Staten Island Slide ukulele tabs

An awesome ukulele piece written by Craig Robertson, also known on Youtube as "Best Ukulele Song...".  Find the original video here.  Of course, my take on this tune is a bit different from the original, but you can find the basic tab here.  Special thanks to Dominator for putting this arrangement together!

Ukulele won't stay in tune? Here's some ideas...

If you're ukulele won't stay in tune, it's probably the strings or the tuning machines.  This is a common problem and can be very frustrating if you've never dealt with it before, but before you go bashing your uke into a wall out of frustration, here are some ideas that you can try....

1. New strings take time to settle in - If you recently restrung your ukulele, the strings will naturally slip out of tune for a while as they stretch and settle in.  Exercise some patience and keep retuning them every time they fall out of

The World's Smallest Playable Ukulele!

Stumbled across this awesome video the other day while looking for info on my post about mini ukuleles.

It's the World's Smallest Playable Ukulele as demonstrated by creator Alvin Okami, founder of KoAloha Ukulele!

Enjoy!

Mini Ukuleles: Which one should I buy?

The first time I saw someone playing a "mini" ukulele, I knew I had to have one!  Maybe you've seen one or played one and felt the same way.  By almost all accounts, these are novelty ukes...but I use that term loosely.  They do have a very different and distinct sound.  The cute factor probably puts them in the novelty category more than anything. 

There are a few different companies making these right now, so which one should you get?  Here's a quick rundown of some of these mini ukuleles with price points...starting with the most expensive....

How to Package and Ship a Ukulele

So...you're an awesome gift giver and you found a sweet vintage ukulele at a flea market or an antique store?  Or maybe you just sold a ukulele on ebay?  And now you need to package and ship that ukulele across the country or across the world, right?  What's the best way to pack and ship a ukulele so that it arrives promptly and without injury?  Anyone can throw something in a box with some packing peanuts and write an address on it, but with these special little guys extra special care and precautions need to be taken!  Here's a few tips that will hopefully help you sleep a little easier at night after you drop your package off.

Blank Ukulele Tabs and Chord Charts!

If you've ever attempted to sit down and write your own tab out for a song, you probably know how frustrating it is to actually make the "staff".  It really kills your enthusiasm for actually tabbing out the song.  No more!  Here are some free blank ukulele chord charts and blank ukulele tabs. 

Just click on the image, make sure to enlarge the image with the little magnifying glass (if you don't, it won't take up the full page), and print away!

 There is also some free software available for the same purpose of creating your own tabs.

www.power-tab.net - free software for all your tabbing needs.  I've not actually used this yet, but good things have been said about it.  Even though it's directed at the guitar and bass guitar crowd, it is ukulele friendly.

Hope these blank uke tabs and chord sheets will help ya out.  Now, go tab something for me to play! 

Pineapple Upside Down Cake ukulele sticker

UPDATE:  These stickers are now up for sale here at our Etsy shop!  Pick some up!

Introducing a brand new design that will very soon become a sticker - The Pineapple Upside Down Cake Ukulele sticker!  Pretty soon you'll be able to have your cake and eat it too!  But we'd advise that you don't eat the sticker.  We'll be ordering the first batch of these very soon, so stay tuned and tell your friends about 'em!

10 reasons to love the ukulele - Happy Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day!  Of course, the loves of my life are my beautiful wife and my sweet little girl.  But....coming in after that are my ukuleles.  So, without further ado, here is my personal list of 10 reasons that I love my ukuleles!


1. size - small and easy to transport

2. the happiness it brings others - people just seem to smile when they hear/see someone playing the ukulele

3. longer lasting strings - coming from a guitar playing background where it's necessary to change strings

All of Me - ukulele chords

One of my favorite jazz standards.  Funny enough, the first version I heard of this song was by punk rock band NOFX.  I think I like it better when Louis Armstrong sings it.  It's a fun piece to play and you can take it in a bunch of different directions.

Thankfully, someone else has done the leg work.  Check out this link to the chords pdf from Doctor Uke.

Enjoy!

New Kala Pocket Uke - even smaller?

NAMM 2013 is officially in the books.  Among the ukulele highlights this year was a very curious and even tinier Kala Pocket Uke.  I thought that bigger was supposed to be better.  Tim from www.ukeeku.com was in attendance and provided some sweet coverage of some of the ukes being showcased.  Check out his final summary here. 

Back to the Kala Pocket Uke - why am I so intrigued?  I guess it's because I just wonder what the point is.  I do want a pocket uke, so don't get me wrong.  It's a cute little novelty uke to have in your collection.  Maybe that's what's bothering me...it's already a novelty ukulele...and this one is smaller....so this one is now a novelty-novelty

Is your ukulele solid wood or laminate?

With most new ukuleles, the manufacturer will be pretty clear about whether the ukulele is made from solid wood or laminate...but sometimes they like to stretch the truth a bit.  And what about those vintage ukes that there is little info about on the web?  How do you tell if your ukulele is solid wood or laminate?

Barry Maz of www.gotaukulele.com suggests a couple of ways to check in this article.

Two of the solid wood "tests" involve looking at the grain on the inside of the sound hole and looking inside your ukulele with a flashlight to see if the inside grain matches up with the pattern of the outside grain.

Some generally good advice and it helped me determine that one of my vintage ukes is solid wood.  

Ukulele Tuners: friction vs. geared

One of the ongoing debates among ukulele enthusiasts is what style of tuning machines are best.  And to be quite honest, this argument can get downright silly.  There are ukulele "purists" who will never come to the dark side of geared tuners...and the other side of the coin...players that love their geared tuners and are too stubborn or afraid to ever consider friction tuners.

This seems ridiculous to me.  I mean, they both do the same thing!  Here's the basic breakdown of the pros and cons with each style.


GEARED TUNERS

Pros - They tune the strings at a lesser ratio per rotation.  This makes them easier to tune and helps them stay in tune.

Ukulele Finger Pain Tips

You started playing the ukulele for fun, right?  So why all the pain and discomfort?  Unfortunately, it's just something that you'll have to go through, but believe me, it will get better!  In time, your fingers will get used to the new exercise that you're putting them through, and those sore fingertips will develop calluses and stop hurting all the time.  And that's probably the best advice that can be given to a beginner on the uke...just stay the course and play through the pain.

While there's not much that can be done to alleviate those growing pains, here's a few tips that might help you get through

Oh! Susanna - ukulele chords

Oh! Susanna was written by Stephen foster and first published in 1848.  This song sits in an elite group as one of the most popular American songs ever written.  It plays very nicely on the ukulele.  Here's a quick chord run down that should get you playing it in no time!  As always, if you need help with any of the chord formations for your ukulele, check out the Ukulele Chord Finder.

Key of C

C...............................................D7...............G7
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee
.....C...........................................Am.........G7.....C
I'm going to Louisiana for my true love, O, to see
C............................................................D7..................G7
It rained all day the night I left.  In the morning it was dry
......C....................................................Am...G7..........C
The sun so hot I froze to death.  Susanna, don't you cry
F.............................C.......................G7
Oh!  Susanna.  Don't you cry for me
...C............................................Am....G7......C
I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee

Make your own ukulele wall hanger

Tired of tripping over all the ukuleles strewn about your living room floor?  You and me both!  Here's an awesome idea from the fine folks at Ukulele Underground for making your own multi uke wall hanger.  It just requires some very basic tools and a few dollars.  Check out the one that I made in this post, complete with some instructions.

If you're not very confident in your wood working skills and would rather pass on this project, there are some really cool wall hangers out there.  Like this....

Ukulele Chord Transposer

Most ukuleles players would agree that the key of C is the easiest key to play in.  While it's always good to expand your playing horizons and learn to play in different keys, sometimes it's just easier to transpose the chords.  The process of doing this used to be tedious and time consuming.  No longer!  Thankfully, there are some great websites out there that offer free tools to make this process a lot faster...like this one from www.transposechords.com. 
Give it a shot and let us know what you think!

Ukulele E chord tips and tricks

Does this chord look familiar?  Perhaps it's because it shows up in your nightmares....the terrible terrible E chord.
Coming from a guitar playing background, this chord type wasn't all that uncommon to me when I started to play the uke...but just like with the guitar, it was and continues to be very unpleasant to play for me.  Not impossible, just difficult and unpleasant.  It's best to keep practicing with this chord and train your fingers to form it...but in case you're a bit more impatient like me, here are some ideas on how you can produce this chord and avoid this exact structure.

You can try reproducing it by playing 1-4-0-2 (that's from the G string to the A string).  With this you'll be producing the notes Ab, E, E, B.  This has a neat chorus type of effect since you are producing that same middle E with