My Dog Has Fleas - the origin...or lack thereof

My Dog Has Fleas - perhaps you've heard someone sing this phrase when describing the re-entrant tuning that a ukulele is commonly played in.  The notes that correspond with it in our modern day uke circles are GCEA.  But where did that silly little phrase come from?

It seems to be one of those questions that yields more questions than it does answers.  The truth of the matter is that no one really knows the origin of "My Dog Has Fleas".  While it's probably not related in any way, it's interesting to note that the Hawaiian word "ukulele" literally means "jumping flea". 

All throughout it's history, music has been filled with mnemonic devices to aid us in remembering.  For instance, my elementary music teacher used a series of acronyms to help us remember the notes on the lines of the staff - "Every Good Boy Does Fine" and "Good Boys Do Fine Always".  I think that these two phrases are quite common in musical teaching curriculum. 

At least the above examples make some kind of sense, whereas "My Dog Has Fleas" doesn't seem to.  But hey, whatever works, right? 

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 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

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.

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

Revamping your old ukulele tuning machines

Some of us just really love vintage ukuleles!  I get a big kick out of playing an instrument that is 50+ years old.  But one of the problems that I've encountered in my collection of vintage ukes is that often the tuning machines aren't functioning properly.  The usual culprit is years and years of sitting idly in someone's attic, closet, garage, etc.  To make matters worse, today's standard tuning machines are often to big to fit the little holes drilled into the ukes of yesteryear.

Replacing those old tuning machines can be done, but it can be quite an arduous task.  A tapered reamer (like this one offered by Grizzly) is a handy tool to have for widening up those holes a bit...and it's a much