Is it possible to play blues ukulele?

drtortoise

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Someone asked me if it is possible to play blues on the ukulele, because the ukulele always sounds so "happy". I want to say yes, but I'm just starting out. Maybe some of you could reccomed some good blues ukulele songs (on youtube perhaps) that I could show him?

Thanks
 
Depends what you mean by "blues". To some it is just a simple set of chords - to others it is more akin to a religion.

Ukantor.
 
And for many many others it's the music you play when you hit middle age and have to abandon your rock and roll dreams.

One of the greatest misconceptions about Blues as a genre by folks unfamiliar with it is that it is "sad music". "Blues" is kind of a catch-all label that encompasses a huge variety of sounds and styles that cover the whole range of human emotion and lyrical content (see also "Jazz" and "Rock and Roll") It traditionally has a few conventions as far as to chord structures (ala Country and Western) but it's not bound by them. It's music.

The other great misconception is that it's music made by older players. Most of that stems from the great Blues and Folk revival of the early 60's when the next generation tracked down some of the original recording artists like Skip James & Mississippi John Hurt and brought them out of retirement to tour colleges and such. While their prime recordings were all done as young men, but most people weren't aware of them until they were in their retirement years a few decades later. The biggest recording heyday for Blues really was in the 1920's & 30's.

I personally like my Blues Pre-War with a few bits here and there up into the early 60's.

and I apologize for the editorial rant. It's just one of those things that get my Music Obsessed Archival blood worked up.( just don't start in about NYC being the place where Punk Rock originated from and nobody gets hurt)
 
There are also many country/flok blues songs that might work, although I can't think of any at the moment.
 
You can play anything on uke!

I wrote a funny blues song on ukulele.

http://www.myspace.com/officialjessievalentinemusic

It is easiest to play blues in A on a uke. It can be played in any key but in A you can easily add tricks to make it more interesting.

Standard blues format is

A 8 count

A 8 count

D 8 count

A 8 count

E 4 count

D7 4 count

A 4 count

E7 4 count

Repeat

There are tons of variations but this will get you started. If you can play this you can play anything from Bessie Smith to Hank William to Sublime.
 
You can play blues (and most other genres) on anything* if you put your mind to it.

If I had the gear to make a video, I'd grind something out for you, but as a cheap substitute you can search YouTube for "blues ukulele" and you'll find lots of examples.

*Edit: I take that back. I'm reasonably sure you can't play the blues on a gong.

--Mark
 
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PLenty of blues talk already here. Search.

I've been a blues player for forty years, and currently teach a class called Ukulele Blues regularly. Just do it!
 
Really? I realize this is in the beginners section but a quick search on Google or YouTube will keep you busy for hours.
Sorry if I offended you, asking the experts it's always much more effcient than googleing. But I didn't mean to offend. I just thought people would be happy to help?
 
I don't know if you're much into book learning, but Al from UkeHunt has a great e-book on how to play ukulele blues - linked above by redsedge.

Myself, I like being able to break away from the computer screen whenever I can, so I printed the book out and it can go wherever I go - outside, friends' house, etc.


This book starts out pretty basic, but gets advanced by the end.

good luck
 
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