Franklin Villanueva (who has submitted 4 videos for the Play it forward ukulele video contest so far) just sent me the link to another ukulele related contest / charity event. The Museum of Making Music is raffling off an extremely cool looking custom tenor Compass Rose ukulele. This uke is a collaborative effort by Rick Turner of Renaissance Guitars and artist Mary Fleener. You can purchase as many $2 tickets as you wish, with the winner being chosen on June 14, 2008.

KoAloha ukuleles are one of the most popular Hawaiian made instruments on the market. When I was shopping for my first uke, I kept reading good comments about them, but their looks kept me from actually purchasing one. The pictures that I saw on the web made them look a little boring as they didn’t have any contrasting binding, inlays, etc. Having said that, I don’t really like overly fancy instruments, but I do like my ukuleles to have just a little bit of style. I ended up buying a Ko’olua Pono uke, but kept the KoAloha in the back of my mind because of all the good comments that I had read about them as far as their sound.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m happy to report that the contest is proceeding very well so far. With 14 entries
and 15 days left till the 3 winners are chosen, I’m hoping to see many many more entries before the end date of 3/31/08. I’m getting a lot of enjoyment from your emails and watching the videos, so I thank all of you that have submitted something so far and those of you that will be sending me your entries in the days that follow.

Good luck to everyone!

–julie

Title: Parlour Music - Ragtime & Classical duets for uke and guitar
Artist: John Kavanagh
Year: 2006

Tracks:
1. Temptation Rag (4:41)
2. Sonatine in D minor (2:51)
3. Sonatine in D major (3:18)
4. The Honolulu Cakewalk (3:11)
5. Gnossienne #3 (2:52)
6. Maple Leaf Rag (3:38)
7. Sonata in D - Allegro (3:08)
8. Sonata in D - Adagio (1:24)
9. Sonata in D - Minuetto (1:59)
10. Elite Syncopations (4:18)
11. Narcissus (1:54)
Read the rest of this entry »

There are many ways that a person can tune a ukulele. It can be tuned by ear, tuned to itself using harmonics, tuned using a pitch pipe, tuned using a digital tuner like the Intelli IMT-500 or eNote and even tuned with the help of a PDA or smartphone. That’s right, you can use the same gadget that you carry in your pocket to remind you of your next dentist appointment, for tuning your favorite 4 stringed instrument. Today I want to tell you about three Palm OS applications, but in the coming weeks, we’ll explore Windows Mobile, OS X, Windows and even Web based apps that can also help make your ukulele playing easier and more fun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the entries for the Play it forward video contest to win one of three FLEA ukulele packages.

More info about the contest is located here.

1. Chris Kaiser - Ukulele Chord Progression instruction

2. Arvin Reyes (NukeDOC) - Strap button install video

3. Dominic Pieranunzio (Dominator) - George Harrison’s Something (part 1)
Dominic Pieranunzio (Dominator) - George Harrison’s Something (part 2)
Dominic Pieranunzio (Dominator) - George Harrison’s Something (part 3)
Dominic Pieranunzio (Dominator) - George Harrison’s Something (part 4)

4. Markf3x - Lesson Playing B flat on Ukulele

5. Sam Millette - Lesson of the intro for Whiter Shade of Pale

6. Dave Macapinlac - 3 finger roll ukulele picking technique

7. Franklin Villanueva - Triple strum technique

8. Franklin Villanueva - Rumba strum technique

9. Franklin Villanueva - Muted strum technique

10. Dave Macapinlac - Another Ukulele Roll Technique Tutorial

11. John Hobson - How to add a bit of colour to your uke playing (part 1, part 2)

12. Mike Hayllor - Reggae strum technique

13. Mike Hayllor - Lay Down My Old Guitar

14. Rob Pelletier - Bum-did-ddy strum technique

15. Rob Pelletier - Epiphone Mandobird Conversion (part1, part2)

16. Mary-Ann McTrowe - Changing up a basic uke strum

17. Mary-Ann McTrowe - A simple transposer

18. Lazarus Morrison - More Than This by 10000 Maniacs

19. Philip Fernandez - Ukulele Tutorial - Triplet Rasgueado, Scratch, and Fandango

20. Franklin Villanueva - Play Reggae on the Ukulele

21. David Taitingfong - How to play U Remind Me by Usher

22. Jim D’Ville - Uke Open Strings

23. Ken Middleton - How to play a hymn tune

24. Ray Jacildo - Sweetest Girl ukulele tutorial

25. Charles Winkelmann - LocoRoco Clawhammer Ukulele Tutorial (part1, part2)

26. Ed Whitehead - 7 Steps of Ukulele Improvisation (part1, part2, part3)

27. Kevin Heidel - Joy to the world

28. Ken Middleton - Mississippi Sawyer (Right Hand Technique)

29. Jacob - GCEA vs. ADF#B Tuning

30. Didier - Another Day in Paradise tutorial

31. Ken Middleton - Here Is Love, Vast As The Ocean

32. Ian - How to Instantly Transpose on the Ukulele

33. Ken Middleton - How To Play The Ukulele Music Of Leonard Cohen

34. Ian - 4-Note Chords

35. Ian - Better Barre Chords

36. Lazarus Morrison - How to play Postcards From Italy by Beirut

37. Daniel Letras - How To Play Nantes On Ukulele

38. Fred Mui - Elephant Town tutorial (beware, this one is extremely challenging…)

39. Dave Macapinlac - Better Together by Jack Johnson (Part1, Part2)

40. Michael Madden - Ukulele Lady Lesson

41. Jeremy Uejio - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

42. Dave Macapinlac - Canon in D (Part1, Part2)

43. Rob Pelletier - Kookaburra song on Ukulele

44. Alan Brandt - Ukuleles and Foul Language

45. Mary-Ann McTrowe - Ukulele advice

46. Jongie Osawa - Applied Ukulele Theory (Part1, Part2)

47. Nate Melcher - Improvising Lyrics

48. Steven Wheeler - Introduction to Movable Chords

49. Franklin Villanueva - Learn to play tremolo on the ukulele

50. David Macapinlac - Beatles Yesterday (Part1, Part2, Part3)

51. Franklin Villanueva - Strumming in 3/4 time on ukulele

52. Gary Highley - Moveable Chord Forms for the Ukulele - Major Chords

53. Sebastian Daglinckx - Shaping your nails for the uke

54. Alonna Randall - Ukulele Hawaiian Style

If you want to learn to play the ukulele, but you’re on a tight budget, which brand do you buy? While there are many inexpensive ukes on the market these days, you might spend your money on one, only to find out that it is hard to play or has issues with intonation. Today, I want to tell you about an instrument that has neither one of those problems. It’s the FLEA ukulele from the Magic Fluke Company. Made in the USA and sold through Flea Market Music, the entry level model of this ukulele retails for $169.00. I got mine for a little less through Ukulele4u. Let’s take a closer look…

Read the rest of this entry »

You may have heard the expression Pay it Forward. It comes from a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde that was turned into a movie with the same name and has even evolved into a movement. The main idea is that you do something good for someone and they in turn are asked to do something good for another person and so and so on. I thought I would take that same concept and use it to create a contest to help pay back for all the wonderful ukulele videos that I enjoy every day on YouTube. I thought it would be really cool to have a contest that would not only entertain but help teach other beginning uke enthusiasts like myself. So the Play it forward video contest was born. Read the rest of this entry »

I taught myself to play fingerstyle guitar when I was a teenager. I would sit on my bed for hours at a time with various tablature books that I had purchased from Elderly Instruments. It was a surprise that as soon as I found myself interested in the ukulele, that I began searching for tablature books on the style I like best: fingerstyle. The first book that I was lucky to stumble upon was the Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele by Mark Kailana Nelson.

Read the rest of this entry »

If you have been searching for an affordable solid wood ukulele with a traditional Hawaiian look and sound, you should take a look at a new line of instruments created by luthier Casey Moore of Kelii Ukuleles. The Koa Pili Koko ukes are not made of Koa as their name implies, instead they are constructed from a relative of the Acacia wood family which looks similar to Hawaiian Koa. These instruments are imported from China, but are setup in Hawaii.

Read the rest of this entry »