London Uke Festival Songbook (FREE!)

So, chatting with Steve Berryman (steveberryman on twitter) a few weeks back and he mentioned something about rehearsal with the London Uke Festival.  I'm pretty sure that beer was mentioned as well, so it sounded like a pretty great festival.  Anyway, they have a pretty exhaustive songbook that they are working from and Steve suggested that I ask the festival coordinator if I could share the songbook with all of my uke friends.  Good news!  They said yes!

Make sure you check out the London Uke Festival as well!  I mean, look at this picture!  What a fun festival this must be.

London Ukulele Festival
London Ukulele Festival

Anyhoo, without further ado, check out the London Uke Festival's Songbook!

Book: Jumpin’ Jim’s ’60s Uke-In

This was one of the first Ukulele songbooks I ever bought.  Up until this point I was searching on Youtube and Google and whatnot trying to find guitar tabs and then translating the fingering to learn fun songs.  While that was certainly educational, it was also a bit of a hassle.  So, I decided that I needed a good book and I wanted one with fun songs (especially Tiptoe Through the Tulips, by Tiny Tim).  Then I found Jumpin' Jim's '60s Uke-In: Ukulele Solo (Paperback).

Jumpin Jims 60s Uke-In: Ukulele Solo (Paperback)
Jumpin' Jim's '60s Uke-In: Ukulele Solo (Paperback)

Check out the songs you can learn (from the description on Amazon):

Jumpin' Jim's '60s Uke-In is a collection of 25 fab songs from the 1960s arranged for the very first time for ukulele. It includes lots of big Beatles hits (All My Loving * Eight Days a Week * Here Comes the Sun * Michelle * Penny Lane * Something * When I'm Sixty-Four * Yellow Submarine * and more) as well as other classic '60s tunes, such as: Daydream Believer * Georgy Girl * Happy Together * Moon River * Those Were the Days * and more. Features an appreciation by George Harrison, a foreword by Jumpin' Jim, a chord chart, and a groovy, psychedelic cover.

This thing normally sells for $14.95 (and I find some at Amazon for that price) but then I found it listed for $10.17.  That's a great deal!

Mel Bay Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele

@steveberryman, on Twitter, asked me the following:

any recommendations for uke tabs with some easyish, but nice sounding picking songs?

So, I did a little bit of digging and I think I might have found the best option, for a book anyway.  I've been trying to pick up some different strumming patterns on Youtube, but I've also wanted to find a source for some advanced picking styles as well.  I think I might buy this and then I can give it an in-depth review.

Mel Bay Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele (Paperback)
Mel Bay Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele (Paperback)

There are a total of 7 reviews and 6 of them are the full 5 stars.  The 7th review is 4 stars, so that seems like a pretty decent recommendation in itself.  I own quite a few Mel Bay books for guitar and I've always found them very clear and straightforward, so hopefully that's the case for his Uke books.