Ukulele Guy – Page 9 – All things uke, all the time.

Song: Men at Work’s “Down Under” by Pretty Good Musicians

So, I'm wading through my inbox and trying to get my life back together again after the holidays. So far I have 644 messages to go. That's the bad news. The good news is that I'm halfway done. The better news is that I found an e-mail from Hillary (from Pretty Good Musicians) and it has a working link to their Men at Work rendition.

You remember Pretty Good Musicians, right? What?! You don't? Harumph. Then check out them doing Paula Abdul and Duck Tales, yo.

They also cleared up some 30+ year confusion for me. I never knew what they were saying in the part that sounds like "Chunder". Guess what? It's actually Chunder. To quote Hillary,

You're correct, he does say 'chunder', which is an Aussie saying for vomit. The entire line is 'Where beer does flow and men chunder.' I guess they can't hold their Foster's so well.

Touche Australian. You just got slammed by a ukulele-wielding rad chick.

Anyway, here is their cover of Down Under.

Down Under - A Men at Work cover by Pretty Good Musicians

Sean Kochel Guitars (and Ukuleles!)

I've been meaning to post something about Sean Kochel for quite some time. I'll be honest, the holidays make me incredibly lazy. But now I am, officially, off my ass so here goes.

About 3-4 years ago, I was at the People's Market here in Missoula. The People's Market is sorta like the Farmer's Market (and it happens on the same day) except it's more about crafts and whatnot. Anyway, I was drawn to a little tent that had about a half dozen cigar box guitars. I spent some time talking with the craftsman involved in their creation (Sean Kochel) and I got pretty excited. The fret markets used 22 caliber shell casings and the nut and bridge of the guitar were made with elk bone. I pretty much had to have one and I'm pretty sure I paid less than $100 for it. This was my first cigar box guitar purchase and I was already addicted. That first cigar box guitar had 4 strings and it was tuned to an open G. But, it didn't take much thinking for me to realize that I needed a Cigar Box Ukulele!

So, shortly thereafter I asked Sean to make me a ukulele. It was made from reclaimed barn wood and this one actually used a hand-wound pickup instead of a piezo. Oh wait... maybe I didn't mention that before. The original cigar box guitar I bought from Sean was electric! It sounds pretty rad out of an amp. Here, check out this video:

Well, here it is, several years later and Sean is making all sorts of stuff now. Here's some pictures:

As you can see, Sean isn't just making cigar box guitars or cigar box ukuleles anymore. He's also making Stompboxes and cigar box amplifiers! If you want to learn more then just check out the Kochel Guitars Facebook Page or the Kochel Guitars website.

Tabs: Hot Tamales (They’re Red Hot)

So, there's probably a thousand ways to play this song, but this is the version that I did in my video. I should have posted this yesterday but I got lazy. Thankfully, AnIdleDad called me out on that. So, here ya go.

Hot Tamales (They're Red Hot)
by Robert Johnson
Tabs by: Ukulele Guy (http://ukuleleguy.com)

C   - 0003
C7  - 0001
E7  - 1202
A7  - 0100
D7  - 2223
G7  - 0212
F   - 2010
Fm  - 1013
G   - 77710
G6  - 7777
G+5 - 0332

C     E7                A7
Hot tamales and they're red hot
D7        G7         C
Yeah, she got em for sale
C	   E7               A7
Hot tamales and they're red hot
D7                   G7
Yeah, she got em for sale
        C                 C7
She got two for a nickel, four for a dime
F                         Fm
I would say more but they ain't none of mine
C       E7              A7
Hot tamales and they're red hot
D7        G7         C
Yeah, she got em for sale, I mean
D7        G7        C
Yeah she got em for sale

During the crazy thing at the end I'm doing

D7 G G6 0535
C C7 F Fm C G+5 (throw the ukulele in the air, good luck) C

Video: Hot Tamales with Mahalo Economy Ukulele

Here's the deal. I have 10 ukuleles in my house. I'm starting to feel like one of those weird cat ladys (you know, like from the Simpsons). The plus side of this, though, is that there is always a ukulele when I want one. And, I always want one. The down side of this..... hmmmm... you know, I can't think of a down side right now.

As a result of this abundance of ukuleles. I've been walking around our house with a Mahalo in my hand for weeks. When it's time to give my boys their bath, I'm playing a ukulele. When I'm kicking their dirty clothes down the hall and into the laundry room, I'm playing a ukulele. When I'm reading them a bedtime story.... umm... ok, it probably doesn't help with that part.

Anyway, there are three Mahalos in my house. My wife has a purple economy mahalo, my oldest son Simon has the green and little Gus has the blue. I'm sure there are lots of ukulele experts (i.e. elitists... or snobs) who can tell you why you don't want a Mahalo ukulele. But, I'm not one of those guys. I've always been a bit of a Marxist when it comes to the arts. If you tell people they can't afford the right tools to make their art then you are just trying to take art away from the normal guy. Uncool.

So, let's celebrate the cheap ukulele! Having a cheap ukulele beats having no ukulele any day of the week! Just start playing! Anyway, here's a video of me on Gussy's ukulele.

The aNueNue U-900 Ukuleles are HERE!

You remember these adorable guys?

Well, it looks like aNueNue has released U-900 Ukuleles. Yup, and the one for the bear is even an pineapple uke! These are just starting to trickle in, but we're likely to see more in the coming days and weeks.

Here check out a picture. This is what the U-900 Rabbit Soprano Ukulele looks like:

And as if that weren't adorable enough, check out the case for that uke:

And, of course, the Bear needs his uke to be a pineapple shape, right? Yup. Take a gander:

And here's the case for the Bear:

aNueNue U-900 Bear Pineapple Ukulele Case

So, if you are looking for one of these little beauties, then just check below. This page will update to show you which aNueNue U-900 Ukuleles are available on eBay at all times! Warm up your refresh button! 😉

Oh yeah, and if you have my name for Xmas.... GET ME ONE OF THESE!