Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Jake Shimabukuro || Travels (New Album includes Baritone Ukulele)

"It has been a busy and memorable year for Jake Shimabukuro. He performed with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra in June, played a sold-out show at the Waikiki Aquarium in August and celebrated the release of a new album, 'Travels.'

Jake was quoted saying... "In the past I’ve always used just my one tenor Kamaka ukulele, but on this album I use a baritone ukulele and another vintage tenor Kamaka ukulele, so I’ve been more open to using the various sizes."

Here's the full Honolulu Pulse article by John Berger / Star Advisor

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Sean Clarke || Love Death and Other Ailments



Buy on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/lov...

Recorded 2014, at Curries Music in Gravenhurst, with overdubs in Toronto. Produced by James Bunton (Ohbijou, Evening Hymns, Diamond Rings). Released on "William".

Shawn Clarke - Baritone Ukulele, vocals
Sara Ciantar - Accordion
David Gluck - Upright Bass
Steve Dyte - Trumpet

Seasick Steve || 4 Stringing it!

Mike Turner || You Gotta Choose (Gospel Blues Original)

Monday, October 12, 2015

** Jon ** || Fine & Mellow

Jon has changed YT names so many times that I've decided to give him his own iconic symbol so that I can find him more easily. What a fantastic performer and player... So smooth, so easy...

Berean 315 || Bari-Uke Slack Key

AP Press || Nashville Twang goes to the Big Apple

The Full Article


Sunday, October 11, 2015

Erik Neilson || Ghosts of the Past (Am I Born to Die?)



Tom Faunce writes,

"...The ensemble arrangement of The Ghosts of Johnson City creates a soulful texture. Without a traditional rhythm section, Libby’s banjo playing coupled with Porter’s acoustic guitar strumming and occasional lead breaks create a percussive perspective. Add in Neilson’s baritone ukulele and we have our bass, midrange and treble all equalized in a tempo-keeping pace that generates the heartbeat that otherwise might be lacking without at least a hand drum..."

The Portland Phoenix (full article)

The Website

The Music

RiffStation -- Tom Brosseau || Today Is a Bright New Day

RiffStation -- Today is a Bright New Day

I heard this song on today's Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keillor was off and one of the co-hosts was Aoife ("E-Fay") O'Donovan. She has been posted on HB in the past playing the baritone ukulele on ocassion. I liked this song for the way that the song has little "walks" between the chords. So I thought I would see what I could find.

Riffstation has some potential, as it has guitar, ukulele and piano diagrams. I'll have to ask if a baritone version could be in the works.


Saturday, October 10, 2015

Andrew Morse || Cowboy Waltz

The Burning Hell || Grown-Ups (The Berlin Sessions)

I'm pretty sure that I have posted this video more than once already. I love the sweet combination of the clarinet and baritone ukulele.

The Burning Hell - Grown-Ups
Artist: http://www.wearetheburninghell.com
Location: Humboldthain, Berlin Wedding

The Burning Hell is a music collective that originated in Canada and was founded by history teacher Mathias Kom. The music is a vivid mixture of folk, pop, rap and witty lyrics and basically sounds like madness has graduated from music academy. Live shows, which are performed with the help of many guest musician, should not be missed and end in mayham like art performances in the 70s

Visit our website http://berlinsessions.tv/the-burning-... to read the full story and watch more videos.

If you enjoy our work, subscribe to our channel and tell your friends about us. Follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/berlinsession), Instagram (http://instagram.com/berlinsessions) or like us on Facebook (http://facebook.com/berlinsessions) to stay informed!


Mathias Kom & Alison Corbett || Dinosaurs (Bari & Fiddle)

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Glassofred (Zelda Grey) || The Morning Melody

As an amateur musician I am constantly looking for what gives flavor to a song. Here's a close-up video of Glassofred's fingerings for the bari-uke-geek.

Check out the "album" playlist!

Glassofred (Zelda Grey) || Go for a Walk / Against The Wind

https://www.facebook.com/ZeldaGreyUkulele

http://www.zeldagrey.com/

Go for a Walk



Against the Wind

Lagaringer || Kawaipunahele

Laura has a new Hawaiian tune to share. She sings Hawaiian so beautifully with her bari-uke accompaniment. If you like this be sure to leave a message on her You Tube video. I love to share all things bari and we could use some more island tunes. I haven't come across many lately. I like that she has shown both the Hawaiian and English interpretations.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Using "Easy Guitar" Books to Build Baritone Ukulele Skills

I have a small collection of Easy Guitar books recently acquired from used book stores and the internet. Hal Leonard has produced a large collection of them in various genres. The reason that I like them is that in their "simplification" they tend to be tabbed on the DGBE strings and there are also not just single note melodies but harmonic dyads and 3 or 4 note chords. The books are in both musical notation and tab.

Two books that I think would be appreciated are Beatles collections. Since the melodies are world reknowned it helps the learning curve. Although there are songs that are strictly in guitar tab, and would require some thought to adapt, there are also some that are purely baritone uke ready-to-play. Both books are for the beginner / intermediate players. I found both used at half-priced books.

The Beatles Classic Hits
Bari simple tunes -- Hello, Goodbye, Help!, I Saw Her Standing There, If I Fell, The long and Winding Road, Nowhere Man, Something, We Can Work It Out.

From Liverpool to Abbey Road (Learn to Play Guitar) 
This book has a very bari version of Yesterday, I Will, No Reply, Carry That Weight.

===

Some of the other songs in the books may have notes on the E and A strings of the guitar but since the baritone has D and G strings I may play the E-string notes as a D-string +2. I do something similar moving the A string notes to the G-string. The problematic note for me is to obtain a low C. Sometimes I play the C chord and other times I play the C note DGBE=xx1x.

e  -------------        e  ------------
B -------------        B ------------
G -------------        G -----3--0--
D -------------        D --2--------
A ------1-----
E --0------3--

(The notes are E, A#/Bb, and G)