Ukulele building tools - fret calculator

My buddy, Daniel Hulbert over at Circuits and Strings builds some AMAZING stringed instruments (like this little pocket uke above).  Click that link and check out some of his work.  He also has some free building plans at his site!

In addition to all that awesomeness, he also put together this Fret Calculator Tutorial, complete with some guides to help people like me who aren't very good at building.

Rejoice novice uke builders!  Help is here! 

Slide Ukulele Chord Chart

A few weeks back I posted a blog called "Alternate Ukulele Tunings", covering some common and not so common tunings for the uke.  Following up here with a basic chord chart for "Slide Ukulele Tuning".

The tuning for this is G, C, E, Bb.  When strummed open, it creates a C7 chord.  As you can see from the chart to left, I've left a lot of blank chords for you to fill in as you go. 

This tuning is really meant for those that are playing with a slide (as indicated by the name), so for the most part, the way you choose to utilize chords is up to you.  Some slide players like to play with a slide on their index or middle finger and leave their other fingers open for fretting along with the slide.  Others prefer to stick the slide on their ring or pinky finger and alternate between slide chords/notes and fretting chords/notes.  The choice is yours!  As you develop your style for this, you can fill in

Ukulele re-entrant D tuning - basic chord chart

I posted a blog a few weeks ago called "Alternate Ukulele Tunings", where I talked about some common (and not so common) alternate tunings for the uke. 

I thought that it'd be helpful to follow up with some basic chord charts for some of those tunings.  So here ya go!

Here's some basic chord formations for re-entrant D tuning (A,D,F#, B).  Click on the image to view it, and then click again on the image to enlarge it for printing it off (if you don't enlarge it, it won't print off correctly).

I left some blank spaces on the chart for you to use to fill in a few chords if you're looking for a couple that I've missed. 

Hope this helps!  Happy Uke'n!

Ukulele Review - a most excellent blog!

It's all in the name, folks!  Ukulele Review...reviews ukuleles.  And that's not all!  They review anything and everything to do with the ukulele.  This a super comprehensive review site and the layout is very user friendly and easy to navigate through. 

So...before you buy that new ukulele, uke book, CD, DVD, ukulele accessories, or anything else, check this place out.  Odds are that they've got a nice write up on it and will help guide you in any ukulele related purchase that you're about to make!

Also...they're super nice!  Hey, in my book that's worth a lot!

Alternate Ukulele Tunings

Whether you are looking to spice up your ukulele playing, looking for a new challenge, or just looking to make a piece a little bit easier to play, alternate tunings on your uke might be the way to go.  They say that there's more than one way to skin a cat (which I actually disagree with...how many ways can you actually skin a cat?  and what's wrong with you?  Why are you focusing your efforts on skinning cats, weirdo!?).  Likewise, there's more than one way to tune and play a ukulele.  Here's a few alternate ukulele tunings to try out, with a link below to many, MANY more.

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! 

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!

Picking a Ukulele Tuner

Playing an out of tune instrument can be one of the most annoying things in the world.  It can even cause physical pain for some people.  Maybe more annoying than that, is tuning an instrument by ear.  While learning to tune your ukulele by ear is a very important trait, even more important is spending your free time with your uke actually practicing a song...not just sharpening your tuning skills.  There are a wide variety of electronic tuners on the market (some catering specifically to the ukulele) and for the most part they all do the same thing.  But before you go rolling the dice on one that you're not sure about, here's a couple of very trusted tuners to take a look at...

Snark SN-2 All Instrument Clip On Chromatic Tuner

This little Snark clip on tuner is a good choice if you're worried about misplacing your tuner.  I can't even count how many I have lost over the years.  Of course, as the name implies it is chromatic.  It has a built in flash metronome, a bright display, a transpose function, and it rotates 360 degrees.  The best part is the price tag.  You can grab one for around the $10 mark (plus

Ukulele Straps

Having trouble playing your ukulele standing up?  Hey, you're not alone!  Lots of uke players have trouble playing more involved pieces when on their feet.  A ukulele strap can make the difference between a solid performance and one riddled with mistakes.  But which uke strap should you buy?
There are a number of ukulele straps that take on the form of a traditional guitar strap.  One nasty little problem - you'll have to install a strap button on your uke.  While that's not totally out of the question, I'm not a fan of adding permanent hardware to my ukes.  But you're in luck!  There are a couple of alternative solutions that won't require you to drill into your ukulele...

The Uke Leash

This is absolutely genius!  It's based off the quick release clips found in a lot of pet stores.  The loop

5 ukulele websites that every uke player should know!

When it comes to playing the ukulele the online resources are seemingly endless! The ukulele has made a HUGE comeback and the ceiling for it's rise in popularity doesn't seem to have a limit. Speaking as a ukulele enthusiast and as someone who operates a shop that sells ukulele related items, I couldn't be more thrilled that more and more people are picking up the uke. But with more ukulele based sites popping up it can be hard to know where to look to find the most helpful resources for you. So....I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring here and pass along some of the online resources that have been a great help to me. My hope is that you'll get as much out of 'em as I have. So here we go in no specific order....