SABBATICAL broken... I have a wedding to go in Monterey, California to this weekend and that's not going to work well with my plans to do some recording. So, I'll have to postpone the plan. AND I was really itching to share this photo.
I was being bad on my sabbatical and read Gary Peare's information about a search engine that would look for least likely items: www.bananaslug.com and came up with this absolutely glorious picture of Nancy Hamilton dated 9/9/1926. This photo surely looks like a bari to me and could put the whole Favilla vs. Godfrey question on the hotseat.
I have had my 101 Ukulele Licks Book for a week and took Lil' Rev's class on the same over at Michael DaSilva's Shop (www.ukemaker.com) on Feb 12, 2011. Lil' Rev has long been a favorite of mine. I make it a priority to own each of his books as they become available. They are all reasonably priced and come with a CD. This book with CD is less than $15 before shipping.
So you ask what is so special about this book? It is a book of musical historical knowledge. LR, as a student of music, has listened to and studied to many of the masters of acoustic music. He is a multi-instrumentalist and full time, earn-yur’-livin’-type musician. This book says 101 Ukulele Licks but truly there are closer to a thousand, perhaps more because many of these licks are just as movable as the movable chord. Rev is also a spectacular teacher. My buddy Chris E. and I were listening to LR’s instructions and realizing that the Lick book can be taken in small riff chunks, experimented with and played until they become natural addition your playing.
Blues Licks, Boogie Riffs, Jazzy Blues Licks, Movable Turnaround Licks, Country Licks, Bluegrass Licks, Rock 'n' Roll, and Old-Time music are mixed in with scales, historical anecdotes of the musicians that used them. The book is music, art and history all in one.
This book is great for baritone players too. Lil Rev's next project is a method book for baritone ukulele. So, my opinion is clear, I recommend everything that Lil' Rev produces but this book in particular can really give you the opportunity for your music to have some extra flair. It is a book that you will have for years and get something new from it each time.
Here's a recent example of Lil' Rev playing a tenor ukulele...
It seems to me that I never come up very predominantly in any on-line searches so this post is an attempt to lure other Baritone Ukulele players to my Baritone Ukulele Friendly Blog. Do not adjust your monitor. This blog will resume normal Baritone Ukulele postings after this attempt to attract on-line search engines.
It is a beautiful day in the Bari neighborhood. I see that a good e-friend of mine Michael Parmenter in Canada has completed his luthiery work on some Baritone ukuleles. I don't exactly remember how Michael and I got in touch except for the obvious ukulele connection. I think I have admired his home luthiery and great photo archives for the last two years.
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Each morning I check out the blog stats and see what has caught the most curiousity and what links may have led to either Humble Uker or Humble Baritonics. To my surprise some links lead back to my friend Michael. I have admired his luthiery and especially some of his ukes which I think have a strickingly handsome medieval look. (I sent an e-mail to the Ohana Rep., Ken Middleton, suggesting that he gets Ohana to check out these medieval uke designs, but alas no reply -- yet.)
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Michael also writes the ocassional classical tablature and posts it on his Classical Tabs blog. http://ukeclassicaltabs.blogspot.com/ He uses TABLEDIT which is quite a cool program to write music on. I have also bought the musical-tool-program and have found it quite easy to use but full of many "bells-and-whistles" that allow amazing flexibility and notational abilities. TABLEDIT is set up to work with a plethura of instruments, perhaps 50 or more. Check out some of Michaels arrangements they are also in PDF format for easy use.
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[I was dinking around looking for tabs and found a banjo/violin site that had tabs for several songs. The theme from the Beverly Hillbillies caught my attention. The arrangement was on TABLEDIT for 5 string banjo. But I was able to upload it and change the tablature to Ukulele in about 3 minutes. Note: TABLEDIT is commonly read TAB EDIT.]
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Be sure to check out more of Michael's uke luthier and music stories on his blog here... http://canuke.blogspot.com/
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This is awesome stuff Todd. Very simple, but gets to the soul of the instrument. Thanks for some more great baritone ukulele playing. The slides, hammer-ons, Pull-offs and some quickly played 1/16th notes add a nice folksy flavor. I could see you sitting on a porch along with LewDite having a great time.
I would like to build my skills in this area and have been working with Lil' Rev's Hal Leonard book 2 which works on these skills in a variety of old tunes. Lil' Rev has told me that he has another Hal Leonard book on it's way soon, called 101 Licks for the Ukulele.
I have also plinked around on Ken Middleton's Bluegrass arrangements. They are high quality and he has videos of each song being played. A google search will get you there or type "Ken Middleton" in my blog search box. Ken also has e-books for sale (not specifically baritone)
I also see that FleaMarketMusic has a new bluegrass book out and I will surely get a copy. All of Fred Sokolow's work has been fantastic. (also not specifically baritone)
Ken Middleton is a popular figure in the ukulele world. His videos are insirational and informative. I find that improvisations while sitting in his plush garden are the best.
I go to Jake Wildwood's site, Antebellum Instruments, regularly because he obtains old instruments and returns them to beauty and playability. He then takes a series of photographs and chronicles some history. He also plays each instrument and makes a YT video. Quite a treat. This morning I thought, what about Jake? He must have come across a baritone ukulele sometime although the baritone doesn't quite fit the late 1800's to early 1900's era.
Jake says,"I simply had to make a cut for you all on this baritone uke before it hits the rack and finds a new home. This is a c.1960s Japanese-built all-solid baritone under the "Carmencita" brand. Back and sides and neck of somewhat flamed Japanese maple, nice spruce top, and checker binding around the soundhole and top. It's sort of a typical import baritone from the time with the exception of the nice solid woods... and the tone... oh my. This thing projects very well and sounds like a decent quality classical guitar."
Cliff Edwards was a guest on Arthur Godfrey's radio show in 1943. Godfrey is credited with inventing the baritone ukulele. Edwards was in his forties at the time of this recording.
Here's a chance to hear some baritone ukulele from the other side of the world. He's got several bari videos using fingers and pick. http://www.youtube.com/user/unckc
