All the nominations for the 2009 Ukulele Underground Awards (“The Undies”!) are in and voting begins today. Click on the banner below for the Official Voting Page and cast your vote for your favorite ukulele videos of 2009!
Also, If you are from the US Mainland, Today is the last day to order from the UU Store with guaranteed shipping in time for Christmas. Be sure to Check out the UU Store and give the gift of the Underground!
Hope everyone is soaking up the Holiday Spirit – Have an awesome day and remember to strum it like you mean it!
Ukulele tabs are a great resource for uke players trying to learn pickings or instrumental pieces on the ukulele. About a year ago, we asked our pal Dominator to explain how to read tabs and some basic tab notation to get you started. But in more advanced tab sheets, it’s pretty easy to get lost in all the notation.
In this week’s episode of Uke Minutes (and a few to come), Dominator takes you through the process of working with tabs and understanding how tabs show you where to go. Check it out and if you’d like to jump into the world of ukulele tabs, don’t forget to visit Dominator’s Uke Tabs!
Also – We just opened nominations for the 2009 Ukulele Underground Awards (“The Undies”)! So if you’ve got a favorite video that you’d like to nominate, check out the categories and nominate away!
Hope this Holiday Season is giving you something good to strum about – have a great Saturday and rock that uke like your wish list depends on it!
Got a question about Relative Majors? Post it HERE!
Hey UUers!
So, you know your Major Scales on your ukulele like the back of your hand and can solo over major chord progressions like nobody’s business. But what happens when someone starts playing in a minor key?? Do you hide behind the mic stand? Pretend you need to go to the bathroom? NO!
In this week’s episode of Uke Minutes, Aldrine shows you how to use your knowledge of major scales to play in minor keys with Related Major Substitutions!
Here’s how: 1. Take the minor key that you are playing in (for example, Em) 2. Raise the root note up a step-and-a-half (E –> G). 3. Use that major scale to create your solos, but start and end on the root note of the original key (Use a G scale to solo, but start and end on E).
ALSO – This week Thursday (Oct. 29th), we’re holding an official UU Internet Open Mic at 3pm HST (6pm PST, 9pm EST) right here on the UU front page! Come by and cheer on your fellow UUers and uke players & if you’d like to perform, be sure to sign upHERE!
Hope you have an awesome Saturday!
Aloha,
-UU Staff
Got a question about this technique? Post it HERE!
Hey UUers!
Looking for an easy way to add harmony to your ukulele solos? Check out this week’s episode of Uke Minutes for a quick way to add C string harmony to melodies played on your A string! Memorize the pattern and slide it up and down your fretboard to match the key you are playing in and have fun with a little harmony.
We’ll the UU guys made it back from the whirlwind UU Tour 2009 safely and soundly, so things in the Underground should be back to normal soon. Once again, it was totally awesome seeing everyone come out to jam with us in California, Baltimore, and New York! We really can’t thank you guys enough and as soon as we can find a way to make out there again, we will definitely be back.
*UU NEWS!*
- The UU “Ukulele Solos: Techniques & Improvising” DVD is available now in the UU Store! 68 min. Limited supply pre-release packaging.
- We’ll be having an Official UU Halloween Open Mic on Thursday, Oct. 29th at 3pm HST. Get your songs and singing voices ready! Check the Forum soon for the sign-up thread.
Now go out and attack your Saturday with the power of your ukulele awesomeness! (But don’t forget to take a sweater, it’s starting to get chilly out there). Have a great one.
Once upon a time, we taught you the sweet and super-useful Palm Mute technique. But what if you want to palm mute more than one note at a time? Enter the Two-String Palm Mute. In this episode of Uke Minutes, Aldrine shows you how to add harmony to your palm muted notes, so you can fill up your uke picking with awesome.
TODAY – Sat, Oct 10th / St. Helena, CA – Wine Country Ukulele Festival (see site for details) Aldrine performs at 1:45 with a workshop scheduled during the weekend. We’ll see you there!
Aloha,
-UU Staff
P.S. The East Coast part of our tour was a blasty-blast (Thanks to everyone who came out to chill with us)! Want proof? Check out the pics & vids. 123
Today’s MVOW kicks off our Halloween season with an awesome arrangement of the theme from Ghostbusters – on the ukulele! In this video, UU member, ukeADDICTx shows off his skills of ukulele sweetness and encourages everyone to be careful when encountering areas with unusually high PKE levels. Check him out, rock his Subscribe button, and leave him some nice compliments so he keeps on rippin’ it up.
UU TOUR 2009!
So today Aldrine and the UU guys are headed out for the EAST COAST! We are going completely ants-in-the-pants in anticipation and hope to meet some really cool people from the Baltimore and NYC areas! Check it out:
Tues, Oct. 6th / Baltimore, MD – 7:30 pm @ Cyclops (30 W. North Ave. Baltimore, MD 21239) Performance with Victoria Vox! Wed, Oct. 7th / New York, NY -7:00 pm @ Pianos NYC (158 Ludlow St. New York, NY 10002) Performance with The K! Thurs, Oct 8th / Brooklyn, NY – 7:00 pm @ Tillies Coffee House (248 Dekalb Av. Brooklyn, NY 11205) UU is crashing the open mic! Bring your uke!
After that, we head back to California for the Wine Country Ukulele Festival -
Sat-Sun, Oct 10-11th / St. Helena, CA – Wine Country Ukulele Festival (see site for details) Aldrine performs at 1:45 on Saturday and workshops scheduled during the weekend.
Got a questions about the Left Hand Mute? Ask it HERE!
Hey UUers!
Today is Saturday & that means another episode of Uke Minutes! This week we break down the Left Hand Mute technique (so you can rock “True” by Spandau Ballet even harder), for some quick chord staccato cleanness. Check out the episode and let us know what you think!
*TODAY! Saturday, October 3rd, 2009*
Today also means that we’ll be seeing you at the Southern California Ukulele Festival in Cerrritos, California (map)! We’ll be hanging out at the Ukulele Underground booth, so please stop by, say hi, jam some uke music, shoot the breeze, and collect some high fivers. Aldrine will be teaching an Intermediate Ukulele Techniques seminar at 11:30 am, in the Sunset B room.
The UU Tour 2009 continues… Oct 3rd – So Cal Ukulele Festival (8:30am-4:30pm, Cerritos Park East Community Center, 13234 E. 166th Street, Cerritos, CA) Oct 6th – Performance w/ Victoria Vox! (7:30 pm @ Cyclops, 30 W. North Ave. Baltimore, MD 21239) Oct 7th – Performance w/ The K (@ Pianos NYC, 158 Ludlow St. New York, NY 10002) Oct 10-11 – Wine Country Uke Festival (St. Helena, CA, see site for more location details)
We’re crazy-excited to meet you, so if you see us, introduce yourself and help us put some faces to those screen names! Have an awesome Saturday guys – if you are on the EAST COAST, we’re coming to meet you in a few days!
Got a question about this episode? Post it here!
Sing & play along to this song with the Ukulele Play-Along!
Hey UUers!
So we’re kicking off UU Tour 2009 with a special present for you: a brand new Uke Lesson on the classic 80’s song, “True” by Spandau Ballet. This is one of those awesome pop songs that has stood the test of time and melodically wriggled its way into all things – TV (The Office, The Simpsons, King of Queens …), Movies (The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates, and pretty much every other Adam Sandler Movie), other songs (Nelly’s “N Dey Say”, Lloyd’s “I Want You”, etc.), and most of all, our hearts. It’s the song that keeps on giving. So check it out and let us know what you think!
Meanwhile, we are in California (yay!) – so if you are in the area, be sure to come out and meet us! Click on >>The Official UU Tour 2009<< thread to find out where we will be for the next several days, so we can meet you!
Tonight, we’ll be at Today’s Pizza in Encinitas, CA for the Moonlight Beach Strummers ukulele group. Aldrine will be teaching a seminar on arpeggios and performing live. Starts at 6pm, so don’t be late!
So we’ve told you time and time again that the ukulele is an instrument that cannot be contained. No matter what style of music you like to play or listen to, the ukulele can do it! It’s just a matter of figuring out how. This week on Uke Minutes we’re giving you a ‘how’ – for Rock, Alternative, or Punk – that can blast people’s socks off and make your uke sound like a legendary beast. Power chords … for the ukulele. Check it out.
*NEWS UPDATE*
The UU boys (Aldrine, Ryan, and Aaron) are all packed up and ready to leave the Underground on the adventure of a lifetime: to come see YOU in California and on the East Coast!
ALSO – while we’re gone, there won’t be anyone here to hold down the fort. We’ll keep updating the website as usual, but the UU Store will be CLOSED from Sept. 28th – Oct. 12th. So if you would like to order anything before we leave, place your orders now! We just restocked the UU Shirt, so if you’ve been looking for your size, we got it now.
Other than that – hope to see you guys in California and on the East Coast! When you see us, PLEASE come by, exchange some hand slaps, and be prepared to introduce yourself by your screen name (& be prepared to be called by your screen name, too!). We can’t wait to meet you!
Got a question about Muted Ghost Notes? Post it HERE!
Hey Everyone!
It’s Saturday, the birds are singing and we’ve got another awesome episode of Uke Minutes hatching out of its shell! Check out Muted Ghost Notes for an easy way to accent specific notes in your ukulele picking!
———- *BIG NEWS*
Aldrine and the UU Guys are coming out to the US mainland at the end of this month to see YOU! Scheduled dates so far go down a-like-a-this:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (6-9pm)
Moonlight Beach Strummers, Ukulele Group
Where: Today’s Pizza (Encinitas) / Map
481 Santa Fe Dr., Encinitas, CA 92024
Saturday, October 3, 2009 (8:30am-4:30pm) Southern California Ukulele Festival
Where: The Cerrritos Park East Community Center / Map
13234 E. 166th Street, Cerritos CA
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 (7:30pm)
Performing with Victoria Vox (East Coast)!
Where: Cyclops / Map
30 W. North Ave. Baltimore, MD 21239
