There’s so many great resources on the internet for instruction these days. I thought I’d search some out and post them here. I’ve viewed some instructional videos from YouTube, but when I went to view it again, I could never find them. So, I will try to find the stuff that I find useful and post it here as I come across it. Hopefully it will be of some use to you. These are all random and are in no particular order, hope you find something useful!
Here’s a couple ukulele videos that I like.
Crazy G; the ultimate show ending song. I’ve seen him live twice and was blown away each time! Check out Dominator’s tab here.
GUGUG; I love these guys! It’s always a waiting game to for their next video. I’ll start out with a few classics at a time. These will surely get you searching the memory bank for those songs from your past. I saw the Ramones probably 10 times back in the day and it’s amazing how well two talented guys and a couple ukuleles can really do it justice!
Well, here goes with another review.
Ukulele Tips ‘N’ Tunes - A Beginner’s Method & Songbook, by Jim Beloff
I actually got this book as a gift last Christmas, 2006. At first I was kinda bummed because I knew I’d moved beyond the beginner stage and the “A Beginner’s Method & Songbook” really made me dislike this book. What do they say? Don’t judge a book by it’s cover? Ain’t that the truth!
I broke this book out a couple weeks later when I was looking for something different. Wow, I was stoked! This is one of the best written, most informative books I have come across. Sure, it’s geared toward the beginner with detailed info on how to hold your ukulele, how to finger chords, etc., but it is a great book that taught me alot of new things that I hadn’t come across before. For example; I had read a book a few years back about how to read music (yes, I never finished my piano lessons as a kid), I barely retained anything from that book, even though I read it cover to cover. The way that Jim Beloff explains rudimentary music reading really made sense and sunk in, even though it was just a couple of pages. He focuses on what’s important and it really helps.
Anyway, beyond that, the book contains 29 songs especially arranged for the ukulele. My favorite part is that he includes chords in parenthesis, chords not necessary to play the song, but included so that when your skills have improved, they are there for you to play. Another thing that I liked is that he includes strum patterns for each song. These are really just guidelines and aren’t required to follow, but it provides you with a plethora of different strum patterns instead of the up and down thing that you can infuse in other songs.
What I don’t like about this book is that it does not include tablature. I understand exactly why it’s not included in this book as it is a beginner book teaching basics about playing the ukulele and working on chords, which there are plenty by the way. I guess it’s what I don’t like about most all of the Jumpin’ Jim’s books, no tablature. Sure, you can work out tablature from the standard music notation, but…
All in all, I would say this is a great buy for anyone who plays the ukulele, especially those who consider themselves beginner-intermediate, however that is gauged.
On a scale of 1-5, 5 being the best, I give this book a 4.2 (better than a four, not quite a 4 1/2)!
Famous Solos & Duets for the ‘Ukulele
edited & arranged by John King
This is a wonderful ukulele resource. It is filled with 22 solos and duets beautifully arranged for the ukulele. It is written in both standard notation and tablature. The arrangements vary in difficulty and it is probably best suited for advanced beginners and up.
Some of my favorite tunes;
Haele - Ernest Ka’ai
Hone A Ka Wai - Ernest Ka’ai
Ka Wehi - Ernest Ka’ai
Spanish Fandango - Henry Worrall
Leilani - Ernest Ka’ai
Aloha Quickstep - Ernest Ka’ai
I really like this book because of the songs and the fact it has tablature. John King has done a wonderful job arranging these songs, my favorite probably being Aloha Quickstep that can be played solo or in duet with a guitarist. My guitar playing friend and I have been playing this song together and now that we have it down, it sounds really impressive, even though it’s not too difficult.
That’s probably the best thing about this book, the arrangements aren’t too difficult. You will however be able to impress those around you when you play any of these tunes.
On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I give this book a 5!
Buy Famous Solos & Duets for Ukulele
Instead of tediously adding pages to www.ukewarehouse.com to add reviews, videos and interesting ukulele stuff, I thought I’d join the current blog scene! If you got here through www.ukewarehouse.com, this is where I’ll post this stuff. If you got here from here, please visit www.ukewarehouse.com for great ukulele products!
