Vintage Ukulele Ike song books for the uke 1-2-3

Howie1947

Howie1947

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My wife just gave 3 old uke books by Cliff Edwards. Considering these are 60 to 70 yrs old, I feel quite fortunate to get them.They are in amazingly good condition too. Have any of you seen them or have them. I'd like to know.
 
Those are great books. (I've got Volumes 1 and 2; my local library has Vol. 3.)

Congratulations and enjoy a little Ja-Da!
 
Awesome Howie! Congratulations mate, happy days!

Only a couple of months back I was trying to learn the old tune of Cliff's called 'Sunday' and was fortunate enough to have a fellow UU member help me out with the chords from a copy she had of one of the volumes.

Since then I was given all 3 by Eugenie for Christmas. Like yours, all in fantastic condition. She got them from a couple of different sellers , second-hand, via Amazon. I have them babied in some plastic sleeves and have already had tons of fun with them...many I didn't know before too which has made it even better.

Man, Ike is just a goldmine eh. :)
 
Great ! I suggest you scan them and share the pdf if you're ok. It would be a great sharing B-)
 
I loooove me some Cliff Edwards!

Now I must find a copy of these!
 
Wondering if I should buy these myself. Do the books have tabs or is it just sheet music style? Kind of important for me since I can't read music.
 
I don't think these are available for purchase, that's why they are a rare fine. no longer in print.

hopkid said:
Wondering if I should buy these myself. Do the books have tabs or is it just sheet music style? Kind of important for me since I can't read music.
Click to expand...
 
Olarte said:
I don't think these are available for purchase, that's why they are a rare fine. no longer in print.
Click to expand...

Rewording my original post (thanks Olarte!):

Wondering if I should look for/buy them via Amazon, et. al. for myself. Can anyone who has them tell me if the books have tabs or is it just sheet music style?
 
I have all three including multiple copies of book 1. They have been long out of print, but they turn up on eBay quite often. Book 3 is partuclarly hard to find. Jumpin' Jim Beloff included several of these arrangements in his first book "Ukulele Favorites" which is still in print. The arrangements in these books are very nice with lyrics, melodies and chord frames, but be aware that book 1 is in three different tunings while books 2 and 3 are in D tuning (A-D-F#-B). There is already a scanned version of these online which I will post here once I find them.

BTW I am of the opinion that Cliff Edwards had little to do with these books other than having his name and picture on the cover and perhaps suggeting the songs. These are still among my favorite vintage ukulele songbook though.

- Steve
 
Here they are :)

I have scans of these books on the Tampa Bay Ukulele Society meetup page. I have just changed the settings so anyone can download a copy. Here's the link.

- Steve
 
If you can figure out his tuning (usually Bb and sometimes A, I think), try taking a crack at learning by ear. You'll have a more "Cliff" like sound and it will make you a better player. You can always use the charts as a guide to get you started, though. Also, I believe he often played a Martin concert. Good luck!
 
strombolimusik said:
If you can figure out his tuning (usually Bb and sometimes A, I think), try taking a crack at learning by ear. You'll have a more "Cliff" like sound and it will make you a better player. You can always use the charts as a guide to get you started, though. Also, I believe he often played a Martin concert. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Cliff Edwards played Martin sopranos early in his career and later switched to a Martin tenor which he tuned quite low at times. He employed a variety of tunings, basically tuning his uke to match the background instruments so that he could use the same chord shapes in a variety of keys. If you watch his left hand in his filmed performances, he always seems to be playing in the key of C (if his uke were tuned GCEA). He emlpoyed a lot of slides and sophisticated right hand techniques including fingerpicking and a backwards roll stroke that started with the pinky instead of the index finger.

As I mentioned earlier, I think he had little or nothing to do with the actual musical arrangements in those books and the ukulele chords shown bear little resemblence to the ones he employed on his recordings. If you do try to figure out what he is actual playing, trying tuning your uke to the tonic chord.

- Steve
 
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