With the Sound of Purple! Ken Middleton improvisation - My Bonnie

TURNING A FOLK SONG INTO A JIG

I love what Ken Middleton does. He's a great player. Improvisation and what he calls "noodling" are his specialities, I think, and every now and then he comes up with something that just grabs me. This is one such, turning the old folk song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" into a jig by altering the timing. The hammer-ons and pull-offs are magic.

I noticed Ken's use of triplets here, but didn't notice immediately that he's using the thumb-led triple. I'm used to the fore-finger led triple, but the thumb-led triple isn't tricky, it's just different!

Ken says....

"I wanted to try the well-known Scottish folk tune "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" as a jig. The song is normally played in triple time (3/4), but, after the slow intro, I am playing it in compound duple time (6/8). A jig should have a clear 2 beat feel, with each beat subdivided into 3. Pretty much any tune with a good melodic line can be played as a jig, but folk songs work really well.

The strum I am using is basically a triplet strum: thumb down, pointer up, pointer down. But I don't always play the full triplet. And, I do use other finger and the tune is sometimes played as the triplet, sometimes with just thumb and sometimes with hammer-ons and pull-offs.

I chose to play it in G and often use the 4th string as a melody note."

I do hope you enjoyed that! I've watched it about four times already... one to try and play along with?

Oh - and did you clock that beautiful purple-coloured uke? Custom built for Ken by Rob Collins of Hebden Bridge here in England. It's a deep-bodied uke, 6mm deeper in the body than the normal tenor, for a fuller sound. And the purple colour comes from the wood itself, it's not painted. Purple Heart wood. There you go. For the sound that Ken wanted.

To find out all about this beautiful Purple Heart uke, see Ken's full youtube review... check it out here!

Thanks for dropping in - do call again!

Up the neck - funky strums from the 60's? Try this one!

You'll like this. I know you will. And it'll get you playing up the neck of your uke, if you don't already...

From Coveywood, who introduces himself on Youtube thus.... "Ukulele Teacher, Enthusiast living in the South West of England, I've been a musician for all of my 60 years. Bought my first Uke in my early 20's and have had an unreasonable amount of pleasure from my small family of instruments. The "Best Ukulele Strum in the World" has been a constant companion and finds its way into many of my compositions. It has many different cultures woven into its innocent dancey step and will bring you endless pleasure once you get your head around the strangenesses of the co ordination. I also play in the Pindrop Band with a bunch of wonderful musicians and Singers, all of them good hearts."



See? I said you'd like it!

Thanks for dropping in¬

The triplet strum - Ken Middleton begins a series of tutorial videos

Ken Middleton has been one of my favourite players since I picked up the uke in earnest about eighteen months ago. This is a very hurried post as it's Easter Sunday - things to do, places to go, people to see... but as Ken has just begun a series of tutorial videos on the triplet strum, I have to share, immediately, because this is exciting. And Ken will be doing a workshop on this very subject at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham in June.... and whoopee, I am on that!

In the meantime, observe a master...

Happy Easter, folks - and thanks for dropping in!

Kimo Hussey - lesson on triplets

Morning everybody! I still can't embed videos but here is a grand one I have to share. It's the great Kimo Hussey, giving a lesson on triplets. Formby strummers use a "triple", which is a triplet as taught here by Kimo, followed by by a finger-down strum - it comes out as a "diddley-dum" - rather like a train going over the tracks in the old days. Kimo's triple is just the "diddley"... it's a great lesson, and as a youtube video it's free, which is very nice. Where would some of us be without all these great and generous folks who are willing to teach on the internet for free... hats off to them all!

So, as I can't embed it, (Grrrr) here's a link to Kimo Hussey, giving a lesson on triplets.

I thoroughly recommend this video - after teaching the triplet he uses it to play some jazzy chord progressions and some melodies well-known and not so well-known - including "Love me Tender" (Aura Lee) and a Hawaiian piece.

Enjoy! And thanks for dropping in, this snowy day..... yes, it's snowing here again....

It's Caroline - Leaning on a Lamppost!

I asked my banjolele friend Caroline Robson, whom I met at the last GFS convention, to let me study her version of Leaning on a Lamppost - she's so much better than me, I can't keep up with this... she tells me that the solo doesn't have all the right chords in it, but I think this is pretty darned impressive - and fast! Don't you? I think it'll be a very long time before you see my version! But I'm working on this.....and that Gibson UB2 is lovely.......

Thanks for letting me post this, Caroline! I know it will be enjoyed!

"The Dumber They Come" on Banjo Ukulele - John Bianchi

First thing tomorrow morning, LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) and I are off to the seaside - to Blackpool, to be precise. I don't actually like Blackpool, and we haven't been for years, not since the children were small - so why are we going? We are going to the June meeting of the GFS - the George Formby Society, at the Imperial Hotel, and just like a little kid, I am SO excited!

The strumming skills displayed by John in the little number above, should show you just why I'm packing up my little 1920's Slingerland model 18 and going to join the other banjo-uke nuts for the weekend. Because I want to play like him.

John uses three Formby-type strums in this funny but naughty little song - (this is from 1920; remember - "the past is another country, they do things differently there".....) the split stroke, the fan and the triple. And thumb strums. Please, please, look at John's own blog, "The Ukaholic" read all about the song, the Gibson vintage banjolele he's playing, and be educated in the wonders of the banjo-uke, on earlier posts. It's a great blog and I've learned a helluva lot from it.

I learned a sneaking regard for skilled banjolele players when I was a weekly attendee at the best folk club in the midlands in the late 60's, the Jug O'Punch, in Digbeth, Birmingham. I've already done a post about the chap who used to take the floor from time to time and wow the earnest folkies with George Formby numbers on his banjo ukulele. "A hero who shall remain nameless" - because I can't remember his name. He was just an ordinary Joe who would happily do a spot, and show a hall full of young people who wanted to hear traditional folk and protest songs why George Formby had been such a great star.

Well, John Bianchi of New York, in my humble opinion, is no ordinary Joe. I have to nail my colours to the mast here; I am a fan. Boy, can he play. And he has a good voice. And he knows how to put a song across.

He should be A STAR!

Watch the video again -

I rest my case.

Now if you'll excuse me I have a little case to pack... "With my little ukulele in my hand", Blackpool here I come!