Live ‘Ukulele

Santana has always been a huge inspiration to me, and is one of the few (in my opinion) musical “Shamans”. I have been trying to figure out how he plays with so much feeling for a long time. Oye Como Va is one of Santana’s best songs and it fits onto the ‘ukulele very nicely.

Oye Como Va Tab

Oye Como Va Video

I decided not to tab the solos out, and instead let you figure something out that works. The song is in A Dorian, so when you solo you would use the notes: A B C D E F# G A. If you are clueless when it comes to soloing, read our “Soloing” lesson.

~Hippie Guy

Live ‘Ukulele just passed 100,000 hits yesterday! I guess this whole thing is working out well…

Hopefully everybody gains something new when they visit. Please keep the feedback coming, I like to know what everyone thinks of the site.

Thanks to all of you who have visited over the past months.

~Hippie Guy

Here it is people! The be all end all Super Mario Bros. ‘ukulele tab. I have had Mario riffs spinning in my head for days trying to figure everything out. This tab includes:

• Overworld (main theme)
• Collecting Coins
• Underworld
• Starman
• Water
• 1-Up
• Time Warning
• Bowser’s Castle
• Boss
• Mario’s Death
• Game Over
• Course Clear

Super Mario Bros. Tab

This is not a very technical tab so all you really have to watch is the speed on “Underworld” and “Bowser’s Castle”, just slow it down until you can play it right and then speed it back up slowly.

This is a very basic version based on the original video game music (not from a Youtube video or CD), so there is a lot of room to add things.

There are MIDIs on Video Game Music.com (nice simple site - if you like video game music). The game names are in alphabetical order, just look under “Super Mario Bros.”

Let me know if there is anything missing or if you have anything to add.

~Hippie Guy

I ran accross this on Google today and realised I have never really thought of music that way before.

“Music is an art form consisting of sound and silence” - Wikipedia

~Hippie Guy

I’m going to try somthing new (this could be scary), a Chords of the Week post every Friday. There are a ton of chords out there for the ‘ukulele, so I think I will post  a Major chord, a minor chord, a Dominant chord, an open chord, and one other. I will be pulling these chords out of a hat (not really), so if you have any ideas or have a chord you want to learn, let me know. If you havn’t read it already, navigate to the bottom of the songs page and read about our chord charts. 

Major - CMaj7: 0002

Minor – Em7-5: 0201

Dominant – G#7b9: 2323

Open – Am7: 0057

Other – B+: 4332

I have always been enthralled by Ledward Kaapana’s playing. For those of you who are not familiar with the name (shame!), Ledward is probably the world’s best guitarist and one of the best slack key ‘ukulele players.

I have figured out pieces of the songs he plays on videos over time, but never one all the way through. That led me to create this tab.

You need to play this song with a low-G string on your ‘ukulele.

It is a mix of “Mauna Loa Slack Key”, “L&D Slack Key”, many other Led-like runs, and of course the “charge” vamp at the end. Since this is my own arrangement I uploaded a MIDI file so that you can hear how the song sounds. I hope that somebody finds this fun and helpful, and can figure the song out using just the MIDI and videos.

Ledward Kaapana Tribute Medley Tab

MIDI File

Video of Led playing at the 2003 ‘ukulele fest

Video of Led playing “Mauna Loa Slack Key”

~Hippie Guy

Finding - and playing - with inspiration is one the hardest challenges that I have had to overcome to improve my playing. I’ve found it helpful to have a few ideas that will get me out of a rut. Here are a few of the things I do:

~Play with someone who is better than me, even if they play a different instrument. I watch their fingers, and try to remember at least one thing they do, so I can practice it later.
~I watch a Youtube video of my favorite artist(s). Just seeing how/what they play is enough to give me a few new ideas to practice.
~I listen to as much recorded music as I can (‘ukulele or not), and try to learn one thing from each song. That could be a cool chord change, interval or technique. I try to integrate these things into my playing.
~I try to play in other genres. People who say that “that kind of music sucks dude!” are way too one dimensional, and are missing out on a lot of great music opportunities. Listening to other genres gives me many ideas for my playing; the hard part is figuring out how to use it. Here are some cool genres to check out and my favorite artist(s) in that genre:

Hawaiian: Hui ‘Ohana, Ka’au Crater Boys
Reggae: Bob Marly
Rock: Santana, The Doobie Brothers, Van Halen, Eric Clapton, Los Lonely Boys
R&B: Stevie Wonder
Blues: B.B. King, Buddy Guy
Acoustic: Andy Mckee
Other: Jack Johnson

~I watch (to the dismay of my family) concert videos (again and again) and watch the artist’s fingers. Some of the most inspiring for me to watch are Santana, Jake Shimabukuro, Ledward Kaapana and Bob Brozman, Clapton Crossroads Guitar Fest DVDs, and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

Sometimes a “rut” will seem to last forever and I won’t want to pick up my ‘ukulele for weeks, but I just suck it up and get it out and run the scales or plod through a song. At least when I’m inspired again I will still have a feel for the instrument.

Music is a great healer – the best in my opinion; let it do its job.

~Hippie Guy

This is a cool technique that can make your ‘ukulele sound like it is being played through a wah-wah pedal or some other kind of modulation effect. It is an interesting way to fade out the last chord of a song.

To play the arm-wah hold your ‘ukulele like you would to play a note, with your arm resting on the top-right corner of the sound-box (vice versa for lefties). Your arm should angle out and above the sound-board. Lay your arm on top of the sound-board bringing your arm parrellel to the bridge with your wrist pointing at the ground, then roll it back off. You can do this as many times as you like as long as the note(s) sustain. Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah…

‘Ukulele: Herb Ohta Jr. Signature Line Tenor Koaloha

Strings: Worth Clear Heavy Polymer Low-G

Pickup: Fishman Prefix Pro Onboard

(Effects: Boss DD-6)

Playing Since: age 3 (stopped playing for five years when he was 12)

Albums: Solo: ‘Ukulele Journey (2007), ‘Ukulele Breeze (2005), ‘Ukulele Romance (2003), ‘Ukulele Dream (2001), Pure and Simple (1999), Ka Hanauna Hou (1997) Duo: Step 2: ‘Ukuleles in Paradise 2 w/Daniel Ho (2006), ‘Ukuleles in Paradise w/Daniel Ho (2005), Hana Hou w/Keoki Kahumoku (2005), Treasures of Aloha w/Keoki Kahumoku (2002), Hawaiian from the Heart w/Keoki Kahumoku (2000)

Books: Discovering the ‘Ukulele, Exploring the ‘Ukulele

Herb Ohta Jr. learned his first song on the ‘ukulele from his Grandma when he was three; it was “Happy Birthday”. Herb took lessons from his father Ohta-San up until age 12 when he started to have other interests. He continued playing music through high-school, but played the viola, not the ‘ukulele. Inspired by the Makaha Sons of Ni’ihau at 17, Herb once again became interested in Hawaiian music and the ‘ukulele. Now Herb teaches ‘ukulele 6 days a week, and continues writing and performing his awesome music.

http://herbohtajr.com