MetaFilter posts tagged with ukulele

U900

vronsky — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:02:27 -0800

Usagino U (ukulele, lead vocal) and Kumano 900 (ukulele, pianica, theremin, bongos) play American surf rock in Japan -- Isogabamaware ll Diamond Head ll Crazy G

Extended Range Instruments

phrontist — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 17:40:28 -0800

Sure, every band geek has heard of the mythic contrabass sax. But I bet you didn't know there were contrabass clarinets and french horns or subcontrabass recorders, flutes, and... uh... this thing. On the other end of the spectrum you've got the sopranino recorder, sax aphone, clarinet, and ukulele.

Ukeleles'R'Us

pharm — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:24:38 -0800

Regular mefites will know that The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain are renowned for having their wicked way with any piece of music that takes their fancy: from Smells Like Teen Spirit to the theme from The Good, The Bad and the Ugly nothing is sacred. On 18 August they played the 45th Prom of 2009 at the Royal Albert Hall: 6000 people were in the audience, of whom 1000 brought their own ukuleles — lessons provided by the BBC online for novice players — for a massed rendition of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. A review from one participant is here. UK residents can listen to the performance on Listen Again, the rest of you will have to wait for the DVD or search for a download sadly.

Have Love, Will Cover

slimepuppy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 05:45:40 -0800

Have Love, Will Travel is a song with an instantly recognisable opening that was originally recorded by Richard Berry in 1959 and subsequently covered by The Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Crazyhead, Bruce Springsteen, Jim Belushi & Dan Akroyd, The Black Keys and at least two ukulele duos to name a few. (single song, MLYTP)

Ok. We're agreed. I can't rap.

eustacescrubb — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:16:01 -0800

Julia Nunes can sing. And she plays ukulele. But what won me over: her charming, silly demeanor. She videoed herself playing Queen, Kanye, Destiny's Child, Bright Eyes and others and posted it to YouTube. Now she's got an album (eMusic) and is playing Bonnaroo.

The Segovia of Ukulele

ornate insect — Sat, 02 May 2009 10:45:02 -0800

John King, likely the world’s only classical ukulele virtuoso, died last month at the age of 55. Here he is performing a Bach prelude, playing more Bach, and playing Chopsticks.

That old homemade sound.

OmieWise — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:25:28 -0800

How to Build: A simple washtub bass. Some variations (on a crazily made webpage). A cookie tin banjo. (Previously) A cigar box guitar, and a cigar box ukulele. A fancy cigar box uke. (Kathy Marsushita's whole amateur luthier projects page is worth checking out, as is this gallery of cool cigar box ukes.)

Dear Deer

Del Far — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:47:37 -0800

Dear Deer by Kate Micucci Found and fell in love with this ukulele musician last night after seeing her appearance on a (Spoiler Warning With Next Video!) Scrubs Webisode

Plucked Spaghetti

Blazecock Pileon — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:27:43 -0800

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain travels south of the border

It's the final countdown!

Astro Zombie — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:11:14 -0800

KazooKeylele. Europe's "The Final Countdown" played on a combination kazoo, baby keyboard, and ukulele. Single link YouTube awesomeness. (Via)

Plunka-plunka-plunk, plunka-plunka-plunk, plunk, plunk, plunk.

WCityMike — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:45:39 -0800

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performs the theme to "Shaft" (SYTL). Really, is any description needed? Also, since we're very loosely on the topic of odd British versions of popular songs, the rave remix of the "A-Team" theme that was in the Spaced episode "Epiphanies" (the Sean of the Dead guys). Just because, hey, this post wasn't random enough already. My work here ... is done.

Do the Uke!

Del Far — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:13:31 -0800

The UkeCast The Ukulele Podcast

AskMe question answered by Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

ObscureReferenceMan — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:09:19 -0800

What do you call two (or more) songs with overlapping verses? I don't know. But here's a great example. (Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. Single link youtube post. Enjoyment not guaranteed. Your mileage may vary.)

Beirut Music Videos

Corduroy — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 18:15:43 -0800

The band Beirut released the Flying Club Cup on October 9th, and La Blogothèque has filmed unique, one take, on the spot, mostly public 'music videos' of each track. 1- Nantes 2- Sunday Smile 3- Guyamas Sonora 4- La Banlieue 5- Cliquot 6- The Penalty 7- La Fete 8- In the Mausoleum 9- Un Dernier Verre 10- Cherbourg 11- St. Apollonia 12- The Flying Club Cup (Some of the writing below the belows the videos is pretty effusive, but the music and videos are still impressive.) Here are a couple more traditional Beirut music videos. And here is one I like of Josè González by the same people.

If you like a ukulele lady, a ukulele lady like-a you

jbickers — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 10:07:17 -0800

"Tained Love" on ukulele. What's that you say - you want more ukulele covers? Okay, since you insisted. What's that? You want to learn to play? Here's a good starting point for tabs and chords. Here's another. Here's another. And here are some tips on what to look for when buying a used uke (PDF). And to round out your experience, here's a fairly comprehensive history of the instrument.

Buketastic Formby

MaryDellamorte — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 21:09:18 -0800

Is it a banjo? Is it a ukulele? No, it's a b a n j o l e l e! It's goes by many names: banjolele, banjulele, banjuke, and banjo uke. It's what inspired Peter Frampton to begin to play music and became popularized in the 30s and 40s by George Formby. And oh, how he could play. You can buy one, or you could always make your own. There were other various hybrids of the banjo, including the mandolin-banjo and the guitjo.

Ukulele full of hate

LobsterMitten — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:54:55 -0800

Catchy bitter ukulele break-up song by Duncan Pflaster. Video with song. Simple and excellent. Found via Cat and Girl.

UkeTube: Roy Smeck

flapjax at midnite — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 05:30:50 -0800

You really shouldn't miss the snazzy ukulele stylings of the great Roy Smeck, strummer and showman extraordinaire, who was not only fast as greased lightning, but for whom the ukulele also occasionally functioned as a wind or percussion instrument. The man was indeed a wizard of the strings: just give him a slide and watch him lay down that Hawaiian sound. And as you'll see here, he was still going strong in his later years. [most links to YouTube]

I feel stupid and contagious

BackwardsCity — Wed, 24 May 2006 22:34:48 -0800

Here we are now, entertain us. An all-ukulele cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. From their Web site, "Sugar Plum Fairy" [mp3]. But can UOGB hold a candle to "While My Ukulele Gently Weeps," discussed previously?

Say it's only a paper moon

Astro Zombie — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 10:47:06 -0800

Ukulele Ike. We know his quavering, tentative, high tenor voice from his voice work as Jiminy Cricket, but Cliff Edwards -- aka Ukulele Ike -- was much more than that. Wikipedia offers a brief introduction to the man, his life, his works, and his lonely death. But, to my tastes, the best introduction to this once hugely popular singer is the man's own voice (mp3 links).

Within Uke Without Uke

Robot Johnny — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 09:09:57 -0800

While My Ukulele Gently Weeps Kick off the weekend with some crazy uke playing from Jake Shimabukuro.

Does your dog have fleas?

Roger Dodger — Tue, 31 May 2005 13:51:27 -0800

Brudda Bu's Ukulele Heaven has excellent info on ukulele creation and history. If you want to play, you can learn all of your chords at Ukulele Strummers. If you are looking for some easy songs, try Ukulele Boogaloo for an eclectic songbook with tablature right on the page. Ukulele Beatles Fun provides strum-along Beatles tunes in a flash app. Finally, for the more advanced, Dominator provides beautiful transcriptions of songs (scroll down) by artists like Herb Ohta and Jake Shimabukuro.

The Jimi Hendrix of Hawaii

gottabefunky — Mon, 21 Jun 2004 08:54:08 -0800

Jake Shimabukuro plays the ukulele. Hoo boy, does he play the ukulele.

if you like a ukulele lady, ukulele lady like a'you...

Katemonkey — Mon, 08 Mar 2004 02:15:31 -0800

All songs sound better when performed on a ukulele.

enhancing the ohana

xowie — Wed, 01 Oct 2003 10:18:06 -0800

From Berkeley to Wai'anae, Bruddah Iz is home. (via Ukulelia)