Appendix V: Practice summary

Since starting my journey of learning the ukulele, an average of 3 hours practice per week occurred. 23 weeks have passed since the first blog entry was posted totaling 70 hours of practice. Note: this does not include practice for individual blog entries.

Time spent:

95 hours blog

70 hours total practicing

165 hours total

Appendix U: While my guitar gently weeps- part 2

This is the second update to While my guitar gently weeps. Some problems were encountered when learning the section as my ukulele is not concert size. This means there are less frets resulting in not being able to play the high notes and chords. To resolve this problem, I had to find an alternate position for the chord on the fret board.

As you might have heard, there is a little solo from a car outside...

Time spent:

2 hour practicing

2 hour recording and video

1 hour blogging

95 hours total

Appendix T: While my guitar gentle weeps- part 1

This song has been the hardest song attempted so far. It requires many techniques including finger picking, strumming and chords which are difficult to play. Here are the chords used throughout the piece. You can see the extent of chords with all the added 7ths, 9ths and sus 2's.

I decided to practice this song in sections as it is complicated to play. So far I have practiced the first part of the song for around 3 hours over the past week and now feel comfortable to record it and post on here.

Time spent:

3 hour practicing

1 hour recording and video

1 hour blogging

90 hours total

Appendix S: While my guitar gently weeps

Back when I received my ukulele for Christmas, I was searching Youtube to see what videos had been uploaded regarding ukuleles and the types of songs they were used for. I came across someone called Jake Shimabukuro who is a ukulele virtuoso from Hawaii who is most know for his version of 'While my guitar gently weeps' written by George Harrison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

This video has had over 7.5 million views since it was uploaded in 2006- although many of the views were probably from me....

In my opinion, this is one of the hardest songs to learn on the ukulele which is why I have left it until now to attempt to learn it. I feel that I have progressed well enough to do so. As this is also quite a lengthy song, I will practice it page by page and hopefully bring everything together.

I downloaded the music as a PDF from the archives of Uke Hunt. It has 7 pages in total.

Time spent:

1 hours research

3 hour practicing

1 hour blogging

85 hours total

Appendix R: Dog days are over- Florence and the Machine

Here is a little update,

I decided to do a short acoustic version of Dog days are over by Florence and the Machine. There is a slightly difficult part which is played on a harp in the original song but works perfectly well for ukulele. This is it below:

As you can see from the music above, there are three chords which are used throughout the song. These consist of G major, A minor and E minor. The G major chord is played for 4 bar, the A minor for 1 bar and the E minor for 2 bars. This completes a 7 bar measure.

 

Time spent:

1 hours research

1 hour practicing

2 hours recording and video

1 hour blogging

80 hours total

Appendix Q: Trouble by Ray LaMontagne

The next song has been on the agenda for a couple of weeks now but with the majority of my assignments and deadlines looming, I have not had much time.

I did a Google search for the chords and found the website: http://www.allcountrytabs.com/tabs/lamontagne-ray/trouble-14344.html. This was a very useful source complete with chords and structure. As with the previous song, I added some overdubs to make the song more complete. I feel that my ukulele techniques are improving with each upload to this blog.

So here it is as promised, "Trouble" by Ray LaMontagne.

Time spent:

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and video

1 hour blogging

75 hours total

Appendix P: Jolene with Overdubs

Hello again...

Since listening back to my ukulele version of "Jolene" by Ray LaMontagne, I felt that it needed some over dubbing to make the track complete. I spent some time practicing and working out what would complement the track. I also added some reverb to the tracks and a fade out at the end of the song.

So here is the final instalment of Ray LaMontagnes' "jolene" complete with overdubs.

Enjoy...

Time Spent:

1 hour practicing

1 hour recording and video

1 hour blogging

70 hours total

Appendix O: Jolene by Ray LaMontagne

The other night I watched the 2010 film "The Town" which was directed by Ben Affleck. During the end credits, I recognised the voice of the singer which was quite husk. After a little research on the good old internet, I found that the artist was Ray LaMontagne. You may be most familiar which his biggest hit "Trouble". The song that was used during the end credits was called "Jolene" which is off the same 2004 studio album "Trouble".

I found myself really enjoying this song so I decided to do a ukulele version. This took some time as there are no ukulele chords for this song. I had to find the original guitar chords and then transpose them for the ukulele. After a couple of hours of practicing and recording, I ended up with an effective version of "Jolene". I think the reason why it works so well is because it fits with the folk genre of the song.

Here is "Jolene" By Ray LaMontagne....

I am also inclined to do a ukulele version of "Trouble" as that is too, a great song! keep posted....

Time Spent:
1 hour research
2 hours practicing
3 hours recording and creating video
1 hour blogging
67 hours total

Appendix N: Shine On by Eric Bibb

Evening all,

A few days ago, I randomly remembered a song which I heard sometime last year when watching an episode of House staring Hugh Laurie. The song is called "Shine On" by American Blues guitarist Eric Bibb.

A brief look into the beginning of Eric bibbs' career in music:

Eric Bibb was born In New York into a musical family. Eric's father, Leon Bibb, is a trained singer who sang in musical theater and made a name for himself as part of the 1960's New York folk scene. Eric was given his first steel-string guitar aged seven. At 16 years old, Eric's father invited him to play guitar in the house band for his TV talent show "Someone New". Aged 19, Eric left for Paris, where a meeting with guitarist Mickey Baker focused his interest in blues guitar.

Eric's full biography can be found on his website http://www.ericbibb.com/

After a quick search for the chords online, I began practicing. This song contains 3 individual tracks containing the different sections of the song all played by myself.

This is what the audio tracks look like during the recording process.

So here it is, enjoy this feel good song...

Time Spent: 

1 hour research
2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

60 hours total

Appendix M: The Cave

Here it is folks, Mumford and Sons "The Cave" played by me on the ukulele :D

Enjoy....

Time Spent: 

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

54 hours total

Appendix L: The Cave by Mumford and Sons

Mumford and Sons are an English folk rock band which formed in October 2007. Although being in the music industry for a short time, they have been hugely successful. The Cave is one of my favourite songs by the band and I managed to find the chords on Uke Hunt.

This song is in the key of E major which is different to that of the ukulele. In order to play in the same key of the song, the ukulele needs to be tuned down half a step or a semitone.

 These are the chords which are used in the verse

These are the alternate chords for the chorus

This is the score for the introduction

The video will be up in a few days...

Time Spent: 

1 hour research

2 hours practicing

1 hour blogging
49 hours total

Appendix K: Hey Ya! Take two

I'm a big fan of the US comedy series Scrubs. The Blanks are an a capella group who have made many appearances on Scrubs, led by lead singer Sam Lloyd who also plays the lawyer Ted in the hit series. The Blanks recently held a gig at the University of Derby.

http://www.theblankswebsite.com/

In my opinion, the best version of Hey Ya! has been done by The Blanks so I decided to cover it myself. The main difference from the other ukulele version is the chords as it is in a different key. The chords for this version are E major, A major, B major and C# minor.

Hey Ya!

Time Spent: 

1 hour research

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

45 hours total

Appendix J: Uke Hunt

Whist trawling the internet for ukulele related websites, I came across Uke Hunt. This was quite a few months before starting this blog for my Professional Practice module. I stumbled across it not so long ago so I thought it would be a good idea to share this.

 

http://ukulelehunt.com/

Uke Hunt is by far the best online resource for learning the ukulele as it covers all basis of learning from beginners to advanced players. Uke Hunt is not just a learning aid, it is a strong community. I am looking to use Uke Hunt much more as it is full of songs and techniques to help me on the journey of learning the ukulele.

I feel that I am progressing quite quickly so I will be looking to learn some more advance stuff in the foreseeable future. Super Mario Theme maybe..... :D

Time Spent: 

1 hour research

1 hour blogging
39 hours total

Appendix I: Hey Ya!

"Hey Ya" was one of Outkast's most successful songs released back in 2003 and has become a favorite withing the world of ukulele players as it is a simple song. There are only 4 chords  used throughout which are G major, C Major, D major and E minor.

 The suggested strum pattern for this song follows: Down-Down Up- Up Down

Now there are a few twiddly bits in this song which you have to be aware of. Firstly there is a time signature change in the 3rd bar of every phrase. "Hey Ya" has a time signature of 4/4 or common time as this is the most used time signature used in music. 4/4 means there are 4 crotchet beats in a bar.

The third bar of every phrase changes to 2/4 bar which means there are only 2 crotchet beats instead of 4. This bar only requires 2 strums rather than the suggested strum pattern previously explained. This can be seen below.

The second twiddly part of "Hey Ya" is a slightly difficult part which is played during the chorus. Also note the 2/4 bar in the third bar...

And the alternate fingering:

Hey Ya!

Time Spent: 

1 hour research

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

37 hours total

Appendix H: Somwehere Over The Rainbow

After learning some new recording techniques, I decided to re-record Somewhere Over The Rainbow. This time without any vocals so all you can hear is me and my uke! I was able to add a tiny amount of reverb which gave the recording a more ambient feel.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Time Spent: 

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

31 hours total

Appendix G: Moondance by Van Morrison

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to treat myself to a brand new Macbook Pro! After spending most of my life on a PC, I thought it was time to make the switch.

To record my ukulele version of Moondance by Van Morrison, I used the program Garageband which I have not used before. It is a very simple program to use and I found that the built-it microphone was especially good. Once importing the mp3 of Moondance, I was able to line up the two tracks perfectly. In all, this is a great program to easily make recordings.

I also have to admit that Windows Movie Maker is just a load of rubbish so hopefully iMovie will make my videos a little more enjoyable to watch. I might re-make some of my previous videos...

So here is Moondance by Van Morrison, enjoy...

Time Spent: 

1 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging
26 hours total

Appendix F: Moondance by Van Morrison

Another second year module for Popular Music and Music Technology is Session Musicianship. This module allows development of session skills and studio performance techniques through participating in studio recording and performance sessions. Session Musicianship helps to develop sight reading, transcriptions, aural memory, critical listening and improvisation which is necessary for articulation in a modern session environment.

For one of our sessions, we were given Moondance by Van Morrison to practice, develop and perform within a 2 hours. I played my ukulele in this session as I thought it would be perfect for this type of arrangement.

Moondance by Van Morrison:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNsmF9JTpuI

The final result was effective and worked well within the session group.Unfortunately, I was unable to get a recording of our performance but I will soon upload my own recording.

Time Spent: 

2 hours practicing

1 hour blogging

22 hours total

Appendix E: Im Yours/ Somewhere Over the Rainbow

After spending ages recording, I realised that there is no possible way to make a £20 ukulele sound decent through an iPhone microphone! I need some better equipment!

Anywho...I decided to overdub some vocals to try and hide the awful ukulele recording with the I'm Yours/ Somewhere Over the Rainbow medley sung by Straight No Chaser.

For this recording, the same chords are used as for Israel Kamakawiwo'ol's version. These are C Major, E Minor, A Minor and F Major. I will try to re-record Kamakawiwo'ol's in the near future...

I'm Yours/ Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Time Spent: 

2 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

19 hours total

Appendix D: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Watching TV the other day, the new Lynx deoderant advert was aired which featured a version on 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' which i had never heard before:

http://www.youtube.com/thelynxeffect?WT.srch=1

After some research on the internet, I found the song and discovered that is was sung by a Hawiian man called Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. I then found out that Israel Kamakawiwo'ole weighed an astonishing 757 pounds (54.1 stone) which was the cause of his death in 1997, aged only 38. You can find more information about this great Hawiian musician on his website:

http://www.kamakawiwo.net/

After listening to this song a couple of times, I realised that half way through the song, it changes to What a Wonderful World, which are both well know songs for the ukulele.

Chord Shapes

I plan to upload my version of the song over the coming week so watch this space...

 Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

May 1959- July 1997

Time Spent: 

3 hours practicing

2 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging

14 hours total

Appendix C: The Basic Major Chords

After learning how to tune the ukulele, the next important step is to learn the basic chords. This entry will be looking into how each chord should sound and be played.

The chord is one of the main aspects used throughout all genres of music. A chord is a number of notes played simultaneously. In its simplest form, a chord is either major or minor. The basis of a major chord is the 1st note, 3rd note and 5th note of the scale. This is known as a triad e.g. C major is made up of the notes C, E and G which can be seen below:

The following videos show how the basic major chords should sound and be played. The resource which has helped me to learn these chords is: http://www.ukulelesongs.com/uke/ukulele_chords/music/tabs/chords.php

                                                                            C Major    

                                                                   

D Major

E Major

                                                                                                                                 

F Major

G Major

A Major

B Major

Thats it for now...

Time Spent: 

3 hours recording and creating video

2 hour blogging

8 hours total

Appendix B: How To Tune a Ukulele

This is a very brief entry explaining the basics of tuning a ukulele. Tuning a ukulele is very simple, much like that of a guitar. The main difference is that a ukulele has 4 strings instead of the usual 6.

Making sure your instrument is in tune is the first and most important step in learning any instrument. Being in tune makes all the chords sound nice (and correct!) and is especially important when playing in band situations.

The standard tuning for a ukulele is G C E A. The following video will show how to tune a ukulele.

Simply turn your tuning pegs towards you to flatten the note or away from you to sharpen the note...until all 4 notes are at the correct pitch. Once everything is sounding in tune, you are ready to play!

Time Spent: 

1 hours recording and creating video

1 hour blogging
3 hours total

Appendix A: My £20 Ukulele

I am currently studying Popular Music with Music Technology at the University of Derby. This blog is for my Professional Practice module where I am teaching myself to play the ukulele!! The purpose of this blog it to evidence my journey.

A year after recieving a ukulele for Christmas, I have finally decided to pick it up and start taking it seriously. I know I have a long and difficult road ahead of me but hopefully my Grade 8 guitar skills will see me through.

I will begin by learning the basic major and minor chords and notes on the fret board. The main teaching aid I'm using for this is:

http://www.ukulelesongs.com/uke/ukulele_chords/music/tabs/chords.php

Ukulelesongs.com has all possible chords displayed in a clear tablature form which is handy! With my previous musical background, I am looking to progress through the basics quite quickly.

Until then...

Time Spent: 

1 hour blogging

1 hour total