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

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

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.

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)

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

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

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

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!!!