Hi all,

If any of you want to ask any questions / request for beginner lessons etc etc, just feel free to drop a comment in this post. I am thinking of adding a ‘Uke Lessons’ page in this site, to teach beginners, as well as cater to questions related to playing. I can record some videos and post it on YouTube, and showcase in here.

Of course, you can also ask about any other questions, like ‘what strings to use/recommend’ etc etc etc….

Thanks.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

- Alan Soo

Here is a beautiful song written by Jake Shimabukuro, and it’s entitled Blue Roses Falling. I tried recording this in the living room of my apartment, and it sounds slightly different from recording within my small bedroom.

For those of you who have done recording before, I have a questions for you all. Somehow I feel that when I use my finger nail to strum the strings, it gives this very hard attack sound, which gets recorded into the mic as well, and it is very obvious in all my recordings. Anyone knows how to get around this? Regardless of whether its a playing technique/recording equipment/sound engineering issue, I’m all ears!

Thanks in advanced~

Hi folks,

Been rather busy with other activities recently. So I apologize for not posting up any playing/listening/tabbed material on ukulabu.com. However, I did do my usual YouTube surfing, and I found out that Mr Dominator has completed his Spruce Top Tenor ukulele, for his coming stage performance for 7th Annual Ukulele Festival in Southern California! Well done Dominator! Let’s give him a round of applause~

Check out his video below:

It sounds really great. Dominator has been making many quite a number of ukuleles for others and himself. I’d love to meet him to look at those ukuleles! For those of you who don’t know who Dominator is, check him out by looking through his tabs library here.

Good evening folks!

I’d like to introduce under an Ukulabu shoutout, an amazing guitar player, whom I’ve only got to know who he is today…. His name is Tommy Emmanuel from Australia. I was doing the usual surfing around YouTube, and I came across this great jam involving Jake Shimabukuro and Tommy Emmanuel. They were playing While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Jake was awesome, and Tommy totally matched his awesome-ness!

This is the first time I saw Tommy play, and I have to say, that when I was still playing guitar back in the past, I liked to play songs to which you can be like a “one man show” kinda thing. The ability to play the melody, backup and percussion, (while using only one instrument) always facinates me.

To better explain what I mean, check out Tommy’s video on the song Angelina:

Amazing isn’t it?
Do check out Tommy’s official website here.

Hi people,

I’ve been feeling a little under the weather recently, but will still try my best to keep this site updated.

Still working on other transcriptions at the moment, so for today, I’ve decided to put in a recording my myself, playing Jake Shimabukuro’s Me and Shirley T. This was my first Jake song learnt. In the midst of my excitement, I even posted up a YouTube video of myself playing it, quite some time ago. At that time, I spent a few days learning it. My guitar background certainly helped me in the process of learning the song. You can watch it below:

Now when I look back at it, it’s quite sloppy at some parts.

As for now, here is my latest audio recording. Jake’s Me and Shirley T.

Cheers!

The past few tabs that I have created, are rather unknown songs to many out there. They are more like my personal tabs. So, in order to change things a bit, I have decided to tab out a popular pop song by Jay Chou (周杰伦), entitled Pu Gong Ying De Yue Ding (蒲公英的约定). It’s off his album named Wo Hen Mang (我很忙). The song is in C Major scale.

I ran a quick search on Google and YouTube for “Jay Chou Ukulele”, and didn’t find anything directly related. So ‘I think’ this is the first ukulele tab for a Jay Chou song~! =D

This tab is complete from start to end. As all songs, there are repeats around. Feel free to improvise the strumming/plucking of notes. Play around with note dynamics, to give the song some feel. It’s best if we all got creative and try to create something different… Something that you personally like, and hopefully others will like it too!

As usual, if you have problems with any part of the song, drop me a comment/email. You may download the tab and MIDI at the Tabs Section.

Enjoy the tab.

=)

If you have read one of my previous audio posts entitled Fumiya Fujii - Shimokita Ijou Harajuku Miman, I mentioned that I would tab out the song.

I have finished the verses and chorus parts. The song basically repeats the same notes and chords around. If you have problems with any part of the song, drop me a comment/email. You may download the tab and MIDI at the Tabs Section.

Hope you all enjoy learning the song, as much as I did.

=)

I came across some young ukulele players while surfing around YouTube for ukulele players, and these 2 young players are definitely worth watching.

First up is young Ryan Imamura. He has also jammed with Jake Shimabukuro before. Here he is, playing Jake’s Me and Shirley T.

Next up is Ryo Natoyama. He is playing an improvised version of Jake’s song named Blue Roses Falling. His video had a lower quality sound, which I feel that it just doesn’t do him any justice!

Both are already playing at professional level! I really hope they make a name for themselves soon. The world needs such talent!

Ryan and Ryo, all the best to the both of you!

I was working in the office few days ago when I found a nice and slow instrumental song inside my colleague’s computer. The tune caught my attention and I was wondering at that point of time, if I could play it on the ukulele.

Unfortunately, my colleague didn’t know the composer/artist of the song. I don’t even know if the title ‘Sad to Say Goodbye’ is correct. But it was found in her “Japanese” songs folder. The song is written in D Major. I managed to figure out the chords and melody, and tabbed it out. It’s not a 100% note for note tab. I would normally improvise as I try to figure out songs.

You may download the MIDI and tab here (Tabs section).

I’ll post another entry once I get my tab recorded.. 

Meanwhile, you can also listen to the original song below:

I hope you all enjoy it, as much as I do.

PS: Do let me know the correct artist and song title, if you happen to know it~! Thank you!

I’ve been doing some small research on how to amplify my ukuleles, and I came across this YouTube video which teaches a step by step installation of the saddle pickup.

It didn’t seem that hard, but I don’t have the necessary tools to perform the job. For your info, Kamaka uses Fishman pickups on their ukuleles. Both passive and active. You can check out Fishman products here.