I found another great Ukulele songbook (in pdf format) and apparently I asked the fellow if it would be alright if I were to link to it. I honestly don't remember that, so it must have been some months ago. Well, Stewart finally got back to me and he's cool with it. So, check out his great songbook at stewartgreenhill.com/blog/ukulele/. There are 48 pages of Ukulele tab goodness here, so it's definitely worth your while. Two songs that immediate jumped out were "Elanor Rigby" by the Beatles and "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors!
Honestly, what Ukulele play could resist a chance to play an early 80s proto-ska song about masturbation, right? It's practically MADE for ukulele.
So, everyone was so psyched by that Ukulele Beatles site that I figured I'd try to find some more free ukulele tabs. It didn't take too long before I found The Big Muffin Serious Band. These guys are a busking band from New Zealand and they have two ukuleles in the band. They've been around since 1983?!
Well, anyway, they have a section on their site with over 100 pdf files of ukulele songs. Here are some of the highlights:
So, I think I tweeted this link before but I wanted it on the site as well so folks could find it. The site is called Ukulele Beatles Fun! and it's basically a bunch of (64!) flash pages for different Beatles songs. What's great is that it plays a version of the song and then shows you chord shapes while the song is playing. You can stop it, rewind, etc. Heck, you can even tune your ukulele and check out all the lyrics. Basically, it rules.
I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for The Beatles and also this site because it was the first page I found after I got my first ukulele (a Lanikai CK-TEQ). In fact, I used this site to learn my first song on Ukulele, "She came in through the bathroom window". But, in case you too are just starting out, I wouldn't recommend that song, it has some pretty tricky chord shapes and moves. But, I guess it's a testament to learning songs in this way that I was eventually able to stumble through it.
Anyway, best of luck to ya! Now, get out there and learn some Beatles!
Well, once again Steve Berryman (steveberryman on twitter) hooks a brother up with some free Ukulele Songbooks. As you might remember, last time Steve pointed us in the direction of London Uke Festival's Songbook. This time it's SIX (count em, six!) ukulele songbooks from the Taunton Ukulele Strummers Club. This fun-loving bunch hails from Somerset (in the UK) and if you want to hear some recordings of them performing some of these choice numbers, then check out the music section of their site.
I've give you the links and brief summary of each of the books.
Book One is 14 pages and it has a wide variety of songs. There are old standards like "Sweet Georgia Brown" and classic favorites like "In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry. There are also some modern tunes by Coldplay and George Michael, so it's a pretty diverse mix.
Book Two is 28 pages of goodness as well. There are some songs from "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?", some Duran Duran, some Donovan, "King of the Road" and even "I wanna be like you" from the Jungle Book.
Book Three is 13 pages and the emphasis is the 60s. So, you've got The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Dusty Springfield and more.
Book Four is a whopping 36 pages of variety. There's some Jack Johnson in here, some Elvis, "Dizzy" by Tommy Roe, Abba, Bananarama and even the Spin Doctors. (Although I could have done without that last one.. heh).
Book Five is 44 freaking pages! That's enough pages to have at least three Bon Jovi songs! There's also some INXS, Madonna and even "500 Miles" by The Proclaimers.
Book Six is just in time for the season. Ukulele Christmas Songs! Classics like "Frosty the Snowman" and "Let it snow" sit right alongside of "Blue Christmas" and "Do they know it's Christmas".
I know what you're thinking. How much will I have to pay for these six songbook collection? $29.99? $39.99? What if I told you that you could have it all for 3 easy payments of nothing? Yup. It's all free. Enjoy!
Alright, so in the last 12 mondays, I've given you 11 original songs. Today is number eleven! I have to admit that when I woke up this morning and remembered that it was #MusicMonday on Twitter, I got a little frightened. I didn't really have an idea of what song I was going to do for you and then suddenly one popped right in my brain. I think this might be my first #MusicMonday original song that was actually written on the day I posted it. So... that's fun, right?
There just aren't enough Xmas drinking songs, either, so maybe I can be the guy that fills that little niche. Also, unlike my other original song posts, I'm actually giving you the chords for this one. Usually I just promise to do it and then promptly forget. So, check out the chords below the video if you are interested. I'm not 100% married to this arrangement yet and it prolly needs another verse, but who has time to polish, right? I'm too busy make the rough outlines of songs.
Santa Claus Needed a Drink
by Ukulele Guy
C&P Ukulele Guy 2009
Am
well I stayed up real late
G
on Christmas Eve this year
Am
I was waiting for Santa
C7 G7
cause I didn't believe that he was real
Am
So it came as a bit of a shock
G
when he walked through my front door
A C G
moaning nobody believes in me no more
G7
yup Santa Claus needed a drink
Am
well who was I to stop him
C7
so we grabbed a bottle of bourbon
G
and we drank til we hit the bottom
G7
so don't be surprised on Christmas day
A9 0102
if your presents don't appear
A C G
see Santa Claus is pretty damn hungover this year
Am
Well I slept in a little late
G
on the morning of the day of Xmas
Am
there were daggers behind my eyes
C7 G7
and I could barely keep down my breakfast
Am
I clutched my head and stumbled around
G
just trying to remain upright
A C G
when I tripped over Santa Claus, I guess he the spent the night
G7
yup Santa Claus needed a drink
Am
well who was I to stop him
C7
so we grabbed a bottle of bourbon
G
and we drank til we hit the bottom
G7
so don't be surprised on Christmas day
A9
if your presents don't appear
A C G
see Santa Claus got pretty freaking hammered this year
Chords:
A 2100
Am 2000
G 0232
G7 0212
C 0003
C7 0001
A0 0102
Hail the Chap! Yup, that banjolele b-boy wizard has once again dipped his pen into ink and wrote some mad rhymes for us. I listened to it about a half dozen times and I still feel like I'm only getting about half of the references. It makes me wish I knew more about the Edwardian Golden Age . It also makes my desire for a Banjolele that much stronger. That thing sounds great!
I've lost track of how many #MusicMonday songs I've given y'all. I think this might be seven? In case you are new to the site, for some reason I promised to release an original ukulele song every Monday, on Twitter. Well... I'm not giving up yet.
I wrote this song in 2005 or 2006 and there was a specific purpose for it. See, my beautiful wife and our baby son were visiting relatives. If you are married and have children, then you know what comes next. That's right, beer and video games. So, I stayed up till the wee hours playing World of Warcraft and enjoying frosty beverages. Well.. I was celebrating so much that I forgot to call my wife on her birthday. Yup, bad news, indeed.
So, in the sober light of morning, I immediately got to work writing this song for her. The concept was supposed to be all the excuses as to why I didn't call her, but the song was so short that I'm not sure you would understand that if I didn't tell you. I kinda jammed it all in there. That's something I often do because of my insanely short attention span. What were we talking about? Oh yeah.. the song.
So, here ya go. This is the song that explained to my wife why she shouldn't file for divorce.
Alright y'all. This here marks the 6th consecutive #MusicMonday on twitter where I'm posting an original song by yours truly. So... if I slip soon, then just remember that, at one time, I did give you 6 in a row!
Heh.. I wrote this song when my first son was born. Whenever I was dressing him I found that I kept making up this goofy song about how to get dressed (and do it wrong). I started with "Put on your shoes... then take off your pants... put your socks on your hands... that's how you do the getting dressed dance". That's pretty much all I had until one night when my wife and I were baby-sitting our goddaugther (who was probably 12-13 at the time) and we decided it'd be run to record a full version of this song.
This is what came out of it. I keep thinking about fleshing it out and/or maybe adding different/more words, but that's not something that I'm known for. I like to make up a song, record it and then move right along.
So, here is that moment in time, captured in mp3 format.
So, exactly one month ago, today, I made a ridiculous promise on Twitter that I'd release an original ukulele song every #MusicMonday. I haven't let you down let (although today it was close, as my chest cold has returned with a vengeance). I had planned to use my new Gorillapod and my FlipVideo to make a cool video and song, but my voice is wrecked today. See.. I've been sick for about a week, but regardless of that, I had to play a show on Halloween with my heavy new wave band. It was our 10th anniversary of our interpretation of the David Bowie Ziggy Stardust record. So, long story short, I feel like hammered crap today.
But.. never fear! I'm not going to break my promise (yet). Here is a ukulele ditty that I recorded for my new born son back in 2004. I had this concept in my head that I wanted to be the Leon Redbone of ukulele or something. You know, bolo ties, mint juleps and whatnot. Anyway, that explains the production on this recording, anyway. I still play this song all the time, it's one of the first songs I wrote on ukulele and I love to play it. Although, I play it maybe too fast these days. I like how jaunty it is in this version.
Alright, it's the third week of my crazy #MusicMonday promise on twitter. I'm not ready to let anyone down, just yet. I wrote this song for a love song project with a friend. Yup, it was for the same project that I mentioned in my, "Original Song: UPS Girl by Ukulele Guy" post. Anyway, we were talking about the concept for the band and I said something like, "It has to be really specific girl's names. You know, something like 'Megan Lannegan, my assistant manager'". So, I had to put my money where my mouth was and make a song titled Megan Lannegan. Here's the first draft.
