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I celebrated a landmark birthday at the weekend and we held a party which included a performance from one of my ukulele bands (The Ukunauts of Stone). We did a set of six songs together and here’s a video of our opening number “Bad Moon Rising” on which I played bass ukulele. I also performed a couple of solo numbers on my tenor ukulele and I’ll post these videos at a later date. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and our set was well received by the guests.

I’ve just returned from seeing Joe Brown in concert at Stafford Gatehouse. He’s an absolute mega musical talent and a very skilled ukulele player. He was great friends with the late George Harrison with whom he used to jam on their ukuleles. Joe ended the show with “I’ll See You In My Dreams”, a song which he also played at the Concert for George Harrison.  Continue reading “Joe Brown concert”

Chords are essentially a group of notes sounded together that are played on separate strings. There are many tutor books available which include charts of where to put your fingers when playing particular chords. These chord charts show graphically the first few frets of the neck of the ukulele together with where to place your fingers to make a particular chord.

Continue reading ““Quick Start” Guide 4 – playing your first chord”

As mentioned in my last post it had been a busy weekend. During the evening of the previous day I was with the Ukunauts who are a ukulele group based in Stone, Staffordshire. We were asked to provide some background music whilst the guests arrived at a social function held in a local school. Here’s video of one of the songs from our set – it’s “The Letter” originally recorded by The Boxtops in 1967. I’m on the back row  playing bass ukulele and having to concentrate as it’s my fretless bass. Please note that we were performing whilst people were arriving at the function, so there’s a certain amount of background noise on this video.

Some of the best times happen quite spontaneously.

It had been a busy weekend and I’d already played with a couple of ukulele bands on Saturday at different venues. My friend Paul, a percussionist who plays the cajon, invited me to join him for an informal session at a local pub (the Borehole in Stone, Staffordshire). During the evening one of the regulars who plays the spoons joined us for a couple of numbers. I don’t think anyone has performed “Rockin’ All Over The World” with an accompaniment on the spoons before. Great fun, we really enjoyed performing and the locals were all joining in. Rock on!

Being a relatively small instrument, the ukulele has a smaller sound when compared with other larger instruments such as the guitar. With it’s bright and distinctive tone the ukulele is ideal to play rhythmically when singing along with friends.

Continue reading ““Quick Start” Guide 3 – strumming your ukulele”

There are many views on the “correct” way to hold a ukulele. Some people say it should be tucked under your arm, others have it resting on their lap whilst some players prefer to use a strap. The important thing is that you must feel comfortable holding it, so after some experimentation you’ll find which way suits you best.

Continue reading ““Quick Start” Guide 2 – holding your ukulele”

For those of you who are beginners to playing the ukulele I’m including some “Quick Start” Guides to help you get started. This first of these Guides deals with how to tune a ukulele and concentrates on the standard gCEA tuning which is common to soprano, concert and tenor ukuleles. Please note that baritone ukuleles, bass ukuleles and guitaleles are tuned differently and this is a topic which I’ll return to in a later post. Continue reading ““Quick Start” Guide 1 – tuning your ukulele”

There are several types of ukulele available and from my collection I’ve included a photo showing the three most common types. From left to right, there’s a soprano, a concert and a tenor ukulele. These types of ukulele have the standard gCEA tuning and I’ll explain the features of each model. Continue reading “Different types of ukulele”

In the media I’d heard about the revival of the playing the ukulele and I was intrigued to find out what it was going on.  I was a complete novice and although I’d seen ukuleles in music shops I’d never even handled one, that all changed on my visit to a local ukulele group. I was warmly welcomed into the group and the organiser had some spare ukuleles for newcomers to try. After a few minutes of instruction I’d learnt a few easy chords (probably C, F and G7) and I was away strumming and singing along with the rest of the group. The phrase “taking to it like a duck to water comes” to mind. Those first three chords are enough for plenty of songs and I couldn’t possibly comment about Status Quo surviving with just their three chords. Continue reading “My first ukulele”