English Folk Tunes for Ukulele by Colin Tribe

Ukettante

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Does anyone have this or has anyone worked through this book by Colin Tribe? Please let me know what you think of it. I'm particularly interested in the tune "The Keel Row" after hearing a variation of it on piano in Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush.
 
I have that book, and I suggest checking out Colin's youtube site to see if his style of ukulele arrangements appeals to you. I play his arrangements of pop and jazz songs, and enjoy them very much. His approach to traditional music isn't my cup of English Breakfast, however. Totally a personal preference...
 
Having taken a quick look at the videos, Mr. Tribe is obviously an accomplished performer, whether or not one likes his arrangements. With this in mind, I rather think the tabs could be an important part of the written music, given the complexity of the fingering. There's a couple of examples here http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/01117897/details.html from his Irish folk Tunes book that look to be very usable. If the English Folk Tunes publication is of similar quality it looks to be reasonable value for money, given the quantity of tunes and the included CD.

I'll be interested to hear from anyone who's actually looked inside the book :)
 
errrr....I actually own both books. And I've learnt a few of the tunes I like.

Sorry Jon, I wasn't trying to be difficult :eek:

I missed the point you made about actually owning the books. Did you find the tab to be adequate, or do you work from the notation?

I suppose it might be pertinent at this point to mention that "The Keel Row" is known in several variations, variously as a reel, polka, strathspey and probably others, see https://thesession.org/tunes/9755 for a few ideas. If the OP is particularly interested in this book just for the one tune, it might help to know if the arrangement in the book is similar to that in the film. Perhaps an e-mail to the author directly might be in order?
 
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Some of my students have wanted to learn Colin Tribe arrangements. I've found his stuff to be very... shall I say... "specifically" arranged. Meaning it's painstaking tabbed *just* like the video. This is good if you want to play it as such, but I seldom find that is the most useful approach. For me, learning to play (and teach) in this style of solo arrangements, it's much more useful to have a general outline that I can color myself than scratching my head wondering how to make all the extra stuff in the tab fit. Colin is a great player who has his own style. His style is easy for him to play, but will befuddle the crap out of most others trying to figure it out from a tab.

Just my two cents. Not knocking his stuff at all - it's very high-quality, but over-detailed for casual study use, in my opinion.
 
Some of my students have wanted to learn Colin Tribe arrangements. I've found his stuff to be very... shall I say... "specifically" arranged. Meaning it's painstaking tabbed *just* like the video. This is good if you want to play it as such, but I seldom find that is the most useful approach. For me, learning to play (and teach) in this style of solo arrangements, it's much more useful to have a general outline that I can color myself than scratching my head wondering how to make all the extra stuff in the tab fit. Colin is a great player who has his own style. His style is easy for him to play, but will befuddle the crap out of most others trying to figure it out from a tab.

Just my two cents. Not knocking his stuff at all - it's very high-quality, but over-detailed for casual study use, in my opinion.

Hi Brad,

He's a very good player, though not much smooth dynamics or emotion in the arrangements. A bit like a MIDI file playback that is so very precise.

Sorry, I never make comments as such, but I see what Brad is trying to say.

Feel free (whomever) to critique my tutorial vids as well, but I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Pete
 
OP here.

Yes, I'm interested in just that one tune, "The Keel Row," and I thought if I liked that English folk tune, I might like the others in the book. But after checking out Mr. Tribe's videos and reading that his tabs precisely reflect what he plays in the videos, I'm thinking his arrangements may be well beyond my level. Well, I then did some googling and found a free tab of just the melody. Perhaps a more productive way of learning the song is to work it out for myself, with this free tab as the jump-off point. Nonetheless, thank to everyone for their input and thoughts!
 
Sorry Jon, I wasn't trying to be difficult :eek:

I missed the point you made about actually owning the books. Did you find the tab to be adequate, or do you work from the notation?

Haha, OK! I use the tab, wich is very thorough but being folk there are often techniques that aren't easy to notate in any form, such as the Scottish snaps in this particular arrangement of the Keel Row. Some performance notes are included and I have to listen to the recordings on the CD to replicate some techniques. Personally, I find that a great way to learn.

I don't find the arrangements too difficult or technical but I've been playing fingerstyle guitar from tab for a couple of years.

OP here.

Yes, I'm interested in just that one tune, "The Keel Row," and I thought if I liked that English folk tune, I might like the others in the book. But after checking out Mr. Tribe's videos and reading that his tabs precisely reflect what he plays in the videos, I'm thinking his arrangements may be well beyond my level. Well, I then did some googling and found a free tab of just the melody. Perhaps a more productive way of learning the song is to work it out for myself, with this free tab as the jump-off point. Nonetheless, thank to everyone for their input and thoughts!

I think the arrangements in the book are for players with some experience but glad you found a tab to work on, it's a fun tune, enjoy playing it!
 
Haha, OK! I use the tab, wich is very thorough but being folk there are often techniques that aren't easy to notate in any form, such as the Scottish snaps in this particular arrangement of the Keel Row. Some performance notes are included and I have to listen to the recordings on the CD to replicate some techniques. Personally, I find that a great way to learn.

Excellent, thank you :)

I'll put it on my list of "books to ask for at Christmas" ;)
 
He plays so precise that it creates some kind of unique style. Not too much emotions yet I like the way he does things.
I've purchased a few tab sheets that a play around with. Colin is a great guy to deal with and very helpful.
 
I am glad Colin has taken the time to publish the music. If you can sight read and already play a bit, you don't have to turn into a Colin clone and copy him exactly. You can use his good work to break the ice, and then use the material to come up with your own approach, then mark up a copy so you remember what you did. For a teacher maybe the goal for the students would be to come up with their own arrangement through a learning process based on Colin's work?
Bill. I think that sounds like a good takeaway fro Colin's approach. He has a few picking patterns and strums that you can apply to any arrangement. To learn his strums, you need to look at the videos, but he is generous by having a vid for each tune.
 
Some of Colin's arrangements require a lot of finger stretching I think he wrote them on a soprano uke.
His strumming , picking styles are Colin's unique style. Without his right hand , none of the songs sound right. :-(

Really? The ones I play sound OK. I play them my way but the people I play them for at the pub like them well enough, especially the Irish aires. People who know a lot about these things were particularly impressed by the arrangement of the Dawning of the Day.
 
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