It’s been almost five years since I’ve joined Youtube and I’ve uploaded 68 ‘ukulele videos total.

Out of all those videos, here are the 5 most-viewed Live ‘Ukulele lessons and reviews:

One Love lesson – 41,000 views

Super Mario Bros. Main Theme lesson – 20,100 views (I love how one of my most popular videos features my worst hair-do ever.)

How to Tune Your ‘Ukulele lesson- 10,600 views

Jump lesson – 8,300 views

Roland AC-90 review – 7,800 views

Lately I’ve been learning so much so fast about playing ‘ukulele and music that it seems my brain has only had time to process bullet points. Here are a few that have been flying around my head:

• If you use lots of delay, turn it off when you are strumming. Unless your timing is rock-solid, it’s going to mess with how well you can lay down a rhythm.
• Try not to cover super famous songs that only the original artist can pull off (i.e. Jimi Hendrix, The Stones).
• Lay way back on rhythm when you are jamming with multiple people. Let the current soloist pop out of the mix. Comping too quietly will almost never be a problem.
• The audience wants to feel a connection to the artist. The music is almost secondary if you can sell yourself as a cool person.
• Show up on time! It sucks to be waiting around for your band to show up for a gig.
• Build your business connections. Like the above point, your music will only get you so far if you aren’t hooked up with the right people who can get you gigs, band members, record contracts, etc.

My life has been busy as of late! The Institute of Hawaiian Music is giving me all kinds of great opportunities. Aside from the college classes, there are gigs to be played, songs to be learned and arranged, and concerts to attend!

One of the guys that I’ve met through the IHM program, Axel Menezes (who plays mean ‘ukulele), came back from spring break with an interesting item in tow – an old electric ‘ukulele that he found in the dirt on Kaua’i. It was in pretty rough shape so he took it apart and sanded it down. Some of the stock parts went missing as he worked on cleaning it up, so now all that’s left is the main body, neck, pickguard, and string mount.

After some obscure Google searches I was able to identify the ‘ukulele and get a little bit of info on it. It’s an old Ukulet (or Ukelet) ‘ukulele from the 60s made by the Japanese company Tombo. Modeled after a Fender Strat, the Ukulet came with a case that had an amp built into it.

The original look is pictured on the right (photo from Lardy’s ‘Ukulele Database).

Naturally, we feel a need to restore the Ukulet to its old playing condition! So we’ve taken it upon ourselves to try and figure out how to bring the Tombo back to life.  Here’s the one that Axel found:

There’s a good deal of work that needs to go into it, but it will be a fun project.

Knowledge wanted:

Does anyone know anything about how the bridge on a Tombo ‘ukulele is setup? All that’s left on this ‘ukulele is the string mount and it looks like there is at least one other piece needed to support the string. All the pictures of stock Tombos I’ve found are not detailed enough to see the bridge in. Any information you could give would be appreciated. Feel free to leave a comment

Well, it was bound to happen. The ‘ukulele has hit the iPad and iPhone scene – and I’m not talking about downloading music. Amidio is in the process of developing what they call the Futulele, an ‘ukulele synthesizer for IOS that includes a special guitar shaped case that allows users to ‘play’ the uke. Brilliant? Or messing with perfection? Your call.

Brittni Paiva recently released Living ‘Ukulele, a DVD including live performances, interviews, and ukulele lessons. If you’d like a behind-the-scenes look at Brittni and her music – both on the road and on the Big Island – simply leave a comment on this post to enter to win.

Contest closed

Entries will be accepted through midnight, Hawai‘i Standard Time, on March 10, 2012. I’ll choose a winner at random. Winner will be contacted no later than March 17, 2012.

Open only to residents of the USA.

Full contest rules.