Live ‘Ukulele: The Blog

I have decided that I have too much on my site about how to play the ukulele. From now on I am going to put more on about my music life.

~ Hippie guy

Today I put new strings on my uke. They are Hilo, standard size, black nylon strings (the dude at the music store told me that those are the best kind. Now its only kind I buy – I should probably shop around). Since the strings stretch, it took a while to get it tuned.
I love how much energy new strings give your uke and yourself. I spent about an hour in my room (more of a closet) going through all my songs. I think my favorite is One love by Hootie and the blowfish.
Hootie is coming to town next month and I really want to go see them, but the tickets are $60, oh well there is always (hopefully cheaper) next time.

Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Facing Future

IZ is the original, need I say more?

4 ½ stars

Best songs:

Hawaii ‘78
Maui Hawaiian Sup’pa Man
Somewhere over the rainbow

Action is the distance between the frets and the strings. A lower action is better for fast solo picking. But if it’s to low the strings can vibrate against fret, making a buzzing sound.

Gootar is an interesting place to find ukulele chords. This site takes some figuring out. (On the right side of the screen, under the fretboard there is a checkbox with “tones” next to it, unclick it, it makes the chords a lot easier to read.

Tuning an 8-string ukulele can be tricky. It took a long time for me to figure it out. It goes like this:

Bottom
1^st / High A
1^st / High A
2^nd / High E
2^nd / High E
3^rd / Mid C
3^rd / High C
4^th / Low G (wound string)
4^th / High G
Top

The low G can sound twangy if you strum really hard or fast.

Ukulele sizes can range from the small Soprano to the almost guitar size Baritone. This is what they are called, small to large:

Soprano (GCEA)
Concert (GCEA)
Tenor (GCEA)
Baritone (EBGD)

Bruddah Kuz
Talkin’ Da Kine

All around this is the best Hawaiian CD I own. One fourth traditional Hawaiian, three fourths hapa hoale (half hoale which means a caucasian person, so half caucasian/English language music).

5 stars

Best songs:

Island music
I love Nanakuli
Waimanalo hang loose

If you like bruddah IZ and would like the tabs for some of his more popular songs like Hawaii 78, Henehene Kou ‘Aka, and White Sandy Beach check out the IZ Songbook Collection. If you just want some of his songs check out Tropical Storm Hawaii.

Brittni Paiva
Hear

It’s awesome to listen to Brittni play, but it’s even better to watch her play (so go to her next concert!). This is about as good as ukulele gets, but there could be more ukulele songs (there is a bunch of slack-key).

5 stars

Best songs:

Inspiration
‘Ukulele Boogie
Lahaina Luna

I need everybody who visits this site to spread the word! Tell anyone you know who plays ukulele about this site. I need your help!

~ Hippie guy