Uke Tabs In PDF Format

I can read music but playing tab is about the easiest thing to do and it makes everybody feel good about their skill level. While it's nice to be able to read and play music, it's also about feeling good about playing. Here's a list of a nice variety of music in tab.

http://www.muffin.net.nz/muffin/Pdf_Tablature.html


Thanks go to the folks at The Big Muffin Serious Band and The Serious Ukulele Ensemble and Goulash Archipelago who put this together.

Two Chord Songs by Luthier Aaron Keim

I found this guy on a Ukulele Underground forum. I was looking for tuning pegs for a 1950's Harmony Ukulele that I'm restoring. From the UU post, I followed the trail to his Facebook which led me to his Etsy page where he sells this book:

Songbook by Aaron Keim

He's also a luthier. He builds stringed instruments. And hand makes books. And plays music. And, well, the list goes on. Check him out.

On Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Keim/514564616

His website:
http://boulderacousticsociety.net/

Free Celtic & Bluegrass Sheet Music Downloads

Ken Middleton's site is ranked a "Top 50 Ukulele Sites."

 While wandering the internet looking for renaissance music I found Ken Middleton's site. He's offering a number of free Celtic and Bluegrass sheet music downloads. They're in tab making them easy to play. Click on the link below to explore his site.

Ken Middleton Free Music Downloads ~ Celtic, Bluegrass & More

And when you simply must have more, visit Ken's store (at the link below) and pick up his sheet music e-books.

Ken Middleton's Celtic, Bluegrass & Hymn e-books  

Jamming At The Intracoastal Waterway

Nancy has got a music background and has been teaching me about the structure of music - those foundational pieces necessary to play easily with other people. I'm teaching Nancy about playing notes and melody. Each time we get together we each learn something new. And, of course, we have fun. This week Joey joined us and fell in love with the ukulele.

Nancy & Joey are playing "America" on the ukulele. 

 

 

 

Joey picked up the ukulele just 30 minutes prior to our ICW Jam and started playing tab immediately. FYI: Nancy is playing a Mainland soprano and Joey is playing a Makala Dolphin soprano.

Jimmy Buffett Ukulele Songbook Released

BuffettInfo.com tells us that Alred Music Company has just released a Jimmy Buffett ukulele songbook, Uke 'An Play Jimmy Buffett.

Jimmy plays ukulele and you can too.

 Before moving to South Florida from New Hampshire, I used to listen to Jimmy Buffett music all the time as a way to escape the long, cold New England winters. I'd turn up the heat, take off my shoes and socks, and put Jimmy on the stereo.

Most people don't know that Jimmy's smile on "Off To See The Lizard" prompted me into becoming a writer.  As a gift to myself for my 40th birthday, I wrote what I called a "little story". When contemplating what to write about, I popped this cd into my Bose and thought, "Gee, I'll write a little story about that smile and what I imagine was behind it."

The smile that prompted my writing career.

The goal was simply to amuse myself. Eight months and 10,000 words later, I realized I was onto something.The little story became a novel which eventually led to the Pug At The Beach books.

And to this day, I still wonder about what made him smile like that.

Now that I play ukulele, well, this just opens up doors to all sorts of interesting adventures!

Here's the link to the original post on BuffettInfo.com:
http://www.buffettinfo.com/front-page-news/2641-buffett-ukulele-songbook-released.html#axzz1BKRocSkO

And here's the link to Alred Music Publishers:
http://www.alfred.com/Products/Uke-An-Play-Jimmy-Buffett--00-36799.aspx

Now, get out there and make some music!

Let's Have A Song Swap!

In the January 2010 issue of their newsletter, the BFC (below) gave thanks for their Song Swap which took place on New Year's Day. It sounded like such a good idea I thought we should do that!

Let's have a Song Swap!

This really image doesn't really need to be here but isn't it cute?

We'll set a date for sometime in July, 2011. Pick a song you love or one you'll think someone else will love and we'll swap 'em and then play 'em. I'll be in Maine in July so we can play in person. Maybe we can also hookup with these folks:

Playing music in Milton Mills, NH.

 Remember, play a little bit everyday but only play for fun!

Songs For Valentine's Day ~ Let's Do A Skype Jam

Sandpiper Art

 Hey kids, Valentine's Day is coming up. These are the songs I'm learning next:

• Blue Skies
• By The Light Of The Silvery Moon
• Brahms' Lullaby
• Do-Re-Mi
• Can't Help Falling In Love
• Chapel Of Love
• The Glory Of Love
• A Groovy Kind Of Love
• Happy Together
• The Dreidel Song (modified to be a love song to Buddy)
• It's A Small World
• Let It Be Me
• Let Me Call You Sweetheart
• When I Fall In Love
• Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

Each of these songs are fairly easy to play either in melody or chords. Choose a few of your favorites and let's do a Skype jam on Valentine's Day!

Luna Guitars New Ukulele LIne

 http://www.lunaguitars.com/lunanews/ukefeature.php

If you aren't the least bit interested in Luna's line of ukuleles, you simply must, must go to their site to look at the gorgeous photos of exotic beaches! Read their back story as well. It's run by a woman who's got a really interesting history in the guitar world.

Paper Craft Ukulele

It's like origami. You can download this mini ukulele, fold and glue it, and have a perfectly adorable paper ukulele. Don't know what you'd do with it after that though.

A teeny, tiny paper ukulele!

Thanks for Paper Craft Ukulele. Find the original blog post and pdf download here:
http://pizzabytheslice.com/papercraft-ukulele.htm

Cigar Box Ukuleles ~ Build Your Own

A collection of antique cigar box guitars, banjos and ukuleles. From the National Cigar Box Guitar Museum. Photo by Shane Speal.

And when you're done building it visit other cigar box ukers at Cigar Box Nation The photo and instructions are courtesy of Cigar Box Nation.

Three Uke Clubs in Vermont, New Hampshire & Maine

Playing ukulele in Northern New England? Here are three clubs to visit.

Upper Valley Uke Club, Hanover, New Hampshire

http://www.uvukeclub.com/home 

The Vermont Ukulele Society, Bristol, Vermont

http://vtukes.webs.com/

Mainley Ukelele Club, Brooksville, Maine

http://tinderhearth.org/Tinder_Hearth/Mainely_Ukelele.html

Happy playing!

Oh Susanna ~ James Hill & Anne Davison

From Gordon Meyer's YouTube channel. Gordon & Char Meyer create MyaMoe ukues.
Here James Hill & Anne Davison play Oh Susanna on a Mya-Moe Tenor Lap Steel. Check out Gordon's other videos too. Lots of good stuff there.

Ukulele Fretboard Note Chart

Rather than play chords, which I find boring, I play by reading music. It's an interesting process to learn, made more difficult by aging eyesight, but it opens up a world of musical possibilities. This fretboard illustration comes from Ukulele Underground senior member, "Dane." You can find the original post on Ukulele Underground.

 This is what he said about his creative process:

"I used part of one of the images of the uke from this URL :
http://www.acousticvibesmusic.com/ca...?cPath=170_171

And the image which I stole the colors from is from this URL :
http://www.nutthouse.com.au/ukulele/chords.html  "

It looks really intimidating (and pretty - look at all those colors!) but it's easier than you may think. Try it and learn something new today.

Kids Don't Try This At Home ~ Man Plays A Ukulele While Riding A Bicycle...In Traffic

A Testament To The Durability Of A Fluke

I was tooling around Ukulele Underground, which is a really dangerous place to be if you've got things to do, when I came across this entry by UU's Senior Member Harpdog. 

Both of my girls will appreciate this story and to add the visual here's what the Fluke looks like:

Fluke ukulele.

"You won't be disappointed in a Flea or Fluke - tough little buggers!

I set a Fluke down on a polished table last week, but from the corner of my eye it looked like it might tip over, so I reached fast to grab it. I was off a little and ended up sort of punching it right where the fingerboard overlaps the body. The thing FLEW across the table. There was a guy sitting there bent over looking at a paper, and it bonked him on top of the head, with the back side of the Fluke. It BOUNCED off his head, back across the table, and hit the floor about 5 feet away.

Not a scratch.
Had to retune the A string.

The guy's head was OK too."

To read more posts on the Fluke, here's the link: UU's Harpdog talks about his Fluke
To shop for a Fluke visit Flea Market Music. 

The Daily Ukulele: 365 Songs For Better Living

 

 

From the folks at Flea Market Music

The Daily Ukulele: 365 Songs For Better Living (on Amazon)

I love songbooks. Always have. The actual language of music, those black dots on white paper, is just so beautiful and the more complex the language the more beautiful the music. Fortunately, these songs are fairly simple to play. 23 bucks at Amazon.

The Mighty Uke ~ A Documentary About A Little Instrument That Makes People Happy

http://www.mightyukemovie.com/

A documentary about the instrument that makes people happy.

http://www.mightyukemovie.com/

This Is Why I Bought A Risa Electric Stick Ukulele

I was perfectly happy playing my concert Flea. Then I saw this video and UAS* began.



* UAS: Want to know what it is? Read about here at a previous Beach Music entry: http://ukejamming.blogspot.com/2010/11/uas-what-is-it-and-why-its-important.html

UAS ~ What Is It And Why It's Important

http://www.nuvo.net/MusicBlog/archives/2010/08/17/ukulele-acquisition-syndrome

UAS ~ Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome. Once you get the ukulele bug it's really, really hard not to start collecting them.

I started with the Flea because, for my needs, it was the best choice: durable, easy to play, unusual in appearance, and I could take it to the beach. Then I saw the Risa electric concert stick in a Friends Of Old Puppy video and I fell in love.

My ukes: a Risa electric concert stick and a concert Flea.

 Then I bought the Dolphins as Christmas gifts and I just love to look at them! So, even though they're not mine they feel at home here.

Christmas Dolphins: Kate likes pink and Zoe likes blue.

To truly understand UAS read Miss Joni's article at Nuvo, Indy's Alternative Voice Music Blog here:

http://www.nuvo.net/MusicBlog/archives/2010/08/17/ukulele-acquisition-syndrome

Jeremy Fisher ~ Playing An Airline Electric Ukulele

Find more of him at his website:

JeremyFisherMusic.com