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Ukulele Hunt
I’m a big fan of Sarah Vowell’s books. But I’m an even bigger fan of her audiobooks. The Partly Cloudy Patriot, an exploration of her uncomfortable obsession with American history, includes narration from Conan O’Brien, Stephen Colbert and David Cross. Even more importantly, it’s sprinkled with songs from They Might Be Giants. Including this catchy little song.
If you’re interested in Hawaiian history, I highly recommend her book Unfamiliar Fishes.
This song comes from episode 616 of Comedy Bang Bang. It’s the culmination of a trio of country parody songs from Brantley Aldean and Harland Haywood (a.k.a. Drew Tarver and Carl Tart) and it had me crying with laughter.
Here’s a uke version of the intro (which shares a few ideas with yesterday’s post: The Weight)
I’ve raved about Hitman before on here. But I haven’t given enough praise for how much the music adds to the experience. The music works to subtly differentiate different areas of the maps and set the mood for each one.
This excellent little guitar piece is used to evoke a small Columbian fishing village which is relaxed on the surface but houses a huge drug operation. Similarly, the tune is relaxed and easy-going with a few little hints of darkness peaking through.
I was inspired to write this one up by Playing for Change’s version featuring a vast array of musicians including Ringo, Robbie Robertson and a bit of uke from Taimane. The video shows off what a great ensemble piece this can be. Making it seem like a good idea for ukulele groups to me. Plus the chords are straightforward and there’s plenty of solo opportunities for the flash Harrys.
I’ve written up two versions of the chords. Up top are the chords in G with a capo on the second fret. And below are the chords in F with the capo on the fourth fret. The version in F might be a little easier. If you’re playing the version in G, I recommend barreing the C, E and A-strings at the second fret on the G chord. That makes for a much easier transition to Bm. You could even use the standard G at the end of the bar (to make an easy transition from C) and switch to the barred version at the start of the next line.
Intro: If you’re not playing the intro lick (below) you can play the main strum twice per chord.
Verses: One main strum per chord.
Chorus: On G-Bm play d – d u. Then the main strum on C. On the last line, do one, long down-strum on the first C then d – d u on each of the next four chords and three down-strums on the last C.
I’ve read some absolute drivel about ukuleles over the years. But there’s a new worst: Rolling Stone wrote an article about “best ukuleles” that “pros use” that’s so bad I’m not willing to link directly to it.
I’ve kept my version very simple. I’m only using the top three strings picked thumb and two finger style. The most important thing is to give the melody notes a little extra umph so they stand out against the backing notes.
Following on from Lewis Capaldi, I wanted to do another recent song with an interesting picking pattern. And Señorita shares elements of that picking pattern but is more challenging and uses some interesting chords.
Suggested Strumming Pattern
If you’d rather strum than pick, you can use this pattern all the way through:
d – d u d u d u
Use that twice per chord until Em7. On Em7, play it once but switch to G on the last up strum. Then continue playing the pattern again on G.
The only exception is at the end of the second verse. On that G you just play two down-strums.
Like the Lewis Capaldi song, the picking is done with the thumb on the C-string, index finger on the E-string and middle finger on the A-string. The complicating factor is the percussive clicks the pattern contains. I produce these two different ways. The first two in each chord (show with just two xs in the PDF tab) are made by bringing my thumb down on the g- and C-strings so hit the fretboard and make a light click. The final one (shown by four xs) is a traditional chnk where I strum the strings but deaden them with the underside of my picking hand.
Here’s a version of the solo that plays in the intro and outro. For this, I’m using a lot of palm muting i.e. resting the underside of my picking hand on the strings as I pick them. Light enough that the notes still sound but heavy enough that they don’t ring out.
New Releases
