Open D tuning

 Set the Tanglewood up for open D or Vestapol tuning (DADF#AD) and it sounds fab!

 

And then a little bit in DADFAD. Just dropped the F# to an F

Ukulele fun

 Couple of pieces on the concert uke

Bit of blues

 On the 4 string wonder 

Serenade, in blue

 Played on my blue Tanglewood Discovery which for some reason was quite a bit harder than when played on the classical!

Pastorale, redux

 A piece in The Guitarist's Way book, redone, played on strings 1 and 2 rather than trying to play it all on one string. Also played the repeat.

Then I played it on ukulele

After You've Gone

 A song in The Daily Ukulele played on Kalea the Tanglewood concert uke

Sakura

 A Japanese traditional, on my concert ukulele 

2 Strings Dancing

 A little bit of improv on my Tanglewood uke, using the g string as a drone.

Hammerin

 Little fun ditty on the concert uke using hammer ons

Song of the Sea

 Song of the Sea from The Guitarist's Way book 3 

2011 Tanglewood Discovery

Two to Tangle

 Couple of pieces from The Guitarist's Way book 3 played on the Tanglewood.

Easier on the fingers than the Fender Dread.

Greensleeves

 On my Tanglewood concert uke 

Plus the odd mistake 😬

Yrw Wyddfa

 A song from Uke magazine #27 by David John Roche called 'Yr Wyddfa'

2 string boogie, high G

 Same tune, this time on the concert uke with a high G

Chords practice

Practising the progression from Knocking on Heaven's Door - G D and C.

First on the Fender Dread, then on the Tanglewood Super Folk

Need to get the muscle memory in for clean chord changes.

I got the Covid blues

 Just great. First I get a cold and annoying cough, then I test positive.

So the thing to do is self isolate and stay positive! Took myself upstairs with my uke (tuned ADF# B) and a book (Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett)

Trying out vimeo

 I normally upload my videos to YouTube but a while ago I discovered Vimeo, a similar video sharing platform but with the benefit of no ads. 

This is a video of me playing an exercise in Uke magazine  where a finger is added to chords to change the tone colour slightly. 

Edit:the videos on Vimeo are not supported by blogger so I have to upload direct or just use a link.

Adding fingers to chords

Ukulele Picks

 I ordered some ukulele picks from Southern Ukulele Store (SUS) and I thought I'd give them a little demo on my two ukes (Tanglewood concert and Brunswick baritone)

The picks are a Isuzi felt pick, quite thick, a Isuzi Custom which is triangular and transparent, and a SUS branded leather pick. 

First of all, you're gonna have to careful if you put the custom pick down-its quite easy to lose! They should have made it tinted.

Now I've only ever used guitar picks of various sizes, but these are quite different. The felt one took a little getting used to because it is quite thick, but the sound on my concert uke is fantastic. Obviously the sound will be quieter than using fingers but it does create quite a nice tone on that uke, warm, muted, but strumming it fast I can hear all the strings and can still get a decent volume. It doesn't sound so good on the big baritone though. 

Next the Isuzi Custom. Thinner than the felt but a bit thicker than a guitar pick, and quite grippy. Even if playing fast it won't slip out of the fingers. It sounds a bit harsh on the concert but sounds great on the baritone. It would also work well on a guitar I think.

Finally the leather. Now, right from the start I wanted a leather pick. Originally I planned to get a set of Jumping Cow picks which are the same shape as the Isuzi custom, but it was not to be. Instead I opted for SUS's own. And I'm pleasantly surprised. To start with there is a soft side, and a slightly harder side, and to my ears there was a difference in tone between the 2 sides! This pick sounded great on both ukes, being slightly quieter than the Isuzi custom. If I'm playing fast pieces on the concert I might use this one, it has just enough punch without being brash. But if I want to play slow and maybe I want to be quiet I would use the felt pick. It responds well when playing on different positions on the fingerboard. Played well forward of the soundhole it gives a soft almost flutey tone.  It really brings out the tone of the little uke!

Link to Southern Ukulele Store:

https://www.southernukulelestore.co.uk/

Isuzi custom pick:

http://www.isuzi.co.uk/product/isuzi-kup-80-custom-ukulele-pick

Re-string x 2

 The strings on my Fender acoustic were too light, it was affecting tuning, so I decided to get some medium weight strings for it (Martin Monels, 13-56). My partner ordered them for me and as a surprise she got a second set, for my Tanglewood, which has had the same strings since it was bought, back in 2011!

So today I finished stringing them up. Unfortunately I lost one of the Tanglewood's original bridge pins, so I alternated with some black pins I got from Wish.

Boom Chicka Boom strum

 Trying out a strum pattern from one of Phil Doleman 's 2 Minute Tips YouTube videos. You strum with the thumb, then follow up with the the fingernails, bringing the thumb to rest at the top, muting the strings. It gives a nice boom chicka rhythm.