Simple Gifts

An instrumental, played on my Waverly Street #38, a pear-shaped soprano ukulele, strung Low-G by the luthier.

I've only had it a few months, and still haven't gotten used to the low-G, or how tiny and delicate it is.

And while I can't match his fluid style of play, his gracefulness, or his musicianship, the recording of this piece was inspired by Ken Middleton. I didn't use his tabs (although I've been trying to read tab for months... just not there yet.), but I did listen to his video over and over again. I even looked up "Campanella" in the dictionary and on line, because I had no idea what he was talking about.

Now, I do.

Thanks, Ken.

As always, comments, suggestions, criticisms, name-calling and the casting of aspersions are welcome. You can even cast a level-2 healing spell, if you wish.

really nice, Kurt - nice blend of techniques and I dig the low G sound on this tune - think it all hangs together well......

Loved it, Kurt!

Never heard it played low G before, but it seems to work really well for you.

23skidoo said:

really nice, Kurt - nice blend of techniques and I dig the low G sound on this tune - think it all hangs together well......

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Thank you - I never really know how I'm playing something until I go back and look at it - the mix of techniques is just what I do, I guess. Something to fill the hole from the first time I dropped my pick while playing guitar.(g)

I really do like the Waverly Street - thinking of using a D tuning on it though - the low G is just a tad bit loose and rubber-bandy for me...

itsme said:

Loved it, Kurt!

Never heard it played low G before, but it seems to work really well for you.

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Well, thank you very much!

I usually play this on any of the other instruments (it is my "test this uke out" tune, because it has both strumming and picking), but I noticed that the low-G seemed to work, so I tried it. Never really heard it clearly until I recorded it and did a playback, and I was surprised how well it worked.

I'm hoping to be able to do some multitrack recording/ video editing in the future, because I'd like to do this as a multi-part, using the Waverly street as the anchor, and the rest of the ukuleles playing off of it. Especially the Sceptre and Firefly, both of which sound super when I play this.

Kurt, I really enjoyed your performance. It was brilliant. You showed a wonderful command of several difficult techniques. I would like to hear lots more of the same.

Nice job as always Kurt! That's a uke I have never seen before!

Very nice indeed! Loved the variety as well as the sound of the low G. Thanks for sharing.

Great stuff here Kurt! When I was a wee lad...we had this hippie music teacher who would rock this on the Autoharp for us, and I have loved it since then. You did such a great job picking it out- one of the first instrumentals I learned (my version ain't a spot on this) from Ken's great tabs.

Thanks, everyone.

I stumbled on playing Simple Gifts quite by accident last summer. While I was out in San Jose, helping care for my father-in-law, I attended the San Jose Ukulele Club meetings (Hi, Gillian!). One evening, during a break, I was noodling around on my FireFly, when I realized I was playing the melody for Simple Gifts. One of the other players overheard it, and we actually realized what it was at about the same time.

Since then, I've made a point of using it as my "try this out" ukulele tune, since it has both strumming and picking. This is the tune that resonated so much through the Sceptre when I was playing that made me wonder if I'd found The Grail.

And I really hate to say it folks, but it is totally by ear. I'm working on using Ken's tabs, but haven't quite gotten there yet - maybe because it is a different key, and so I'm hearing it wrong.

And I really do love hearing Ken Middleton play this song - that's why I can say he inspired it.

Very nice! Tasty pear! :shaka:

Lovely! And that is a neat shaped uke.