John King's "Classical Ukulele" book

itsme

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Thanks to Lori for recommending this to me in another thread.

But it was after hearing the man himself play the Bach cello prelude that I decided I had to buy the book, since I couldn't find a free tab for it anywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=935ExOpT5bI

Now, we all have choices when it comes to buying many things. I opted to buy it directly from Mr. King's own site.

http://www.nalu-music.com/

And talk about great customer service! I ordered late on the 7th, it shipped the 8th, I got it on the 10th (from Florida to California). Shipping was only $2, but the envelope said they paid $4.80 for USPS Priority Mail.

Sure, you could buy the same book from Amazon, and the publisher and author will get a cut. But maybe not as big of a cut as buying it direct. I would like to think that Mr. King's estate/family got a little more because I bought it from his site.

Just something to think about when you're buying CDs or books.

BTW, this book comes with a CD and I called my husband (who is not a musician) over to put on my headphones and listen to some of the Bach prelude. I fully expected it to last a few seconds and have him say "that's nice" and walk away. He listened for probably a whole minute, smiled, and said "Someday you'll be able to play it like that", which is about as close to an endorsement of the uke as I'm ever going to get from him. :)
 
Great book! The cd is recorded with a concert fluke strung with Aquila strings. I'm currently working on the Tarantella Italiana. Years of work in this marvelous book. His Famous Solos and Duets is top notch too.
Regards,
Ray
 
...
BTW, this book comes with a CD and I called my husband (who is not a musician) over to put on my headphones and listen to some of the Bach prelude. I fully expected it to last a few seconds and have him say "that's nice" and walk away. He listened for probably a whole minute, smiled, and said "Someday you'll be able to play it like that", which is about as close to an endorsement of the uke as I'm ever going to get from him. :)

That is a pretty awesome endorsement. So...when do we get to see your first video?:rock:
 
The cd is recorded with a concert fluke strung with Aquila strings. I'm currently working on the Tarantella Italiana. Years of work in this marvelous book. His Famous Solos and Duets is top notch too.
Thanks for that info. I'm still new to the uke, I have a tenor (that I won in a drawing) and have a hard time discerning between the sopranos and concerts based on just looking at them if there's nothing next to them for direct comparison sizewise.

Proportionately, a 5' woman with a soprano might look relatively the same as a 6'5" man with a concerto, but then, no one ever states their height in their videos. :D

I'll check out the Tarantella you mentioned and his other book. But to be honest, this book is a little more advanced than I am (yet!) after only a few hours of playing time. But I will get there. :)

And KC8AFW, I've never recorded anything on my PC before. It's going to take some time for me to figure this out. I know our digicam has some type of video capabilities, I also have a webcam (sent to me to do some online focus group - I haven't used since this new build, so I don't even have it installed) and there's a cheapie mic he bought for playing WoW. Hopefully, I should be able to figure out something else eventually.

If all else fails, or I want to go for the whole enchilada, I have a good friend who's an engineer and probably has more recording equipment in his living room than many studios. I could probably con him into recording me, he'd probably think it was a hoot. :)
 
High G, but it also includes full standard notation as well as tab.
 
Thanks for that info.
I'll check out the Tarantella you mentioned and his other book. But to be honest, this book is a little more advanced than I am (yet!) after only a few hours of playing time. But I will get there. :)

Most pieces in this book are advanced. Danny Boy and the first two sections of the Chopstick Waltz are more approachable than anything else in the book. The other book has at least 6 easier pieces. The thing to remember is the pieces in these books are not ordered easiest to hardest.The cds are great to listen to in the mean time.
Regards,
Ray
 
to be honest, this book is a little more advanced than I am (yet!) after only a few hours of playing time. But I will get there. :)

Its a great book, the CD is awesome, but it really is kinda hard for a beginner. I ended up with another book/CD that's more noob-friendly that is serving as a stepping-stone so that I can move on to Classical Ukulele. Learn To Play Fingerstyle Solos for Ukulele by Mark Kailana Nelson. There's more hints and suggestions on chord fingerings and picking than in King's book. Don't get me wrong, I love Classical Ukulele! My favorite is Sakura. Its just REALLY hard for me to play.
 
mahalo for the link to nalu music. interesting going through his page. sad to find out he lived in `ewa beach, would have loved to wala`u with him about there.
 
Hey, KC8AFW, I farted around with the USB mic and Audacity tonight and I can record! Woohoo! :p

Never mind that I sucked, but give me a couple days and I'll have something. :)

What's a good place to host an mp3 for posting here?
 
Hey, KC8AFW, I farted around with the USB mic and Audacity tonight and I can record! Woohoo! :p

Never mind that I sucked, but give me a couple days and I'll have something. :)

What's a good place to host an mp3 for posting here?

Try box.net, itsme. :)
 
Hey, KC8AFW, I farted around with the USB mic and Audacity tonight and I can record! Woohoo! :p

Never mind that I sucked, but give me a couple days and I'll have something. :)

What's a good place to host an mp3 for posting here?

That is so awesome. Can't wait to hear it. I've been trying to get the video thing going...but haven't had much luck yet. Tried it with my digital camera, but the audio was too quiet.


Seeso is da man. :shaka:
 
Well, a couple of potential snags...

I tried to export a file from Audacity as an MP3 and it says it can't find the lame_enc.dll, which I swore I also downloaded at the same time (months ago and hadn't really tried the program). So I download it, reboot, tell Audacity where to find it and still a no-go. It lets me export to WAV format, but I think MP3 would be better for general web users. I'm thinking I'll probably just completely uninstall the program, re-download and start over. (Not tonight, though.)

Secondly, I realized that I'm going to have issues because the uke is fairly quiet and the cheapie USB mic isn't exactly the greatest. Of course, the mic is tethered to the PC, which limits how far away I can get from the PC to record. My PC is nicknamed "the dustbuster" after the handheld vacuum because it's rather on the loud side, so it's going to contribute some unwanted background noise. :eek:

But eventually I'll get there. :)

And thanks, seeso, for the heads up on box.net. Much appreciated.
 
Secondly, I realized that I'm going to have issues because the uke is fairly quiet and the cheapie USB mic isn't exactly the greatest. Of course, the mic is tethered to the PC, which limits how far away I can get from the PC to record. My PC is nicknamed "the dustbuster" after the handheld vacuum because it's rather on the loud side, so it's going to contribute some unwanted background noise. :eek:

Getting a descent recording can take time. I have been stisfied with the videos I've recorded with my Canon Powershot digital camera. The video files save as AVI so I had to download MPEG Streamclip (Freeware) to convert the AVI files. MPEG Streamclip converts to multiple formats.

For me, after figuring out how to record, the problem becomes being satisfied with recording enough to keep and use it.

"The Dustbuster" reminds me of a recent recording experience where I spent several hours and multiple takes (7 or 8) to record a tune and after importing and converting I find that sitting the camera under the monitor was a mistake. The mic picked up my computer running and ruined the sound. Other recordings have come out very good. I even recorded on the beach and the audio was surprisingly good. Sorry, I guess this is no help if you don't have a digital camera.
Good luck making it all work.

Regards,
Ray
 
Sure, you could buy the same book from Amazon, and the publisher and author will get a cut. But maybe not as big of a cut as buying it direct. I would like to think that Mr. King's estate/family got a little more because I bought it from his site.

Just something to think about when you're buying CDs or books.
:)

I sell a few books via Amazon each month. Their service and company are solid. But as a small publisher, it almost costs me money to sell books through them. When someone buys direct from my site (no shameless plug inserted), the buyer can get their book personalized and I get to keep the few dollars that Amazon would have charged. It makes a difference.

If you can, direct your dollars to as few people as possible by buying direct. In this case, John King estate.
 
It lets me export to WAV format, but I think MP3 would be better for general web users.

If you can export as WAV, you can convert that file to MP3, yeah?
 
<snip>
Sorry, I guess this is no help if you don't have a digital camera.
Actually, Ray, you gave some great advice there, thanks! :)

We do have a fairly new Lumix digital camera with video capabilities, but I've only used it a few times. Then when I've gone to download the pics, my husband just says "Here, I'll do that for you" so I'm a bit in the dark about it all. I suppose I just need to sit down with the manual and edumacate myself. Then I'll have to figure out how to set it up for the best angle and distance for sound. But at least that could be set up so noise from the dustbuster wouldn't be a factor... either turn it off or record in another room. :)

We've got an unfinished vacant room downstairs with newly installed laminate hardwood floors. I've heard of people recording in hallways or bathrooms for better sound, as opposed to carpet, drapes and furnishing absorbing some of the sound. What do you think?

If you can export as WAV, you can convert that file to MP3, yeah?
I'm sure I could, but why use yet another program? I did the complete uninstall, re-download and reinstall and had the same problem where after locating the lame_enc.dll file it said "could not open MP3 encoding library."

So I downloaded the lame zip file instead of the exe and that fixed the problem! Yay!
 
We've got an unfinished vacant room downstairs with newly installed laminate hardwood floors. I've heard of people recording in hallways or bathrooms for better sound, as opposed to carpet, drapes and furnishing absorbing some of the sound. What do you think?

If you've got no way to add reverb after the fact, then yeah, I'd say go for the vacant room sound.

I'm sure I could, but why use yet another program? I did the complete uninstall, re-download and reinstall and had the same problem where after locating the lame_enc.dll file it said "could not open MP3 encoding library."

So I downloaded the lame zip file instead of the exe and that fixed the problem! Yay!

Yay! :nana:
 
Actually, Ray, you gave some great advice there, thanks! :)

We've got an unfinished vacant room downstairs with newly installed laminate hardwood floors. I've heard of people recording in hallways or bathrooms for better sound, as opposed to carpet, drapes and furnishing absorbing some of the sound. What do you think?

Glad it helped. Try recording in different places. Play the same short passage or sing and play a verse of something you know well. One place may stand out or you may find the camera does well anywhere. Recording is such an art and a science. A good sound man makes all the difference. I am not that man. I've worked with a few and boy did I sound good. I would like to take some classes in recording and live sound work some day, just to know more about it. For now, the Canon will do. I'm expecting a new uke tomorrow. I'll record something and post it. Haven't done that in a while.
Regards,
Ray
 
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