I always like to share videos on this blog that show new players and beginners just how amazing a sound can be brought out of a ukulele if you put in the time and effort in practicing.
James Hill is one of those who do magical things with the uke - and the video below shows that off perfectly. Very clever.
Well, a slightly fuzzy head this morning is the result of last nights impromptu ukulele strumming session with friends in our local. This time accompanied by saxophone, and a brand new ukulele strummer!
By way of inspiration to my beginner readers wanting ideas for songs, our set included the following.
Hey Good Looking - Hank Williams
9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway
Dream a Little Dream - Mamas and the Papas
Your Cheatin Heart - Hank Williams
Big Rock Candy Mountain
I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
I Wanna Be Like You
When You're Smiling
Valerie - Zutons
King Of The Road - Roger Miller
Hungry Heart - Bruce Springsteen (played by guest uker!)
Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen (in a George Formby style)
I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor (also in a George Formby style!!)
Living On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
Dirty Old Town - Ewan McColl
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight - Dylan
African Skies - Paul Simon
A Pair Of Brown Eyes - Pogues
Delilah - Tom Jones
Leaving Of Liverpool - Pogues
Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison
Down Under - Men At Work
Orange Blossom Special - Johnny Cash
Get Rhythm - Johnny Cash
Watching The Detectives - Elvis Costello
Tonight You Belong To Me
Me & Julio - Paul Simon
Cupid - Sam Cooke
Help Me Rhonda - Beach Boys
Three Little Birds - Bob Marley
That's Alright Mama - Elvis
Phew....
You can find the chords and words to all of those songs with a bit of online searching (I know, because I did!) - so why not pick some from the list and give them a go? They all work brilliantly on ukulele.
With BIG thanks to the wonderfully talented Tim Harries, my Ukulele cartoon print arrived in the post today!
Thanks Tim!
As I said earlier in the week, Tim has made this ukulele print available for sale in his online store HERE, and I can't wait to get mine framed for the music room!
You may well have seen his cartoon works before as he has been published in several national newspapers, plus publications like Punch, Readers Digest and the New Statesman. His website can be found HERE.
In the very quick (and very silly) competition to win a copy of my ukulele ebook, the blog has hit 100 followers, and as promised, that 100th follower wins a copy of my book.
Ky Doran - well done - get in touch with me through the blog and let me know your preferred format (mobi (kindle), epub, pdf, lrf (sony)
Well done!
For those who followed but didnt make the 100 spot - you can get your own copy for Kindle HERE,
Or in other formats - HERE
Hi folks - a very quick and short post on Got A Ukulele.
I just noticed that I have 97 full time followers of this blog, and it got me thinking. 100 is a nice number, so have decided that the 100th follower of my blog will get a free copy of my Ukulele ebook in a format of their choice!
You can't say fairer than that!
You can read more about the ebook in the links below.
You may recall a while ago, I put a post up about the excellent cartoonist Tim Harries, and his ukulele related strips. (if not - you can find it HERE)
Well, I was delighted to see today that Tim is making limited edition signed prints of his work, including his "plink plink plink" cartoon, available to buy on his online shop.
You can get to the ukulele print HERE. Perfect gift for the ukulele player in your life!
Continuing my series of the Ukulele A to Z, this time we look at the letter M (all my other entries on the A-Z can be seen on the Ukulele Beginner tips page HERE )
MACHINE HEADS
The term given to tuning pegs that work using a gearing system to turn the string post.
MAHOGANY
A commonly used wood used in ukulele manufacture - dark, bright yet warm sounding and gives a good volume. Often comes with an attractive grain pattern.
MAJOR CHORD
A combination of the first, third and fifth notes of a scale played at once.
MELODY
A succession of notes played one after the other - creates the tune for a piece of music.
METRONOME
A device that creates an audible clicking sound that can be set to any beat to assist with timing of a musical piece.
MODULATE
To change key within a piece of music
MOTHER OF PEARL
A material made from the glossy inside of shells used for making fret markers, binding and decorative trims on a ukulele.
Ok, I admit it, as well as loving the ukulele I do like video games, and have a real fondness for the Mario series by Nintendo.
So we have below, courtesy of the ukulele maestro, James Hill, a video that brings those two loves together. (Oh, and if you dont like video games, then just sit back and watch some sublime ukulele playing!)
Advance warning - this post on Got A Ukulele is a long one - what I promised I would do is collate all of the answers in my competition to win a Ukulele strap in one place as an easy to find list. What a great list for this musical instrument!
The idea of the competition question was to provide a list of inspiration for new players who often struggle to think of new songs to try. You certainly put the effort in, and as you will see, the list is HUGE! A bit of Googling will find you the chords to these songs (or ask the question on Ukulele Underground. So how about this for a challenge - aim to pick a new one of these songs and learn it each day or week (depending on how far along you are with your learning!) - what a great way to learn a repertoire!
The entries were also interesting in terms of their broad spread - it must be said though, the Beatles won it in the popularity stakes. So, here you go - the complete song list! (sorry - I don't know all the artists! - You will also find that the total number doesn't equate to the number of competition entries - that's because I have stripped out the duplicate submissions. Still a massive list though!)
Here goes - the ukulele songs are
1234
Aint She Sweet
All My Loving – Beatles
All Of Me
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life – Monty Python
Anyone Else But You – Moldy Peaches
April May – Peter Berryman
Auld Lang Syne
Autumn Leaves
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Banana Pancakes
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
Better Together- Jack Johnson
All I Got- Newton Faulkner
Greensleeves
Beverley Hills Cop Theme – Harald Faltermayer
Big Strong Girl – Deb Talan
Birdhouse In Your Soul – They Might Be Giants
Blister In The Sun – Violent Femmes
Blowing In The Wind – Bob Dylan
Blue Monk-Thelonious Monk
Hey Soul Sister-Train
Blue Moon
Blue Moon Of Kentucky
Breakdown
Brown Sugar – Rolling Stones
Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations
Charleston – James P Johnston
Christmas Cookies – George Strait
Clair de Lune- Debussy
Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
The Scientist - Coldplay
Classico – Tenacious D
Clementine
Comets – Cocoon
Creep – Radiohead
Don't Think Twice, it's Alright - Bob Dylan
Sugar Baby - Bob Dylan
I Believe in You - Bob Dylan
Dont Dream It's Over – Crowded House
Dont Get Around Much Anymore
Dream Police- Cheap Trick
Drop Baby Drop
Drop Baby/Honey Baby - Manao Company/Three Plus
I Hear Music - Kaau Crater Boys
Jammin - Bob Marley
Easy Like Sunday Morning – the Commordores
Eight Days A Week – Beatles
Eku U Morning Dew
Faith – George Michael
First Day Of My Life - Bright Eyes
First Impressions
Fishermans Blues – The Waterboys
Five Foot Two
Freebird – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Froggie Went A Courtin'
Fur Elise
Ghost Riders In The Sky – Johnny Cash
Girl from Ipanema - Astrud Gilberto and Stan Get
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra
Eggplant - Michael Franks
Haele
Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen
Harder Better Faster Stronger – Daft Punk
Harry Potter Theme
Hene
Hey Soul Sister – Train
Hey There Delilah – Plain White T's
Hotel California – Eagles
House Of The Rising Sun – The Animals
How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees
Karma Cameleon - Culture Club
Jolly Holiday - from Mary Poppins
I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
I Shot The Sherriff – Bob Marley
I Wanna Be Like You
I Will Survive -Gloria Gaynor
I'll Never Find Another You – The Seekers
I'll See You In My Dreams
I'm Satisfied With My Gal
I'm Yours – Jason Mraz
Into The Mystic – Van Morrisson
Jackson – Johnny Cash
Just A Gigolo – David Lee Roth
Kaulana Kawaihae
Kids – MGMT
Kill The Director – The Wombats
Last Thing On My Mind
Leaning On A Lamppost – George Formby
Leroy Brown – Jim Croce
Let It Be- Beatles
Little Brown Jug
Little Lion Man – Mumford and Sons
Louie Louie – The Kingsmen
Mad World – Tears For Fears
Magic Martian Ukulele Waltz
Maire's Wedding
Man On The Flying Trapeze – Ukulele Ike
Moondance – Van Morrisson
Moonglow
Meditação
Music Box Waltz
Mull Of Kintyre – Wings
Na Moku Eha
No Rain – Blind Melon
Oh Dear - Brandi Carlile
Oh Mary Don't You Weep
Oh Mother, What'll I Do Now – George Formby
Oh, It's Love
On The Radio - Regina Spektor
House Of The Rising Sun - the animals
Once More For The Road
One Note Samba - Carlos Jobim
Tanta Til Beate - Lillebjorn Nilsen
Leaning On A Lamp Post - Noel Grey
Only Love Can Break Your Heart – Neil Young
Over The Rainbow
Overseas Stomp
Penas do tiê
Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps
Postcards From Italy – Beirut
Pretty When It's New – Merle Haggard
Pricetag – Jessie J
Puff The Magic Dragon – Peter, Paul and Mary
Put Your Records On – Corrine Bailey Rae
Rawhide
Rhythm Of Love – Plain White T's
Rise Up – Eddie Vedder
Romanesca Guardame Las Vacas for 4-course renaissance guitar – Alonso Mudarra
Sabor a Mi
San Francisco Bay Blues-Eric Clapton
La Isla Bonita - Madonna
Ain't She Sweet
Saturday In The Park – Chicago
Scarlet Tide – Elvis Costello
Sentimental Heart – She and Him
Shaving Cream
She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
Silence Kit – Pavement
Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay – Otis Redding
Skullcrusher Mountain
Sleigh Bells – U900
Something - the Beatles
Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles
Down By The Riverside - Traditional
Something – Beatles
Speak Now- Taylor Swift
Perfect- Pink
Listen to the Rain- Evanescence
Knock Three Times On The Ceiling If You Want Me
Stairway To Heaven – Led Zeppelin
Stand By Me – Ben E King
Stardust
Starry Eyed – Ellie Goulding
Sugar Magnolia – Grateful Dead
Sunny Afternoon – The Kinks
Tears In Heaven – Eric Clapton
The Cover Of The Rolling Stone
The Cowboy Song
The General – Dispatch
The Hypnotist - Craig Robertson
When I'm 64 – Beatles
There She Goes – The La's
Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper
To Make You Feel My Love – Bob Dylan
Tonight You Belong To Me
Ukulele Waltz- Aldrine Guerrero
Valentine – Kina Grannis
Vampire – Juno Soundtrack
Venus
Viva La Vida – Coldplay
Watching the Wheels -John Lennon
Opihi Man - Ka'au Crater Boys version
Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead
When I'm Cleaning Windows
While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Beatles
Wild Mountain Thyme
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd
Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton
Yellow Bird
Yesterday – Beatles
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots - The Flaming Lips
Telephone - Lady GaGa
You and I – Ingrid Michaelson
You Are My Sunshine
You Belong To Me (from the soundtrack of Shrek)
Let it Be - The Beatles
In My Life - The Beatles
You Ruined Everything – Jonathan Coulton
You've Got A Friend In Me – Randy Newman
Worst nightmare has happened - winner of the ukulele strap competition, "Dustin" has won, but despite me trying to contact him, has not claimed the prize.
I have tried him on Twitter directly, but no response, so sadly, as per the rules of the comp, the prize needs to be claimed within 14 days of closing, so Wednesday 25th May!! Failing that, I will need to draw another name from the hat next week.
Dustin - get in touch!! YOU WON!!
As an aside, as I had warned, Got A Ukulele has been on something of an unexpected holiday due to some crazy times with my day job. Normal service will be resumed ASAP!
I've had a couple of questions asked of me as to why the paperback version of my book, What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know is not available on the UK Amazon store.
Well, it's not a deliberate thing! The book is published by Amazons partner called Createspace, and is printed in the USA. For some reason, the UK store doesnt link to that store, so if you see them on Amazon UK, you are buying used from a re-seller. Sorry!
That said, you are at liberty to order one from the Amazon US site - I did so myself in order to test postage delivery and it arrived in signed for post in about 4 days - not bad really!
Ok folks, many many entries to win the Ukestar strap - wrote every entry name down on a slip of paper and put them in a suitably hat shaped receptacle - and just asked my son to draw the name of the luck winner!
Drumroll please.....
Well done to Dustin who won the strap - Get in touch through the blog to let me know your mailing address and I will ship it out to you.
For those interested, Dustins favourite three uke songs were
Hi folks - well thanks SO much for the huge number of entries. The Ukestar competition is now CLOSED.
I am away at the moment on business, but when I get back I will be putting the names of all the entries in a big hat shaped object and drawing the lucky winner!
Whilst you wait - check out the wonderful list of songs provided - SUCH INSPIRATION! See Here
I will be collating these into a master list shortly!
With many thanks to the Ukulele duo Chonkinfeckle, I am in proud possession of their latest CD, titled 'I'm From Wigan Me', of which I thought I would share a review.
Image copyright Chonkinfeckle
Chonkinfeckle are a ukulele duo comprising Les Hilton and Tim Cooke, two players from Wigan, Lancashire in the UK who first met in 2009 at the Wigan Ukulele Club. They both had musical backgrounds, having played in several bands, and decided to set up Chonkinfeckle as an outlet for their unique brand of ukulele music. (The term Chonkinfeckle is one of many local dialect terms you will hear on the CD - made up from the Wigan phrase for "how are you doing" HOW YOU FECKLIN? To which the response is often "CHONKIN!")
The CD of 19 tracks claims to be "19 songs about Wigan and some of its more colourful characters". It certainly provides that. The Album is, on the whole, a set of amusing, funny songs and stories told in typical blunt Northern style (I can say that, I was born in Lancashire too!) In fact, the duo do bill themselves as a funny outfit, but the CD does go further than that, and I like that mix.
A good section of the album is made up of the amusing and funny stories about local characters (no idea if some of them are real or not!), and funny encounters the boys may have had. We hear songs about the poledancing club (Stilettos), the story of the betting shop and Billy getting locked in the toilet (Billy and the Bookies) and the intriguingly titled Gypsy Don Petulengro Boswells Magic Hedgehog Oil! All of those such tunes did put a smile on my face - they are cheeky and loveable.
But the CD surprised me at going further than that. I knew of Chonkinfeckle before and had heard bits and pieces and thought that they were all about the funny stories. Not so. What struck me was the number of quite poignant, wistful and very retrospective songs on the album. You have the notalgic but upbeat "I'm From Wigan Me", but also the songs that look back to a lost childhood, like "Nothing Like That" and "18 in Wigan On A Saturday Night". The song that really stopped me in my tracks though was the shortest on the album, a soft, sad elegy to a lost friend called "God Bless You". Perhaps it is because I was also born in the North West of England that I connected with this retrospective take on things (something us Northerners do get accused of!), but for me, 'retrospective and wistful' means pleasing and heartwarming.
The musical talent on show here is also beyond question. Whilst in their publicity photos you see a couple of guys usually in caps and waistcoats, their style is no one trick pony. In the space of the album we have an undercurrent of English Folk, but we move through Spanish styles, (This Old Town, Billy & The Bookies), to bluesy tracks like Canal Song, and Talking Behind My Back Blues. We get a hint of Hawaiian island stylings in the tale of the reclaimed industrial areas of Wigan called "The Wigan Wow", and we get a reggae feel in the story of the man who came to read the electricity meter called "The Lekkymon". You are not just getting straight up ukulele strumming on this CD either. They both also play the banjolele and pick them very well also to nice effect on many of the tracks. There is electric uke on show too, and some good use of harmonica here and there.
So there you are - I finished listening to this album with a smile on my face, but also a homely feel. I am a BIG supporter of championing music that is true to its local roots so this ticks the box for me. I'd urge anyone, and particularly those far away from the UK (never mind Wigan) to give this a try - learn a bit of the local dialect and feel Chonkin'!
You can read more about Chonkinfeckle on their website - http://chonkinfeckle.co.uk/ which contains some videos and songs, and of course a place to buy the CD!
Continuing my series of Ukulele A-Z - this time, the letters J, K and L!
JOINT
Simply a woodworking term, and in relation to ukuleles, usually referring to where the neck meets the body of the instrument.
KERFING
Strips of wood glued around the inside seams where the top and back meet the sides of the instrument to add strength and stability.
KOA
A beautifully figured dark wood that originates in Hawaii - considered by many to be the finest tone wood used in ukulele construction.
K-BRAND
The term given to a range of manufacturers who make their ukuleles, by hand in Hawaii. Brands include Kamaka and Ko'aloha.
LAMINATED
The term applied to the type of wood used in construction of the ukulele - a laminated wood is made from very thin veneer strips of wood glued together and pressed flat. This is opposed to a solid wood which is simply a very thin cut of a solid, single piece of wood. Laminates are cheaper and as such more prevalent on cheaper instruments. Solid woods are preferable for their tonal qualities, though some very good lamminates do exist.
LEGATO
A playing technique that purely consists of playing hammer ons and pull offs on the strings.
LOWER BOUT
The term given (on a traditionally shaped ukulele) to the bottom "bulge" in the shape below the narrower waist.
LUTHIER
The term given to one who makes guitars and ukuleles
Hi folks - you will have noticed that ukulele blog posts have been a bit sparse of late - my fault. The sad thing is, at the present time my day job has gone a bit crazy (it's that time of year) and I seem to be working all hours.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, and I have a more interviews and product reviews lined up which will be exciting.
Suggest you sit back, grab your ukulele and go to the competition thread HERE and look at the many, many comments that are growing - talk about inspiration - try to learn a new song a day! Now there's a challenge!
If you enjoy this blog, donations are welcomed to allow me to invest more time in bringing you ukulele articles. Aside from the Google ads, I don't get paid to write this blog and for reasons of impartiality a not sponsored by brands or stores. Your donations all go back into the site to allow me to keep bringing you reviews, and in the end the ukuleles acquired are given to local schools and charities.
