Chords up the neck - help at hand - from Aaron Keim!

It's so often said that one of the reasons the ukulele has become so popular in recent years is that it's so easy to learn to play. And that's true.... at least, it's easy to learn some basic chords and get strumming quickly. But if you want to play more challenging music that demands a little more skill, you need to establish just what those skills are and start getting them under your belt.

One of the skills necessary to start learning chord melodies, for example, is knowing alternative fingerings up the neck for those basic chords. I've been well aware of this fact for ages, but the truth is that when faced with pages of alternative fingerings for lots of chords, it's easy to lose your way among them, and end up learning nothing at all. BUT - I have discovered a great web page, while browsing the new(ish) website of one of the best American players around, Aaron Keim, "The Quiet American". I featured Aaron a couple of times in July of 2012 - you can find the posts if you look across to the blog archive on the right there......

You can browse Aaron Keim's website and watch his youtube videos at leisure, but what I want to share with you today is the fact that on his website, Aaron has a kindly put up a download page with links to tabs AND..... chords up the neck.

The difference between Aaron's page and others I've seen is that on his page, Aaron limits the chords up the neck to just a handful of the most basic ones, e.g. C, C7, F, F7, G and G7. Just enough to have them printed off in front of you and sit and learn them. Learning a load of alternative chord fingerings up the neck of the uke is rather like eating an elephant - but how to eat an elephant? Easy - on bite at a time! Which is exactly what Aaron Keim gives us here!

There's also a link to a page of "magic moveable shapes" - check it out! And you know, it's great to be given all this help and information completely free - but Aaron does invite us to drop him a donation if the free tabs and worksheets are useful. Fair do's, I reckon ... and actually, you'll find that you can buy Aaron's ukulele songbooks from his website, too.

Lovely stuff... thanks Aaron...

And thanks to you for dropping in!

Guaranteed to cheer a blue day, and raise a big smile! John Bianchi's a Bad, Bad Man....

You know, I feature John Bianchi a lot on my blog, simply because he is just an ace performer - and although I posted one of his videos only very recently, I make no apologies for posting this one today. I was having a very blue day the other day, and watched this - and was soon beaming from ear to ear. And I just had to watch it again, for another dose of the smile medicine! It's such a fun song....

John writes - "Here's a tune also commonly known as "I'm a Bad, Bad Man". Played by Cliff Edwards in the 1942 Tim Holt western "Bandit Ranger", the tune was written by cowboy guitarist Ray Whitely and Fred Rose. This was recorded this morning during alternate side of the street parking - where we were forced to move the car thanks to yet another movie shoot, this time for Law & Order SVU. If the Mayor's Office of Film and Television reads this: please make these and others shoot in another neighborhood for a change. Three film shoots in one week is TOO DAMN MANY!"

I think that's a vintage Martin soprano he's strumming so well there......

Ever heard a Uke In Bloom? Listen to this by George Elmes

George Elmes is such a talented young man.... I've featured his videos on here before.... (see the label cloud at the bottom)..... and like Peter Moss, he's going to be a guest artist at the uke festival in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin in a couple of weeks.... it's the Ukulelehooley....

In this piece, George's aNueNue soprano uke does just seem to burst into a thousand blooms - what a great title for this lovely piece! He's done the tab for it, too......

Nice one, George! Really nice.....

Update - you can download the tab for "Uke in Bloom" from George's web page here.....

Peter Moss ukulele solo - medley on Pete Howlett tenor

I've posted before about Peter Moss and his return to the wooden uke, and about the beautiful custom tenor uke that Pete Howlett built for him - well, here it is, played to perfection.... tuned to Bb.

Peter writes "I've had fun with this Pete Howlett Tenor Ukulele in the last 2 months or so. One night I dropped on "Feelings" and on consecutive nights, the other classic tunes fell into place. I hope who ever listens to this recognizes what a wonderful instrument this is and for me, an absolute joy to play. Thank you Mr H."

How can we not, Peter; how can we not - simply sublime.

So - about that ukulele itch for an electro-acoustic.... what happened next?

Yes, I was telling the tale of my latest ukulele itch the other day. The post was 22nd July if you want to look it up.... but the itch was for an electro-acoustic... and as I was feeling really low one morning, (not about ukes....!) LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) had gone out early and bought me one as a surprise, to cheer me up. And it did. I burst into tears.

Later that day, when we'd arrived at our away-break in another town, I'd seen a very interesting little uke in a shop window.

So, to continue the tale.... it was evening, we'd been walking; the shop was closed, barred and dark, but I could see this pale little soprano uke hanging on the wall, tantalisingly close to the window - the only ukulele among racks and racks of vintage guitars. It looked like spruce, and I could see the hole for an electric lead.... "We'll pop in there in the morning, and you can have a look!" he murmured... we did.

I asked to see the uke.

Nice, I mean really nice-looking - spruce top, maple back and sides, gloss finish, binding, friction tuners - oh yes, I liked it... and it was electric. Passive pick-up... on the headstock, "Clearwater". Here they are on Amazon... purrty, ain't they!

Well - a used uke - at a fair price. Rather less money than LSH had paid for a brand new Lani electro-acoustic. I did like it, dear readers, I really did - especially when I plugged it in to an amp. And I liked the sound... but of course, I'd only been given a brand new electro-acoustic concert by my darling husband the day before. And you know, like most partners who don't play, he doesn't really "get it", the idea of owning more than one uke - and with the one he's just bought me, I'd got five wooden ukes. So I put it down and bought a little second-hand practice 5 watt amp, and a lead so that I could plug my own new uke in when I got home.

We left the shop with the amplifier and lead, and had a lovely day - went to the sea at Skegness, drove up the coast - sunny skies, pretty Lincolnshire scenery; lovely, lovely day. We even lay on the beach for a while... and the next afternoon we went home.

The day after that, I'm noodling around on my new uke for the first time... and noticed a fault on the top, near the edge... two shiny marks the size of a large coin on the matt spruce surface. The marks would not come off. Not impressed. Glue? Probably. But perhaps it would come off with a bit of appropriate attention, I thought. Next thing, checking the tuning carefully - usual drill; tune with the tuner, then check the G, C and E strings against the A by fretting at the second , ninth and fifth frets... uh-uh, something wrong - teh G string particularly was very sharp at the second fret. I checked the intonation, all up the neck, with the tuner, comparing the accuracy against my other ukes. It was unacceptably out. That's poor for a mid-range brand new uke. I knew I'd never be happy with it, never want to play it... and my heart sank. It was such a lovely, thoughtful gift from my husband, who just wanted to see me happy. I had to tell him that it would have to go back to the shop...

And back it went, full refund given. Back at home, Long-Suffering-Husband suggested that I give Old Hat Guitars a call, and buy the Clearwater. I got straight on to them... and waited for an hour, heart in mouth, for the chap to call me back, as he couldn't find it.... and guess what? You've got it - it had been sold the day before. Just my luck - I was gutted. Really gutted.

So there it rests, I now have an amp and a lead, but no electric uke! I had one as a gift from my husband, which turned out to be faulty, and another nice one has simply slipped through my fingers.

Perhaps I won't get one now. It's all gone a bit sour, and the itch has gone away.

If it doesn't come back, the amp will go.

And that red lead - I didn't know it was red until I opened the package. It was that sort of day.... red lead - yuk.

Shame. (Sigh)

John Bianchi is Blue Turning Grey Over You.... on Ohana Vita-uke

Here's one of my very favourite uke songsters braving the sweltering temperatures of Manhattan to sing and play in his car and avoid getting a parking ticket - at least I think that's what it's all about! And this is how good an Ohana CKP-70 Vita-uke sounds when played by someone of John's calibre... the tune is an 1929 Fats Waller number, lyrics by Andy Razaf.

John Bianchi does these old 20's and 30's songs so well, so effortlessly - his sound is so right, I could listen to this stuff all day! If you like it too, why not subscribe to John's Youtube channel! Just watch the video on Youtube, sign in and click "subscribe"....

And look out at the end of this one for Peter Bogdanovich walking onto a location shoot for his movie, filming outside John's house!

Psst, by the way - playing like this is far from effortless of course - it takes time, commitment, and practice, practice, practice.... and there's no better way of enjoying yourself with all your clothes on. Apart from going to a good uke festival that is! So I'm off to practise my uke some more.... now where's that practice file gone..... :D

Looking for a uke-fest to go to? How about this one - Ukulele Hooley in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin....

The Emerald Isle is calling to me... Yes, if you can get to Dun Laoghaire, just a few miles south of Dublin, this uke festival, Ukulele Hooley looks like another corker, not to be missed... 24th and 25th August... except that I have to miss it! I wish I could go! I've just looked at the line-up of artists... Peter Moss and George Elmes I have featured on here before - just go to the tag cloud at the bottom. Ukulele Uff and Lonesome Dave are also fantastic - saw them in Cheltenham. Janet Klein and Ian Whitcomb (read about him and his book here) are familiar names to me, and I know that Ken Middleton will be there also with Ohana Ukuleles. Lots of other promising-looking acts too, (sigh....)

Ah me.

Can't go.

Shucks....

George Formby Society - a major Ukafrolic at Morecambe Winter Gardens! July 2013

"George Formby Society Convention

Saturday 27th July – all day event

Following the success of last year’s convention, Formby followers are back in full force for their latest fan convention at the Morecambe Winter Gardens! George Formby, one of Britain’s biggest stars of the 1930s and 1940s, famously performed at the Winter Gardens theatre, switched on the Morecambe Illuminations in 1950 and even judged the Miss Great Britain beauty contest at the Morecambe Super Swimming Stadium!"

So reads the Events page on the Morecambe Winter Gardens website. Such a beautiful old theatre, closed to the public since 1977, hugely in need of restoration... it had been arranged that the society would hold a one-day convention there, free to all, just for the fun of using a lovely old theatre that George had played in, of standing on the same stage, on the spot that he had stood on... we, the Formby faithful are used to going to conventions in Blackpool up to four times a year, and we wondered how well this one-off jaunt rather further up the coast would be supported, but no worries, there was a good crowd, and quite a few folk came in off the street as well, to see what it was all about.

Morecambe was a thriving seaside resort in the mid-20th century. It had three piers, several large theatres, and was once very popular... but I remembered it from the 80's, when we vowed we'd never return - an English seaside town that the world seemed to have turned its back on, sad and shabby in the extreme... (the piers all went ages ago.) So we had no high hopes of Morecambe itself when we set off to fight our way up the M6 motorway, notoriously busy on Fridays.

But we needn't have worried, the place looks so different now! We found the promenade a pretty and fun place to be, with new gardens, an iconic statue of Morecambe's most famous son Eric Morecambe, of the comedy duo Morecambe and Wise, and at the end, the fabulous art deco Midland Hotel, restored to glory in recent years. And the weather, too, was glorious - the sea was in, and people were bathing and swimming in it! Glory be indeed...

The first thing we had done after checking in at our hotel on Friday was to find the Winter Gardens, just yards up the street on the promenade.

Some key GFS members were already there, checking the place out and preparing for Saturday.

MY brain reeled as I took in first impressions looking around this large, once beautiful old theatre. The walls are stripped back to bare brick, the floor is bare, there are free-standing chairs in the stalls, where once there would have been fixed plush seating - and not all of them had been put out yet. At the same time, the ornate plasterwork on the ceiling and all around the circle appears virtually intact though sorely in need of new paint, and the imagination leaps to how it must have been back in the day; sumptuous, a veritable wonder-palace of entertainment. You think, all at once, how sad, but how wonderful that major efforts are being made to gradually bring it back to its former glory.

To see it, Look here for a smashing little video showing the interior, and all about the restoration work. I fell in love with the place immediately. And stunning professional photos here - you just have to look!
The photo above, (thanks Peter Pollard) shows Alan Kershaw on stage while Alan Chenery looks to his sound system... the anticipation grows!

A gorgeous day ended with a gorgeous sunset to rival anything Key West has to offer...an evening drinking good beer with good Formby friends, and we were all set for Saturday's fun.

Getting ready for the first concert....

The banner's out ready - and folk are coming in...

The lads are in town! Always great to see these talented youngsters!

Peter Pollard and Andy Poppleton - a great partnership...

I'd had no intention of going on stage - but Peter Pollard was having none of it - "You must - they need people to get up there...." so Caroline and I decide to give 'em Lili Marlene again. Quick practice outside - shame we live a few hundred miles apart! What a lovely stage to perform on... Laurel and Hardy, George Formby, Vera Lynn, Sir Lawrence Olivier (in the the film The Entertainer) - the Rolling Stones! And me. What a privilege - what a nerve!

You know, I started this blog just over a year ago to share my ukulele journey, and I have had such fun, made such good friends. I still feel as if I have no business to be performing on stage, and a little more comfortable as part of a duo or group - but it was a blast. I hadn't sung this since the first time we did it, back in March in Blackpool, and we can only run it through a couple of times anyway... but I sang the first verse in German, and Caroline winged it with some harmony. I think we got away with it. And the thrash - you know, where everyone gets up to play together... that was just tremendous on that stage at the Winter Gardens...

This was the afternoon concert. In the evening would come the best, some up for the first time that day, like the wonderful Matthew Richards, some giving us a second helping - Alan Yates, Lewis Clifton, Peter Pollard, and many other super performers too numerous to mention - and Caroline Stewart (was Robson) playing my lovely Kiwaya KTS-4 wooden uke, with "I'll See You in My Dreams" - simply tremendous. I'm so jealous. Wish I had her lovely voice.... but before that, we all piled out, down the road for a photo with Eric - the great late lamented Eric Morecambe - who once famously said, as he did a sketch with Andre Previn - "I'm playing all the right notes - but not necessarily in the right order!"

Fabulous!

Thanks again to Peter Pollard for three of these lovely pics, and to LSH, my darling Long-Suffering-Husband for the rest...

This has been a longer post than usual and it's time I went and did something else... thanks for dropping in to share my uke journey!

Formby-style ukers... one-day convention in Morecambe, 27th July - oops, that's tomorrow!

Yes dear readers, you may be aware that the George Formby Society holds a weekend convention in Blackpool four times a year, but tomorrow there will be a one-off one-day convention a little further up the north-west coast of England in Morecambe - at the beautiful old Winter Gardens... read all about it here...

I'll be going, with my lovely 1920's Gibson UB2! Will you? I won't be taking to the stage but I'll be joining in enthusiastically with the "thrash"... You don't need a banjo-uke though - just go! Free entry to this one! And discover what all the fuss is about....

Sarah Maisel - Dream a Little Dream of Me

Well, I've just posted how I didn't get to see Sarah Maisel at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain last month - she went down a storm - LSH said she was really good! A stern critic... but here she is at Cairns, Australia - that gal's getting around! Great rendition of a great song. I've just learned this... rather simpler arrangement than this though... must get up that neck...

Sarah Maisel - Dream a Little Dream of Me .....enjoy!

Cheltenham uke festival? I told you it was good!

Yes, I told you the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain was fantastic - and I still haven't finished giving you the details, have I...shame on me - but one of the great artists that I MISSED - because I was in one of James Hill's jazz workshops when she was on - was Sarah Maisel with her jazz set. Although I missed her, I did hear the rousing applause she got during and at the end of her set .... James actually had to pause his teaching until the applause died down! I remember it well... anyway, today I came across Sarah's own write-up about it all - from beginning to end. It's a great write-up, detailed and full of joy and enthusiasm - I tell you, the atmosphere throughout was tremendous.... you can read all about it on her blog, here, and do look at her photos, too - some great pics on there!

Sarah Maisel - Ukulele Festival of Great Britain 2013

Ukulele itch? You just have to scratch it - .

A ukulele itch usually takes the form of an intense urge to explore some hitherto unexplored area of ukulele playing - a different size of instrument, a different wood, a new or highly acclaimed make or uke builder. When it comes to wooden ukes I have been very restrained - I haven't bought one for exactly a year. I've bought banjo-ukes, but that's another matter! No, the last wooden uke I bought was a soprano, and I went for a Kiwaya KTS-4. It's Japanese, beautifully made and I love it; a Martin style O copy, it stands well against similar instruments. It gets equal play time with my concert uke, a Tanglewood laminate with a beautiful tone - and both are strung with Ken Middleton's Living Water 100% fluorocarbon strings. Simply beautiful, a bell-like chiming sound....

But - there's this itch now.... to explore electro-acoustic. And I was wondering whether my preference for concert and soprano sized ukes over the tenor still stands. So, a few weeks ago now, I phoned Mike, the ukulele friendly bloke at my favourite music shop to find out what electro-acoustics they had in stock? A Luna tenor and a Lani concert. And along I went to have a play. They know me up there - and they don't mind me strumming and picking away for an hour... I've bought four ukes in the last twelve months from them already, including a very nice vintage banjo-uke and a gift for a friend...

Well, eventually I was decided, about the tenor versus concert thing anyway... and I'm still more comfortable with the concert size. There isn't actually that much difference in the fret distances, but I found that I do still prefer a concert or soprano uke.

I told LSH.

A couple of days late, I was badly in need of cheering up. Now, my wonderful husband is not generally in favour of me increasing my little family of ukuleles - he just doesn't get it... they don't, do they? But he disappeared "to get petrol" and returned with the concert electro-acoustic he knew I'd been trying out in the shop. Well... I was overwhelmed, of course - what a lovely surprise, what a kind and thoughtful gift. The tears fell. And off we went for a couple of days away in the Lincolnshire countryside.

We stayed in Horncastle, an historic little town renowned as a centre for antique shops. Wandering around exploring on the first evening, we happened across a shop, the windows all barred - I peered inside - vintage guitars - everywhere. In rows, on the walls - and just in view of the window, one ukulele, a soprano. It had a fitting for an amp lead... an electro-acoustic uke! More than that I couldn't tell - but it looked like a spruce top. It looked interesting - very interesting.

Want to know what happened? I'll tell you... later... I promise!

Nailed a few targets ... feels rather nice.....

Been practising... using my practice file... and I have managed to learn some of the things I listed a couple of months ago, so I can play them without a sheet in front of me. It feels good to have nailed a few targets - for example:-

Ukulelezaza's tab for the chord melody version of Mr Sandman,
Twilight Time,
Til There Was You,
Dream a Little Dream of Me,
Whispering

and - C6 C#dim Dm7 G7 up the neck. (see post 21st January, 2013 for the tuition video by Marcy)

Time to look at a few new targets!

I haven't posted here for a week or two - life has been pretty hectic and I wanted to work hard on learning some pieces. I must say, though, I do appreciate you looking in, and I look forward to comments, though I can't promise to publish every single one, especially if there are links to stuff that doesn't really fit in my blog. And I've been feeling a bit subdued - you know how life is just like that sometimes? Sure you do... and LSH (Long-Suffering-Husband) and I have been out and about quite a bit lately; short breaks, taking advantage of the nice weather to see a bit more of the country... but I have had a strum almost every day, a little one or a long one, it's fine as long as long as I can play a uke for a while.

I mean to do another post on the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, held in Cheltenham last month. It's just a while coming, sorry! As I say, a I'm bit subdued and lacking in the necessary oooomph. Life can't be rosy all the time. And sometimes it's distinctly a darker colour altogether. Time for a cup of tea and a strum - in the summerhouse..... yes...... see you again soon, I promise!

UFGB 2013, so what was best, then?

The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, June 2013, Cheltenham.... reigns as one of the best Ukafrolics of all so far, and likely to remain up there for some time, methinks... because it was simply FABULOUS.

It all started with the Friday evening welcome and get-together at the Exmouth Arms... this was the first big ukulele festival I had been to, and didn't know quite what to expect... I had thought this part of the proceedings would be in a big room... it would have to have been a very big room, if everyone turned up..... but no, as we reached the pub, having walked half-way across Cheltenham to find it, the fun was already starting to take place, outside in the beer garden and under a marquee. We were very early. But many were there before us.


The first person I spotted was Barry Maz, of Got a Ukulele blog, with his little party of N'Ukers... strategically well-placed opposite the entrance, so as not to miss anyone coming in... clever, that... we hadn't met before, but were great pals in no time. One by one, other familiar faces and ukey pals were spotted. Ale bought, seats found, tee-shirt purchased... and already, little groups were strumming and singing. What to do, but to get up and join in. I had only taken one uke, my Kiwaya soprano, but a lot of people had several ukes with them, including banjoleles. There were ukes and people everywhere, everywhere the sound of strumming, and soon there were no seats left... a few more songs from the Big Busk Songbook..... a blues jam with Barry and the N'Ukes....



They said James Hill would be there... and eventually I spotted him - a ukulele hero indeed - if you've been asleep up a corner somewhere, just look on YouTube for his version of Billie-Jean, and be amazed.... I was introduced to him... oh, my.... I told him how I'd booked tickets and a place on one of his workshops the minute they'd gone on sale in November - he is SO nice, so pleasant and unassuming. I was hugely impressed. I'd have loved to have taken a photo but it seemed so.... crass. So I didn't. I should have - he would not have minded, I know.... but my evening was made, I had met my idol, and many more lovely people besides.

The longest day of the year, and the weather had kept a friendly countenance for us but eventually the dusk began to fall and so did the temperature... it had been a long day, we had a fair walk to do back to our hotel, and the Saturday promised to be simply magnificent. It was. I still smile just to remember it..... I'll tell you all about it next time. Don't go too far, now!

Was this Ukulele Heaven? Ukulele Festival of Great Britain 2013, Cheltenham

The answer has to be..... yes.... oh most certainly it was..... I've just got back, although the fun continues today.... I have to be out again in ten minutes, leaving on a four day girlie break with my oldest friends.... but it will be with my head full of the fun and sounds of the last couple of days.

I can tell you - for a run down, get over to Got a Ukulele blog..... Barry Maz (lovely bloke) is not steam-driven like me, and seems to have kept up blog-wise with the fun. (And LSH and I can actually be seen on his first photo, from Friday night at the Exmouth Arms.... I'm just strumming along with the song of the moment. LSH enjoying the general ambience....)

I'll post some pics and share my thoughts..... next week. Sorry. My poor Long-Suffering Husband is poised this minute to take me to join my mates, who started their holiday this morning - while I was uke-busking in Cheltenham with 340 other joyful souls......

For now - the people - fab.

Workshops - bang on the nail....

Uke stalls, with ukuleles hand-built - fab.

Concert - out of this world....

I'll catch you later.

Johnny Foodstamp does Formby Nashville style at the George Formby Society Convention, Blackpool June 2013

Well - the GFS has surely never seen "Formby" done quite like this! Johnny Foodstamp and his lovely young wife made the trip over from Nashville, Tennessee on Saturday especially to attend the George Formby Society Convention. They flew in at 8.30 am and brought the Nashville sunshine with them. They saw Blackpool under blue skies with a blue sea, with people enjoying the beach, just as Blackpool should be.

In spite of the overnight flight and the jet-lag, Johnny was up for making the most of every minute with the Formby fans and star players, and he did.... the fun went on for those with strong enough constitutions well into the early hours! Johnny was made as welcome as the lovely weather he'd brought with him. The above performance of the George Formby numbers "She's Got Two of Everything" and "Under The Blasted Oak" was on the Saturday afternoon concert. Suited and booted for the occasion, you would never have known that he'd been travelling all night without a wink of sleep! Thanks to Pauline Aitken for the video! On Sunday, Johnny gave us "The Dumber They Come, the Better I Like 'Em", a deliciously un-PC Eddie Kantor number from the 1920's. John Bianchi did a lovely Youtube of this song last year... (see blogpost here 7th June 2012) and I'm sure Johnny Foodstamp's version from Sunday will be video'd and up for viewing soon.

And as for the June convention in general ... I can only say that it was one of the very best. I could never have hoped to see so many of my named ukulele heroes on one stage all in one day... just listen to who was there!

Johnny Foodstamp all the way from Nashville as I've said; Matthew J Richards, Mike Warren, Alan Yates, George Elmes was over from Ireland and gave us Limehouse Blues and lovely renditions of some of his short original pieces for soprano uke, Andy Eastwood managed to make the convention on both days even though he's very busy on the professional stage, and even.... wait for it... Ken Middleton. Yes, that's right, Ken Middleton, who came along to see what all the fuss is really about. He gave us a beautiful performance on stage of "I'll Fly Away" and "Try a Little Tenderness", jammed outside in the sunshine with George Elmes, and left with an inkling of what the GFS is all about, even if we didn't exactly manage to make a Formby fan of him! So glad you made it, Ken, and it was lovely to meet you in person at last!

Unfortunately, Ken had to leave before the 9.00 pm Sunday concert, and missed some highlights which I know he would have enjoyed... particularly Andy Eastwood playing Chopin on his soprano wooden uke. Absolutely breathtaking. Add Alan Yates on solo electric guitar with "Apache"; "I'll See You in My Dreams" beautifully performed and sung by Caroline Robson ... once more at the GFS I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Add in all the lovely performances by the wonderfully skilled split-strokers young and old, and the all-inclusive and well-named "thrash"... you know, there are just a few who just "don't get it"... but I get it... and I just love it.

More later. Thanks for dropping by... I have to go and massage my face. I've got face-ache because I still haven't stopped smiling....

John Bianchi, with "I'll Follow You" ...

Here's my very favourite uke player and singer, John Bianchi of New York... I could watch his videos all day long! Lovely playing, and what a voice.... that voice is reminiscent of Al Bowlly... you'd have to be in your 80's or 90's to actually remember Al Bowlly; he was a very popular singer during the 30's and 40's - killed by a land mine during the war. But he was my Mum's favourite singer, and when I heard his voice singing those lovely old songs, he became one of mine. And John Bianchi has that rare Al Bowlly sound, without a doubt!

This is what he says about this, his latest video...

"Here's my take on 1932's song "I'll Follow You", by Fred Alhert and Roy Turk. The song was recorded by Bing Crosby that year and was also a hit for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. The lyrics, outside the context of the lovely melody, read like a stalker's manifesto. Still, I have always liked the tune.

Recorded in the car this morning on an alternate side of the street parking day and played on my 1960s Martin 0. It was a hairy parking day - moments before I shot this, a guy stole a space two cars in front of me and caused utter havoc; it pays not to get upset on mornings like these..."


And that's surely a cool delivery of that lovely song. Drooltastic.....

To see the other videos of John's that I have posted on this blog, just find his name on the tag-cloud at the foot of the page! Thanks for dropping by!

Peter Moss, GFS Convention 1993 instrumental medley on wooden uke - amazing.

I make no apologies for posting Peter Moss again. Peter Pollard of the George Formby Society has just posted this video on YouTube of Peter playing an instrumental medley of well-loved classics on wooden uke at a 1993 GFS convention - and he writes,

"This was a brilliant performance from Peter, probably the best example of playing the wooden uke that I personally have seen on the GFS stage."



How wonderful was that! Twenty years ago this year - thank goodness Peter Pollard has long been recording these wonderful performances for posterity....and I wonder how long we shall have to wait before Peter Moss graces the stage at a GFS convention again. The next one is this weekend, 8th-9th June at the Imperial Hotel, North Shore, Blackpool... Matthew J Richards will be there, Mike Warren will be there, Andy Eastwood will be there! The friends I mentioned yesterday will be there, and many more stalwarts and newbies... and happily, I will be there to watch and listen to it all, but unfortunately for us, Peter Moss will not be there... if my memory serves me right, he'll be playing to packed houses in Nova Scotia. Apologies to all if my memory has let me down on that!

The medley Peter is playing - I can't nail the name of the first tune, which is definitely Spanish... but the second is Liebestraume by Liszt, and the third is popularly known as the Can-Can, from the light operetta Orpheus in the Underworld, by Offenbach.

Welcome back to the world of the wooden uke, Peter.... you've been away for far too long!

George Elmes, with a blistering "Limehouse Blues"

George Elmes is a great player. I've featured him on here before. This time, his version of Limehouse Blues, with triples and split-strokes..... Limehouse Blues was written in 1922 and made famous by Gertrude Lawrence - read more here

He's a also a big Formby fan - and he's making it over from Ireland to the George Formby Society Convention in Blackpool next weekend, 8th-9th June! I know he'll be made very welcome - as will Johnny Foodstamp of Nashville, another devotee from further afield, indeed from rather further away. In March we welcomed Ukulelezaza, Remco Houtman-Janssen, who made the trip over from Belgium and set the place alight with his fabulous instrumentals. Every fan of Formby or at least his style of playing has to make that pilgrimage sometime! And we will be there again, LSH and I... our fifth convention in a row.

But back to George. George Elmes, that is! Read more about his music and his ukes and meet his idols here, on his own blog....

A bluegrass duet on ukulele from the city walls of Lucca, Italy.... SNOWDROP from Ken Middleton

I love bluegrass played on ukulele... so I had to share this. Ken often plays bluegrass clawhammer style, but this time decided to play finger-style. Any style is fine by me... Ken has such a laid-back, relaxed and relaxing style of playing - I always feel soothed and smoothed down after listening to him play! Nice to hear Lorenzo, (Ukulollo) too.. love that tee-shirt - I want one... Ukulele Underground?

Ken writes... "Lorenzo (Ukulollo) and I sitting high on the old walls of Lucca, Italy.
We are playing an old bluegrass banjo tune called "Snowdrop". It was apparently first recorded by Kirk and Sam McGee in the 1930's."