u k u l a l a . c o m

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T17:45:00.003-05:00

It's December 25th again, the time of year when suddenly traffic to uke websites starts to skyrocket for no apparent reason.

On an unrelated note, if you've just received a uke on Christmas day and found your way here, then you are exactly why this site exists. My goal is to help make good music easy to play for beginners.

When I got a uke for Christmas 3 years ago, it was one of the best gifts I have ever got in my life. It was a motivator to learn music, a skill I had ruled out for myself years before. It has been great fun, difficult at times, but always rewarding.

So thank whoever got it for you (again), and play often. You might be surprised at what you can learn.

Win a free Electric Ukulele from Ukeeku.com and Thoughts on Cooperative Blogging

2010-04-06T18:39:00.009-04:00

UPDATE 4/7/10: Woodshed over at Ukehunt, blogger and content-creator extraordinaire, just put up a post about 10 common misconceptions (things that might be "bollocks"-- he is British after all) of ukuleles that included a mention of my point below about the win-win-win scenario.

Added my additional thoughts on it at the bottom of this post.

Just got an email from Tim over at Ukeeku, a new site billing itself as "A place to reflect on ukuleles" that said something like:

I think your readers would love this uke giveaway (Eleuke concert)
http://ukeeku.com/2010/04/01/eleuke-giveaway/

I am just getting started and would love for you to post this on your site. All the people have to do is comment on any post of my blog to be entered.
if you have any questions feel free to contact me

Tim
Ukeeku.com

And I think he is right, readers here will probably appreciate the heads up on a shot at a free uke. All you have to do to enter to win the ukulele is click the link up top and then comment on the post.

The free uke up for grabs, an Eleuke Concert CCK100BL-MP3

Basically, Tim received a free ukulele in exchange for reviewing it. He then decided to pass this along to one of his commenters as a lottery prize for checking out and participating on his blog.

This is a win-win-win, and something I have considered doing with my blog for a while now.

Winner 1: The ukulele company (in this case the makers of the Eleuke Concert CCK100BL-MP3). Even if the review isn't great, it is easily worth the cost of one ukulele for the potential of thousands of hits worth of free advertising from the review post. And honestly, if a blogger received a free ukulele from a company, they will at least be nice in their review.

Winner 2: The Lucky Commenter. Right now (April 6th) there are 127 comments on the page. By the time the contest closes there could be many thousands, but still, you won't find much better odds to get something worth $200 for the price of 1 minute of your commenting time.

Winner 3: Tim of the Ukeeku site. By getting other bloggers (like yours truly) to promote his site, he will increase his traffic and profile. When companies decided whether they want to give someone a free ukulele, the first thing they care about is the site's traffic. It's cyclical, which means there could be more of these freebies to come!

So yeah, this is a win-win-win strategy to increase his traffic, keep his readers happy, and give a uke company some press. I hope he keeps at it.

~
oh what the heck, there's also Winner 4: Bloggers like Ukulala, whose mundane existence is broken up only by an odd interest in successful cooperative survival strategies.

------

Re: Woodshed at Ukulelehunt's post and comment below.

From the post:

Last Minute Addition: There aren’t enough ukulele competitions around.

This one was inspired by Ukulala’s post today about the benefits of ukulele competitions.

As a reader, I’m am very bored of ukulele competitions. There’s no real value to them in the long term. I’m never much interested in entering a competition where there’s a prize I could just buy if I wanted.

From the blogging perspective, competitions might provide a nice boost in traffic for a few days but they aren’t a substitute for putting in the hard work and building a site worth visiting.

I'm going to agree with Woodshed -- to a point. I think free giveaways are boring but serve the purpose of driving traffic temporarily to a newcomer's site (see Ukeeku).

HOWEVER, If Woodshed is including other types of contests, then I patently disagree. Contests that inspire people to 1) write their own songs 2) create tutorials, or 3) use any portion of their creativity are really a beautiful thing. Sometimes it takes a little push for people to get their own creative visions off and running, and a well-designed contest can inspire them to bring out something in themselves that they never knew was there.

Looking at the rest of the list he compiled, I think I am seeing a pattern: Woodshed (Al), doesn't like anything that pushes a storyline of the ukulele being a gimmick or a fad. He sees the ukulele as a serious instrument for a diverse repertoire of styles.

Included (and called bollocks) on the list are a) the myth that it's easy, b) ukuleles in schools, c) ukulele festivals, d) the uke is a primer for the guitar, e) that uke-themed contests are boring, and then some obscure stuff I hadn't actually ever heard (koa is a the best wood? Tenors are supposedly loud? Record labels have been trying or not trying to stop uke covers? Who knew?).

And ukulele competitions, especially ones that are just lotteries, are a gimmick. They are a gimmick for traffic, advertising, and free stuff. I actually agree with Woodshed that they are generally boring blog content, which is probably the main reason I haven't done one, but they can be a good tool for a website to get their name out in the beginning.

Sometimes I do like the chance to win a free uke, but it's the sweat and blood content that keeps me going back.

How to play Sea Of Love by Phil Phillips (or Cat Power)

2010-03-14T22:24:00.009-04:00

I finally got around to learning one of my favorite songs, Sea of Love by Phil Phillips. This is a classic song that has been covered recently and famously by Cat Power off the Juno soundtrack, but has survived through covers for over 5 decades now.

Among the most famous covers:
* The Honeydrippers where it was a #3 hit song,
* Tom Waits for the movie Sea of Love
* Most mullet-y version ever by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page
* On the uke by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (ok so that one's not famous)
* By several youtubers on the uke, including this nice one
* Here's the full list of cover versions

So yeah, it's an awesome song and everyone knows it. Here's my video tutorial for it, with more detail below.

Video Breakdown:

00:00 Intro
00:26 Tuning (GCEA standard tuning)
00:31 Chords (Bb, D7, Eb, C7)
02:14 Strumming pattern - 8 beat loop: down, miss, down, up, miss, miss, down (harder), up (soft)
03:34 Slow strumming and chord changes
04:53 Full speed demo with words (slight mistake in lyrics... oops!)

Sea of Love Tuning

The ukulele should be in the key of C, which is standard GCEA tuning. I am playing with a concert ukulele, and the GCEA tuning is standard for most soprano and tenor ukes as well. If you are playing with a baritone uke, it may be tuned in G (DGBE) in which case your chords would look different.

Sea of Love Chords

This song has just 4 chords: B flat (Bb), D7, E flat (Eb), and C7. One thing that adds challenge to this as a ukulele song is that each of these are bar chords, which are difficult for the beginner. This is a great song to play to practice your bar chords.

The four chords are played in a loop in that order, each for the same amount of time.

*If you arent ready for bar chords, you can play the song in a different key using the chords G, B7, C, and A7 which are much easier for the beginner uke player.

Sea of Love Strumming Pattern

Strumming patterns are always a bit difficult to nail down, especially on a song that has had so many covers and versions and wasn't originally played on a ukulele or even a guitar. The real key to this song is the lyrics and the melody, so the strumming takes a bit of a backseat. In the original Phil Phillips version, they use a classic 1950s arpeggio, whereas in the Cat Power version they do a much more simple instrumental version with basic strumming.

Having said that, I will offer my own strumming pattern but I encourage you to experiment and see what sounds best to you. The song loops on 8 beats, where each beat is an up or a down strum:

1) strum down with emphasis
2) miss up
3) strum down
4) strum up
5) miss down
6) miss up (or strum very lightly)
7) strum down (harder)
8) strum up lightly
Switch chords and repeat.

Sea of Love full chords with lyrics:

Intro: Bb D7 Eb C7

Bb
Come with me
D7
My love
Eb
To the sea
C7
The sea of love

Bb D7
I want to tell you
Eb
how much
C7
I love you

Bb D7 Eb C7

Bb
Do you remember
D7
When we met
Eb
That's the day
C7
I knew you were my pet

Bb D7
I wanna tell you
Eb
how much
C7
I love you

Bb D7 Eb C7

Bb
Come with me
D7
My love
Eb
To the sea
C7
The sea of love

Bb D7
I wanna tell you
Eb
How much
C7
I love you

Bb D7 Eb C7 x2

End on Bb

Ask Ukulala Vol. 4: Gaullimafry and KING DONKEY

2010-02-21T22:06:00.009-05:00

what happened your blog? why haven't you been posting? Amandine

my... blog? blog.... blog... hmmm i don't... oh crap, my ukulele blog!!! i totally forgot about my blog this eleven-and-a-half months. i hope nobody else noticed....

Well, back to answering your uke and other questions! (how come nobody ever asks me relationship or stock trading questions on here?)

Hey man, I played your version of Postcards on a Baritone Uke and it sounded pretty good. However, due to the tuning differences from that of a Soprano, it didn't sound completely right. Would this be played differently on a Baritone? Thanks, -Harry

Interesting. I haven't done much with baritone ukes, but my understanding is that they are generally tuned very differently than the standard GCEA concert and soprano ukes. Instead, they are usually tuned in G, which is DGBE.

This means you have two options:

find out the proper chords for the baritone and play those instead. You may have some difficulty with the hammerons, and it will likely sound quite a bit different but be in the right key. http://www.ukulele.nl/chordfinder.php (click on baritone on the middle right side)
(BEST OPTION) Get a capo and put it on the 5th fret of your baritone. It will now have the exact same tuning as a concert or soprano uke in C, and the chords as shown in the video will work exactly the same.

Please let me know how this goes! Getting a capo if you don't have one is a good idea anyway. Allows for some interesting sounds and easy key changes.

okay, so i got my ukulele today and i got it tuned up right and all, but while playing it goes out of tune, and im only playing for like 5-10 minutes tops. what can i do
KING DONKEY

Editor's note: Artist's rendition

Hi KING DONKEY,

if you look on the tuning pegs, there should be little screws on the top of each one. Tighten those a bit to keep the peg from slipping out of tune. You may need a smaller-than-normal screwdriver.

Also, the more you paly the more the uke will settle in and require less tuning. In the beginning the strings will need to stretch and settle a bit and the screws will need tightening, etc.

Also, even though the uke wood is sweet sweet delicious good, your pegs will stay tighter if you can keep your gums and maw off them.

Good luck!

I have a question...

I'm wondering if you know what chord this is. (if it is a chord)

I put in a picture of it but if for some reason you can't see it, the layout thing for it is this:

1st 3rd A |___|___|_x_| G C E A E |_x_|___|___| |__|__X__| first fret C |___|___|___| |__|__|__ | G |___|___|___| |__|__|__ X third fret

Editor's Note: formatting worked over email, got destroyed in cut-and-paste to this blog.
I hope this is clear! Thank you!!
-Taylor

Hi Taylor!

This is an easy one thanks to a great ukulele tool out there:

http://www.ukulele.nl/chordfinder.php

Step one is to click on the tuning you are using over on the right, so either of the C options (soprano C or tenor C). Then click the picture of the ukulele so the yellow dots are where you put your fingers for the chord. Underneath it will say which chords it is, and it isn't necessarily just one. There are so many different kinds of chords out there, a lot of times with only four notes to work with on a uke there will be a lot of overlap.

So your configuration (and you should enter it to test) shows that your chord is both a Csus4 and an Fsus2.

The sus (stands for suspended) chords are beautiful if you are playing them with the right other chords. They work well in place of the standard chord to add a bit of extra emotion and variety without sounding too out of place or changing the key. It may be worth looking into some of the theory if you are interested to learn more about it. Here are a few places with some more info, although some of it is annoyingly technical:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chord_(music)#Suspended_chords

http://ezinearticles.com/?id=1381990

Congratulations for discovering it on your own, it's cool when what you think sounds interesting turns out to be backed up by music theory (or at least I think it's cool, which might not mean that much actually).

hey man i know you probably get this a million times especially since some dude apparently played this song on a ukulele on american idol or something but Beirut does a great cover of the song Hallelujah and i love it. ukehunt gave me the chords but the strumming is throwing me for a loop. im new to the ukulele had mine less than a month it was a birthday gift from my lady. im loving the hell out of it. and cant stop playing. ukehunt is a great sight but this site excited the hell out of me.to be honest. but the version as im sure you know is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnmact0wxNs

i mean im sure you busy so im not asking for like a video really (unless you had the time ha!) but just some pointers on ow he plays/strums this bad boy. im sure he uses hammer ons oo but i can figure that out im sure once im strumming it even remotely lose to correct.

let me know. thanks a lot keep up the great work. love this all.

carry the fire,
-Joshua

I HAVE been getting a lot of requests for this song. I really should learn it I suppose.... but I haven't yet. When I do, I will definitely do a video for it and let you know.... it really is a beautiful song. Maybe too beautiful, I dont want to butcher it too bad.

btw, your lady sounds like a real find!

Hiya,

First of all..thanks for making such great tutorials. You are the best I've found in my many searches. I've learned a lot from you! I was wondering if you have or will you have a tutorial for Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen (Or Jeff Buckley) either the strumming or picking version.. Great song easy chords just the strumming and picking I have trouble with. Any tips on how to become better at strumming??

Thanks! -Rebecca

I don't know if I will be doing Hallelujah, but I have had it requested a few times (see above!) and if I can figure out how to play it I will put up a video...

My advice for strumming: just play every time you get a chance sitting around the house, and keep your left hand on one or two chords and just try to get as many different kinds of sound as you can with your right hand. Strum with one finger, or all your fingers... try to play it like a drum almost. The idea is to condition your hand to hit the strings without it feeling awkward. To remember what strumming was like when you first started, try switching sides and strumming with your left hand. This should feel extremely awkward, and it will serve to remind you how far you've come....

Also: I forgot to tell Rebecca when I emailed her back, but thank you for the kind words! I'm so glad to hear the tutorials have been useful for people... what it really means is that there are lots of people who share some love for good songs and good uking.

Hello there! I'm a Spanish boy, from Madrid, and I've just got to know Beirut's music thanks to a friend like 2 months ago. I like it so so much. As i was lookin for videos on outube i found yours and then thought bout buyin' an ukelele. My doubt, if you could please answer it, is this: which kind of ukelele does he play? is it a sopran, bariton... Thank you so much for it!
Jonas

Hi Jonas,

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, I was hoping to hear directly from the source about what Beirut used for his recordings but I haven't heard back from them (him?) yet.

I did however find this discussion on Ukulele Hunt about the ukes he uses in his videos and on the road:
http://ukulelehunt.com/2008/06/18/zach-condon-of-beiruts-ukuleles/

Apparently they are (relatively) cheap, including one that he plays on stage (the Lanikai Tenor uke) that goes for just $99!

According to the Uke Hunt discussion, he uses all different sizes except the soprano. Tenor, baritone, and concert are all on that list. If I were you, I would stick to Tenor or Concert, because traditionally the tuning for the baritone uke (DGBE) is different than the tuning for standard ukes (GCEA), and Beirut tends to use standard uke tuning (or a close variation of it) in his songs.

I play a Concert uke, and feel like I get a very similar sound. I hope this has helped and is not too late to help with your purchase!

I hope this email finds you well. Thought you might get a kick out of a the brand new “Swine Flu” music video featuring my trusty ukulele :)
Swine Flu can be viewed through the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exC6uKiHI9I

Amelia www.myspace.com/ameliams
Www.facebook.com/electricukulele
Www.ameliarobinson.co.uk

Not technically a question, but I'm going to allow this. Very cute song and video with high quality sound and production.

I checked out the site and she makes a lot of good songs and even has a service where she writes and records special songs for a special occasions. Very neat entrepreneurial idea. I wonder how much it costs... probably something you find out through the consultation.

Hello, I was wondering what kind of Ukulele you play in your videos. It has a beautiful sound.
-Noah

This is probably the question I get asked the most over email and on my youtube channel. I should probably just post it on the main page, but I probably won't. Anyway, I have a Hamano Concert H-100C ukulele.

I will say I have been extremely happy with the purchase. I think it is a great investment to spend a bit more than usual on a solid instrument with a pretty tone. Buy something you can't wait to play!

I just started playing ukulele on my cheap, $13 instrument from a souvenir shop in Hawaii. Day 3 and your YouTube videos have taught me more than the cruddy book I bought to go with it ever did, including Beirut songs! (I've been playing trumpet for 9 years and have wanted to play Postcards from Italy since I first heard it)

Now, for the question at hand, I was wondering if you might ever do a tutorial video for "Sea of Love" by Cat Power?

Thanks a bunch!
-Nicholas

whoa, cool. it took me so long to learn those songs i forget some people can actually do it in three days.....

I would LOVE to play Sea of Love and do a video for it. I haven't learned it yet though, but I think it would be a pretty great one to know. It's one of my favorite songs ever. Although I should say, the song I fell in love with the original by Phil Phillips.

When I wrote back to you, I was mixing this song up with another similar song I tried to learn. Basically when i told you it was very difficult I was way wrong: Sea of Love is not hard to play a basic version of. It is just four looping chords (G, B, C, A) played at a steady rhythm.

In terms of a strumming pattern, if I do a video for this one it will likely try to follow the Phil Phillips version's rhythm. I think Cat Power did a very pretty minimalist cover, but man, I love the original.

thanks for writing, reading, uking, loving good music

Hello there!:) Thank you for your blog. I have learned so much from you, you are a wonderful teacher. Up here in the cold north, it is really delightful to play on my most beautifull ukulele from Hawaii. It is indeed a wonderful uke. Anyways. I was clicking around on your site and saw a song you really, really wanted to learn: New Slang by The Shins. This is what I found out:

Tune: G-C-E-A Chords: Am/C, F/C, C, G, Am, F Am/C F/C C G Gold teeth and a curse for this town were all in my mouth. C Am G
Only, i don't know how they got out, dear. Am/C F/C C G
Turn me back into the pet that i was when we met. C Am G
I was happier then with no mind-set.
C
And if you'd 'a took to me like F G
A gull takes to the wind. C
Well, i'd 'a jumped from my tree F
And i'd a danced like the king of the eyesores
G And the rest of our lives would 'a fared well.

That's all, thank you for blogging and keep smiling.
Hugs from uke-chic, Norway
Eir

wow, this is really great, thank you for putting this together! I have been doing less on the site recently (partly so i can focus on making my own music), but i have always wanted to know how to play this song. it's such a beautiful one. big :)

Also: So I told Eir that I would try this out as soon as possible---- and now that I have had a chance..... WTF? This song is fucking impossible for me to learn for some reason. See, this is why there needs to be more tutorial videos out there. I try to play this right now and everything seems wrong, and I can't get the timing, and I don't know how to strum it right, and... and.... why doesn't someone put a video up for this one so I can learn it!?

Well, clearly there is more work to be done.

~
Peace! til next time.....

How to play Lua by Bright Eyes

2009-03-04T23:04:00.007-05:00

I hope you've heard this song, Lua by Bright Eyes. Thanks to Jessibee for the heads up on it.

Anyway, it is a nice case study on simplicity with acoustics and excellent song-writing. What can I say but the guy writes a good song. I suspect this one is about being, and being with, a druggie. The mellow mood makes it pretty perfect for the ukulele, although I think a uke and a bass would really do this song right.

The tricky part of this song is just a little bit of fingering on the G chord. It's not too bad, you just have to practice when to press and release one of the strings in the chord. The good news is, once you get that part, the rest will be easy.

So here's my video on it:

Video Timing:
0:00 - Intro and Tuning (GCEA), capo (2nd fret)
1:15 - Chords (D, G, Em, A, A7, Bm)
2:05 - Strumming pattern (loops in 8 beats, see above)
3:19 - Strumming example
3:30 - Intro (Dx2, Gx2 with some detailed fingering) THIS PART IS IMPORTANT!
5:07 - Intro Example
5:35 - Verse 1
Dx2, Gx2, Dx2, Gx2, Emx2, Ax2, (Em,G), (Em,A), Dx2
(Other verses have the same chord pattern)
8:01 - Verse 1 Example
8:43 - Chorus
Gx2, Dx2, Gx2, D, (A, A7), G, Bm, (D, A), (Em,G), (Em,A), Dx2
9:05 - Chorus Example

Tuning
The uke itself is tuned to standard GCEA, but there is a capo on the 2nd fret, which shifts all the chords up one full note.

Chords
Once the capo is on, putting your fingers in the standard C chord position now makes a D chord. I will refer to the chords with the actual chord followed by the non-capo equivalent chord position in parentheses, i.e. D(C). The chords are:
D(C), G(F), Em(Dm), Bm(Am), A(G), A7(G7)

Strumming Pattern
The strumming pattern loops in 8 beats, where each beat could be considered one up or down strum at a regular rhythm. Strumming pattern:
1- down (emphasis on top string)
2- miss up
3- down (hit all strings, emphasize this beat)
4- miss up
5- miss down
6- up (emphasis on bottom strings)
7- down (emphasis on bottom strings)
8- up (emphasis on bottom strings)
(repeat, switching chords if necessary)

Chorder
I don't have my handy-dandy table-maker right now, so I can't make the full table with lyrics yet. In the meantime, I'll break it down by loops of the strumming pattern. The chords in parentheses means each is played for 1/2 of one loop, so everything in the parentheses makes for one loop.

Keep in mind, this is just a guide for now, full description with lyrics coming soon.

Intro: Dx2, Gx2
Verse 1: Dx2, Gx2, Dx2, Gx2, Emx2, Ax2, (Em,G), (Em,A), Dx2
Verse 2: same as verse 1
Chorus 1: Gx2, Dx2, Gx2, D, (A, A7), G, Bm, (D, A), (Em,G), (Em,A), Dx2
Verse 3: same as verse 1
Verse 4: same as verse 1
Chorus 2: Gx2, Dx2, Gx2, D, (A, A7), G, Bm, (D, A), Gx2
Ending: (Em,G), (Em,A), Dx2, (Em,G), (Em,A), Bmx2, (Em,G), (Em,A), (Em,G), (Em,A), D

Single uke band seeks drummer or percussionist for long-distance recording relationship (contest!)

2009-02-12T16:13:00.005-05:00

CONTEST DEADLINE: March 12, 2009 @ Midnight

Me: Two beginning ukulele players (one male, one female) working on songwriting, with basic recording and mixing capability. We are realizing that drums are an essential part of our music and something we currently have neither the equipment nor the basic skills to include in our tracks.

You: Like the music I've mentioned on this blog, and you play the drums or some version of them. You have a way to record drums or percussion along with music from an mp3 track and then send files (of the two together AND eventually of just the drums) over the internets. And you like contests and long walks on the beach.

*****

More detail: Right now Ukulala is a long-distance band. My sister Flora and I live on opposite ends of the country and email music we work on back and forth and mix it around and occasionally have random other people record with us. We basically are looking for somebody out there who wants to have their drums be a part of our music without doing any live shows or actually recording together in the same place. Any percussionist is welcome, although we would prefer that electronic drummers try to sound as natural as possible.

Contest: Since everything on television nowadays is weird reality dating show contests, that's how I'm going to run this. I have put three mp3 files (with links to download) at the bottom of this post. If you think you could add quality drums to ANY ONE (or more) of these, then DO IT and send your completed recording (the original mp3 mixed with the drums) in mp3 format along to me at askukulala@yahoo.com. Please include just a few sentences about your drumming setup and history.

Only the third song (Taken Over) was recorded on a steady beat with a metronome. The others are just freestyle, so if you are using a computer-based system that would be the one to go with.

Feel free to send along more than one option, or drums for both tracks if you would like. Each track will be judged blindly and individually, but versatility is always a virtue and multiple entries in the pool can't hurt your chances.

Judging: The way we judge depends on how many people enter the contest. If there is one person, judging will be easy. If there are more than that, we will probably choose our favorite. If it is close, we MAY put it up online as an internet poll and let THE PEOPLE (that's you!) decide by voting. I am somewhat wary of that because in such a small sample size, someone could skew the vote in their favor just by having lots of loser friends with nothing better to do.

Obviously judging will be very subjective to our tastes and what we want our music to sound like, but I think we will be looking for quality, simplicity, variety, and appropriateness to the musical style. We aren't looking to be a drum-heavy band that drowns the ukulele out with the incessant smashing of loud rock drums. But hey, maybe that would sound awesome..... we won't judge 'til we hear it.

Deadline: I think one month should be more than enough time to get the word out, listen to and download the sample, record something, and send it back in. So the deadline is Thursday, March 12th at midnight.

Prize: Your prize will be to work with us in creating at least our first song to be posted online and possibly in a youtube video. Now, we are just beginners and we do NOT have an audience of "fans", so there is NO notoriety (ZERO, NADA, NONE) involved, but you will be mentioned and linked to at every opportunity for whatever small audience will listen. Make no mistake: this is not a huge prize. You will have to be independently excited for the prospect of making music.

All entries will be posted for everyone to hear once the contest ends, along with your name unless you would like to stay anonymous. If there are lots of entries, I will come up with another more traditional gift or prize for the top 3.

*****

And if you do not play the drums but know someone who does, please send this along! We will judge every entry on merit alone because we want to make awesome music. Children, old people and grotesquely unattractive drummers are all welcome.

Thank you in advance to anyone out there who participates or even thinks real hard about it. Have fun!

1: Save the Day
(Right-click here and 'save as' to download):

2: F6
(Right-click here and 'save as' to download):

3: Taken Over
This is the only song of the three recorded on a steady metronome beat, in case anyone is planning on using an electronic setup.
(Right-click here and 'save as' to download):

Bored, anonymous, pathetic bloggers who lie

2009-01-13T16:51:00.006-05:00

Uh oh, looks like Sarah Palin is calling us out.

CNN Headline: Palin slams 'bored, anonymous, pathetic bloggers who lie'

I know what you're thinking: OMG, how did she know?!

Well anyway, I got nothing to do but head home for another infomercial maratho--I, I mean, I mean to go out drinking with my four hot roommates (hi girls!) and party with my rockstar friends. Ladies, I probably won't be back at the mansion until tomorrow so don't worry about locking the gate.

note:
This is NOT a political blog, and it never will be. I just want to remind the world of bloggers and blogger-readers that we are now all officially on notice.

YouTube? More like... SCREW..y...Tube. Yeah.

2009-01-07T20:19:00.005-05:00

So after a few heads-up emails and comments, I realized my first video ever (as seen in the post How to play Elephant Gun by Beirut on the ukulele) was "no longer available" on YouTube. Everything about it seemed fine, it was "Live!" but I couldn't make it work and YouTube has no customer service. What the hell am I paying them for!?? Fucking Slackers.

Anyway, I reposted the video after deleting the old one. I didn't like doing it, I guess because of some weird nostalgia about posting my first video and all the positive feedback I got from it. It was somewhat inspiring.

Unfortunately, those user comments are erased forever from YouTube. After I deleted the video I went back to see if I could retrieve them but they are all gone except for one page (9 of 31 comments) that I just happened to still have open. I think I'll honor their memory by pasting them here, for a few reasons:

1) It's comments like these that make people like me want to make more videos. I know most people on YouTube just use the comment section as an anonymous outlet to call people fags, but some of you out there actually say nice things and it is appreciated.

2) People took the time to write them. I wish I had saved them all, but it's a real shame YouTube screwed up the video and wouldn't let me upload it to the same place and preserve the comments and video responses.

3) It's been too long since I posted. This is a good reminder of why I started......

tjbwhitehea1
Good vid.
Beirut throw in loads of triplits as well to mix it up.

Selgmegenfugl
First song i learn on capo! First time i learn to play beirut! First time i see a monkey! And first time i am so happyyyy today!!

regigas2
dude u rock, this song is ammence but one question. how do you no if its like g sharp or c sharp or soemthin like that???

hopeforrain
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

gutler3993
Great Lesson.
and great taste in music.

Marooth
I was thinking the same thing (about your nails)! This is a brilliant song. I want to learn how to play the uke now (:

ukulaladotcom
hells yeah, i say get one. they are cheap and fun.... kinda like a.... water gun.

Marooth
Heh heh heh.
Nice rhyme.

buncho888
Great vid. subscribed!
I used standard tuning with an electric guitar capo.

nyappynoodle
why is no longer available?

One exchange I wish I had saved had something to do with my fingernails (alluded to above). Someone said I had 'exquisitely manicured nails'. I'm just glad someone finally noticed.

Also, my favorite comments go something like "OMG I have never played music before and now I can play yadda yadda yadda!" because I think that moment of discovery and seeing how easy it can be leads to a real breakthrough in people's confidence about their musical ability. At least, I know it did for me.

UPDATED: Also, just wanted to throw in a shout-out and thanks to the two members of the SNZ who commented on the SNZ post to let me know what the most important part of the night was and to suggest a few corrections. That is all.

Another Tough Election Choice (and Poll #13)

2008-10-30T21:14:00.009-04:00

Like many of you out there, I've spent several hours every day over the past few months poring over polls and analyzing charts and watching numbers and reading analysis and watching 24-hour news coverage of the elections. I'd guess it's an addiction, but I won't be sure until I read about it on a reputable political analysis site. I'll just obsessively refresh fivethirtyeight.com to see if baseball stat genius Nate Silver has done any number-crunching analysis on election poll-watching addiction for people in the Northeast ages 25-32.

He hasn't.

Still hasn't.

So that's where most of my time drifts away these days. What may be the most exciting election I'll ever watch is just five days away from being OVER. Just FIVE days away from having a new government after 8 awful years of the worst fear-mongering, ignorant, impotent, belligerent, incompetent Executive branch of my lifetime.

FAILURE.

Of course when I looked at the two candidates this time around, one thing really stood out:

Notice anything four-stringed about this candidate?

So we have Hawaiian Barack Obama, who probably loves the uke, vs. this angry fellow:

My friends, YEEEAARRRRRRGH!!

I suspect my decision will match most of the readers at Ukulala, at least based on the "scientific" data from this Ukulala poll a few months ago:

John "McStupid" (who said I was juvenile? I'll bite you!) comes in at a whopping 4%.

More people prefer 1992's premiere chartman (Perot) AND/OR electing an inanimate order of McDonald's French Fries president than that agitated uke-smashing Bushonomics-loving old man.

Whatever your choice, vote Tuesday, November 4th as early as you can!

Join the Resurgence

2008-09-25T15:11:00.008-04:00

I just talked to Danno Sullivan, fellow uker in the Greater Boston Area, and he's going to be offering a beginner's class on the ukulele this fall in Cambridge, MA at the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed.

Here's Danno's fun description of the course:

Ukulele for the Almost Musical
Easier to get started on than other string instruments, but full of music and fun— it's the ukulele. The uke was big in the 20s, bigger in the 60s, and now it's the instrument of choice again for great-sounding, portable music. This class is for anyone who'd like to learn the basics and for players who'd like the chance to play songs with others. At each class you'll learn new songs in a variety of strumming techniques and styles, from Polynesian pop to rock to Tin Pan Alley; the new chords required; and how to figure out chords you don't know. Join the resurgence— small is big! No ukulele? Some loaners are available; e-mail the instructor for recommendations prior to class. Limited to 16.
Sec. 01: 8 Tuesdays, 5:45-7:15 pm. Begins Sep. 30, 56 Brattle St. | $159

In fact, first class starts this Tuesday, September 30th! So if you got a hankerin' for some ukerin', sign up and have some fun and, as Danno says,

...join the resurgence...

New look, same Ukulala

2008-09-11T21:50:00.006-04:00

I've been working on personalizing Ukulala a bit, so it feels more like it's own (and my own) place, and less like the generic blogspot site it actually is.

So don't run away just cause the site looks different!

I did a black-and-white background sketch, which hopefully you can see right now. It's a work-in-progress so who knows what may be added next. Link graphics? New post icons?!! New colors??! Maybe something to do with ukuleles? Anything is possible.

It may take me some time to get all the formatting right (and believe me, that's fun work... oh yeah), but hopefully soon it will be the "new-look" Ukulala. All the content should be exactly the same, it's purely a cosmetic change at this point.

Phase Two: Makin' some music

2008-09-08T23:22:00.010-04:00

So it's been a while since I last posted a new tutorial, but not because I haven't been busy on the uke.

My plan from the beginning is to make a video of "How to Play" every song I learn. That way I learn on my own, and then double-learn by making the tutorial video, which forces me to be more clear and accurate. That was Phase One. But there was also a Phase Two: I wanted to eventually make some of my own music.

The reason for fewer tutorial videos in the last few months is that I haven't been learning as many songs. Instead, I've been taking a break to make my own! My sister Flora and I (and Gorch from overseas) have been working on original music, with the goal of having a few songs done by the end of the year.

It's surprisingly difficult to coordinate, especially since the closest person to me in our makeshift "band" is, according to Google Maps, 3058 miles away.

So eventually (hopefully this year!) I'll have some original music posted here or on YouTube, along with several tutorials on songs I'm trying to learn.

I always have a few songs in mind I'm trying to figure out. I keep them categorized in my head like so:

Songs I can kinda play

Across the Universe by the Beatles (strumming not quite right)
Age of Consent by New Order (chords are easy, timing difficult to work out--good cover I'm learning from here)
Tightly by Neko Case (sounds better on guitar, but I think I have it close)
Hell by Squirrel Nut Zippers (timing is a bit dificult, but strumming and chords I have)
Ballad of John and Yoko by the Beatles (chords are hard unless you change the tuning)
Lua by Bright Eyes (this one has good instructions online for guitar, but I haven't been able to make it work quite right on the uke)

Songs I really, really want to learn

I'll Believe in Anything by Wolf Parade
Cold December by Matt Costa
New Slang by the Shins
Mike Moran by the Love Letter Band
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) by Arcade Fire

If you have any suggestions about any of these songs, or if you can play them, PLEASE let me know! I especially want to see a good uke cover of I'll Believe in Anything.......... then I kan STEALZ IT!!!

Poll #12: Hello Musicians!

2008-08-25T21:12:00.006-04:00

Remember a long time ago when I first released the results of poll #1 and found out most Ukulala visitors were a bunch of drunks? Well, the results of poll #12 are now in!

...so what happened to polls #2 through #11...? See, I was going to do them in order, but then I had a bunch of problems with poll #2. Poll #2, as described here, was supposed to be a song that was based on the poll results. Unfortunately, it isn't entirely trivial to post mp3s on blogger. I would have to sign up for third-party web hosting and include a link, and find a compatible [player, and it just became a hassle that I decided to deal with later.

But I didn't want to release the poll results out of order, so I just didn't do write-ups on any of them. Now I think I'll just try to bang them out in whatever order I feel like, but I will get to them all! In that spirit, the most recent poll was:

Have you ever recorded your own music?

A: Yes, plenty of times. (54%)
B: Yes, once or twice. (31%)
C: No... not yet. (8%)
D: No, I just love to listen. (8%)

Wow! 85% of Ukulala visitors have recorded their own music, and half of those who haven't are planning on it someday.

That's awesome.

I'd love to hear what you have recorded........ PLEASE post links to your music in the comments, or email me at askukulala@yahoo.com.

If you'd like me to, I'll let you know what I think--in a very honest and possibly cruel and brutal fashion!

Ukulala at Ukulele Noir

2008-08-07T22:42:00.000-04:00

Mmmm beer and ukuleles....

Front row at the Ukulele Noir (click for bigger pic of Ian Schwartz and the Sour Candy Orchestra).

So it's been a very busy, busy month for Paz down at the Tepuloid shoe redistrubution center. We got two solid weeks of shipments from the new Tredz line without ANY of the inventory documentation or tags. Of course, I'm the guy who has to go in for overtime and tag them. Long story short-- if you ever wondered how many model 7A shoeboxes fit in a single compartment of a 3-story warehouse shelf, the answer is... a lot.

In my off hours, I did get out to check out an interesting show last week (or was it two weeks ago now?!), July 25th at the Castlebar in Brighton, MA. After some initial searching online for a local ukulele scene, I was enticed by the ukulele noir website and decided to give it a whirl.

I did a bit of internet research beforehand to figure out who was going to be there, and wrote down this list of who to look out for:

Craig Robertson - Ukulele Noir founder
Tim Mann - thin, longer black hair
Ian Schwartz - scruffy
Amber Nash - ukebucket (!!)
Robert Wheeler - Uke consciousness
Tripping Lily - Monica, Demetrius, Alex, Laird

I was surprised that one of the performers was going to be Amber Nash of ukebucket, (whose April 30th original song I already had downloaded onto my computer). I can't find a link to it now, but it's good. I didn't really know what to expect, but I brought a camera and a little notebook. After my failed socks from a few weeks ago, I put my lucky make-out glasses on and hit the road.

The following is from my memory, my notes, and also I had a bunch of beers:

After leaving the bar and Sox game (they lost 1-0), I headed to the back room of the Ukulele Noir show. There was something different about this crowd... many of them were holding ukuleles, or long funny-shaped metallic doohickeys (would later find it was called a "floot"). It was a nice looking space with chairs and tables set up around the stage, which seemed appropriate... but unfortunately anyone coming or going had to walk in front of the stage.

It was a friendly crowd and I was right on time. One of the nice girls sitting next to me was Rachel Kiel, who, it turned out, was herself a musician playing with the first act:

Ian Schwartz and the Sour Candy Orchestra

It's funny, I actually recognized Ian from an online ukulele contest we both made videos for. Mine was Postcards From Italy and he did a few but I particularly liked his tutorial on four-note chords. So he looked familiar as soon as I got there.

Ian Schwartz and Rachel Kiel during the Sour Candy Orchestra performance.

I remember they were the Sour Candy Orchestra. How, I imagine you asked? Because they threw out bags of sour candy in between each song--to make sure we all had a taste of their sweet sweet band. I'll never forget the sweet gum middle... and I'll never forget the Sweet Gum Middle Band.....

They had a cello (Behvin McDonnel), a soprano sax (Beth Goodman), a flute (Rachel Kiel), and of course Ian Schwartz on the ukulele. It was a good mix of instruments, and Ian and Rachel both did vocals. I wish I had a recording of the sound they had, because it's a bit different from what I am hearing now on their myspace. Apparently it was their first time playing all together, but it sounded pretty tight.

The songs sounded light but had a bit darker--or at least, more adult-- lyrical content than you'd expect if you heard an instrumental. I think they touched on cheating (You'll Drive Into the Night: "...she's holding me, kissing me--and I don't think that he would like it"), alcohol dependence (The Sun is Getting Colder: "...and for now, whiskey's all I need..."), and maybe the shame of being a blue-faced ever-lovin' ten-foot-tall disgrace (The Disgrace: "I hide my face in the clouds").

I talked to Ian after his set for a bit and he recommended I check out the Ukulele Underground forums. He also said he prefers to do shows with the bigger band because when it's just him with a uke up there on stage he can't help but think "Why am I up here?" I'm sure he's fine on his own with the uke, but it definitely doesn't hurt having an orchestra back you up (double bonus for shows if it's an all-attractive-girl orchestra).

Oh, and I found out later Ian is a friend of a friend. It's a small city.

Robert Wheeler

Robert opened with some light playing and historical ukulele anecdotes. His set took a couple surprise turns, paraphrased from my notes:

"The uke... brings up all sorts of questions about life... like, 'why doggystyle?'"

"[something something something] Clinton... [something something] ...great contributions to the... Oral History of America."

Dirty man. Well ok, maybe just the jokes. He is an entertainer, after all. And founder of "Ukulele Consciousness", which I think has been around for a long while but I can't seem to find the definitive writings of. Maybe the whole thing isn't online?

I guess the jokes worked to get the crowd involved. By the time he got to his awesome rendition of "My Girl", the whole crowd was singing along.

Robert Wheeler after spitting some uke wisdom in his customized "uke consciousness" jacket.

Craig Robertson

Craig's the man with the plan, the founder (founding member?) of Ukulele Noir. He is also a performer with a style that fit the dark cabaret atmosphere of noir:

Craig Robertson, founder of Ukulele Noir, noirs it up.

His set was a bit dark with a mix of humor and, again, adult themes. I think I'm starting to get a feel for what the Uke Noir is all about.... the song he described beforehand as "the closest thing I have to a love song" had some french in it and then the lyrics "take that dress off".

I think the idea of an ukulele troupe is interesting. It's a community for the local uke players and perhaps a place for people to get comfortable doing shows with some friendly faces. Craig and Ukulele Noir have been around my neighborhood a while, so I'll be in touch with him about what's going on in the uke-munity where I live, and for advice while I'm learning.

Ed Arnold

"I have CDs for sale in the back," Ed said after the first song. "...Mostly Flock of Seagulls, but take a look, you might find something you like."

Heh heh, bootleg CDs for sale.... I think that's a pretty good gag actually. And despite (I suspect) being barely sober enough to stand, Ed may have been my favorite music of the evening.

Now, he wasn't the most talented uke player, and he didn't have the most polished sound (see Tripping Lily below), but his set was the closest to the kind of music I usually listen to. The way he used the ukulele, his choice of songs (mostly covers of excellent songs), and his energy--to beat-box, to make jokes and to stomp his feet to entertain us--won me over. He stopped to show for second (as he did every time he forgot the lyrics or chords) and said "I'm a drummer, dammit!"--and it showed. He played with a harsh rhythm, loud and energetic, while he stomped hard and in time to get a bass drum out of the floor.

He brought something to the table I hadn't seen before in a one-man uke act, and it was great.

Ed Arnold: drummer, ukulelist, entertainer, drunk.

I think he was a friend or possibly a guest of Ian's. I tried to look his music up on myspace or something, but all I found was him being quoted in the Boston Globe about Google's math problem billboards:

Ed Arnold, 31, of Watertown, a drummer with the band Amun Ka, had no idea what the banner meant until a reporter explained it. But then Arnold said: ''Advertising is all about targeting who you want to get. If they're trying to get very intelligent mathematicians, that's the way to go."
Boston Globe, 2004

Damn right. And the Globe finished the article with his quote, which means it basically captured the point of the entire piece. Kudos.

Tim Mann

Another founding member of Ukulele Noir, Tim's music felt a lot more like folk than most of the other acts. He had a set of mostly original songs with his own unique style. It is soft music and I think the writing, especially the lyrics in 'Mystery' and the music in 'Distant Strangers', is very strong.

Tim Mann: keep on strummin'....... ...FOREVER.

I think his recordings on the myspace page really benefit from the richer sound he adds in. I'd like to see him play his songs with a larger band.

...He was also nice enough to give a belligerent drunken hobo like me a ride home...

Amber Nash

Never showed, which means my damn glasses failed even worse than the socks. She was definitely one of the artists I was hoping to talk to, so I might get in touch with her in the future.

Tripping Lily

Tripping Lily was probably the biggest, tightest, most polished act of the evening. The main event, if you will.

The band is:
Demetrius singing and on the uke and guitar.
Alex on the mandolin, violin (fiddle?), singing, and washboard.
Monica on the fiddle and soprano uke.
Laird on the stringed bass.

They moved off the stage and set up in the middle of the room in a tight circle. In between songs they would mix and match instruments and come up with a new combination that somehow worked. The gentleman next to me, who I had been talking with a bit over the night, told me he had come to see them. I could tell he was enjoying them on a deeper level than me when he started talking about the complexity of their rhythm changes. I liked how the washboard made me want to dance.

Tripping Lily, imported goods from Nashville.

Now, I am in no way a music reviewer. I know less about music than most people. In fact I know less about music than most people know about... differential equations. Music is still mostly a mystery to me, and part of Ukulala is figuring some of it out to play it myself. But I still am amazed when I see it done well, and I still only listen to about 10 bands regularly. I am not knowledgeable about music, is what I'm getting at, so I'll leave the job of describing Tripping Lily with complex music-talk to the pros:

Equal parts sassy bluegrassers and moody urban songwriters, jazzy jammers and sighing torch singers, Tripping Lily is nearly a genre unto itself. The folk-pop quartet formed in Nashville, but calls Boston home now, and its sound appeals to neotrad and alt fans alike. Guitars, mandolins, and fiddles prance behind airy, quirky melodies that feel both rootsy and modern. The harmonies lull like lullabies, then jolt as if shot through jumper cables.
BOSTON GLOBE - Scott Alarik - Feb 1, 2007, as quoted on Tripping Lily's Press page

Phew. I never would have come up with all that. I thought it was awesome, and they had some of the best all-around musicians I've seen in a while (Alex on several instruments, including the mandolin, washboard, and violin). The upright bass really added depth to the music and made it... smoother.

Overall, this is a young group with good looks and a lot of musical talent between them. AND best of all, they have a name that sounds like an action sentence, so I can pull the ol' Simpsons gag next time I meet them:

(Alex extends hand) "Alex, Tripping Lily."
(shakes hands) "Paz, smiling politely."

Ukulala meets the Squirrel Nut Zippers

2008-07-22T23:33:00.017-04:00

1/7/09 UPDATE: Check out the comments for some additional notes and corrections from Will Dawson and Darrell, both part of SNZ. Thanks y'all!

7/23/08 UPDATE: Thanks to some corrections and details from the good folks over at HUMANWINE, I have made a few changes in the sections that talked about them.

First off: this is going to be a long post with lots of pictures, animated gifs, and video. So be forewarned!

Last week, on Friday, one of my favorite bands ever, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, played at the Paradise in Boston. Now... I don't want to give away too much about my secure undisclosed location, but Boston is close enough that I decided to make the rare trip out in the sun (and disgusting, filthy germ-filled air) to check out the show:

Now since I've done a tutorial on one of their songs (Plenty More) and since I am a fan of their stuff in general, I got in touch with the band a few days before the show to see if they'd be interested in talking a little bit about their music, their band, and --since they do use the ukulele sometimes-- about ukuleles. They graciously agreed to chat for a bit and maybe pose for some photos after their soundcheck.

Now I am by no means a professional interviewer, but I knew I wanted three things:

1: An answer to the question "How does the ukulele fit into the big picture of your music?" and
2: A photo of someone in the band playing the Ukulala ukulele, and
3: To make out with Katharine Whalen.

With those goals in mind (and my lucky make-out socks on), I met up with my friend and photographer Aaron at the front door and started taking some occasional notes. Over the next hour or so, I met Chris Phillips (the drummer), Drew (the stage manager), Jimbo Mathus (lead vocalist and writer), Katharine Whalen (female vocalist and four-string virtuoso), and several people part of or helping out HUMANWINE, the opening act.

The following snippets about each are based loosely off my notes and my rapidly-faltering booze-scarred memory:

Chris Phillips

This is the first person I talked to, the drummer for SNZ. He approached me when he saw the ukulele case and introduced himself. I had him to thank for inviting us to stop by, and he brought us back to the stage to introduce us to the crew and band.

My memory of what we talked about is a bit fuzzy, but I think he has a couple kids, and he said they were growing up into music and would probably be learning on the uke at least while they're young and it fits them. He messes around a bit on it too. The gateway instrument....

I think he kind of expected that I was waiting to interview the lead singers or the ukulele player. Makes sense, but he seemed like a humble, down-to earth guy and I wish I had talked to him a bit longer and gotten more photos.

Here he is at the end, with Katharine:

Katharine Whalen and Chris Phillips cradle her ukulele like a baby.

At the end of the interview/chat, when he came out to talk to Katharine, he stepped in and asked if we had tickets to the show. I told I had mine already, but the show was sold out and Aaron didn't have a ticket. Chris said it was no problem if he wanted to go, and he got Aaron's full name and added it to the guest list.

Drew (Andy)

The Squirrel Nut Zippers' stage manager's name is Drew (and Andy), and he's a hard-working, genial motherfucker with a keen sense of humor. The show went off without a hitch. Also--if your band is doing a sound check and you need to find a wireless mic guard and half of some jerk's broken glass pipe, he's the only dude you can trust to get it done.

SNZ Stage Manager Drew tunes the bejeezus out of Katharine's custom-made gift, a tenor guitar.

He helped us coordinate with the band so they could get their soundcheck in, have time to do a "limousine interview" (Katharine later said someone brought her around in a limousine with champagne and a photographer for an interview right before mine. Oh man, I can't compete with that), and still meet with us for a bit.

The mustachioed glue that keeps SNZ together and functioning behind the scenes.

Jim Mathus

He's the front-man for the Zippers now, and he looks it. The man has style, even when, or maybe especially when, he's going straight-up casual:

Jimbo Mathus

I wasn't sure whether to call him Jim or Jimbo, but I don't think it really mattered. I still don't know which to go with, 'cause I forgot to ask, but Aaron thinks Jimbo is best. We talked outside while he had a cigarette, and I just basically let him know who I was and asked him a few questions about how the band writes their songs and chooses their instruments.

While we were talking, a few members of the band HUMANWINE were walking by to set up their stuff, and he introduced himself and me. One girl, whose name I unfortunately did NOT write down but HUMANWINE tells me was Kaethe Hostetter, stayed to hang out. She plays the viola/violin.

It sounded like she was on the road pretty often and had a lot in common with Jim, so they swapped a few travel stories. She picked up the Ukulala ukulele, and--without being a regular ukulele player--played something cute and catchy. Then she played something a bit harder while Jimbo eyeball-danced:

Jimbo Mathus of SNZ and Kaethe Hostetter violin player for HUMANWINE rock out on the Ukulala ukulele.

Then I witnessed something fantastic. Jim was chatting with Kaethe about New Orleans when someone mentioned something about collaborations. The conversation went something like this (and I am viciously paraphrasing, but what they actually said was probably even shorter):

Jimbo: so, you guys want to collaborate at the end?
Kaethe: Yeah, sure, that sounds cool. How should it go?
Jimbo: We'll play C and G at the end of the encore, you guys can just jump in and play along.
Kaethe: Yeah, just C and G?
Jimbo: C for 2, G for 2, maybe a little bit of mixing it up, it'll be easy.

...and that was it.

Just like that, they were ready to play on a stage together. Man, to be a real musician............ I don't think they even know how much like a magic trick their conversation sounded. It was like... a recursive function: so reduced it couldn't be right. Anyone who knows what that means is a nerd and I will come to their house and beat them up.

At the climax of the show, both bands rocked out together on stage and then marched through a (thunderous) crowd in a congo drum line, so I guess the collaboration was approved at the higher levels.

Jimbo in action, from Aaron's Photo-Go-Round post:

Katharine Whalen

The female vocalist and four-stringed virtuoso of the band also had a flare for putting together her thoughts into perfect groups of words. We chatted for a little while, and I decided to ask her, being the ukulele player in the band, my main question: "How does the ukulele fit into the big picture of your music?"

Well, without even pausing to do some internal editing she said --and this is the ONE quote I wrote down in full, because it was so good and I asked her to repeat it-- she said:

"The ukulele is sparkly, like bubbles in a glass of champagne."
Katharine Whalen, Squirrel Nut Zippers

Now it may have just been because she had champagne on the mind after that "Limousine Interview" (as mentioned above in the Drew section) she finished just before she talked to me, but that quote is a gorgeous piece of imagery. It is the perfect way to describe the light, exciting, energetic spark of this instrument on a track.

We went back and forth for a while, with me just trying to get an idea of how these people put together their music, and what their influences were. In no particular order, I think I learned:

Katharine learned first on the banjo (Jimbo mentioned it may have been from teaching herself out of a Mel Bay book, but I didn't confirm that), then was introduced to the ukulele and encouraged to sing by her husband at the time.
Her husband at the time was (!?!? why didn't I know this?!) Jim Mathus (see above). They divorced several years ago but are now touring together. That revelation, of course, led to several other questions--none of which I asked.
Wash Jones is her favorite song to perform, as seen on this video from 2007.
Eddie Condon, legendary jazz musician and bandleader, was her biggest influence in terms of the style she plays. He played a rhythmic style on the ukulele, the four-string (tenor) guitar, and the banjo.
Her favorite instrument right now was a gift-- a custom tenor guitar.
She might start up a four-string band--banjo, tenor guitar, ukulele, bass--the sky's the limit! (Hi Katharine, looking for a third-rate ukulele player?!!? wink wink)
The song "Hell", off their biggest album (and my personal favorite of theirs!) was actually recorded with her baritone ukulele....

...which she THEN brought out and let me play:

Paz plays the Marathon baritone ukulele used for the original recording of the SNZ song Hell.

It was tuned in "open G" I think she said, which is the same as a banjo. Makes it easier for her to switch between the instruments, but I had no idea where most of the chords were. Nonetheless, she had the Ukulala ukulele and I had her Marathon, so we had a quick little jam session where I definitely didn't keep interrupting her:

Katharine Whalen from SNZ enjoys a totally relaxed jam session with Paz from Ukulala.

By the way, I'm still looking for a link to the Limousine interview. I'm curious to see how it went and what she talked about with them just minutes before I spoke with her.

And because she volunteered that I should include pictures of myself, here's the first picture of me ever on this ukulele blog, with Katharine:

Paz poses with Katharine, who holds the Ukulala ukulele.

I debated this in my head for a while, because I do like a certain degree of anonymity. But, what the heck, if we've got one picture of me we may as well include the one of me with Jimbo:

Jim Mathus and Paz both enjoy a good chill outside the Paradise in Boston.

Oh, and later that night, Katharine with a decidedly less casual outfit on:

L... Legs.

HUMANWINE

They are a Boston-based band with a cool setup, and they opened for SNZ. Yes, HUMANWINE capitalizes their whole name (I'm not just yelling, it was part of their "ALLCAPSNOGAPS Policy of 2000 Group"). They drive around in a big school bus painted matte black, because NH law says to register a ex-school bus it must be painted any other color than "school bus yellow," and they chose black. The front window had a big sign that read "FREEDUMB". I don't know what it means, but I think it costs $19.95:

The HUMANWINE bus shares a parking spot.

And they are in the process of converting it to be an entirely environmentally-friendly vehicle that runs on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO), so they can tour the country without the brutal carbon footprint and high fuel costs you usually get from a big-ass bus. Their plan sounds fucking awesome.

Apparently Waste Vegetable Oil is trash that the restaurants actually have to pay to dispose of, so of course they're more than happy to have it hauled away for free. I even heard rumor (verified fact) that HUMANWINE's Ma and lead singer herself, Holly Brewer, carried some 19 gallons of unfiltered WVO herself on the first "Official WVO Run" from a restaurant in JP.

As HUMANWINE tells it, "We ask. They open their door for us."

True for so many things.

~#~

So that was Ukulala meeting the Squirrel Nut Zippers (and running into HUMANWINE). I also recorded a video of SNZ playing the song Hell at the show that night, which is definitely worth a watch to get an idea of the energy at their shows:

And here's one more shot of a few of the other guys in the band, who I didn't meet before the show but held it down live:

Gabrieli Pelli and Will Dawson sax up the audience a bit.

I hope this blog entry got across how relaxed, friendly, eclectic, fun, and interesting group they seemed to be. It's funny when a group's music matches their persona. I had a great time and I hope they did too, and if you read this whole thing then I have one more thing to tell you: I only accomplished 2 of my 3 goals.

For now.

How to play Holland, 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel

2008-07-13T19:56:00.004-04:00

Well, I'm back from a nice and baseball-y vacation across the east coast. Apologies for the lame weekly poll (it was about the best spots to sleep on vacation), but that was the big question on my mind when I got home. I had a great time, but it feels good to sleep in my own bed again---and to play some Neutral Milk Hotel on my uke again!

In that spirit, this video is on Holland, 1945, another great Neutral Milk Hotel song along with In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. It's a dang good album that was inspired by the diary of Anne Frank, and this song seems to be the only one directly talking about her (maybe? who knows).

In making this, I sought assistance from Woodshed at ukulelehunt.com to make sure the chords I had were all correct. His version, which--I have come to accept--is usually the correct version, is a bit more complicated than the one I originally found here. It adds in a few more chords in the last verse, and calls for some very quick chord changes.

Ukulele Hunt chords and lyrics can be found here.

I am not quite at that level yet, but I did incorporate the advanced techniques into my youtube tutorial video:

Video Breakdown
0:00 Intro and Tuning (GCEA)
0:13 Chords (Simple: G,C,D Advanced: G,C,D, G/B, D7, Am)
1:59 Strumming pattern (8 beat loop)
4:10 Part 1- Intro
4:33 Part 2- Verse 1
5:29 Example of Intro and Verse 1 w/lyrics
6:48 Part 3- Chorus
7:09 Part 4- Verse 2 (same chords/timing as verse 1)
7:25 Part 5- Chorus (same as first chorus)
7:36 Part 6- Verse 3 (has advanced version if you prefer)

The strumming pattern I describe in the video loops in eight beats, where each beat is a down or an up strum:
1) down
2) miss up
3) down
4) up
5) miss down
6) up
7) down
8) up
(repeat, switching chords if necessary)

I had enough trouble figuring out the timing for this song that I decided to chart it all out (credit for idea goes to E-dub). I divided the song into units of time (or beats), and turned that into a table. Each cell in the table represents one loop of the strumming pattern.

Intro

C	C	-	-
C	C	G	G
C	C	G	G

Verse 1

C the	C I've	G loved	G
C was	C roses	G her	G
C but	C buried	G -live	D nine
C five	D sister	G side	D weeks
C guns	D rained	G -one	D little
C spain	D pianos	G flames	D rings
C sun	D say	C come	C

Chorus

G	G now	C pick	C every
G piece	G	C life	C used
G love	G	C keep	C -selves
G least	G	D on	D7

Verse 2 (exact same chords and timing as verse 1)

C and	C ride	G -cus	G
C with	C brother	G in	G
C says	C good	G -live	D rides
C flame	D coming	G -gain	D better
C star	D -bove	G are	D mean
C cry	D ring	G fly	D rings
C heart	D screams	C part	C

Chorus (same as above)

Verse 3

G (G/B,Am) here's	C mother	G sleeps	G
G (G/B,Am) here	C room	G brother	D born
G (G/B,Am) indentions	C in	G sheets	G
G (G/B,Am) bodies	C moved	G move	D -more
D	C sad	G see	C world
G agree	C rather	G faces	D flies
G (G/B,Am) oh	C want	G keep	D roses
D in	G eyes	G	G

I can't wait until May, 2255!

2008-06-28T10:45:00.005-04:00

Hooray! Ukulala (ukulaladotcom on YouTube) just reached a nice little meaningless milestone: 100 YouTube Subscribers!

YouTuber jemmahatty rolled the subscribers over into three-digit territory. I'll resist the temptation to profile her yet. That means somewhere out there are 100 people that may or may not know when I put a video up. 100 people who probably have ukuleles, want to learn through video tutorials, and like somewhat similar music to what I've done tutorials for.

That got me thinking... where is this whole Ukulala thing going, and how fast? I think you know where I'm going with this: time for some math.

Let's see... I posted my first video on January 13th. Using a handy online time passage calculator, we can calculate that 166 days have passed. That works out to 100 subscribers in 166 days = 100/166 = 0.6024 New Subscribers per day.

So now I can calculate when I should hope to reach my next milestones (Subscriber goals), using the formula:

(# of days from January 13th, 2008) = (Subscriber goal)/0.6024

And then I can plug January 13th, 2008 and the # of days to look past it into this other time and date calculator to get an actual date for when I should expect to reach that milestone. Here's an idea of what to expect:

100 subscribers: 100/0.6024 = 166 days (Saturday, June 28th, 2008 - TODAY!)
200 subscribers: 200/0.6024 = 332 days (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)
500 subscribers: 500/0.6024 = 830 days (Thursday, April 22, 2010)

and 1000 subscribers (big milestone!) = 1660 days (Monday, July 30, 2012)

So what does this all mean? To put things in perspective, at this rate, ukulaladotcom will have as many subscribers as that creepy girl who looks at the camera by

Sunday, May 27, 2255

When I am about 275 years old. What? It could happen. Of course, that's assuming there isn't a drop-off once everyone who plays the ukulele has subscribed.

~
Oh, and on the topic of milestones, I added a blurb about Ukulala to the "Top 50 Ukulele Sites list" last month, along with the tracking logo (left top) to see how Ukulala would stack up against the other juggernauts of the uke world.

I know what you're thinking: There are 50 ukulele sites!? Well, believe it or not, there are even more. Ukulala broke the top 50 on June 12th and has been climbing up ever since. It's now at #35, and because of the cumulative way the list calculates hits, I expect to be in the top 25 maybe by the end of the year. I think a good goal would be to get into the top 20 by 2009. I have no idea how reasonable that is, but I've always wanted to say "Wuddup dudes, well, I'm not an expert or anything, no, I'm just the guy who has the sixth most popular ukulele-based tutorial blog on the Northeastern coast."

That'll always be the dream.

Ask Ukulala Vol. 3: Bosnia to the Moustache Empire

2008-06-25T18:05:00.015-04:00

Yeeeeeeehaw, time for another round of Ask Ukulala Anything!

It's been a little while, but I have noticed I get enough questions about once a month, so I think from now on I'll try to make these approximately a monthly event.

We've got some excellent questions again this round, so I'll do my best to answer, starting with Piennoich from across the ocean in Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Hello my friends :)
;)
Piennoich, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hi Piennoich! (mangles pronunciation as "pie"-"noych", smiles inquisitively, wonders which sex the name applies to)

I guess you have no question in particular, but, believe me, I read that wink loud and clear.

;)
:)
;)

Do you play World of Warcraft? Would you consider doing so if I sent you one?
Kelly, Circus clown (seriously!)

Well, the thing about Worl---wait a minute.... Are you reaaaally a circus clown?!?!

I feel like these questions are suddenly going the wrong direction. If you're really a circus clown, I want to know MORE. Like, what kind of clown tricks do you do? And are all your friends carnies and how do those flexy people carry heavy things without their bodies bending and how does that guy know how heavy everyone is and what do you feed the bears and is your whole family in the circus and---I'm trying to write down all my questions for you... but ..... head.... exploding..... with questions......... YEARGGGGH! *pop*

....

Ok, wait, I'm fine. Must have just been a blood clot.

Anyway, I don't play World of Warcraft. The last Warcraft I played was Warcraft II, and it was awesome (my favorite quote, from the two-headed ogre with the British accent: "We're ready master. No we're not!").

It's probably too late for me to get into Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) at this point if I haven't yet, so I probably wouldn't sta----wait, are you really a circus clown though?

Do you have videos of yourself online? And where do you access the internet?

*more delicious flattery* Also, teaching helps to learn, so i bet that your answering all these questions advances you even further.
A Fan, Everywhere

You, Mr. or Ms. Fan, are correct. Part of why I started making the tutorial videos and answering questions was so that I would be forced to figure it all out myself before I opened my big yapper. The questions aren't quite as rigorous as the videos, since I like to have a bit of fun with them, but I do try to address the substantial questions with real answers as best I can.

In fact, I might go out on a limb here and say teaching is the best the way to learn. So... everyone should go teach someone else how to play their favorite uke song, and let me know how it goes!

a lot of kids at my school have been pressuring me to try ukulele, but I've heard from adults it's a gateway silly instrument and can lead to the playing of yet sillier instruments. Could you possiably skip straight to the siller instruments? i'm a busy kid, and i can't aford to waste time on the uke when i know there are more hard-core silly instruments out there. Maybe you can post soungs on the jew's harp, or a series of wine glasses filled to different levels. OH! hows about an accordian song?! that big, ol' squeezy box is the bees knees.

Marduk

Marduk, Mustachioed child upon a beardo's lap

Ooooh, this questioner also included a link to what appears to be a photo of himself:

I like how their coats match, but I'd be concerned if I were that guy that the kid is not actually his. I mean, look at that blond hair and relatively tiny moustache....

Anyway, back to the meat of this question: silly instrument!? SILLY!?!? DAMN YOU TINY TIM!

Nobody thought the ukulele was silly back before that moron started playing it. It's an amazingly versatile, portable, and yet simple instrument. It has a long proud history as a fusion of Portuguese culture and Hawaiian craftsmanship, and it was the instrument of choice here in the US during the 1920s jazz--the "icon of the Jazz Age" according to wikipedia.

And then that idiot picked it up and starting dancing around like a buffoon and squawking like a bird so people could laugh at him and his stupid little novelty instrument. Har har. RIP, no disrespect, but come on. I'm not even sure he knows how to tune or play his uke.

Anyway, those other ideas for instruments all sound awesome. Accordion, wine glasses, jew's harp--wait, is that a racial slur? Bringing up google... ok, no, you're in the clear--would all be fantastic to learn how to play. Lord knows there are ten billion people out there right now playing fucking electric guitar and nothing but. And I got nothing against the electric guitar, I just love to see more variety in music.

I like the idea of the ukulele being a gateway instrument, but there's nothing silly about it. It's fun and easy to learn, so it is a gateway... to music! (nods with self-satisfaction at the turn of the phrase)

So my advice to you is like anything else: if kids at school are pressuring you to do something, go for it bruh.

so...I've been flirting with the uke for a while now. nothing serious, but I came across this and was wondering if you knew where the hell to find tab for it. it's gorgeous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9toJRdu2bXQ
thanks
sam, austin, tx

First of all, what a fantastic contrast between that video (the link goes to "ukulele master Ohta-san performs HAWAII") and the Tiny Tim video I just watched. The perfect juxtaposition of a master and a jester.

Yes, this is a beautiful song that I have never heard before. I did a pretty intensive online search (read: 10 full minutes) and came up with no tabs for it.

If you really are serious about learning this song, I would write Woodshed at ukulelehunt.com and request that he figure out tabs for it. There's nobody more qualified (or likely) to figure it out, and that song would be a great addition to the uke-iverse (not my term, but I like it).

...But, please don't ask him to figure it out unless you really would appreciate the work he does on it. It ain't easy what he does for the uke community, and if anyone out there requests tabs, I hope they would follow up and let him know it is appreciated.

Hey,
I just got my ukulele yesterday so I'm a total newbie with it, but I have to say I love your videos and I just can't wait to learn them all.
But well, as you know I have to start somewhere and I just want to ask you wich song do you think is the easiest to begin with?
Thank you
(Anonymous because it was sent in a private message. If this is you and you don't care, let me know)

If you have a capo or you are comfortable tuning the ukulele up by a half-note, I'd say Elephant Gun would be a great place to start. That's where I started. You can make it sound very much like Beirut's version pretty quickly.

If you don't have a capo or don't have a tuner that does different notes (I HIGHLY recommend AP Tuner if you are tuning on a computer), then I'd say In the Aeroplane Over the Sea would be the best place to start, especially if you just do the first verse of the song to get a feel for it. It uses 4 simple repeating chords, and it's a very pretty instrumental song.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is very motivating to play your favorite songs, so if you have a favorite, I'd say start with that and just plug away!

Good luck.

"apprenez à jouer Five Years au Ukulele et emportez le avec vous samedi, on va s’amuser !" "Learn to play Five Years on the Ukulele and take it with you on Saturday. It will be fun!" Shouldn't one learn the incoherent nonsensical gibberish language?
Francophone, USA

Merci, mon ami, pour la traduction. Je regrette de ne pas pouvoir assister à ce concert-là. C'était probablement un peu trop loin ... *pop*

....

Wait, what the hell just happened!? What's all that gibberish up there and why does my head hurt? Where am I!?!?

This question was in response to this post, where I found that caption above my tutorial for Five Years Time on the blogoteque page. While I appreciate the magic tricks you and Quentin (in the comments from that post) can do turning nonsense into english, I don't think there's any way someone like me could do it.

We love our willful ignorance of foreign stuff where I come from.

Hey, Just wanted to send a big thanks from the WonderHowTo team for featuring us on your blog. We always love people talking about our site! Thanks! Best,
Ben Kinzel, Online Marketing Manager
WonderHowTo.com

Well, Ben, I think you're doing a fine job as Online Marketing Manager. In fact, since you sent me this nice little note and since your website is very useful, I'm going to add this link to my main list of Ukulinklinks (over on the right). It's the ukulele section of your "how to" videos.

I hope I can reward you guys with a few clicks. All kinds of useful information on this site, like a very candid (read: shady but true) video how to get started in internet marketing, from this guy:

Herwitz, if you're reading this, there's a thing or two in there about the benefits of maintaining online anonymity. Mr. Kinzel, if you're reading this, don't worry, I think you're one of the good kind of internet marketers based on the honest approach and friendly note. That might even be your real name, which, according to the video above, means you have a good product. Unlikely, but possible.

Anyway, I appreciate a bit of honesty and openness from marketers.

Hey Paz! I have really been enjoying your videos! I've got quite a few of them down now. But my question is this: When playing Five Years Time, is the "hit-type" strum like the "hit" strum in Nantes? I have watched your videos many times and I can't seem to get it.
Taylor

Oh man, this is probably the question I've received the most at Ukulala. "How do I make that 'hit' noise you talk about?"

The problem is, I learned how to do it early on, back years ago when I tried and failed to learn guitar, so I hardly think about it anymore. I've made a few attempts to describe it (question from Molly, about halfway down), but it's always been an unexpected road block for people in the videos I've done.

Apparently it's called a "chuck" noise, and yes, it IS the same "move" I'm doing in both Nantes and Five Years Time (although it's done quicker in Five Years Time). I also use it in Boy With the Arab Strap and Plenty More.

It's a part of my repertoire, and I hope it will eventually be part of yours. The basic idea is just to strum quickly down, and immediately mute the strings with your palm. Just push your palm up against them as the end of your strum.

I really need to make a video of it like this guy did. Then I can do some better show-and-tell. So... practice what you can for now, but... stay tuned?

So, I am a beginner with the ukulele, and I've been searching in Google for ukulele songs to play. I have found many songs such as, Tiny Bubbles (to play for my grandpa, haha). I can play the chords just fine, but they don't tell you how to strum them! I am really confused. Do you just have to try different patterns until it sounds right? Cause it's really hard...
Taylor

Damn right it's hard! And why the HELL don't any sites tell you how to strum the songs when it's so important!?

That's exactly why I include strumming patterns into all my videos. It was a complete mystery to me why it is ignored in

1) books
2) tutorial videos
3) chord sites
4) tab sites

and that made it really difficult to learn some songs that should have been simple. It's like they all assume the strumming just kinda "happens". WRONG. It's a major--sometimes THE defining--part of a song.

Actually I do give HUGE credit to Woodshed at ukulelehunt.com for including strumming patterns when it really matters. It was his written description of Elephant Gun that helped me learn the song so easily it inspired me to make my first video. And no, I'm not just kissing his ass cause he's got the #1 uke site in the world, I'm legitimately impressed with the depth and breadth of his body of work.

Very cool tutorial for "the penalty", Thanks for putting that online. As you maybe know, theres an alternative version of the song on flyingclubcup.com with a different strumming pattern. Any chance you could figure out that one?
Sayyadina, Germany

I see what you're talking about. It's very similar, still in twelve beats of course, but he doesn't let it pause as long after the first strum on each chord. Basically just replace some of the misses in the version I did with soft strums, where you just barely hit the strings on your up or down strums.

With bold as a louder strum, I think it would be:

1) down
2) miss up
3) soft down (instead of miss)
4) up
5) down
6) soft up (instead of miss)
7) down
8) miss up
9) down
10) up
11) down
12) up

i hope the reason this weeks poll was so lame is cause you're too busy workin' with that song "allmike_newDIR2_2." i've been playing with the other ones to make them less monotonous. it's been slow going- everything good keeps ending up sounding sad, and when i manage to make it sound uppity it sounds too corny. i had a spot of luck this evening, but i'm too tired to work on it now, so hopefully i can iron it out this weekend. oh, and here's my question for ukulala: did you see that colbert report when he postulated the existence of santa's arch rival, Manfred Claus? comic GOLD.
the mighty gorch, earthquake island

D'oh, I missed that episode, but I did find this mention of the Manfred Claus here (at 0:37 in the video). Colbert is kind of a hero.

And yes, this week's poll is LAME. I am sorry. I meant to have it be a reference to this quote from this Simpsons episode, where Springfield Elementary students took an aptitude test to determine ' future careers:

Ms. Hoover: First question. If I could be any animal, I would be (a) a carpenter ant, (b) a nurse shark, or (c) a lawyer bird.

Unfortunately I thought that was too obvious, so I kept only the carpenter ant. The poll ended up just... boring. Oh well, I guess the onus is on me to try and spice up the interpretion of the results. Looks like "Cat" is going to win.

In case anyone was wondering, yes, this is the same Gorch who was an honorary member of Ukulala. He helped me with this little ditty, my first bit of original uke music with drums. Someday I'll make that into a real song.

He lives in Japan now, where he is studying under the tutelage of electronic drumming masters to become a master himself, or something like that. Actually I forget why he went there. maybe just to feel tall (was that racist?).

Anyway, he recently started sending me stuff to add uke to, so we can collaborate again. I still have a hard time coming up with interesting original stuff and playing along with a beat, but I will be working on "allmike_newDIR2_2" soon. I have a certain mistrust of electronic music, but I think mixed with an acoustic recording it has potential. And when we have something to show for it, I'll post it here.

Plus, I already know what my album name will be for the great collaboration between Ukulala and the Mighty Gorch: The Rise and Fall of the Moustache Empire.

~

That's it for now! Use that little box over on the left ANY TIME to ask me about ANY THING!

Peace out!

-Paz

sam sam

How to play The Penalty by Beirut

2008-06-16T00:04:00.010-04:00

Along with the several requests on YouTube for this song, weekly poll #5 showed me one important thing: Ukulala visitors are ravenous, salivating, Beirut-hungry dogs. They just can't get enough Beirut. And thank goodness, 'cause I'm not going to stop making Beirut videos anytime soon. If you haven't heard it yet, now is the time to check out The Penalty.

The ukulele chords I used can be found here on ukulelehunt.com.

Here's my tutorial video:

Video Breakdown:

0:00 Intro, Tuning
0:22 Chords (C, e/C, Em, F, G for simple version, add C(alt) and Fadd9 for advanced version. Click on the chord links below for pictures of the fingering)
--------
1:15 Strumming pattern (12 beat loop described below)
3:03 Strumming example
--------
3:28 Chorder Intro
3:43 Intro: Simple version
(C, e/C, Em, F) (F, e/C, Em, F)
4:49 Intro: Advanced version
(C, e/C, Em, C(alt)->F) (F->Fadd9, e/C, Em, F->Fadd9)
--------
6:15 First verse Part 1 (F, e/C, Em, F->Fadd9) times 2
7:29 First verse Part 2 (G, C, F, C) times 2
--------
7:58 Middle (same as Intro, but starts at F)
--------
8:19 Verse 2 (same as verse 1, more loops of G, C, F, C)
--------
8:51 Demonstration of Intro/Verse 1

Chords:
C
e/C
C(alt)
Em
F
Fadd9
G

Strumming Pattern:
The strumming pattern follows a twelve-beat loop, where each beat is an up or a down strum. The up and down strums (your hand) should move at a regular pace. The strums to emphasize (play louder) are bolded.

1) down
2) miss up
3) miss down
4) up
5) down
6) miss up
7) down
8) miss up
9) down
10) up
11) down
12) up
(switch chord and repeat)

Chorder:
Each block in the table below represents one loop of 12 beats, as described above. For the most part, the strumming pattern is exactly the same throughout the whole song.

The song is divided into several parts:
1) Intro
2) First verse part 1
3) First verse part 2 (loops GCFC)
4) Middle (same as intro, but starts with F instead of C)
5) Second verse part 1 (same as first verse part 1)
6) Second verse part 2 (loops GCFC)

Intro
For the simple version, play just F instead of C(alt)->F and just F instead of F,Fadd9.

C	e/C	Em	C(alt)->F
F,Fadd9	e/C	Em	C(alt)->F

Verse 1
For the simple version, play just F instead of F,Fadd9.

F,Fadd9 like	e/C day	Em I	F trial
F,Fadd9 let	e/C -way	Em once	F island
G I	C stay	F I	C -lieved
G left	C light	F -ways	C season

Middle (same as Intro, but starts with F)
For the simple version, play just F instead of C(alt)->F and just F instead of F,Fadd9.

F	e/C	Em	C(alt)->F
F,Fadd9	e/C	Em	C(alt)->F

Verse 2
For the simple version, play just F instead of F,Fadd9.

F,Fadd9 impossible	e/C night	Em crowd	F home-
F,Fadd9 fully	e/C you'll	Em leave	F light
G family	C wait	F keep	C breathing
G get	C day	F find	C kneeling
G let	C may	F they	C reason
G left	C light	F -ways	C season
G	C	F	C
G	C	F	C

If you have questions or find mistakes, let me know and I'll answer whatever I can or update this to reflect any issues.

Word. The Penalty is an awesome song.

Better know a subscriber: Bayreuth11

2008-06-11T19:28:00.000-04:00

Ask and ye shall receive. This profile of a subscriber is by request, left in the comments on this first "better know a subscriber" post. As I hinted, I was hoping somebody would request to be profiled, so cheers to Bayreuth11! And jeers to everyone who didn't. Yes, I'm looking at you.

So, who is Bayreuth11?

My convoluted, twisted speculation:

His (or "her", but I'm already assuming "his" because the name doesn't indicate female, and on the internet male is the default) profile picture:

Joined: October 12, 2007

Last Login: 1 day ago

Videos Watched: 540

Subscribers: 0

Channel Views: 65
Country: United States
Interests and Hobbies: Playing Ukulele, Running

Not a whole lot of info to work off. Also, he hasn't posted any of his own videos. Tough to get any personal info on just this.... but... things start to get a bit more interesting in his lists:

Movies and Shows: Donnie Darko, Fight Club, The Life Aquatic, The Shining, Rebel Without a Cause, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development

Ok ok, now those are all pretty damn good movies and shows. Especially the shows (and I love watching Fight Club). The male/female question is still out there, but I'd have to say these are mostly "guy" movies and shows, so if I had to make a wild assumption I'd still go with male (although... Jake Gyllenhaal, Brad Pitt, Bill Murray, Jack Nicholson, Owen Wilson, James Dean... this could still be a girl's list of favorite movies...). But it's the music list that really makes things interesting:

Music: Beirut, New Order, Belle and Sebastian, Voxtrot, The New Pronographers, Neutral Milk Hotel, Echo and the Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Dirty Projectors, Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, The Postal Service, Noah and the Whale, The Decemberists, The National, The Replacements, Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, Of Montreal, Okkervil River, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Feist, My Brightest Diamond, Jeff Buckley, The Smiths, The Cure, Gang of Four, Breathe Owl Breathe

The ones in green are bands I think are amazing, blue are ones I think have a few great songs and nothing I really object to, and the ones in red are ones I've never heard of, or haven't heard enough to form an opinion yet. The key here is that there are NO bands I have heard and don't like. That is highly, highly unusual for me. (Sonic Youth is the only questionable one, but I realized I don't know enough about them to say either way). But the fact that every favorite of his is either a favorite of mine already or I haven't heard it before means two things:

1) He's in the right place for learning ukulele songs he'll enjoy.
2) I need to check out those bands on the list I've never heard of.

Now, back to figuring out stuff about Bayreuth11.

He's involved enough with YouTube to have organized playlists, a customized background, and a nice picture of his uke as a profile pic. So he's savvy with YouTube, but at the same time he has none of his own personal videos up. That says to me he has not embraced YouTube in the way that teenagers of the day have (those wacky young people will put up videos of anything), so he's a bit older. Maybe late twenties or early thirties?

Then there is the name. Based on the fact that a) Beirut gets top billing on his music list and b) one of his playlists of videos is the entire Beirut Blogotheque video series for Flying Club Cup (which are amazing, as I have mentioned before), I think "Bayreuth11" is either a homonym for Beirut or a reference to the city of Bayreuth, Germany. Most likely it's a bit of both, but mainly a reference to the city, so I'm going to guess he's got German ancestry or family. Bayreuth and Bayreuth1 are already taken, at least one of them by a German.

He has 7 playlists, mostly related to music, either uke or other. Bayreuth11 loves music, and good music at that. And he's organized, at least for music. I don't know of too many people that would take the time to organize themselves playlists with descriptions, so I'd guess he likes to archive and list things as much as possible, just to organize the musical obsession in his life.

He has two friends: longrangeforce and luminoussoul. Not a lot of help there, except that they are both in the U.S., have similar music tastes, and luminoussoul is maybe a 47 year-old woman who plays piano. It is somewhat possible these three are all the same person, but the musical tastes are just different enough that I think it's unlikely (luminoussoul likes a bunch of Sting). It's more likely that Bayreuth11 and longrangeforce are the same person. longrangeforce lists his/her age at 69, which is probably just a joke (since most people around that age either a) don't know how to move "that little arrow" on the "computer machine", b) have forgotten their age, or c) are busy running for president). And he signed up three days before Bayreuth11, so it was probably just an alternate account with a name he didn't like as much. If he is longrangeforce, he's probably interested in astronomy or physics (long range force being a physics term for gravitational forces with stars and galaxies, I believe), so he might be a grad student. That's a bit of a stretch, but hey, there isn't much to work with here.

Oh my god. Looking at his favorites, he has TWO out of twelve favorite videos devoted specifically to Age of Consent by New Order. And one of them is this amazing ukulele cover.

Age of Consent might be my favorite song of all time. If it's not number one, it's certainly top 3 and shifts in and out of the 1-spot. God damn it's a great song. It's official: Thumbs up for Bayreuth11.

My final analysis:

Bayreuth11 is around 30 years old, an American of German ancestry who may have done (or is still doing) advanced studies in physics or astronomy. He also has a deep obsession for music and the ukulele. He loves indy music, 80's music, and psychedelic folk, and he tries to find and consume as much as he possibly can. He keeps an organized collection of music, and it would be tough to name a band in the genre he hasn't heard of. Maybe Paleo is obscure enough? Music invades on every part of his life, like a life soundtrack. He loves to run, and he brings an iPod and has a few playlists specifically made for running. He loves to run to Arcade Fire (those mixes should really have some Violent Femmes if they don't already). He was almost as excited to find Ukulala as I was to find Age of Consent on the uke in his favorites. He's already bookmarked Ukulala, and he's going to check the site every week or so to see what song I post next (and when I do post it, he's going to like it). In the last weekly poll, he voted for "The Penalty by Beirut".

----
So that's my (somewhat lengthy) take on Bayreuth11. Could be completely wrong, I have no idea, but that's what I've got in my head now so THAT'S THE FINAL WORD. Better know a subscriber #2! Leave a comment here (or anywhere) if you want to nominate another subscriber. Bayreuth11, if you see this, feel free to correct me, insult me, or berate me... or to praise me as the Sherlock Holmes of the ukulele world!

Ukulala Out There

2008-06-02T15:22:00.004-04:00

So one of the cool things about YouTube is how videos can spread and mix around out there in the big flying bit mess that is the internet. Once you put something up, anything can happen to it. Case in point, my friend put this little number up and ended up getting a call from Inside Edition, who featured the clip in an expose of vodka snorting and how it affected Prince Harry (no joke! they sent him a DVD of the episode) .

So yeah, you never know who might be interested in your videos. I decided to do a little check and see where exactly on the internet Ukulala videos are being featured, and here's what I got:

ukulelehunt.com
This is officially the top ukulele site out there, so it's been great to work with Woodshed on doing at least one collaboration (Boy With the Arab Strap). I'm hoping to do more with him in areas where our musical taste collides, or areas where video would really help his stuff.
Belle and Sebastian on Ukulelehunt.com

wonderhowto.com
This is a very cool website I'd never heard of before. It seems to pull together all sorts of tutorial videos on every subject, organizes them, and makes them searchable. I think it's a great idea, I may even start using it for other things.
Beirut on wonderhowto.com

blogotheque.net
These guys made some of my all-time favorite videos EVER, apparently for both Beirut and Noah and the Whale. All the text on that page appears to be some sort of incoherent nonsensical gibberish ("apprenez à jouer Five Years au Ukulele et emportez le avec vous samedi, on va s’amuser !" ???! wtf?), so it's impossible to tell what they say about it, but I'm happy for the shout-out!
Noah and the Whale on blogotheque.net

video.aol.com
Frankly I don't how they get away with this, in a legal sense. It appears "aol video" just sets up video pages with youtube and other videos and calls them "aol videos". Whatever. I guess if more people see videos online, alls well that ends well. They have all the ukulala videos.
Ukulala on AOL Video

actoguitar.com
This site bills itself as "a revolution in guitar learning." They bring together guitar-specific tutorials and organize them by category. The only Ukulala video I did involving guitars was my terrible "how to turn a guitar into a ukulele" tutorial, so that's the only one on their site.
Guitar to ukulele with a capo on Actoguitar

webletras.com.br
This is a huge Brazilian site with more gobbledy-gook words ("sua busca termina aqui"-- guh-wuhhh???), along with a large selection of song lyrics. If you can find the Squirrel Nut Zippers and then click on Plenty More, a tiny little version of the Ukulala tutorial video pops up on the bottom right. Kinda funny. YouTube reports a whopping two clicks from there, so it's not exactly a huge draw.
Squirrel Nut Zippers on webletras.com.br

That's all I could find. Kinda cool how stuff spreads in an online community, no?

Stupid free service

2008-05-30T10:08:00.005-04:00

Sometimes it takes me a long time to make a tutorial video or learn a song, and that's ok. It's to be expected. But sometimes I finish my part and YouTube won't take the video, or it takes me days to upload something.

I really can't complain about a free service, but I will use it's little foibles as an excuse for why I haven't had a video up in a while and as a heads up for other people relying on YouTube. Some things that annoy me about YouTube right now:

1) YouTube uploading goes down sometimes. In my area, it went down for two straight days.

2) It takes about 4 hours for me to upload an 8 minute clip and I have a fast connection. That would be fine, I guess, but sometimes the connection (on their end) dies at some point over those four hours and the upload is lost.

3) There is a YouTube help page that claims you can upload clips longer than 10 minutes if you have status as a "Director". I switched my status to Director, waited seven hours for my 14 minute clip to upload, and it now says "Rejected (length of video is too long)". So either the help page is bogus or the programming is messed up. Either way, it shouldn't need to upload the entire clip, waste a whole night of time, to tell me the clip is too long.

A smart program would be able to tell the length before the whole thing is uploaded and immediately let you know if it's too long so you can get on with your next idea.

aha! From wikipedia:

At one time, when you signed up for a Director account setting, you were offered to have unlimited video length, but that is no longer offered...

So now I have a tutorial video that's 14 minutes long and has no home. I feel kinda like this kid. I don't really want to re-record it, and I don't ever want to split it into two parts. I'll probably just have to pare it down, which is unfortunate but maybe for the better.

If anyone knows how to get longer videos up, or a better way to upload, please help!

Better know a subscriber: bDiddy1111

2008-05-21T23:18:00.009-04:00

The biggest part of Ukulala (for now) is probably the tutorial videos I put on YouTube. Without those, this blog wouldn't have much to offer the ukulele world. People come across the videos and watch them --and then some people "subscribe" to my "channel" (I'm still getting used to the "lingo").

The videos I put up have somewhat of a niche appeal. As far as I can tell if you enjoy them, you have to be:
a) learning ukulele and
b) interested in the same songs I am.

That seems like a small market to me. In fact, I believe only one person I know in real life could possibly fall under that category, and she is also part of Ukulala.

With such a narrow tutorial subject, I'm always pleasantly surprised when I see a new subscriber to my videos. There are others out there, I think to myself, and I imagine dudes who look like me --and women who look like me with a wig on-- carrying ukuleles and humming Love Fool. As of writing this right now, there are 62 of them.

But who are these people really? Sometimes I get curious (or excessively bored or whatever), and I click on their YouTube profiles and look at their channel with their videos, their favorites, and their comments on it. Then I immediately make rash judgments on everything about them-- who they are, what they like, and whether or not I like them.

I also make wild conjectures about their lives. In an effort to get to know some of the people in this "online community", and a further effort to rip off Stephen Colbert, this post is going to take you through my thought process while I get to know a ukulaladotcom subscriber!

A) Choose one subscriber at random.

Like most people, I make most of my random decisions by logging onto a website with a random number generator and inputting the number of choices. In this case, it's 62, one for each subscriber. It then chooses any integer between 1 and 62, in this case.... 35.

Then I find the 35th subscriber, and click on his/her profile. This subscriber's name is apparently bDiddy1111.

B) Take in their channel information.

Their current profile picture:

bDiddy1111
Joined: February 03, 2007
Last Login: 4 hours ago
Videos Watched: 1,352
Subscribers: 0
Channel Views: 53
Age: 28
Country: United States

C) Make a quick mental note of what's on their channel.

This I will demonstrate as a stream-of-consciousness:

This person is a 28 year-old American. The one video he has uploaded has some production quality to it. It is of four people (Justin Sun, Walter Chi, Brandon Rubin, and Geoffrey Qwak) playing on four violins at the San Marino Public Library Grand Opening. He's got a couple of other subscriptions, including collegehumor (and Flight of the Conchords) and another ukulele player, and an NBA channel. His favorites are mostly humor, random stuff, and a Baron Davis highlight reel.

D) Conjecturin' time!

bDiddy1111's name is Brandon Rubin. He's a 28-year-old asian violin player from San Marino, California. He doesn't spend much time on his YouTube channel, but when he does it's for humor or music purposes. He has a good sense of humor, a strong interest in classical music, and a nostalgic interest (possibly even ironic) in mid-90's hip-hop. He was shocked that bDiddy and bDiddy1 were already taken. He likes basketball, but these playoffs seem boring after last year's magical Golden State run (his favorite team). He owns several instruments, is learning the ukulele, and has more musical skill than I could hope to develop in this decade.

~
Well, that was a bit more specific than I meant it to be. I was thinking it would just be stuff like "this guy likes watching fake japanese girls on youtube make funny noises."

Now I'll go let him know I posted this, so that if he doesn't like random websites guessing at his personal life, I'll take them guesses down!

Profiling subscribers is fun!

But maybe I'll do it by request in the future. Or maybe just a few more unsolicited, and then by request.

I could also do a better job of ripping off Colbert and do an interview--but that sounds like a lot of work. Profiling based on superficial information is easier. Or so I learned at the airport.

Ukulala Video Tutorials

2008-05-17T19:25:00.007-04:00

To make it a bit easier to navigate through the ukulele tutorials on Ukulala, this page contains a list of all the current tutorial videos, organized alphabetically by artist. The three most recently added videos will have stars *** next to them.

More Than This by the 10000 Maniacs

Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire

The Penalty by Beirut
Postcards From Italy by Beirut
Nantes by Beirut
Elephant Gun by Beirut

Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian

***Lua by Bright Eyes

Holland, 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

***Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale

***Sea of Love by Phil Phillips (or Cat Power)

Plenty More by the Squirrel Nut Zippers

Ask Ukulala Vol. 2: Lurkers and Ukers

2008-05-15T13:05:00.003-04:00

Welcome to Ask Ukulala Anything, Volume 2!

A lot has happened over the last few weeks. Ukulala did it's first collaboration with Ukehunt, I put out another few videos, and we got a few new instruments based on the results of the poll over on the right. If we ever figure out how to play and record them, there are even plans (described at the end of this post) for (apparently) a kazoo-heavy song!

Most importantly for this post, there have been a lot of great questions through the new question box over on the left. And some non-questions, and some questions that make me scared to answer them... but I will anyway! and Flora gets in on one too! So off we go, starting with Moollyjane from YouTube:

hello. do you think you could try to learn how to play "the Penalty" by Beirut on a ukulele, and make a how-to video for it? I don't know how, and your videos are really helpful.
Moollyjane, Portland, OR

Ah, Moollyjane, how did you know I love a good flattering? Great name, by the way. Sounds like something an old person would mutter under their breath about some whippersnapper named Jane.

And good call with The Penalty by Beirut. It's a great song and I will be doing a video of it in the not-too-distant future. After doing three Beirut songs, I decided to chill out a bit and do some others so I don't just become the one-band all-Beirut tutorial guy.

I'll send you a note when I eventually put it up.

Thanks for the tutorial and fro teh elephant gun one. I just had a few questions: What type of ukulele do you use a; concert soprano tenor one? Also, on my soprano when I play the C chord it is more of a harsh popping sound than an smooth velvety tone. Any suggestions? Thanks
newrluergmailcom

I use a concert uke, so it's kind of in between. I wish I had more insight into what you are talking about with the different sounds your uke is making. Sopranos have a higher tone, but I also think the method of strumming has a lot to do with the noise you will get.

I suggest keeping your fingers very loose and experimenting with the effect. Also, I find I get completely different sounds depending on the length of my fingernails, with long nails being more harsh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y16QSarjptA ?
Famous ukulele player

Hmmmm, even with a question mark on the end, that's still not a question. But, I can forgive you, cause it's an awesome video where Joni Mitchell tells Tavis Smiley that her first real instrument was a ukulele.

Highlight: at 1:12, she describes how a teenage Joni went into a store, mouth full of bloody sutures, and bought a ukulele with the $36 she saved after her mom refused to buy her a guitar.

Cool.

do you have a myspace i can lurk? i think i might be in love...or something.
Roxanne, Los Angeles

Let's not get ahead of ourselves: it's probably not love.

...yet.

It goes lurking, creeping, stalking, then kissing in a tree and then love. And then marriage, and then a baby in a baby carriage.

Right now, Ukulala does not officially have a Myspace page, since we haven't made any real songs yet. And I (Paz) like to make it somewhat difficult for just anybody to find my personal info online, so my personal myspace probably isn't ever going to be directly linked from Ukulala.

...but... since this is a blog... and since people go to blogs to get "insider track" information.... I guess it does make sense to let a select few in on stuff even if it's still in progress. So yeah, if any of you stalkers and lurkers out there are highly motivated, I've included a link to the current myspace page on a single random letter hidden somewhere in this post. I think there are some cool photos up and some fun little musical ditties we've worked on.

Someday when we actually have some songs, you motivated few can be all like "omg! i was totally in on the ground floor, back before Paz and Flora from Ukulala were bigger than God!"

or... "huh? what the hell is ukulala and why would i care?"

Can you start including more photoshopped pictures of ukuleles in ridiculous situations?
Porkpie, atop the head of a gentleman

Photoshopped!? If you mean this and this from previous posts, I can assure you those are not photoshopped. I own the world's premiere collection of classic ukulele and turn-of-the-century photographs, and I'm sure I will be sharing more of them with the world as time passes.

My collection is... quite extensive. Why, I believe I've even found a photograph of you, based on the name and location you provided:

Good day, sir.

Hello there Thanks for your videos, i love beirut's song and as i am a beginner in ukulele this sis really helpful. Hard, really hard but thanks again. By the way as a beginner i still have problems with the strumming and i am not really sure of where to place my right hand and my strummed finger. I would apreciate a little comment about that or maybe a video. Same thought about the E chord who is for me really too difficult. How can i put my fingers ? Thanks man for your blog, it is really cool.
Aruno, Paris

Mmm delicious flattery, I eats it up. There are a few serious questions in there though.

1) Strumming. Strumming is not easy. I've been trying to learn ukulele for six months, and before that guitar for over a year, and I have so far to go in my strumming. It takes time, it takes relentless practice, and I would be lying to you if I said I was in a position to give you real advice about technique. I'm basically still a beginner, and I don't really know any advanced strumming techniques (and there are some I'd love to learn).

Having said that, I can tell you what I feel like I've learned so far. In terms of which finger or fingers to use: it doesn't matter. Each way you do it will get a different sound, and it just depends what kind of sound you are going for.

If you use one finger, you'll hear each string a bit separately, and you'll get a softer, more clear sound. If you have long fingernails, it will be sharper and louder. If you use all your fingers at once it will be a more full, louder noise. If you strum slowly you'll hear each note, like a harp. Keep your fingers loose, unless you're trying to play it hard and loud.

The most important thing is to experiment! Try it every way you can think of, and practice it until it actually feels comfortable. At first your fingers will get caught in the strings, and it will feel awkward and clumsy and you'll think 'what the hell!? this sucks and it sounds terrible!'. And it will be true.

But that will pass, after many many hours. Eventually your fingers will glide over the strings at just the right amount of pressure, and if you have been practicing all the different ways you can think of, you'll be able to get some very different, very cool sounds from just changing your strumming technique.

I may do a video about this still, if I can compose these thoughts into something teachable.

2) The E Chord. Ok, you've got a few options for doing the E chord, and yes, it is a pain the ass.

If you ever want to see ALL your options for a chord, check out this awesome tool, and don't forget to change the tuning to C over on the right before you go searching for your chord. Really, I use this site all the time: just click on the same chord multiple times and it will loop through every possible way to play that chord on a ukulele. Very very useful.

The best option, I think, is to put your pointer finger on the second fret, bottom string, then put your ring finger over the fourth fret and let the whole curved joint push down the top three strings, like so:

You gotta push down pretty hard, but at least on the uke you can do 75% of the strings with one finger. It might take a while to get used to, and it won't sound as tight, but it's a lot faster and better than some of your other options (I think).

The other big option, that I use a lot actually, is a retuning of the ukulele. If you tune the entire ukulele on half-note down (so G-C-E-A becomes F#-B-D#-G#), then all your chords are shifted (or "transposed") down by one half-note as well. This may sound a bit advanced, but if you get comfortable with the idea of changing the key with a capo or by retuning, chords will really become demystified to some degree. So if you transpose your ukulele down one half-note, then what was once your F chord (easy) is now your E chord (easy!).

All your other chords are different now too, so the best time to do this trick is when you have a song that has E along with the other chords that creates, like B which is also normally hard. A LOT of blues songs (and Johnny Cash) use E, B, and A, which are a hard combo with normal tuning but become the easier F, C, and A# positions if you tune the uke down a half-note.

If that doesn't make sense and anyone has more questions about that, I can go into more detail in another question.

Who is Flora?
Anonymous

Paz: Take it away, Flora!
****

You know, I am not sure, but I hear she is a mermaid with Alzheimer's. She plays the ukulele but only on 32nd of every month when the tide is low. So not very often.

She could also be known as Paz's little sister. Hope that answers everything for you.
-Flora

I am having a really hard time learning how to do the hit down chord in Nantes. any suggestions? Also your videos are great. definitely helping my ukulele skills improve!
Molly

First off, thank you for the kind words.

Yes, that "hit" is one part I try to talk a little bit about in my videos but I haven't done anything definitive on yet. It's something that I've worked on now, first on guitar and now on uke, for over a year now.

I think the best way I can describe starting out is to do a fast strum with your index finger pretty hard, then finish the strum by pushing down on the strings (muting them) with your palm. It's a bit difficult to describe, and it's hard to feel comfortable with at first. Your fingers will feel awkward and maybe get caught in the strings a bit, and the hit won't be a clear and distinct noise for a long time. But don't let that discourage you, it will sound awesome eventually!

This might be worth a video on. It's no easy move because it takes a balance of hitting the strings and hitting the body of the ukulele. If you get it right though, it opens up a whole world of extra rhythm with a snare kind of noise, great for rock beats or harder songs.

awesome. i really want to get a ukelele. how much would a decently cheap one be?
JMo93 , US

Ukuleles are one of those instruments you can spend any amount of money on, from $25 on up to thousands.

My plan was to get one that looked and felt good (so I wanted to pick it up), would stay in tune, and had a pleasant tone. Mine was a couple hundred dollars, but you can definitely get them for cheaper. Mine is the concert Hamano H-100C, and Flora's is the Soprano Hamano H-100 (both shown here), mainly because I loved the mahogany look and the sizes and tone when we tried them in the store.

The most important thing is that you like it, for whatever reason. Maybe you like it more if you get a deal at a garage sale for $20, or if it's shaped like a cool triangle, or if it's made of a really nice wood, it doesn't matter why.

Anything to help motivate you to pick it up and play, and if you have to spend a bit more to get one that you really like the look and feel of, I say go for it. It's a one-time investment and if it helps you play more often I guarantee it's worth it.

How did you learn to play the uke and do you play other instruments?
Kate, Detroit

I've never been able to play another instrument. I tried half-heartedly on the piano, but it went terribly and nearly ruined my high school GPA.

I'm still learning how to play the uke, and I have a loooooong way to go. I can't finger-pick, I have trouble with complicated rhythms, I can't switch chords quickly, and I haven't memorized enough chords to switch without thinking about it.

What I've learned I've basically put on this blog and on youtube, but there was a period of time before I got the uke (as I call it, B.U.) when I was trying to learn guitar. I mostly just messed around with strumming on the guitar and tried to get some cool drum-like rhythm out of it.

One of the reasons this site exists is because of the void I found while trying to learn. I thought I would be able to go online and find videos of how to play all the songs I loved, but instead I just found hundreds of billions upon billions of covers--which were fun, but they didn't really help much beyond trying to watch their fingers moving around and trying to discern a pattern from the blur of their strumming hand.

So this site, and my youtube tutorials, are an attempt to fill that void for other people starting out on this fun adventure, like I am.

thank you, brother
Arromblorlete, USA

This is hardly a question, but dammit, brother, I like it! You are welcome.

I had no idea my brother was even interested in the ukulele. Or that he goes by "Arromblorlete" any more.

Hi there. I have no musical talent and have never played an instrument in my life. But lately I've been interested in trying to play the ukulele, and your little blog here has sort of inspired me to just go for it. However, I don't have many (any?) ukulele stores where I live, so I'll probably have to get one online. And I don't know jack about what I should be looking for. So, can you recommend a somewhat inexpensive uke to start with? Thanks,
Sean McDonald, Student

Ah, see, you are exactly who I am hoping to reach with this site, as I mentioned in the answer to Kate's question above. You are like me a few years ago, completely unable to play an instrument and worried I might not have any talent for it. I thought I may have missed the formative years of my musical life and I was doomed to listen to other people play the music I loved while I plucked out off-key cacophony every time I picked something up.

Then I dug in and decided that was NOT my fate. I still have no ear for it, but I made up for it by learning theory and practicing a lot. Some people can HEAR when chords go together (I'm looking at you, little sis), but I can't. Now if someone gives me a key for a song, I know which chords I can play to sound good along with it. My strengths are not music by ear, but that doesn't mean I can't learn how to play the songs I love! And the ukulele is an amazing, versatile, portable tool to help dudes and dudettes like us learn.

As for which ukulele to get, I think I kind of described my theory on that above in answering Jmo93's question. To summarize: the key is finding one you like and one you'll play. Whatever your methodology for deciding is, that's what's most important.

If you like to check out reviews and other such informational forums, there are lots of good resources out there. Here are a few to get started:

Cheap vs. Expensive ukes
Some instrument reviews and discussion here and here and here
Some tips for buying

Also: You took the initiative to include your email address in the question, and I think that was a great idea. As soon as I add this post I'm going to alert you with an email to let you know your question has been answered (or at least, attempted). Thanks to you, I am also going to add a new section in the "Ask Ukulala Anything" where people can put in their email address if they want to be alerted when I put an answer up.

I will NOT use the emails for anything except to let you know the answer is up, they will never show up on this site, and it will still be completely anonymous. It's just for your own personal knowledge, so you don't forget you ever asked a question and never see the answer.....

~

Well, if you made it reading this far, congratulations! You are one of maybe two people. If you are left wanting more, more, more--like the sick, salivating dogs that you are--then for God's sake send in a question.

In the meantime, keep on ukeing, ukeheads, crackheads, porkpies, alcoholics, people from France, kazoo marketers, and everyone else too drunk to press the back button on your browser!

Peace out!
-Paz
-and also Flora

Poll #1: Buncha Alcoholics

2008-05-07T22:42:00.011-04:00

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've added a weekly poll to get a better feel for who it is that stumble across this site and stay long enough to click a radio button.

So the results of the first poll are in, and it ain't pretty:

What's your favorite thing to do on a Friday night?
Get drunk and party!: 53%
Get drunk and watch TV: 23%
Drink and go to sleep early: 15%
I'm homeless: 7%

This data suggests that a whopping 93% of ukulala visitors list "drinking" as part of their favorite things to do on a Friday night. I'm not one to judge, but that might not be a sign of sobriety. At least the majority (53%) like to party while they're drunk.

38% of all ukulala visitors favorite thing to do on a friday night is to drink and go to sleep early or watch TV. That's not a healthy lifestyle.

Perhaps even more worrisome is that 7% of the people who end up on ukulala are homeless. That is really very sad. I'm sorry. I have no idea how you're getting internet access, but homeless people: if you are reading this, you are in the wrong place. Nothing here will help you--I recommend you find a local concerned community organization, or a shelter to help you through this difficult time.

Poll #1 Analysis: Basically, the results of the first poll suggest ukulala visitors up to this point might just be a room of people at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting logging on to pass the time before their next drink.

The next poll ("What's your FAVORITE instrument?" over on the right or wayyyy at the bottom in IE) will help me determine the musical tastes of this mysterious room full of recovering and current homeless alcoholics.

Since we're (and I say "we" because ukulala is Paz and Flora) learning how to make music as an exercise, we will also make a small song based on the poll results. The song will be instrumental, with each instrument used in the proportion it appears in the final results of the poll. It will be a bit more complicated than that because the ukulele will be throughout the song by default, and the last option ("I hate ukuleles") will remove the ukulele by that percentage from the song.

i.e. if the final poll this week says 95% tambourine and 5% drums, the song will be 100% ukulele with 95% tambourine and just a tiny 5% drums. Does that make sense? No? Well, sober up and read it again.

Still no? Whatever, that's how it's gonna work.

ALSO: I've got some good questions so far from the Ask Ukulala Anything box over on the left (and several bad ones which I will answer now: no, I don't have any booze i can send you), so I'm getting ready to post another set of answers. If you want your question in this volume, now's the time to ask it.

How to play Boy with the Arab Strap by Belle and Sebastian

2008-05-05T23:07:00.004-04:00

Update: Ukulelehunt.com has the chords and lyrics up for this song here. We decided to collaborate on an area where our musical tastes collide, and I hope we do again. As he makes note of at the link, Woodshed at ukulelehunt.com also figured out an interesting addition: by playing Cmaj7 and D6 instead of just D and C, this song has a sustained B note in every chord, which is apparently what the piano does in the original version. Cool.

This is one of the most rockin'est songs Belle and Sebastian songs ever made. It's not as mellow as their other stuff, but his Scotsman voice sounds great over a rock beat and a good bassline. I love the clap as part of the beat.

It's a simple song to learn, at least in terms of chords. It has just G, C, and D and the chord switches are slow. This song is all aboot rhythm. Unfortunately I don't have a good source for the chords yet, because everywhere online has incomplete chords.

The good people over at ukulelehunt.com figured out that the missing chord in the online chord list was a "D", so if they put up a version of this song I will post a link.

My tutorial video:

Video breakdown:
0:00 - Intro
0:12 - Tuning (GCEA)
0:25 - Chords (G,C,D)
1:05 - Strumming pattern (details below)
2:55 - Chord switch timing
3:21 - Demonstration (slow to faster w/ lyrics)

The difficult part here is the strumming pattern. Using my normal way of describing it as beats, where each beat is an up or a down strum, there are two "sections" of the strumming, which look like this:

Section 1:
1) down
2) up
3) hit
4) up

Section 2:
5) miss
6) up
7) hit
8) up

Then, once you can do those sections individually, the entire pattern loops like this:

Strumming pattern:
1) Section 1
2) Section 2
3) Section 2
4) Section 2
(Repeat twice then switch chords)

That was kind of hard to explain, but hopefully it made sense especially if it goes along with the video. If not, please let me know in the comments and I will try to fix it.

Now with weekly poll! (and a cowboy on a ukulele)

2008-05-02T00:02:00.007-04:00

In an effort to get to know the people who stumble across ukulala after misspelling 'ukulele' in their google search (the ukulala "base", as I call them), I am adding a weekly poll question to the site.

It's over on the right for most people, way at the bottom if your browser is IE (why? I have no idea).

The use of non-scientific polls with tiny tiny sample sizes will let me make broad sweeping generalizations of who you are. Also, the more I know the more I can cater my posts perfectly to YOU (...Henry!).

And I've made it easier to ask a question in the Ask Ukulala Anything box (only the question field is required now), because my super-sophisticated web-based traffic tracker says several people tried to ask a question and failed because they didn't fill in all the required fields. And that's a waste.

In the last post I promised this post would be about ukuleles, so just as a little history lesson, here's a classic historical shot of the early days of the ukulele:

Can you tell why they called this the "Wild West" period in ukulele evolution?

It's cause of the tuning pegs. Before they were regulated by federal law in 1907, they could be any shape. Those were truly different days.

The Untimely Death of Mario Kart

2008-04-29T22:25:00.007-04:00

Update: I have started a thread on the Mario Kart Wii forum about this. Some interesting discussion has started up, most people seem to support the change. I suspect people will be talking about it a lot in MK circles.

It's time to take a break from ukuleles and talk about something much more serious and dark.

The world changed on 4/28 (the release date of Mario Kart Wii), but it's taken me two slow days of denial and vain hope to realize it. I didn't want to believe it was true, but it is. It's been documented in Wikipedia, and I quote:

The ability to "snake" in previous Mario Kart games, which creates speed boosts by repeatedly drifting, has been abandoned in favor of a new speed boost system based on how long the player actually drifts and the angle at which they drift.

The ability to snake "has been abandoned".

The unique controls of Mario Kart have been abandoned. The "ability to snake", as if it's just some wacky trick move, was taken out.

No, "the ability to snake" was the ability to have complete control over your turns and to get speed boosts as a reward. When you watch a good player play any version of Mario Karts past, they "snake" through the game. The world champions of Mario Kart are good because they know how to turn. They know how Mario Kart works, how it has always worked. Speed turns, drifting, snaking, whatever you call it, is what makes Mario Kart different than EVERY OTHER RACING GAME EVER.

It's not the items, it's not the characters, it's not the levels. It's the game control. It's the reason Diddy Kong racing never went anywhere. Similar characters, similar levels, similar items. Boring, unresponsive standard racing controls. It's the reason Crash Bandicoot's wacky Kart madness emporium fandango driving game with every bell and whistle in the world disappeared without anyone caring. Nobody wants to race with "press the fast button and move left and right" controls. It's been done. Over and over and over again.

Nintendo was on to something big, and apparently they had no idea. I always respect them for taking the extra time to make their major releases perfect. They make us wait the extra year because they want every Smash Bros. character to be balanced. They want 5 years to get Link's story to be complete. They delayed Mario Kart and any major release whenever they had to to make it perfect, and that was fine with me. But somewhere long the way they forgot how it rose from anonymity in the first place.

What makes (made) Mario Kart different is the controls. No other game has controls anything like Mario Kart.

The ability to drift to get speed boosts is what separated the good from the great, and the ability to snake expertly separated the great from the godlike. They could look at a turn and see the perfect angles, the perfect line of attack, and drive up a ridiculous number of speed boosts along the way.

By abandoning snaking, Nintendo is abandoning those hardcore Mario Karters. The "game of Mariokart" as it's been played for the last 15 years, has become half of what it was.

Now, some Mariokart fans won't care. There are a substantial number of people who are huge fans of Mariokart, but don't care too much for the details of the driving and turning portion of the game, or never got comfortable with "snaking".

They are the ones who've never beat all (or any) of the ghosts in time trials. They play with a heavy reliance on items and item strategy. Most people I know play like this.

But they were just scratching the surface of what Mariokart had to offer. If they were half as good at drifting and doing speed turns as I am, I would never have won a game. They excel at using their items and knowing the course, but they never took their driving to the next level. Every karter can be divided into where they lie on a graph of their skills in different areas: Driving and Items.

There will never be another race like this. Or this. Or these. Snaking is how Mariokart is played at a high level. It is the skill portion of the driving. There are other skills in the game, but it was the ability to snake that made driving in Mario Kart unique and amazing.

I should have seen this coming, but I never imagined they would go so far. Double Dash represented a strong shift away from snaking by increasing the power of the items and giving stronger items to people in higher places. It was the first move towards reducing the advantage of snaking.

An expert driver on MK64 might never lose a game to someone who couldn't snake, no matter what items they got. For example-- if I knew someone didn't turn with the speed boosts, I knew I could beat them by 15, 20 seconds at least and there wasn't going to be a competitive game. The game creators noticed the imbalance and took major steps to correct it. Double Dash had smaller speed boosts, more powerful items, and the programming gave better items to people only a few spots behind. On the 64, you were getting mostly bananas and shells until you were past 5th, on the Gamecube you could get a star as high up as 3rd place.

Double Dash was a near perfect balance of driving skill and items strategy. They even had a two-player mode to separate the two components, to let one person drive and one person shoot. It was a fully aware, carefully balanced game.

But it still wasn't enough for them. They had to take out the snaking. They had to dumb down the controls, to get rid of the hard part so "wii" can all play. Their all-inclusive gaming philosophy on the new system outweighed their sense of tradition or their series continuity.

It used to be simple to learn, difficult to master. Now they are moving away even from difficult to master. They need to accommodate their new players and their new technology. Snaking would be basically impossible on the new wii-mote wheel. It's not precise enough, not sensitive enough to handle the quick joystick maneuvering it would take.

This is what's so distressing about this move. It's a permanent, consistent part of Nintendo's new philosophy. They want to make games for everyone, and they will eliminate any part of a game that's too difficult because of the potential to alienate new and part-time gamers. Great for new gamers-- but us old-timers, and the record-holders, and the tournament players, and the devoted fans who've grown up with Mario Kart and mastered it's amazingly precise controls are left to play a dumbed-down, simplified version of the game we love.

The worst part is that the new game has everything hardcore karters could have ever wanted. The new tracks are amazing, the bikes cut corners better than any kart could, and there are legacy tracks from every previous game. Finally, we can play internationally and get a rating like in chess.

It's torturous to make it so good without giving us all the necessary tools. It's not just that the turning is different, it's that it's worse and slower. We're forced to see everything in the game through a frustrating haze of poor, wide turns and painfully slow snake-free straightaways.

I look ahead while I'm driving in this game and I can see exactly how I want to slide to cut the shortest path, to get the most speed, to skirt the edge. After fifteen years, I can see the best route every time. But the route I see doesn't exist anymore.

Nintendo abandoned it.

This may not prove to be a mistake on Nintendo's part. The game controls are simplified, the world is expanded, there are more items, and it is finally online. Those few among us who still appreciate games with high ceilings are probably outnumbered a million to one by casual gamers who hate to lose to jerks who are too good at complicated maneuvers.

It is the end of an era, maybe not so much for Nintendo as for me.

Disclaimer: I'm still going to play the game for fun, I just won't be any better at it than, say, Need for Speed 4 or Diddy Kong racing or whatever. Luckily it's not all about winning. Oh, and the next post will be about ukuleles again.

Ask Ukulala Vol. 1: Mark Twain to John McCain

2008-04-21T23:28:00.016-04:00

Welcome to the first ever "Ask Ukulala Anything" post!

I recognize that anyone learning the ukulele sometimes has questions, and this section of the blog is about answering those questions. Sometimes they are about ukuleles, sometimes they are about other stuff. It doesn't matter, this is the place to ask them. There's a little box over on the left hand side of the main page now.

Whatever the question, Ukulala has* the** answer***. It's like I always say: "You ask it, we ____ it!" Actually I can't think of a good rhyme there. Good slogan or no, let's jump right in with C-Dawg from Allston:

how do I get my hair to be like Mark Twain's?
C-Dawg - Allston

Well, I guess it depends on your age. If you're already really old, then it's just a matter of letting your hair grow out a bit.

However, based on your location (Allston, MA), I can put your age between 18-30 with a 95% degree of confidence. And because nobody has used the nickname "(Letter)-Dawg" in about a decade, I am going to also assume that you were in middle and high school throughout the 90s.

That puts your age... right in the late 20s. A very difficult age to have hair like Mark Twain.

If you can't wait 40 years, I recommend increasing the amount of stress in your daily life to speed the process along. Keep a running mental list of all the things you've done wrong this year, and then try to expand on it when you should be sleeping. Question each of your own decisions until you're sure it was wrong. Stress over exes: every one, every day. Think about your own death a lot.

And if that's still not fast enough, try a terrifying near-death experience.

why do you suck so much?
Rog - Semi Professional Rock Star -Boston, MA

I almost forgot to ask myself this question in the mirror this morning, thanks for bringing it back to my constant attention. Still no concrete answer, but every day I'm hearing all kinds of suggested reasons.

How do you tune that thing?
Rog- Urinal Cake Taste Tester - Allston, MA

I'm assuming you mean the ukulele. Some people can tune it by ear, but I think that's almost impossible. I use a computer program called AP Tuner, probably the best tuning program out there. It's precise to any note, so it's not instrument-specific.

The standard tuning for a ukulele is
G4
C3
E3
A4
starting at the top string and going down. These are the same notes (although not the same octaves) as a guitar if you were to put a capo on the fifth fret of the guitar and only play the bottom four strings, so as you learn the chords you will notice the finger positions are similar to guitar positions even though the chords themselves are different.

My ukulele has traditional tuning pegs, so they don't have an extra gear. Based on this description of the types of tuning pegs, I think that's called a "friction" peg. The lack of a gear makes tuning the ukulele more difficult for beginners (compared to a guitar), although you can find ones out there with the gear.

What's the difference between a ukelele and a guitar?
-Rog- Big Jerk- Boston, MA

The top 10 differences between a ukulele and a guitar:

10) A ukulele has four strings, a guitar has six.

9) A ukulele can probably fit inside a guitar.

8) The top string on a ukulele is higher in pitch than the one beneath it, whereas guitar strings go from lowest to highest.

7) Ukuleles have two "u"s in their name, guitars only have one (except in the UK, where it's spelled "ukelele" so they each have one u).

6) Ukuleles party with more girls in grass skirts.

5) The International Ukulele Council (IUC) has significantly less global influence than the Global Guitar Consortium (GGC), although both have a U.N Security Council vote.

4) Someone named "Tiny Tim" didn't actively destroy the public image of the guitar for three generations.

3) Ukuleles come in all kinds of crazy shapes.

2) Ukuleles can be used as hilarious tiny props to make someone look bigger. Bruddah Iz, for example, was actually only 170 pounds.

...and the number one way a ukulele is different than a guitar:

1) Hawaiians love ukuleles... but they hate guitars.

That's probably about it.

For now.

What's the difference between a ukelele and this?
Rog- Big Jerk- Boston, MA

I'm not sure there is a technical difference when it comes to classification. The video appears to just show some sort of hairy, living ukulele. It can be played similarly, but the sound it makes is... awful. The hissing and the screeching, it's just unpleasant.

do we ask you here, or at ukulala?
Aaron - Vagrant Stomper - Boston

I'm not sure where "here" is, but yeah, asking anywhere is fine. Probably the web site is best because then it will actually be recorded and sent to me.

Dear Paz, How big (or small) can a ukulele get before it can no longer be considered a ukulele?
Shotgun O'Douls - Enchilada Washer - Augusta, ME

Ukuleles come in all shapes and sizes, but there is of course a limit to how big they can get and still be called a ukulele. To wit:

Does that Noah and the Whale band have any albums released in the US?
JPS - Boston

They do not appear to.

They seem to be part of the Young and Lost Club, a British Indie record label without any clear album releases. They have a single coming out May 4th, available if you can pay for it in POUNDS (socialist).

I guess us Americans can just keep watching this awesome video (and learning how to play it, of course) and going to their Myspace for free samples.

Where's my hat?
Who are you?
What are you doing to my dog?
Are you going to clean that up?
Anonymous

Sir, you sound old and confus---oh, wait a minute I recognize these questions. Senator McCain--for the LAST TIME, I have NO IDEA where your hat is, or where you are, or what you think is happening with any of your dogs right now.

Also, please take my phone number off your cell phone. I think I speak for every phone number in there when I say we're sick of getting those angry 5am phone calls with your voice asking "why won't this remote turn the TV on", and "which button makes the bed tilt back up?"

Dear Paz,
Good soda, huh?
Jimmo - Little Rock, AR

Fuck. You.

Does you sister play the Ukulele too? What other instruments do you play? How about your sister?
Raya on Phuket, Thailand

Flora and I both started playing the ukulele at the beginning of this year. Before that I had been trying to learn guitar off and on for a couple years, and she had messed around on the piano.

I have almost no ear for music, so I try to make up for it by playing a lot and by learning theory. My sister, on the other hand, seems to be somewhat of a natural so far. She can hear notes, add melody, and figure out songs in a way that seems strange and mysterious to me.

Do you take requests? (if so, i might have some, although you already play a lot of the songs i love) What do you like about Mareva? Have you noticed ALL HER VIDEOS ARE THE SAME?! It's a little disoncerting.
R. - Eutaw, Alabama

The short answer is no, I don't do requests. But I am very interested in introductions. If you have music that--based on what you've seen in the ukulala repertoire--you think I might like, then please tell me and direct me to it.

If I really really like it (and that is very rare), then I'll try to learn it and put a video up. It's unlikely, but it is exactly what happened with the Noah and Whale song Five Years Time.

And yeah, I'm not that crazy about Mareva's music or videos. It's kind of repetitive and pop-boring. She is very cute and French though, and she does at least sometimes hold a ukulele. I think those qualifications alone are enough for a shout-out from a ukulele blog run by a guy.

If you have a cute picture of yourself holding a ukulele, I bet you could get a mention here too!

Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?
Related: Or asked the grinning bobcat why he grins?
Follow up: Can you sing with all the voices of the mountains?
Final Question: Can You Paint with all the Colors of the Wind?
Anonymous - Tenakomakah

Yes.
No.
No.
No, all I have left in my set is cool breeze blue.

From whence did come this strange harpsichord known as "ukulele"? From the yonder savage land of Xanadu I presume?
How do I tie an ascot?
Cadwallader P. F. Wiffleplotz IV, Esq. - Lord of Commons - 18th century England

Again, Mr. McCain? Nice try, but your boyhood playmate Cadwallader has been dead for 130 years.

But since your questions (sort of) made sense this time, I'll do my best to answer them.

Ukuleles were created in Hawaii in the 19th century (~your midlife crisis), apparently rising from a Portuguese stringed-instrument influence. The name roughly translates to "jumping flea", which makes sense because ukuleles are... also known to... jump onto and live off the blood of mammals and birds? Ok, so I don't know what the etymology of that is, maybe I'll find out if anyone asks.

And if you really need to tie that ascot right, follow this carefully. Although I wouldn't recommend using the word "ascot" on the campaign trail--for any number of reasons.

~
Peace out!
-Paz

---------------
*may have
**one possible
***meaningless remark

How to play Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale

2008-04-13T19:23:00.000-04:00

First off, many thanks to youtuber marcthaine for introducing me to this song a few weeks ago. It's a fun, simple, cute song, and a good video too.

Check out the original song here: Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale.
And the chords and lyrics from ukulelehunt.com here.

And my tutorial video here:

Video breakdown:
0:00 - Intro
0:08 - Tuning (GCEA)
0:14 - Chords (C, F, and G)
1:42 - Chorder
2:05 - Strumming pattern (down - up - hit - up, switch and repeat)
2:53 - Tricky part in strumming (hiccup on the C only)
3:33 - Demonstration (starts slow, speeds up)

The song itself has only three chords: C, F, and G. The video goes over two possible options for which G to play. I think it's easier to play the standard G, but if you bar the second fret and put your fingers in the F position, you'll get the exact G he plays in the video, which might be worth it if you can do it well.

The chorder just repeats: C, F, G, F over and ver and voeover and over and voer anbdnvoer.....etc

The strumming pattern is
1) down
2) up
3) hit
4) up
(switch chords and repeat)

Round 2 at the urban dictionary

2008-03-30T19:18:00.000-04:00

So earlier this year, I lost my chance to take credit for introducing a word or phrase into the American lexicon. I don't begrudge (American Hero) Ken Tremendous over at FJM, since he was after all the man who popularized the phrase, but did the guy who wrote this urban dictionary entry really need to throw in that Ken Tremendous noticed it first? It was ME, DAMMITIT IT WASM EMEE!!!!! (under the pseudonym "Lazarus")

Anyhoo, now that I've pathetically taken credit for something nobody cares about and moved on, I am going to push for my own, uncontested new word in the urban dictionary. As I hinted a few posts ago, I bring to this world:

"chorder", meaning "chord order". Please click and rate that word UP! (or down, whatever)

Will it spread across the "blogosphere" as fast and furiously as it would if Ken Tremendous had introduced it to his millions of loyal, borderline obsessive readers (like myself)? I, for one, am going to guess "yes". But only time will tell.

How to play Postcards From Italy by Beirut

2008-03-28T19:32:00.001-04:00

This will be my last Beirut song for a while... I don't want to give the impression all I ever listen to is Beirut this and Beirut that, no matter how true it may be right now. He plays the energetic and rhythmic style of uke I want to learn, so right now it's a good match.

With that in mind, my most recent tutorial is on Postcards From Italy (chords, tabs, and lyrics can be found here, thanks to the good people over at ukulelehunt.com). Here is my instructional video:

0:00 - Intro (am I shaking my leg?!)
0:12 - Tuning (standard GCEA)

=====> 0:21 - Part 1
0:29 - Chords (F and A)
0:58 - Hammer-on (top string, second fret)
1:30 - Strumming pattern (hammer-on, pause, up, down, down, repeat)
2:25 - Timing (3 loops of hammer-on)
2:40 - top string melody (3rd fret, 2nd fret, open, 2nd fret)
3:21 - Demo of F chord strumming and melody
3:33 - Description of A chord (same as F, index finger moves up one string)
4:10 - Advice on practicing Part 1
5:30 - Part 1 Review (and, of course, some encouragement!)

=====> 5:48 - Part 2
5:48 - Chords (Bb add 9, F, Dm, C)
6:55 - Chorder (chord order--those four chords loop)
7:17 - Strumming pattern (up, miss, up, down, pause, up-down, up, down)

8:23 - Demonstration of each part (please excuse voice)

The video goes over the tuning, chords, hammer-ons, strumming, and timing. The song has two very distinct parts, and it switches from one part to the next in about the middle of the song.

As usual, it's a tutorial for beginners, but it is a somewhat advanced song that will take a beginner (like myself) a long time to learn and requires a lot of practice. Of course, the song is awesome and was originally played on a uke, so it's a FUN kind of practice where the better you get the more it sounds exactly like the Beirut version.

This is also my second entry for the Play It Forward ukulele video contest at ukulelereview.com. This time I totally forgot to pronounce the word ukulele the correct way: "oo-kuhlaylay". Instead, I pronounced it the obviously gringo way, "You-kuhlaylee". I hope it won't sway the judges too much. Oh well, the truth is I'm not Hawaiian and I have to accept that.

For now.

How to play More Than This by the 10000 Maniacs

2008-03-23T02:05:00.000-04:00

Who in the fuck doesn't love the 10,000 Maniacs? (sorry for the swearing, I can't stop quoting that guy from off-camera on Trailer Park Boys)

Until I learn how to play "What's the Matter Here?" or "Like the Weather", I have to represent them here somehow. So my first entry for them is More Than This, which isn't actually their song originally but they do the version I know best.

The lyrics and chords page I used can be found here.

Here's my tutorial on the basic way to play it on the uke:

0:00 - Boring, Long-winded Intro
0:38 - Tuning
1:07 - Chords
2:09 - Chord Order (The "Chorder", if you will. Currently under review at urbandictionary.com)
2:48 - Strumming pattern (not quite right) and chord timing review
4:48 - Demonstration of first verse (voice added for timing purposes ONLY!)

I am not pleased with my strumming pattern for this song yet, so I am actually a bit disappointed that it's going to be my entry into the Play It Forward Ukulele contest from Julie over at Ukulelereview.com. Oh well, maybe if I do another tutorial before that 4/1 deadline (10 days?) I'll have a better chance to win that sweet FLEA ukulele.

Anyway the song at hand has five chords: C#, C#7, F#, G#m, and B. Most of the lyrics are sung over the looping 4 of
F#
B
G#m
C#

By tuning the ukulele up one note on each string (or putting a capo on the first fret), you can play those chords in the more standard C, C7, F, Gm, and A# positions.

The strumming pattern I came up with is similar (EXACTLY similar) to the one I did for the Arcade Fire song last month, which is that each loop consists of 8 beats (where each beat is a strum up or down):
1) down
2) miss
3) down
4) up
5) miss
6) up
7) down
8) up
(switch chords and repeat)

I might just have that rhythm stuck in my head, which is why I'm not happy with this video overall. If anyone has a better suggestion of how to strum this song, I'd love to hear it (and I don't mean that sarcastically... I'd really love to hear it).

Needed: Percussionary Musicianist

2008-03-17T22:20:00.000-04:00

I just found out my electronic drummer, Gorch, is moving to Japan (aGAIN). Now, that's all well and good for his life and what not, but it puts some of my Ukulala plans on hold. He has a great ear for drums and musical composition, and he was helping me plan out some interesting songs.

Although... he was all the way in Virginia before, so it doesn't actually change much. Hopefully once he gets settled he'll be back on the sequencer, and hard.

In the meantime, I want to try working with a real-life percussionist on a few videos. I replied to a craigslist poster (not THAT kind of craigslist poster--a percussionist!) earlier tonight, but... I gave him the link to this website so unfortunately he'll see what an amateur operation I got going right now. The plan is to do a Ukulala cover and video of every song I do a lesson for, and see from there if we get along well enough to "take it to the next level" (not THAT next level--the musical kind!).

So... anyone out there know a percussionist in the Boston area?

My fucked up fingernails

2008-03-10T18:11:00.000-04:00

So I've been using a lot more fingernail strumming recently while I play to get that good sharp sound without a pick, but there do seem to be some minor side effects.

Will this end my two-year stint as an international ring and nail polish model? No way. It's a very open-minded industry.

How to play Plenty More by the Squirrel Nut Zippers

2008-03-08T15:30:00.000-05:00

Alright I decided to do a video on how to play one of my favorite songs from a while back, Plenty More by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. Originally the song is played on banjo, but it's not such a stretch to play it on the ukulele.

Parts of the video:
0 - intro, tuning, chords
1:25 - timing of the chord switches
2:03 - strumming pattern
2:35 - first verse of chords with voice
3:40 - fingerpicking demonstration (slow motion and regular)

There are only 4 chords in the song: A#, F, A, and G. The version I do has a very simple strumming pattern (strum up then hit down, with a slow rhythm). The timing of the chord switches is a bit more complicated. If each loop is one up strum and a hit, this is how many loops each chord is played for:

A# - 4 ("they may walk hand...")
F - 4 ("like lovers through the...")
A# - 4 ("selecting leather goods..")
F - 4 ("pretending that they...")
A# - 1 ("All the")
A - 1 ("boys are")
F - 2 ("monsters")
A# - 1 ("All the")
A - 1 ("girls are")
G - 4 ("whores")
A# - 4 ("so when you lose...")
F - 4 ("there's always plenty more")

Plenty More Chords

I also included the fingerpicking part of the song. I play it through very slowly, hopefully it is possible to tell where my fingers are and which string is being plucked.

Cotton-pickin' fingerpickin' fun!

2008-03-02T22:35:00.000-05:00

Alright, I decided to start mixin' it up a bit more and add some original content on this blog, so it's not just all videos of tutorials for songs I've learned. I created a second youtube account for ukulala, called ukulalaFORFUN, where I will hold non-tutorial bits and pieces for the blog.

I didn't want to put everything on the ukulaladotcom youtube account just in case people that subscribed for tutorials unsubscribe when they start getting other types of videos.

So here's something I've been working on to practice fingerpicking, with drums added by my homeboy and electronic drummer Gorch:

How to turn a guitar into a ukulele (using a capo)

2008-02-24T22:53:00.000-05:00

It's a magic trick! Ok, so it's just putting a capo on the 5th fret and only playing the bottom four strings. Probably not worth a video, but here's one anyway:

I think it's just cool that the standard tunings match up like this. If you learn exclusively on the ukulele, you can make a very easy switch to playing the same stuff on the much more prevalent guitar if you need to. And THAT IS COOL.

How to play In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

2008-02-20T22:17:00.000-05:00

This is really a guitar song that won't sound exactly right on the ukulele. I originally learned most of it on guitar and it seemed like a pretty easy choice, but in making this video for the ukulele version I realized it's a bit more complicated then I gave it credit for. Here's my instructional video for it:

First off, the strumming pattern doesn't loop in the more common 4 or 8 or 16 beat pattern--it's in 12. It's not too complicated and it is a pretty easy rhythm to hear, but I think it's why such a simple song with common chords still sounds original. The strumming pattern, where each beat is an up or a down strum, is:

1) down
2) miss
3) down
4) up
5) down
6) up
7) down
8) miss
9) down
10) up
11) down
12) up
(switch chord and repeat)

Here are the chords with the lyrics.

The song only has four chords: G, Em, C, and D. For most of the song, the chords are played in that order with one 12-beat loop for each chord. There is one part (starting at "Now how I remember you...") where the chords switch their order and are played Em, C, G, D and for two 12-beat loops each instead of one.

It's a pretty song rife with nostalgia and epic sadness. Like a lot of that album, actually, which makes sense if you consider the inspiration.

If anyone has any idea how Israel strums...

2008-02-12T22:55:00.000-05:00

...this song, PLEASE let me know. The song is the beautiful Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World ukulele mash-up, by deceased ukulele hero Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

I need to find a slow motion tutorial... which is exactly what I'll post if I can figure it out.

The song is just a ukulele and it sounds like it should be easy to figure it out, but there is something deceptively complex about the beat. I wonder if it's possible he uses a different tuning too. I did find this discussion, which only told me people are having just as much difficulty as I am having.

Jukes was a stupid pseudonym.

2008-02-06T22:58:00.000-05:00

...which I only chose because it had "uke" right in the middle.

From now on, I'm going by the much more ridiculous pseudonym "Paz".

How to play Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire

2008-02-05T23:53:00.000-05:00

This is probably my favorite song off the newer Arcade Fire album (Neon Bible), so it was cool to see it as the first song listed under "beginner chords" on ukulelehunt.com. They do a more detailed description of the song, along with some tabs to do the melody here (there's a pdf file with the lyrics and the chords).

The version I play and do a little video of here has none of the tabbed stuff. It's all rhythm strumming. The ukulele is tuned to the standard GCEA tuning, and there are only three chords: D, Gsus2, and A. The chord switches are very slow, which I guess is why this is a good beginner song.

Basically, I tried to play this song with as much body as I could get out of the ukulele, because the original by Arcade Fire is a such a full, rich song with so many different instruments. They have a hurdy gurdy doing a background hum, they have french horns, banjos, drums, guitars, and other percussion. By playing the song loudly and without ever clamping down on the strings, I think you accomplish three things:

1) You get a percussion sound from hitting the strings and the body of the ukulele itself,
2) you get the melodic twang of the individual strings, and
3) you get a constant resonance or hum in whichever chord you're playing.

This is not a very advanced way to play the song, but I hope it gets the feeling across with just the one instrument. If you want to check if you will like the results or not, skip to near the end of the video to my demonstration of the first verse of the song (singing added only for timing purposes).

The strumming pattern I describe in the video loops in eight beats, where each beat is a down or an up strum:
1) down
2) miss up
3) down
4) up
5) miss down
6) up
7) down
8) up
(repeat, switching chords if necessary)

If you get this pattern down, try mixing in some measures where you don't miss on the 5th beat. I think it gives a bit of emphasis to that loop.

Now I'm not one to make a big deal about looks or anything...

2008-01-29T11:53:00.000-05:00

...but I suspect this girl, Taimane, is one of the cutest ukulele players out there.

Not crazy about her voice, but her playing is amazing. Too advanced for me to learn much from at this point though.

How to play Nantes by Beirut

2008-01-27T23:28:00.000-05:00

Well, I didn't really mean to do another video about a Beruit song (I swear I was working on an Arcade Fire song), but I came across this awesome video of Icefunk playing his version of Nantes on the ukulele and I decided to try and work out the basics of what he was doing. His version is a bit fancier on the strum. He seems to hit a few individual strings on some of the strums to get a bit more of a melody out of it, but that was more advanced than I am ready for yet. Here's my video tutorial:

Once again, like Elephant Gun, the ukulele is tuned one semi-note sharper than standard, so G#, C#, F, and A#. There are (surprisingly!) only three chords in the song: D#m, C#6, and F#. The timing is D#m for one measure, C#6 for one measure, then F# for two measures, then repeat at D#m.

The difficult part is getting the strumming loop correct and switching chords at the right time. As I describe in the video, there is sort a "hit" on the strings to add rhythm to the beat. Someday I'll figure out how this is actually expressed, but for now I'm going to do an ad hoc description of the strumming pattern. I will consider 1 beat to be an up or a down strum, and this song has an 8-beat loop that goes like this:

1) down
2) miss up
3) down
4) up
5) hit down
6) up
7) down
8) up
(switch chord and repeat from 1)

If that makes no sense, check out the video and see if it makes sense after seeing and hearing it. Describing strumming ain't easy. Hit the fourth string topwise, TOPWISE!

The lyrics and chord changes can be seen here.

How to play Elephant Gun by Beirut

2008-01-13T23:58:00.001-05:00

Ok, so last week I got the chords and tabs from ukulelehunt.com for Elephant Gun. I just made a video to go along with them, thereby demonstrating for anyone else in the youtube community how to do the part I learned. It's nothing fancy, but it's a pretty song even without that much practice.

The chords are A#m, D#7, G#, C#, and C#Maj7. By tuning the ukulele one semi-note sharp on all four strings, you can just use the standard non-sharp positions for Am, D7, G, C and CMaj7. That or put a capo on the first fret.

The strumming has a "two down, two-up" feel, with the down strums focusing on the top two strings and the up strums focusing on the bottom two. The timing seems to work best for me as:

A#m - 4
D#7 - 4
G# - 4
C# - 2
C#Maj7 - 2

The Ukulele Hunt (is on)

2008-01-08T00:06:00.000-05:00

I just added a link over on the left to a great site called "ukulelehunt.com". It's got detailed tabs and chords in pdf format for a bunch of songs--most notably Beirut songs. The guy over there loves the uke too, so I can trust him.

I plan on learning the uke part to two favorite songs of mine: Postcards from Italy and Elephant Gun. And maybe The Penalty once I've heard it a bunch more times. To put it in perspective, my iTunes play count for the last year has...

Elephant Gun: 1014
Postcards: 971
Penalty: 30

...so, as you can see from those perfectly normal non-obsessive play count numbers, i just haven't heard The Penalty enough.

I've already got the basic beginning to Postcards, thanks to our instructional-if-distracting friend youtube. Maybe once I can play either song to some degree I'll return the favor and put a beginners level instructional video up on how to play what i have at that point.

mixed strumming

2008-01-07T00:15:00.000-05:00

This is my basically an intro video so I can keep track of where I am starting at. The chords don't get too involved, and there wasn't any thought put into them beforehand. It starts at C and F and goes to G and some other basic ones.

Hopefully I'll look back at this someday and say "What a pile of shit." Hopefully that day won't be tomorrow.

Inaugural Address

2008-01-01T21:40:00.000-05:00

I just got a ukulele as a gift for Christmas, so now I am going to learn how to play it. I've been messing around on the guitar for some time now, but this site will be only for cool things on or about the ukulele. That's why it's called Ukulala (pronounced "Yook? Ooh-la-la!" like a French maid might say).

Sweet beans it begins!

Standard Tuning Chords: F add 9

2008-01-01T01:10:00.001-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, F add 9:

Standard Tuning Chords: F major

2008-01-01T01:08:00.002-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, F Major:

Standard Tuning Chords: E Minor

2008-01-01T01:07:00.001-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, E Minor:

Standard Tuning Chords: C (alt)

2008-01-01T01:05:00.001-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, C (alt):

Standard Tuning Chords: G major

2008-01-01T01:04:00.001-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, G Major:

Standard Tuning Chords: e/C

2008-01-01T01:02:00.001-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, e/C:

Standard Tuning Chords: C major

2008-01-01T00:57:00.002-05:00

In standard GCEA ukulele tuning, C Major: