Agutter. But until the planet comes to its senses and instigates such a policy, I’m free to amble around telling youngsters how everything was better in the auld-times.

I know you’re all planning a huge surprise party for me later, so I won’t go on. I just wanted to post my tab of Happy Birthday so you can all play it to me at the party.

It also happens to be the birthday of Martin ukuleles tomorrow.

According to here, the traits of Sagittarius are:

* Fun
* Optimist
* Good-natured
* Sociable
* Spiritual
* Impatient
* Fears responsibility
* Self-indulgence
* Fanaticism
* Peter Pan syndrome
* Tendency to gamble

A terrible description of me, perhaps a better description of Martin ukes.

To Be Over midi

I was intending to post this during the second round of riff tabs, and it completely slipped my mind. Which was a shame as this is a rather lovely little intro and makes a good contrast to the heavy, crunching riffs.

This tab was put together by IanB.

Officially, the Saturday UkeTube is on hiatus at the moment. However, these five videos are just too good. I had to share them.

John King – Bach Prelude

You have to check out his other three videos as well.

Sweetafton23 – Mr Fancy Pants

Brian Hefferan – Elite Syncopations

theDesignmachine – Fat Bottom Girls

Ukulelezaza – Paper Moon

Ukulele Review interviews Jim Beloff.

Ukulele Videos with one click downloads of YouTube videos.

Ukulele Christmas in Helsinki with Ukebox, Ukulelezaza and more.

UkeCast Holiday Special – my favourite is the handsome guy in the pink.

I stumbled across a some interesting torrents (while I was searching for something completely legal) of Ukulele Noir at the Nave with Craig Robertson and, the East Boston Make Out Club Band and Uncle Shoe. Craig says, “‘sokay…”.

Download an mp3 of The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performing The Automatic’s Is It A Monster on CBBC. There are also some mp3s of them performing Christmas songs on their website.

Amy Crehore has two more pieces of uke starring art.

Paul Merton’s Silent Clowns featured Harold Lloyd this week including this scene from Captain Kidd’s Kids where Lloyd impresses some sexy pirates with his uke abilities (from about 1:40).

Untouched By Work or Duty draws our attention to ukulele covers of Morrissey on the ukulele by Perrecy with an mp3. Old Blue Bus has mp3s of island version of Stagger Lee.

Bloomberg covers the UK uke revival.

howjsay takes a stand on the oo-koo-lay-lay vs. yoo-ka-lay-lee debate.

Jingle Bells (Tab)

Jingle Bells (mp3)

A fairly simple tab, this one. In the verse, the melody is fingerpicked and the strummed chords are fitted around it.

There are a couple of tricky little bits. The first is ‘on a one…’. Here you have to use your index and middle fingers to play the same note three times in quick succession. The second is in bar 15. I think it’s all the John King around at the moment that made me tab it like this. Here are a couple of easier possibilities:

The chorus is just strummed chords. The basic chords are written above the tab. Most of the melody notes are contained within the chords but there are a few occasions where the chords have to be changed slightly to accommodate them.

When I was recording, I improvised the rhythm rather than playing it exactly as it’s tabbed. I suggest you do the same.

Get tab for 12 more of my Christmas arrangements for $9 with How To Play Christmas Ukulele.

This work by Ukulele Hunt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Herb Ohta – Sophisticated Ukulele (Book and CD)

Herb Ohta (or Ohta-San if you prefer) has been playing the uke professionally for over 60 years and has released over 60 albums – he probably knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the uke.

Sophisticated Ukulele is another book in the Jumpin’ Jim’s Ukulele Masters series but is presented in a very different way to the John King book. There is no tab in this book; just chord diagrams and the melody in standard notation.

The book features 26 songs mainly from the Great American Songbook but with 5 Ohta originals. The accompanying CD has Ohta playing solo ukulele versions of 15 of these. The full list of songs:

Dinah, Feeling Like It Lately, Fools Rush In, Georgia On My Mind, I’ll Be Seeing You, Imagine, I Won’t Dance, It’s A Sin To Tell A Lie, Ja-Da, Jeanie, The More I See You, My Blue Heaven, The Nearness Of You, Night & Day, Poipu-I Hawaii, September Song, Sophisticated Hula, Stardust, Sukiyaki, Sunny, Take The A Train, The Very Thought Of You, Waikiki Beach, Waikoloa, When I Fall In Love, Yesterday

Good stuff:
– There are some very nice arrangements here.
– I think anyone who works through this book will come away with some new chord ideas.
– Ja-Da.

Not so good stuff:
– No tab. That’s a big disadvantage to me. Just chords and melody line don’t give the entire story of what he’s actually playing. For those who want to strum and sing, this will not be an issue.
– Many songs aren’t on the CD.

Suitable for: Beginner to intermediate. Those who love to strum through and sing the old standards.

Overall: Well worth the price of admission. The fact you have to do some of the work yourself in putting together arrangements isn’t an entirely bad thing.

If you have this book, leave a comment letting us know your opinion.

I’ll be taking a look at some of my favourite ukulele books, DVDs and CDs. If you have a favourite ukulele book DVD etc, let us know about it in the comments.

John King – Classical Ukulele (Book and CD)

There’s little doubt that John King is one of the foremost ukulele technicians (just check out his YouTube channel for proof). He spent many years playing the classical guitar and not only brings the classical repertoire to the ukulele but also brings the classical technique and approach to playing. He’s very big on the ‘campanella’ style – playing one note per string and letting them ring into each other – and uses it throughout the book.

Classical Ukulele is part of Jim Beloff’s Jumpin’ Jim’s Ukulele Masters series and tabs out 19 of King’s arrangements. Although it’s called ‘Classical Ukulele’, around half the pieces in the book couldn’t be classed as classical. And that’s all to the good since my favourite pieces are the traditional tunes (particularly ‘Alekoki and Tarantella Italiana).

Most of the works in the book are arranged for solo ukulele. One, Rigaudon, is arranged for two ukuleles and five are arranged for ukulele and guitar.

The book comes with a CD of all the tabs. King plays a Fluke (which is a blow to those of us who think we’d sound that good if only we were playing a DaSilva special).

You can get a flavour of the style and difficulty with the tabs he has put up on his site.

Full list of tabs:

An Air From County Derry (Danny Boy), Greensleeves, Sakura (Cherry Blossoms), The Celebrated Chop Waltz (Chopsticks), Prélude (Op. 28, No. 20), ‘Alekoki, Pupu A‘o ‘Ewa, Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman, Prélude (BWV 846), Ahe Lau Makani, Tarantella Italiana, Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Prélude (from BWV 1007), Rigaudon, Für Elise, Menuett, La Carolina, Les Barricades Mystérieuses, The Entertainer

Good stuff:
– The arrangements are the most elegant I’ve ever seen on the ukulele.
– They’re a good challenge for an intermediate player.
– The CD is great. I’ve listened to it for pleasure a number of times.
– It’s a masterclass in the ‘campanella’ style and has been a big influence on how I arrange tunes for the uke.

Not so good stuff:
– If you’ve read his articles on Nalu Music , you’ll know that King is one of the most engaging and knowledgeable ukulele writers there is. I’d have liked to have seen some of that in the book.
– The campanella style can sound a bit weak. I would have preferred beefed-up uke arrangements to guitar accompaniment.
– A bit more guidance on what the right hand should be doing would have helped me.
– Chopsticks?

Suitable for: Intermediate to advanced. Those who like to get stuck in to some tricky and challenging pieces.

Overall: best ukulele tab book I’ve ever bought.

If you have this book, leave a comment letting us know your opinion.

More Christmas gifts for ukulele players