Lyle Ritz Solos

Jumpin’ Jim’s Ukulele Masters - Lyle Ritz Solos - 15 Chord Solos

Published by Hal Leonard Corporation with Copyright by Flea Market Music, Inc.

The most important thing to note about this book is that it contains 15 difficult solo arrangements for ukulele. The songs are written in standard notation, chord diagrams and lyrics for songs that contain them. Songs include; Bluesette, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Dream, Honesuckle Rose, Lulu’s Back in Town, Ritz Cracker, St. Thomas, Where or When and more… It also contains a CD with all of the arrangements played by Lyle Ritz. The CD is great!

A chord solo is an arrangement where both the melody and harmony of a song are captured in the many chord changes. In the description of this book, it is indicated that “These are some of the most challenging arrangements ever published for the ukulele..”, I’ll second that!

In my opinion, it can be very discouraging to learn these chord solos. First of all, except for strumming simple or even non-simple chords, I prefer ukulele tablature over chord diagrams. What I find the most annoying about this book is that each note is generally a chord change, so, in 4/4 time, there will be four beats per measure and if your lucky you’ll only be playing four different chords in each measure, however your generally playing more. That would be fine and dandy if they were common chords, these are generally not. Also, there are often single and double string plucked chords throughout these arrangments and reading the chord diagrams for these is a bear to say the least! If you take the time to re-adjust your thinking toward reading the chord diagrams, it is possible to play these. I ended up tabbing out the few songs I wanted to learn so that it was easier for me to get a grasp of the arrangement, this is always an option, but shouldn’t be necessary in my opinion.

It looks easy when you watch Lyle Ritz play chord solos, he has mastered the ukulele and is a pleasure to hear. This is a good book for those that are already comfortable with difficult chord changes up and down the neck. It will also be good for those who enjoy a challenge. I bought the book a few years back solely to learn Lulu’s Back in Town that I heard on the Legends of the Ukulele CD. I wish I’d have found Dominator’s version before I bought the book, it is written in tablature form and for me is much easier to get a grasp of.

Some people may prefer learning songs from chord diagrams over tablature, or just reading the standard notation for that matter, I don’t. So, I really don’t have much use for this book especially since I don’t particularly like this type of music, which in turn doesn’t give me much motivation to learn these songs. Maybe one day I’ll have an itch to play the chord solo style, but it’s not on my near future agenda. I do however have the utmost respect for Lyle Ritz and his playing style and am in awe at how easy he makes these difficult arrangements look.

It’s probably not the best marketing tool to give not-so-good reviews of the products I am selling (buy Lyle Ritz Solos at ukewarehouse.com), but I’ve got to be honest. It goes for $24.95 new, if you want my used copy, email me and make me an offer!

So, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I give this book a 2.

Fingerstyle Solos for ‘Ukulele

 

Learn to play Fingerstyle Solos for ‘Ukulele by Mark Kailana Nelson

When I first saw this book I envisioned it as something that it isn’t. I guess my first instict that it was a sort of recipe book for creating ukulele solos, it isn’t. What it is however is a great instructional book offering 27 arrangements in the fingerpicking style.

The book is written for the intermediate player or aspiring beginner. By intermediate the author means “..that you already know how to play a number of songs using basic chords, you have a few strums under your fingers and you are ready to move ahead and play chords and melody up the neck.” The outline of the book is great. It starts off slowly with some easier arrangments, adding difficulty with each page. Each arrangement builds on the previous one and there are sometimes multiple arrrangements of the same song, adding various techniques that spice it up as your skills progress.

Each arrangement is written in standard notation and tablature with chord names above. In addition, there are performance notes for each song. These provide details to the reader about the how’s and why’s of the arrangement. The author points out new things you’ll come across in each measure and suggests how to play them in the most efficient manner. Also as the author points out, these are mere suggestions, what is more important is that you interpret it how you want, and play it the way that you feel is best.

The book contains a variety of Hawaiian standards and other’s you’ll find recognizeable. Ahi Wela, Hilo March, Aloha ‘Oe, and E Ku’u Morning Dew are some of the fingerstyle songs taught in this book. Other’s include Greensleeves, Danny Boy and a nice arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s funny how many times a song will show up in a variety of different books. Take Greensleeves for example, I’m not sure how many different arrangements there are for this song, but I’m sure it’s more than I’d care to know. I’m not sure if others are like me, but once I learn a song a particular way, I find it difficult to want to learn another arrangement of that same song. Because of this, I end up skipping past alot of songs in different books as sort of a subconcious protest against anything new. There are 9 arrangements in this book that fall under that category for me.

The book also contains a CD, that I just listened to for the first time. It should be a priority when learning a new song, but sometimes I find it difficult to set aside the time. If you want to cut your learning time in half, give it a listen, especially if the song is played directly from the music your learning!

Many of the songs are played as a duet with a guitar on the CD, which does not interfere with the sound of the ukulele as some do. However, I wish the author would have included the tablature for the guitar parts as most of these songs sound great as duets. I tend to prefer the sound of different instruments in a song, especially when the song is specifically arranged for those different instruments. There’s alot to be said about having a diversity of sound in music and I’ve heard alot of people complain about the non-acceptance of ukuleles by guitar players, but I’ve had a completely different experience. A guitar playing friend of mine hosts an ‘open mic’ and always requests I come down to add a different sound to “the room full of guitars”.

Anyway, got a bit off subject. This is a great book for transitioning from strumming to fingerstyle ukulele playing. It is well written and has some very nice arrangements that will surely get you stoked on the ukulele, if you weren’t already that is! Sit down and listen to the CD while following along in the book. Then pick up your ukulele and immerse yourself in whatever song strikes your fancy!

You can buy the book at www.ukewarehouse.com.

On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I would rate this book a 4!

Lanikai Curly Koa Concert Ukulele

                   

The Lanikai Curly Koa series provide affordable koa ukuleles that look and sound great. These instruments are made in China and utilize laminates in their construction, which is pretty much a standard in this price range for koa ukuleles. Don’t let this deter you however as these are nicely constructed instruments with a quality sound.

Each ukulele has maple binding on the top and back with a nice maple inlay down the center of the back. It has an inlayed rosette that looks like abalone, but I don’t think it is. I can’t figure out what it is actually, but it looks nice. The body has a nice taper and produces a nice tone. The Lanikai curly koa line is very similar to Kala Brand’s koa line. In fact, they look identical in most instances. The only differences I can find are the inlay dots on the fretboard, the name on the headstock and the sticker inside!

I do like this ukulele and I think it’s a great purchase for someone looking for a nice looking and sounding ukulele in the under $300 price range. I don’t think you can go wrong with Lanikai, which is made by Hohner, a company known for quality instruments.

It has geared tuners for ease of tuning and an extended fretboard (20 frets).  The extended fretboard is nice for hitting the occasional note way up there, but given the concert scale, the fret spacing around 18 and up doesn’t do much good if you have hands larger than a small child’s.

I have included another video to give a sample of the sound of this ukulele. Once again, I am struggling to get my webcam to produce a nice sound throughout, so please excuse the occasional sound distortions. I pick up my solid koa ukulele in this to give you a comparison to something else. To me the Lanikai, or any other uke in this price range, doesn’t have quite the sound of a solid koa uke, but they do sound very good regardless. And for a third the price of most solid koa ukes, they are worthy instruments.

Oscar Schmidt OU4 Spruce Top Tenor

                              

I’ve reviewed 2 soprano size ukuleles thus far and am venturing to the tenor size this time. Today’s review is of the Oscar Schmidt Spruce Top Tenor (OU-4).

My digital camera decided to quit working for me, so I had to negotiate the webcam to take the photos. I really need to improve my technology so I can provide higher quality sound and images, but that’s a different issue. So, the ukulele is not crooked like the images indicate, it’s perfectly shaped.

The Oscar Schmidt spruce top series are really some beautiful ukuleles! It has a tenor scale with 19 frets. The top is solid bookmatched select spruce. The back and sides are rosewood (laminate). There is abalone inlay on the top and around the soundhole and the gloss finish really gives this ukulele a wonderful look and feel. Some people may like a satin finish on their ukes, but when it comes to a fine looking uke, you can’t beat it! Check out the picture of the back above, you can see my reflection taking the picture! The glossy finish seems to make this instrument a bit heavier and some have said it may also affect the sound. It isn’t the loudest ukulele out there.

This ukulele has a smaller body as compared to a Lanikai or Kala Brand tenor. It’s about 3/4″ smaller in both length and width. It has a nicely tapered and slightly rounded back. The size of the body and the glossy finish may both be responsible for the relatively quiet sound this ukulele emits. For comparison in the video, I played a Kala Brand tenor and the difference in loudness (is that a word?) is noticeable. I don’t necessarily mind this, but some people may be looking for a more boisterous ukulele. To me, it being a bit more quiet gives it more of an ukulele sound versus the somewhat guitary (now that’s definitely not a word!) sound that some tenors make.

The workmanship seems very good, and the price is good too. For a suggested retail price of $169, or less at ukewarehouse.com, you get a nice sounding, beautiful looking, quality instrument. I like glossy finishes as they tend to withstand a bit more abuse and I also like abalone inlay to distract people’s attention from my playing. If your looking for an ukulele that looks great for an affordable price, this is a good pick. If your looking for something with booming tenor sound, you may want to look elsewhere.

Hope this helps you on your ukulele purchasing quest! Oh yeah, in the video you’ll see me tuning the G string. I pulled this uke straight out of the box and thought it worth mentioning that whenever you buy a new uke or re-string an existing one, there will be a break in period for your strings. I tuned up right before the video and saw the G lose it’s tune in just a few seconds. I generally find it takes almost a week in some cases, playing 1-2 hrs. per day for your strings to hold their tune. The metal C string will hold it’s tune almost immediately, but both the G and A will require constant attention until that one magical day you pick it up and it’s perfectly in tune!

Lehua Long-neck Soprano

                   

The Lehua Ukuleles long-neck soprano is a fine ukulele for under $200.

“All Lehua instruments are made in Portugal from beautiful Australian Blackwood, botanical name Acacia Melanoxylon, with very similar tonal and appearance characteristics to Koa Acacia, a close relative, the material of choice for Hawaiian ukuleles. All Lehua ukes are solid wood with no laminates or plastic anywhere. The necks are made from seasoned mahogany, for strength, and have a rosewood or wenge fretboard with accurate fret placement. The bridges are also rosewood or wenge, depending on availability. Both wenge and rosewood are very attractive hardwoods that make excellent fretboards and bridges. Lehua uses only high quality gold plated tuners which hold their tune very well. All instruments have a great looking durable matte finish. They are all strung with the traditional style of black nylon strings. Each instrument is individually set up by Lehua here in the U.S. after receipt from Portugal, for maximum playability.”

The above paragraph is Lehua’s own description of their products and it rings true as far as I’m concerned! I’m pretty stoked on these ukuleles as they are constructed of solid woods with bookmatched tops and backs. The Australian Blackwood is a beautiful wood that is very similar in appearance and sound to all wood koa ukuleles. The quality of construction seems top notch upon close inspection, it’s got a nice slim neck, a narrow headstock and traditional style ukulele tuners, most appreciated by those who don’t like ‘ears’ on their ukes!

It’s plain appearance with no binding and basic inlay around the soundhole make for a classic looking instrument. A perfect match for those that don’t like too much bling on their ukes. The only problem I see with the lack of binding is that you’ll have to be a bit more careful so you don’t ding it up when your moving it around.

The long-neck is a concert sized fretboard and scale on a soprano sized body. It doesn’t look weird at all, if it was a tenor scale, that would be a different story! The neck joins the body at the 15th fret and has a total of 19 frets. It’s overall length is 23 5/8″ (60 cm) with a scale lenght of 15 9/16″ (39.6 cm). I can’t tell if the fretboard on this ukulele is rosewood or the wenge noted above, only because I’ve never seen wenge and don’t know if it looks just like rosewood or not, so basically, it looks like rosewood (but could be wenge if wenge looks like rosewood!).

I have included a video below where I am doing some basic strumming and picking of the strings to give a general idea of the sound. I have also included the Kala Brand soprano koa model so you can compare the sounds together. The Lehua sounds a bit deeper in tone than the Kala, probably due to the Lehua’s body being deeper and a bit longer, though the Kala’s body is a tad wider. Like the Kala, the Lehua has a tapered back, but not as drastic as the Kala. Another reason for the deeper resonance is probably the solid wood construction versus the laminated wood construction of the Kala.

For around $200 the Lehua seems to me a great deal and a very nice ukulele. I am currently only carrying the soprano and long-neck soprano models because I wanted to see what the Lehua’s were like. I will definitely be carrying the concert and tenor models in the near future! In fact, I might even buy one for myself!

Here’s the video, once again, this isn’t a performance, it’s a sound demonstration!

Kala Brand Soprano Koa Ukulele

                   

So here we go. I have taken some photos of the Kala Brand Soprano Koa and recorded a short video that will hopefully come across OK. The sound on the video isn’t the best, but it should give you a decent idea of the sound quality of this ukulele.

When I started playing the ukulele I strictly used the soprano size, but have switched to playing both the concert and tenor sizes mainly. I haven’t ventured into the baritone thing yet, though I know a few that have.

I really like the Kala Soprano Koa ukulele. It has a great shape with the tapered back and a sweet look with the maple binding on the top and back and inlay around the soundhole. A tapered body is a classic for ukuleles and is generally found in most high end ukes, not generally in the less expensive ones. Even though it’s pretty common in custom ukes, I was never sure that a tapered back was a good fit for a soprano, but the sound from this Kala Brand koa is nice and it resonates well. It’s got nice lines and is very well constructed. This is not a solid wood construction, but laminated wood construction. You won’t find any koa ukuleles in this price range that aren’t laminated. This does not however detract from the quality of this instrument. What the Kala Brand Koa soprano ukulele does provide is a nice sounding, beautiful looking, affordable koa ukulele.

I’ve been reluctant thus far to review ukuleles because I find it difficult to compare and contrast them to others. Each ukulele seems to have it’s own specific qualities. This is why I’ve recorded a video that will hopefully give you an idea of the sound and look. It is recorded on a webcam so the quality is suspect, but it seemed decent on my computer. 

Hopefully this will give those that are seeking to buy an ukulele in the under $300 range a good idea of what you are in for. I have a few koa ukuleles, some laminated, some solid, but my favorite is one I bought on Maui a few years back. It’s a solid wood construction and is my favorite because it has a fabulous sound and it looks great. I paid about $700 for it and it was worth every penny! That is by far the most I’ve ever spent on an ukulele. If you’ve got $700 to spend on your next ukulele, the options are many. If you want a koa ukulele and don’t want to spend so much, the Kala Brand koa soprano is a good choice. This is a great sounding and looking ukulele and I would recommend it for those interested in any ukulele in this price range.

And please, don’t critique me on my playing in the video, I was just trying to get the majority of sounds without thinking about what I was actually playing. This was my first YouTube video though, how do I look from the shoulders down, HA!

  

Ukulele Reviews

I haven’t posted any reviews of actual ukuleles yet because I was trying to figure out the best way to do it. So, as you will see, I still won’t in this post! But, I will in the next few days. I’ve been tinkering with the web cam I got for Christmas, and although the sound doesn’t seem to match the video, it should still suffice for some basic sounds and visuals. Sure, it cannot replace actually playing and feeling the ukulele, but as I’ve found out, not everyone has that opportunity.

I promise to demonstrate and review some ukuleles in the next couple of days. I’m getting in some Lehua Ukuleles, so maybe I’ll start with those…

If you see anything at ukewarehouse.com that you would like a little more info on, feel free to comment and suggest something.

John King’s The Classical Ukulele

The Classical Ukulele - John King

I’m not trying to be partial by giving reviews (good reviews) of John King’s books, but it’s hard not to. His arrangements are better than most I’ve seen, and to say that he is advancing current ukulele interest is an understatement. He has opened alot of peoples eyes to the versatility of this small 4-string instrument.

There are some great classical pieces in this book like Prelude, and Prelude and, well Prelude. Each of which are superbly arranged for playing on the ukulele, not to say that they are easy to play however! Included are some great Hawaiian tunes like Alekoki, Ahe Lau Makani and Pupu A’o Ewa. All songs are written in standard notation and tablature.

One of my favorite songs is Tarantella Italiana, which sounds familiar enough for me to always think of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It’s by no means the same song. My personal favorite is this Vandals version. Sorry, little sidetracked there. Maybe Woodshed at UkeHunt will see this and tab out the melody for the ride’s theme song…

This is one of those books that you will constantly visit as your skills progress. At one point I almost had the third Prelude in the book, this one, memorized, but got a bit lost and forgot all about it. Now, I can go back and still be lost, but at least I’d put in the hours before so I can keep up with the tempo and hack my way through it! Maybe one of these days…

Anyway, if you like Famous Solos & Duets or John King or classical music, this is a great book. It’s well suited for advanced beginner and up. I say advanced beginner because there are some fairly playable arrangements and it’s always good to push yourself.

On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I would rate this book a 5! (John’s arrangements are splendid!)

The Jumping Flea

The Jumping Flea - A documentary film by Paul Kraus

I just got these in today and couldn’t wait to watch it. Fans of the ukulele interested in it’s history, players and builders both past and present will enjoy this documentary. It’s about an hour long and is filled with some great information, sounds and visuals. If you liked the book The Ukulele - A Visual History by Jim Beloff, you’ll be in for a treat.

You can see a trailer for the film here.

The film is very well done as the filmmaker Paul Kraus began working in special effects in Hollywood and later in Marin County, CA. His first documentary feature, The Shapemakers, a surf documentary about the art of surfboard making, received critical acclaim from the press worldwide.

I’d like to compare it to something else, but I’ve yet to come across a ukulele documentary with in depth info on the history, it’s builders and players. This is a very entertaining film and it’s great to hear some of the stories about how some of the ukulele designs came about, like Kamaka’s first pineapple ukulele. The film itself is directed mostly toward the history of the instrument and it’s builders. Included is footage of some ukulele legends like Bill Tapia and Lyle Ritz, but it would have been nice to see some of the current ukulele talent. Although there is a snippet of James Hill in there. All in all, I thought it was a great film. I will watch it again for sure!

On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I would rate this film a 4.9! (Yes, I do reserve the right to use decimal points in my ratings!)

IZ The Songbook Collection

IZ The Songbook Collection

I love the music of Brudda IZ, and I’d love to learn some of his songs, but this book doesn’t seem to be the way to do it as far as I’m concerned! I can’t make heads or tails of this thing.

Songs contain chord names with diagrams, standard notation, tablature and lyrics. Considering it’s an official transcription of the music, I would figure it to be a bit confusing at times, but not all the time. What makes it so confusing is that the ukulele parts are tabbed out (I think), but they’ve left 6 lines (guitar style) so reading the tab is tedious to say the least! Also, in the chord diagrams for ukulele parts, they have the six strings (I guess you omit two of them), but the fingering doesn’t match the named chord. So, you see a C fingering, but they call it a G. Here is there explanation - “Guitarists capo at the 5th fret and play the indicated 4-string chords. Ukulele players can just play the 4-string chords as indicated.” What? So, everyone plays the same 4-string chords as indicated, but which ones, the letter on top of the diagram indicating the chord or the fingering within the diagram indicating the chord (they are different chords!).

I wanted to learn the song Henehene Kou ‘Aka. I attempted the version in this book, but walked away frustrated on many occassions. Then I found a version of the tab at Tropical Storm Hawaii and Alligator Boogaloo , and watched a YouTube video. Next thing I knew, I could play the song and really enjoyed it (I still need some work on the lyrics though). So, I went back to this book figuring I’d figured out the song a fair bit and was once again frustrated as I could still not make any sense of it!

If you want to learn Brudda IZ songs and you are excellent at reading all types of written music and enjoy frustratingly excessive information, dots and lines, then this is the book for you. If you are like myself and alot of other people, I suggest looking elsewhere. I feel sort of bad posting a negative review, and I’m sure there are plenty of people who would disagree with me, but I’ve really gotten nothing from this songbook.

On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being best, I rate this book a 1 (at least you can learn the correct lyrics!).