Month: July 2011

Video: Brian Eno’s Needles in the Camel’s Eye on 6-string Uke

So, I was so freaking excited after getting my new Oscar Schmidt OU-26T Tenor 6-String ukulele that I was pretty much making up reasons for putting it in a video.  Case in point, last Friday night I went to a get-together at my brother's house.  Beers and ribs were enjoyed by all and then I made my way on home with no definite plans.  Hrm.  What to do?  How bouts a hop on my old friend and enemy, Facebook.  Next thing I knew, it was 4:30am.  You see, here's the thing.  Colin, my brother, does this thing on Facebook that he calls CTV.  Basically, he drinks beer and posts Youtube videos and pretends that a) he's a DJ (which, in reality, he is) and b) that we are listening (well, sometimes we are).  Well, on Friday me posted something like "CTV is about to start!".  So, I thought it would be hilarious if I suddenly "invented" something called STV and if I pretended that I didn't know what CTV was.  Thus began a mighty Youtube DJ Battle on Facebook and my sobriety was the main casualty.

So, anyway, during the back and forth video attacks between CTV and STV, Colin's CTV posted this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AEldiUP408

Wherein I responded and said that I liked that song when it was called Needles in the Camel's Eye.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba7a9pZM6_I

I considered that my checkmate.

So, why am I going on and on about this?  Hmm... good question.  Oh yeah, I remember.  You see when I picked up my new 6-string ukulele and heard those octave A strings (slightly out of tune) it popped Needles in the Camel's Eye right into my brain.  That's all the excuse I needed to make a uke video for it.  And, here it is.

This song is real easy to learn, it only has 4 chords.  Here's a quick tab for it.

Needles in the Camel's Eye - Brian Eno

E         A
Those who know
E                 A
They don't let it show
E                  B
They just give you one long life
D          A
And you go, oh oh, oh oh

Goes to show
How winds blow
The weather's fine
And I feel so so-so, so

Birds of prey
With too much to say
Oh what could be my destiny
Another rainy day

Why ask why?
For by the by and by
All mysteries are just more
Needles in the camel's eye

Those who know
They don't let it show
They just give you one long life
And you go, oh oh, oh oh

Why ask why?
For by the by and by
All mysteries are just more
Needles in the camel's eye

The Oscar Schmidt OU-26T 6-string Tenor Ukulele (huzzah!)

So, yesterday was a damn fine day. Two ukulele events coincided with each other and the stars truly aligned for awesomeness. First, the mailman delivered my set of Orcas Low-G tenor strings (which I was going to use for my Lanikai CK-TEQ tenor ukulele). Next, I scored an Oscar Schmidt OU-26T 6-string tenor ukulele for a meager $45 on Craigslist. The guy who was selling it lives in Polson, MT. That's about an hour away from Missoula (where I reside), for those of you who aren't familiar with Montana geography (for shame!). But, as luck would have it, his wife was traveling to our shopping mall yesterday and he sent the uke down with her.

So, beside the fact that I was going to have to intentionally visit the mall, the day was really looking like it was gonna rule. The lady I was meeting suggested we meet at the coffee shop in the center of the mall. I'm sure she naturally assumed that since I was from Craigslist that I was murdering rapist. Heh. So, I met her and had a look at the 6-string tenor and it was in perfect condition. I played it a little bit (long enough to entertain other coffee shop patrons and not so long as to be tossed out of the mall for busking) and something sounded a little weird about it. It looked to me as if he strung it a little bit weird. But, no matter, still a fine deal.

So, when I got it home I realized what he had done. The A and C strings on the OU-26T are supposed to be double strings. But, they are also supposed to be octaves. Now, he had both strings playing the same note and not octaves. The end result being that the smaller gauge string was really "floppy". I did my best to fix it up and, sadly, snapped the C string. The A strings are a real nice octave, though. I just ordered a new set of Aquila 6-string tenor strings, though, so I'll make more videos when I get it strung up properly.

Anyway, here is a video that shows you how a Low-G tenor ukulele sounds and also how the OU-26T sounds with only 5 strings. 😉

I should probably mention, again, that these Orcas strings are really incredible.  Do yourself a favor and get a set to see what I mean.  And, if you have a tenor ukulele, you should definitely get a set of the Low-G strings.  They sound so full and rich.

The Singing Treholipee (the surfing man’s ukulele)

You know, I've always been looking for one of these, but they don't seem to come up on eBay all that often. The other day I was right in the middle of a project and suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue, I thought "Treholipee!" and instantly ran over to eBay. Sure enough, someone was selling one for a great price (probably because it needs some love). I snapped that baby up and now I'll see if I can restore it a little bit.

If you didn't know about these strange instruments, they were marketed to surfers in the 60s. It came with a strap so you could wear it on your back and it has the huge headstock so you can dig it into the sand and it'll stay put while you are doing all your surfing stuff. Here, check out this video I made about my new one:

If you know anything about these instruments, I'd love to talk to you. And/or if you are a crafty person who might have some ideas as to how I'm going to replace that tuning paddle, I'd love to hear it!