We are about to release a small series of desktop backgrounds, but as it the anniversery of Jimi Hendrix’s tragic death, we decided to release this preview picture. All kudos to King Uke, who made the desktop and whose uke Jimi is borrowing!
Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you The pUKEs – Will I Learn
For info, tour dates, merchandise, song books and damned good ukulele punk rock, please visit the pUKES
I attended Utah’s Uke Fest on July 27-28, 2012. This festival had classes and workshops during the day with amazing concerts at night. I learned new things and was inspired to take my playing to the next level. My favorite part of the festival was getting to meet other ukulele enthusiasts from the surrounding area.
Sarah Maisel and Paul Tillery and “The Quiet American” performed on Friday night. The groups did separate sets, but they performed a song together at the end.
On Saturday at noon, there was an open mic contest. The performances were great, with lots of brave people displaying their talents.
I was lucky enough to take 2nd place at the open mic contest! My prize was a beautiful Eddy Finn Bamboo ukulele and a hard case for it.
Paul “Tommy” O’Connor played a few Celtic tunes on the ukulele at the Saturday evening concert.
Bolo Rodrigues also played on Saturday evening. He attaches a ukulele to the bottom of his guitar and switches back and forth between the two instruments.
Brittni Paiva was the headliner of the festival. Her spectacular performance was a great capstone to a very fun couple of days.
In 2011, I started emailing the instructions for the “DIY Travel Ukulele”. Hundreds of people from all over the world have received these instructions. Now, they are available to download directly from Electric Ukulele Land!
[Click on the link, or right click and “Save as”]
DIY Travel Ukulele Instructions
Email CircuitsAndStrings@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.
(NOTE: The original design used a small metal key as the nut. The instructions now call for a zero fret, but the pictures still reflect the metal key design.)
If you are in London, and want to learn, look up “Learn to uke”
4 week adult beginners courses which will take you from zero to ukulele hero! You will play a song within an hour, and then learn a variety of strums and chord progressions over the course. You will have a lot of fun, make new friends and find the musician within you! Check their website to see videos of past absolute beginners – who had never held their ukuleles before the class. 😉
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| Hell Yeah!!! |
Regular readers of this blog will know that I’m building an electric ukulele… It’s taken a long, long time. All along the way I’ve posted progress updates and shared with you the highs and the lows. Well, I’m coming to the end of my wonderful journey. This won’t be my last post on the subject, but it will probably be the last on the actual build itself. My last series of updates revolved around some frustrations I was having with the paint job and of course I’d forgotten to fit the fret markers! I bet you’re wondering how it all turned out. Read on…
Out and about in Forest Hill on Friday during the day and around The Tower of London in the evening, and I couldn’t stop spotting ukuleles and related instruments.
The instruments you can see in cabinets are at the Horniman Museam in Forest Hill, South-East London. More information about them and the hundresds of other instruments in their gallery can be found in their catalogued web page.
£15 Ukuleles for sale in Sue Ryder, Forest Hill, South East London, Uk
Toy Gitar,
Jogjakarta,
Java,
Indonesia
c. 1977
Charengo, lute
Made by Mario Torres
Pocoata
Potosi
Bolivia
c. 1987
Machete, small guitar
Made by Jacinto R.
Saidenha
Madeira, Portugal,
c. 1843
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Cuetro, small guitar
Made by Cruz A Quinal
San Lorenzo de Carenaquey
Espada Sucre
Venezuela
c. 1986
Machete
Nunes
Madiera
Portugal
19th Century
Well dressed ukulele playing busker playing at Tower Hill Tube station, London, Uk
It’s common knowledge that Electric Ukulele Land endorses and supports punk band Marjinal and their efforts to provide a glimmer of hope for street kids in Indonesia. Their weapon of choice is the ukulele; Their passion is Punk!
A couple of months ago The Jakarta Film Team achieved funding for a project to film and promote Marjinal’s work via Kickstarter. They will produce a documentary called Jakarta Punk: The Marginal Story. Its aim is simple: to affect change by raising awareness.
The team have been providing regular progress updates and the latest announces the creation of a facebook page. If you haven’t done so already, why not pay them a visit and offer them some support! I know that they would very much appreciate it.
You never know where inspiration may come from. I posted this asking what should my first build be. I already had a few ideas of what I’l like but no idea how to make any of it happen. Then Electric Ukulele land’s own Daniel Hulbert showed me this:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jc7eWmm3Jc]
My eyes lit up! Yes this is what I’m looking for, though I’m not crazy about the body style at all. So I plan to buy the components and see what I can load them into. Perhaps the flying v or something else a bit more rocking. Also have no desire to unscrew the back to change batteries so want to use Daniel Hulbert’s battery idea from his uku bass build.
I’m in need of the list of parts that make up this build. Who can help me there?
