Author: Uke Guy

Video: Kala Pocket Uke Size Comparison

So, while I'm still going to make a longer video showing off the adorable Kala Pocket Ukulele, I wanted to answer your biggest question first.  So, while I could have just told you that it's 16 inches long, it still might be hard to visualize that, right?  Well, hopefully that won't be an issue after this video.  If it is, I don't want to hear about it ;).

Video Notes:

  • In case you were wondering, I rolled a natural 20 with that die.
  • The Rubik's Cube I show you actually has 6 sides (it's a cube, after all) but each face is 4x4.  Sorry for any confusion about 4-sided cubes and whatnot.

Anyway, here is your size comparison video for the pocket ukulele.

Kala’s Pocket Ukulele – How big is it?

So, I got my Kala Pocket Ukulele this morning and I haven't been able to put it down for very long.  It's so freaking fun!  I'm going to make a few videos to show you more about it but I wanted to give you a quick picture to give a sense of scale.  People keep asking me, "Just how small is it?".  Turns out, they were talking about the ukulele.  Hi-yooo!

Anyway, here is a picture of my guitar, baritone ukulele, tenor ukulele, soprano ukulele and the kala pocket ukulele.

More to come soon!

 

Guitar, Baritone Uke, Tenor Uke, Soprano Uke and Kala Pocket Ukulele
Guitar, Baritone Uke, Tenor Uke, Soprano Uke and Kala Pocket Ukulele

Misfits “Halloween” by Volumen (featuring the Eleuke)

So, it happened.  I was able to convince the boys in Volumen to play a Misfits song with me.  I'm not sure why I had my heart set on this particular song, but I did.  As I said yesterday, the audio is pretty blown out, but that's because we are so F-bomb loud.  Also, Volumen Beta (our drummer) is a machine and the camera was sitting right next to him for most of the video.  (Something tells me that I'll have my proximity to Volumen Beta, and his massive beat generation, to thank for significant hearing loss in my right ear.  Heh.)

Anyway, up until yesterday, I've always sort of treated Volumen and Ukulele Guy as two separate (but equally fun) entities.  So, it was really nice to combine the two of them for this video.  The boys were real champs about learning this song real quick.  I mean, we had already practiced for 2+ hours on our original material for an upcoming show, so it's not like they hadn't already filled their rock quota.  Well, quota be damned, I always say... hrm... actually, I've never said that, but I wholeheartedly believe it now.

Just in case you are playing the home game.  Volumen are:

  • Volumen-1, Shane, Guitar/Bass/Vocals (aka Ukulele Guy)
  • Volumen-2, Doug, Guitar/Vocals (not appearing in this video, he was filming)
  • Volumen^2, Bryan, Bass/Guitar/Vocals (my brother)
  • VolumenBkawck, Chris, Keys/Percussion/Vocals (wrestling mask)
  • Volumen Beta, Bob, DRUMS (drums!)

Also, if you want to play along, you should check out UkuleleHunt.com.  Woodshed wrote up some tabs and lyrics that I actually used.  Ukulele Hunt is actually one of my favorite Ukulele sites because it seems like I have similar tastes to Woodshed.  That is to say, I love the songs that he chooses to make tabs of.

Enuff of my gabbin'.  Here's the video.

Yet Another Free Ukulele Songbook! Boosh!

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. 😉

Another Eleuke Demo – This time with extra LOUD

So, as you may or may not know, when I'm not "Ukulele Guy", I play in Volumen.  We are a heavy new wave band from Missoula, MT, and we've been playing weird sonics since 1996.  Well, yesterday was Wednesday and Wednesday=Volumen Practice.  So, I went in a little bit early and brought my Eleuke so that I could make some videos of it through a better amp.

I lucked out because Volumen^2 (my brother) showed up just minutes later with a case of Coors and he agreed to hold the camera for the second half of this video.  Woo hoo!  I didn't really have an idea of what I wanted to play, so I just went for it.  Sadly, my wah wah pedal badly needs a new battery, apparently, so that part is a little bit weak, but you get the general idea right?

After we finished recording this video, we had regular Volumen practice and then I convinced the boys to play "Halloween", by the Misfits, with me on the Eleuke.  We'd never played it before, but we picked it up easily enough.  I'll post that video tomorrow, or maybe later today.  It's a little blown out, because we are so damn loud, but that just makes it punk rock, right?

P.S. Whoever can tell me what I'm playing during the "clean" portion of this video wins extra special bonus Ukulele Guy points.