Kala U-Bass (on tour with Paul Simon, even)

So, I got a press release from Kala saying that their U-Bass is currently on tour with Paul Simon.  Well, I guess I could say that more clearly.  The U-Bass is actually being played by Bakithi Kumalo (thankfully, no one has invented the sentient, walking ukulele... yet. When they do, I'm out of a job.).  Bakithi Kumalo is an incredibly musician and you've probably heard his playing before on Paul Simon records (he played on Gracelenad).

Anyway, reading the press release makes me realize that I need to know more about the Kala U-bass.

So, I did a little searching and this is what I've come up with so far.  It's a 20" scale bass guitar and the strings are some sort of fancy polyurethane that is some sort of Kala secret ingredient deal.  What is blowing my mind is that, for it's size, it has incredibly rich and deep tones.  I think if you were listening to it and not looking at it, you'd assume you were listening to an upright bass.  So, I guess it's like the musical instrument equivalent of a Bag of Holding from D&D.  Somehow, it's like a magical vortex that channels extra deep tone?

Here, take a listen to these guys covering "Stand by Me" and tell me that this bass sound isn't exceptional deep.

Anyway, if someone has one of these, tell us more about it! Heck, make a video even, why doncha?

Yamaha GL-1 Guitalele (NEAT!)

So, @RabbitRemix was asking me, on Twitter, how to tune their 6-stringed ukulele.  At first I thought we were talking about a Tiple or maybe one of those Ukes where the A and C strings are doubled in octave or something.  But, no, there weren't any doubled strings.  So, then I started thinking, "Umm.. are we just talking about a small guitar?"  Turns out, we aren't, I'd just never heard of it.

Yamaha's is calling their GL-1 a Guitalele.  And, from what I can see, it's basically like a ukulele (only with a low G, instead of a high G string) and then you add an A and D string on there.  Or, to make it less complicated, take your normal guitar and then pop a capo on the fifth fret.  So, your open D chord (just how you play it on guitar) would actually be a G chord on the Guitalele.

It's funny because when musicians (who aren't familiar with Ukulele) ask me how a Uke is tuned, I always say, "Imagine your guitar, now pop a capo on the fifth fret and pull off your E and A string."  Well, this is like another hybrid of that.

But, all I really know is that I NEED ONE.  I can't find them on Amazon or Musician's Friend right now, but I've listed some eBay auctions below that show some off.

It looks like it has 18 frets and it's built to a 17" scale.  Oh yeah, and it's cute as all hell.

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

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. 😉