The adventures of a plucky ukulele player
Yesterday I joined The Ukunauts and we played at the Stone Carnival. There was some rain early on and, as seen in the above photo, I took my umbrella. Fortunately we were playing in the Music Tent which not only kept us dry but also means I can say that I was playing within tent.
Apologies for not adding any new posts for a while but I’ve had other commitments recently. However, I’m now able to return to my music project.
As you may already know I’ve written a song and with the help of some friends I’ve recorded it. The next stage is to film a video to go along with the song. With the video being filmed outdoors, for continuity reasons, I’ve had to wait until early summer for the leaves to come out on the trees. So I’ve started doing the filming at various locations in the north Midlands. I wanted to have a shot of Paul (cajon), Jason (guitar) and myself (tenor ukulele) playing the instrumental verse. Here’s a photo of us playing alongside the road which features in the song.
There’s more filming to be done, dependant on the weather and fitting it in between my work commitments this might take another three/four weeks. Then it’s the task of editing the video to fit alongside the audio track. So it’ll probably be August before the video is finally able to be released on to YouTube,
The Ukulele Society of Great Britain (USGB) is launching a search to find the best local ukulele group in the UK. Local amateur ukulele bands are invited to submit a video of their best performance which will be judged by a panel of judges who are prominent in the UK ukulele community. Bands can register their intention to participate by the end of July 2019 and upload their video to YouTube by the end of September 2019.
As you may be aware, I’m a member of “All About Uke” which is based in Stafford and we’ve decided to enter the competition. There’s plenty of time to practice and make a video, however the first issue is to decide which song to perform. The USGB Guidelines mention that bands will be judged on their choice of song, their arrangement and the general sound that they produce, including intro and outros. It suggests that up-tempo songs will earn more points than slow songs and that the song needs to grab the attention of the judges. I think that the choice of song will be a critical decision, have you any suggestions?
Whilst I’ve had quite a few work commitments lately, I’ve been able to do some more work on recording my song. My friend, PB, who is a drummer visited me with his cajon to record the percussion track. It’s interesting to look at the wave form produced by the cajon which is so different from that produced by the ukuleles or the vocals. You might be able to spot the four bar intro before the cajon starts and the breaks during the choruses.
Recording the song is still a work in progress as another friend, JR, is visiting next weekend to add the lead track. Then I’ll be spending time twiddling with the faders to get the various levels right.
My sons suggested that I also record a video to go along with the song. However we’re delaying filming until the Spring when the leaves are on the trees, flowers are in bloom and it’ll look so much better. Eventually we might put the final result on YouTube so you’ll have to wait until then for the full story.
I’m currently recording the vocal track for a song I’ve just written. I’ve already recorded the rhythm track and the bass track and I’ve got some friends to help with recording the lead track and the precision track.
It’s a parody of a well-known song and it was also suggested that I film a video to go along with the song. However the video would probably look better if it were to be filmed in the Spring or early Summer when there are leaves on the trees. So – be prepared for more details in a couple of months’ time.
I’m really enjoying recording songs on the computer and have just recorded “Tickle My Heart” which is a song written by Joe Brown and Roger Cook. They wanted to write an old-fashioned type of song especially for the ukulele. Please find a pdf file of the music below and I’d recommend you having a go.
On the recording I used my Magic Fluke tenor ukulele (as seen in the above photo) together with my 8-string ukulele for the rhythm track. Then I added the vocal track, followed by the bass track and the percussion track for which I used my stomp box. It’s great fun building up the various tracks and here’s a wav file of the song which I hope you enjoy.
Just for fun I recorded a message to put onto my answerphone. It’s a parody of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and is called “Answer Machine”. I’ve double tracked the vocals so that it sounds like there’s a whole group of me singing.
Hi there, apologies for not posting recently but I’ve had a mixture of work commitments, hospital visits and a holiday but in the words of the song “I’m All Right Now”.
Recently I bought myself a digital audio interface which is the little red box in the above photo. This means that using suitable software, such as Ableton Live, I’m able to record some songs. Please find below one of my first attempts at being a “one man band”, my version of “Rockin All Over the World”. I started by recording with my 8-string ukulele to give a rhythm track, then added a vocal track, followed by a bass track and finally used a stomp box to give a drum and tambourine track. When I listen to it I’m aware of my mistakes and wish to record it again. However it was done without any trickery playing the tracks straight through. With more experience and practice I should improve – hope you enjoy the song.
Last weekend I attended and thoroughly enjoyed the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival (GNUF) which was held in Huddersfield. There were workshops and the opportunity to join in with a variety of ukulele jams and singalongs. On the main stage there were world-class performances from professional ukulele artists and groups. If you are interested in playing the ukulele I would fully recommend attending next year’s festival which will be held on 10th/12th May 2019.
One of the artists was Petey Mack who had come over from Memphis and he led some ukulele jams. Here’s a video of one of those jams which took place in the bar of the Lawrence Batley Theatre where the Festival is held. It’s interesting to note that Petey Mack’s approach to the ukulele follows his own “kiss” theory. This is “keep it simple and strum” which means make everything as simple as you can and most importantly enjoy yourself. His number one rule is ” Yah gotta have FUN!”