Jake & the Ukulele
Having played in the Hawaiian trio 'The Hula Bluebirds' for over a decade now Jake has had the benefit of brushing shoulders with three of the best Ukulele players in the UK ie. Martin Wheatley, Dave Crofts and JC Grimshaw (Click here for the Bluebirds at Bude Jazz Festival). For several years Jake has led workshops and taught Ukulele at the City Lit adult education college in Holborn central London.
Jake's Jolly Uke Club
Each month over an evening we work through a variety of songs as a group and use this as a vehicle to explore Uke technique, singing and performing. This group started at the CAA club in Covent Garden but due to the venue being constantly booked out we have moved our location Eastward to Bloomsbury and a charming little juicer called 'The Rugby Tavern'. We have appropriately changed our grand name from the Covent Garden Ukulele Club to the even grander 'Bloomin' Bloomsbury Ukulele Society.' Dates this autumn so far for the club are: the 28th September,26th October & 23rd November 2011.Click on the logo for our Facebook group
Songs are decided in advance by email in the group and Jake presents a few suprises each month. The repertoire covers songs from the 1920's to the present day. Jake will not however play any material by Duran Duran or Spandau Ballet although, he his quite personable about other performers from the 1980's including A-Ha! The aim is to eventually perform and share these songs with an audience periodically but there is no real pressure and the pace is set by the class players themselves*. The classes cost £10 each a session or this season as an incentive £25 for the three in advance, and we are always looking for new 'nice people' to join up, so please feel free to contact Jake for more details. The classes start at 7.30pm and run till 9-9.30. generally people start arriving from 7pm to dust/dry down, tune up and buy a drink. We always finish our session with a wind down one for the road drink, to calm ourselves down after our frenzied playing.
*The course is not for complete beginners and I expect that people can play simple songs such as 'Comin' Round The Mountain When She Comes' or 'Stand by Me'. I also expect everyone to have a go at singing and really joining in. If in doubt email me and I'll try to answer your question. For complete beginners I run a three week course at the CityLit college near Holborn which runs twice a year !
Jake is incidently one of the biggest Uke players in the country !
Useful Links for Uke Players :
Firstly a link to a really good online tuning site
Now a really good simple chord chart with fingering
The Excellent Duke of Uke website and address details and also the Southern Uke Store which is a huge Uke shop based in Bournemouth
Roy Smeck playing Ukulele percussion & Jake Shimabukuro doing the While My Guitar Gently Weeps thing thats had over 8 million hits. Meanwhile I was put onto James Hill recently as he was headlining at the Cheltenham Uke Festival: here is his version of Michael Jackson's Billie Jean . At the less techi end of the spectrum we have Priscilla Ahn and a delightful self penned number that is a homage to Traditional Uke/hawaiian songs such as Sweet Leilani. Check out her song Finding My Way Back Home.
Here is the link to my pal Martin Wheatley and his stunning Uke arrangements. I'd prefer it if he wore a Dickie Bow in the videos I must admit.
World Cup action with The Dulwich Ukulele Club
There are loads of Uke Links vis the Santa Cruz Uke Club webpage
Finally there is an arrangement of my own song Then Again on my myspace page with Martin Wheatley on acoustic Hawaiian Guitar and myself on Uke and Vocals
Lastly two good sources of songs for Uke with Tabs:
Chordie which has a huge resouce and a facilty to view chords needed to play a particular song and also an onboard programe to change the key of a number ! Also Doc Uke is a great sight as their are free downloadable pdf's that print and work very well. Try also The Ukulizer where again you can change keys for the uke key you'd like, and finally here a site with Beatles songs that you literally play along withcalled Ukulele Beatles Fun !
Ukulele Teaching with Schools:
Jake teaches children aged from 6-11 in Ukulele at schools, privately and with the Kitchen School of Music. The Uke is a great instrument for children as it is relatively cheap to buy for schools ( around £15-25) and is both an accompaniment for voice as well as an instrument in it's own right. It can be used as a tool for making original and creative songs and together with advanced techniques in Rock Endings lends itself readily to performance.
As a Uke teacher in schools Jake can model courses from one off sessions, workshops over several days or as an integrated part of the schools curriculum with planned lessons over a term. It is great fun working on a project such as an end of term concert !
UKULELE TRIBES
In his travels as a Uke man Jake has observed the Ukulele fever gripping the country presently. More to the point though, he has become fascinated by the sociological aspect of the many tribes of Uke players. He has become a 'Uke Spotter' in a very literal sense.
Here is his list . Can you spot yourself ?
Kids - The nicest tribe as basically if a kid is into Ukulele thats got to be a good thing and a welcome break from stealing the kitchen knifes and donning the hoody at dusk. All Uke kids cover their cases in stickers and have a father with a beard. Most commonly heard phrase ' Dad, my fingers hurt ! '
Modern Retro - the bright colours and cheap price of the Ukulele have lured this group of gals with hair bands and guys (pony tail obligatory ). They cluster in Hoxton and form Ukulele bands that sound like Kate Nash singing 'Coming Round the Mountain' with alternative lyrics. They frequent 'The Duke of Uke ' shop but never buy anything and leave a paper trail of flyers for their next happening wherever they are. Most commonly heard phrase ' Dad, my fingers hurt !'
The Pro - Looking old before their time this small group lead a solitary life and never congregate with any other Uke players ever. Their mature looks are from seasons in Blackpool and cruise ships tours singing George Formby to the over 70's. They wear blazers with little badges on them, carry their Uke's in cases that make them look like Freemason's and never smile except on stage when it looks more an American cheerleader than a border line acoholic entertainer. Most commonly heard phrase ' I'm off on the Canberra in 4 days '
Hoarders - Also known as collectors or purists. This tribe is perhaps the most volatile of all the groups. Fiercely opininated on every aspect of the Ukulele they cluster in groups of 3-5. They are always taking new Uke's out of cases but never play them for more than 5 seconds more interested in showing the serial number or checking the style of tuning peg than playing. Inheritantly bitchy and excitable a new theory about 6 Uke's made in 1927 is all that it takes for a row of technical expletives to erupt causing serious tea spilling in any nearby saucer. Life long friendships can be broken forever when a group of vintage uke collectors find one of them has brought a brand new uke or exactly the opposite when a modern collector buys an old uke for the cost of family car. Most commonly heard phrase ' Yes my wife left 3 years ago but did you know the new C543's binding interferes with the fretmarkings, it's an outrage, a disaster, what has the world come to ! '.
Americans - Their sentences always start and end with word Maui or another Hawaiian island. This is so because it is technically impossible to focus and listen to this tribe speak due to the dazzling whiteness of their sneakers. This group never play small Ukulele's (regular ) but favour large or supersize ( the tenor or baritone ) . They always have very shiny brand new uke's made from tropical rainforest wood and have those tuner things clipped on at the ready at all times. Most commonly heard phrase. ' I didn't know George Foreman played the Uke i thought he was a boxer who sells that BBQ grill thing'
Anti-Folk - This cultural group grew as a reaction to Grenwich Folk scenes commercialisation in the 1970's and 1980's and can be thought of as a folk punk movement. This is a real sub-genre of music and the ukulele more often takes centre stage as the instrument of choice due to cheapness and simpleness to play. The players of anti-folk ukulele never perform the same set of material twice, though their set will always contain the line 'the writings on the wall' two songs before the finale which features a food product such as a biscuit that is mythologised and engineered into a mantra.
The Jingle Maker -This uke player is not really a uke purist but is happy to ride the zeitgeist of the uke's popular sound. Marketing strategists are now aware that any product that either needs gentle humour or summer whimsey to sell their product needs the uke to do this. So we rush and buy, washing powders, Honda cars and house insurance all due to a clever muso-jingle person tinkling awayfor their PRS fee.