Peter from Easy Music Center, in Hawaii, just sent me an e-mail with a link to a video showing off the pocket ukulele. Seeing how small it actually is in the video is a little bit mind-blowing. Especially when you see it next to the Soprano (which completely dwarfs it). The guy who is playing the pocket ukulele looks like he is struggling a little bit, but I suppose that makes sense. It's probably a bit of an adjustment to get your hands used to that tiny thing [insert your own joke here]. But, at the end of the video, the poket uke player really starts kicking out the jams. Anyway, enough of my yakking. Check it out for yourself.
Category: Ukulele News
Kala Pocket Ukulele (I will kill to get one)
So, I was just doing random Google searches for ukulele (as I always do) and I came across a post on EasyMusicCenter.com talking about Kala giving someone a Pocket Ukulele. Huh? Pocket Ukulele? Do you mean a Soprano Uke? Well, apparently not. Check out this picture of the Kala Pocket Ukulele.
"Dear Kala, How the hell can Ukulele Guy get one of these beauties?" Seriously, I didn't even see them on the Kala website. I would consider punching a nun to get a shot at it, that's how desperate I am. Well.. maybe not a nun, but certainly an old lady dressed in black and white.
If anyone has more information, let me know!
Some more FREE Uke Tabs
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:
- Apache
- Benny Hill Theme
- Blackbird - The Beatles
- Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody
- Mama Mia - Abba
- Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
Alright, now you know what to do, right? Get to work! 😉
Beatles Ukulele Songs (Fun and Easy)
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!
5-year-old Ukulele Wunderkind
So, unless you've been avoiding twitter for the last few weeks, then you've definitely seen at least one video of this little guy. Perez Hilton tweeted about him and suddenly the whole world went apeshit. I think the video that Perez mentioned (I'll be honest here, I don't even know who Perez Hilton is) was the following cover of Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours".
This kid is literally made of charm and cute. Heck, he's like a supernova of cute. Also, considering that he was about 4-5 years old at the time these videos were made, his ukulele skills are incredible! Heck. Even if he was 45 years old, he's still got some mad skills. He hardly ever looks at his hands, it seems like the ukulele is a natural extension of him. So far, I think my favorite video is Ma-i-na-ku-ma-na. Check it out!
As the father of two precocious boys, I thought I'd seen every kind of hamminess that little boys could do. Was I ever wrong! This kid is always on! My favorite is when he "accidentally" slaps his head as the result of a wild strum. Then he repeats the move a few times to squeeze all the laughs possible out of it. Brilliant!
I searched around and I couldn't find much information about this little fella. The youtube videos were posted as uke3453 and there is a little information at the profile for that account:
He is 5 years old now.
He speaks Japanese.He and I started playing ukulele only one year ago.
We first learned the uke by watching a TV program(NHK).
The program lasted three months.Camera : Panasonic GF1
※Our English isn't very good so I'm sorry if the grammar is wrong.
Thank you for all the kind messages and comments!
Hmm.. so, he's 5 years old and he's only been playing uke for a year? And.. he learned by watching TV?! Child Prodigy anyone? If you still don't believe it, check out his version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps: