6 months ago I wrote, "Hello SR, Jeff from Humble Baritonics here. I have not found sites to link for DGBD tuning. You may make your own compositions but if you have any links to DGBD tablature I would be glad to show them on the blog."
Scott Rogers replied, "Hi Jeff... here's a link bluesageband.com/Tabs.html This is a site with lots of tabs in several tunings. They're written for banjo but baritone players can just ignore the fifth string notations. Some tunes use the fifth string as part of the melody but with a bit of lateral thinking one can find a work around."
I thought that MrVinylment's comment was quite precise, "This is great, I love the way your left hand seems to flow slowly, yet smartly, around the neck."
Surfing YouTube often leads to pleasant distractions. I came across a band that was unusual but there's not Bari so I have enlisted a sneaky way to include them here. I have posted the song chords to the covers but I don't guarantee that the key is the same, sorry.
I purchased a copy of Jumpin' Jim's publications called Ukulele Masters: Lyle Ritz (25 Classic Songs Arranged by the Ukulele Jazz Master). In the Foreward of the book it says that, "Lyle's main instrment is the tenor ukulele (DGBE tuned)," This book is has jazz chords for both GCEA and DGBE tuned ukuleles. Ha! Another Bari Uke treasure exposed!
When I was just starting to learn the ukulele I was surprised to find how much was going on in the San Francisco Bay Area. My fingers and brain seemed so slow to react and I never could get my fingers on the strings right. I would have buzzing, and just seemed to keep on going because of sweetness of a chord well played and the simplicity of the instrument. My wife Wendy was NOT thrilled.
I was playing my father's old Harmony soprano with a plastic fretboard. The frets were worn and the action high enough that getting a true chord was inconsistent...
Well about that time, I was e-mailing my new ukulele friends, with many songs and websites that I had found on the internet. I wanted a place to store what I found and so I created the blog "Humble Uker (Ramblings)" and when I became enamored with the baritone I continued with another blog, this one, Humble Baritonics. It's not a great name because, as the Swedish (my ancestry) are not permitted to add to their vocabulary, it was nearly "ogooglebar." (I guess google didn't like the idea of becoming a "kleenex" or "xerox.")
So... Who is Jerrold Connors? He is a children's artist, illustrator, bookwriter, ukulele player,... and creator of Ukulele Boogaloo which was the first ukulele song site that I came across. He was a member of the Royal Hawaiian Ukulele Band that met at the Temple Bar on University in Berkeley for many years. I met him a few times when he returned after having a baby with his wife. I also have a copy of his illustrated ukulele book Jiminy Kokopo's Sing & Strum Book.
Rhan Wilson is a buddy of mine that lives in the musical town of Santa Cruz, California. He is a musician and a teacher and likes to create in large proportion. He has a blog called, All In Good Time" where he shares his insights. I just noticed at the top of his blog he has a photo of himself playing the bari. Here's Rhans recent posting with the beginner in mind...
Last Thursday I got off work early to head down to Santa Cruz, California and attend another meeting of the Ukulele Club of Santa Cruz. Had to get there early because +Mark Kailana Nelson was the featured performer and was giving a class at 4:00pm. Mark has written a few books for the ukulele that I have used and played my bari-uke to the tab.
This evening he was giving a primer in Slack Key Ukulele. Standard uke players were instructed to "Slacken" their first strings from A to G and I slackened my bari E to D. Then, I used a capo at the 5th fret in order to learn the the lesson in key along with other standard ukes, thanks to my always prepared friend MariJo.
I use Amazon as a reference to Mark's plethura of musical writings. I have had the Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele for several years now. I also have Mark's Juke'n The Uke: Blues, Ragtime & Hokum for 'Ukulele: Complete Tablature for the CD & More [Paperback].
If you have Mark travelling to your area and giving the Slack Key Ukulele Class be sure to attend. He has a very laid back style of teach and will very simply have playing some Slack Key music in short order. I have posted the video below before and he states that, "It also sounds great on a baritone ukulele."
You can get some flavor of the music from this video and Mark now has a book available for Slack Key Ukulele and you, the Big Uke player, can start playing his tab immediately. Mark also has a books and CD's for Dulcimer players which I have taken up and enjoy on occasion.
Hello Baritone Ukulele enthusiasts. Humble Baritonics is the place for a random study of things for the baritone ukulele. You might not be aware but there is another site that devotes great attention to this fine instrument. The site was created by Roger Ruthen and he tabs out songs for the baritone and standard ukulele -- it is called pdf-Minstrel.
Here's an example of some of his work, Gypsy Air. Note that if you've been to Roger's site before he has now added Bari Uke chord names to his arrangements. It's just a little extra for the Big-Uke.
Pabrizzer graciously helped us all out with the haunting bits from Steve Earle's tune, "My Old Friend the Blues." I think that learning some of the subtle techniques of playing a riff life this on the big 4 stringer is quite rewarding and shows off the great potential of the bari.
Pabrizzer performs this song so sweetly. Make sure you see his break-down of the riffs posted separately.
A very good sounding song...
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Chords & Lyrics from Guitar Tab
I've shared a little bit of Katherine Whalen before...
Here's another video with Katherine that claims to have a baritone uke in it but I never get a good look.
