As part of the “Backyard Sessions” which I posted about earlier, we also recorded this take of my solo ukulele version of Never on Sunday.
I take my ukulele with me everywhere I go. One day when I was sitting in the back of a bus on Height street I struck up a conversation with a guy who apparently also played. I let him take my instrument for a spin and he played this tune (which I new from the Chordettes recording). I loved the way it sounded on ukulele so I went home and figured it out for myself.
Chelsea’s videographer friend Beau Lambert was recently staying with us and graciously offered to record a few songs. Beau set up his camera in our backyard and Chelsea and I thought up a few songs that we could record. We only did one or two takes of each one, so the whole ordeal was really just informal and fun. Hopefully you will enjoy. Oh, make sure to pay attention to Chelsea’s hand-drawn title cards!
Chelsea’s parents, Tom and Grace, wrote the “Nammies Song” to help their kids go to sleep at night.
“The Diaper Changing Blues” was written by Chelsea’s mom Grace, for Chelsea’s little brother Thomas who was not fond of having his diaper changed.
“The Beard Song” was one of the first ukulele songs I fell in love with on Youtube. It was written by Rocky and Balls. Check out the original.
Years after my grandfather died, my grandmother reconnected with an old friend from Ohio. George was an old family friend and a widower. A youthful romance followed. I will always remember George’s kindness, good humor and most of all the spry young love he had for my grandmother Wanda.
I arranged this mostly as a way to spend some time alone with my memories of George. Whenever I think of George and Wanda, I think of the beautiful garden they kept together. I sang this hymn at my Grandmother’s memorial service so it seemed like a fitting tribute to George.
This video was recorded in my backyard here in San Francisco.
It’s been over half a year since my last post, and I’m back with something very similar. Chelsea was in San Diego, and while she was gone I finally was able to get something recorded for her. The number of ideas, over the past months, that never made it is staggering, but this one made it, thanks in no small part to it’s brevity and lack of lyrics. Despite it’s diminutive length, it still took me nearly an entire day to write, learn and record. Oy!
It consists of the following tracks:
Rhythm electric ukulele
Lead electric ukulele
Harmony electric ukulele
Electric ukulele harmonics
“Slap yourself in the chest” bass drum
Electric bass
Have a listen! (Or download the first bit of it as an iPhone ring tone)
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While visiting my parents at their cabin just North of Ukiah California, I wrote and recorded a ring-tone for Chelsea. The electric ukulele plugs directly into my battery operated Zoom H4 four track recorder, so the whole thing could be made in the middle of the woods.
Photo credit: Lisa Eldredge
Have a listen:
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I have been dreaming about electric ukuleles for years now, and have been dreaming with a passion ever since I found the Eleuke on Youtube. Well, I finally decided to buy one and could not be happier. Here is my first video on my new tenor Eleuke. The arrangement is based on (stolen from) a beautiful version I heard on Youtube.
As I have been exploring what can be done on the ukulele, I have become more and more enamored with the sound of jazz chords on the ukulele. Listening to Lyle Ritz’ remarkable recordings with just ukulele and bass have inspired me. This is an arrangement of my own devising of a song that I have loved for a very long time.
Please excuse the synthesized drum and bass, they are the best I can do. For now…
Here is an audio only mp3 for you to listen to or download:
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I head an old NPR interview with Lyle Ritz about his album “No Frills” where he recorded several jazz standards in Garage Band over synthesized bass lines he entered himself. It was so clean, approachable, and free of pretension that it inspired me to fire up Garage Band and record this song I have been playing with for a while now.
“Love Is a Song” from: Walt Disney’s Bambi:
Words by: Larry Morey Music by: Frank Churchill Ukulele: Kala Curly Mango Soprano (Christmas present) Drum loop: Garage Band Bass: Recorded in Garage Band using a midi keyboard
Audio only mp3:
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On New Years Day my brother, Nate, and I spent the day relaxing with my girlfriend, Chelsea, and her room mate Joel. It was a lovely day and in the evening we decided to record a song. We decided to record (and film) The Beach Boys’ song “In My Room” by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher. We were quite lucky to find a transcription of the voice parts here.
The results:
Also available as a free mp3:
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While I was home for Christmas, I was watching lots of ukulele videos on Youtube. Somewhere in my wanderings I came across the Risa Uke Solid and my mind was blown. It’s a small electric ukulele made out of a single solid piece of wood and some hardware. The simplicity of the design made me think: “Hey, I could do that” and so I began thinking about how I could make a simple electric ukulele myself. Two days later, with lots of help from my dad and his tools, I have a working electric ukulele made from stuff I found around my parent’s house and a set of $4 ukulele strings. It’s currently fret-less and the pickup leaves a lot to be desired but my goal was really to create a mock-up so that I would know what I was doing when I built the actual thing.
