Do you have anything you play when demo'ing ukes or showing off?

uke4life

uke4life

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Do you have anything you play when demo'ing ukes or showing skills?

I wanted to see what others play when testing out ukes or showing skills:eek: :cool: I tend to just play some basic chord progressions and scales.
 
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I don't show off 'cause I gots nuttin' to show. When I'm trying out a ukulele though I tend to play through Hotel California (Em version). Why? Because it's something that's easy to play, sounds like you halfway know what you're doing, and a ukulele that will sound good playing that mix of open and barre chords, arpeggiated and strummed, is going to sound good playing most anything.

John
 
I show people videos of Jake and Aldrine etc... Cuz I'm not worthy :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:
 
I usually play some licks and strum the hawaiian vamp in C lol. If I'm really trying to impress I'll play the beginning part of Orange World (the pull-off part). That usually impresses people cuz it's MUCH easier than it looks haha!
 
I'll often play one of my original instrumental songs or this instrumental segment of Genesis' "Supper's Ready"
 
Great question! I don't show off, but if I'm taking an ukulele for a test drive, I usually play "All My Loving" (in C) because it was the first song I learned and it has enough challenging chord transitions (from Dm to Bb and from Bb to G, for example)for me to test the playability of the neck and fretboard. I'll also usually play some Hawaiian vamps (G7-C7-F, or D7-G7-C, for example) using a Hawaiian strum to get a feel for how "Hawaiian" the ukulele sounds. I may also play some specific chords (Bb, Cm, diminished chords) to get a sense of the ukulele's voice. I'll then do some fingerpicking, usually playing the C scale and/or the melody to "Deck The Halls" (only because I have it memorized), and I'll play the chords for "He Aloha Mele" (because we do that in my ukulele class so I can compare in my head) using an arpeggio strum.
 
To test out a uke, I will play "Simple Gifts" - the (admittedly) mutable version I play includes fingerpicking, strumming, drop-thumb frailing, and what I've been told are "chord melodies", so I get to try lots of things.

Showing off, well... "I don't want to set the world on fire", "Java Jive", 12-bar blues in A with turnaround, a little ragtime ("Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" or "Diddy-wah-diddy"), some country ( "Rocky Top", "Dueling Banjos", "Gentle On My Mind", "Hey Good Lookin' ") and lately "Different Drum".

But I rarely show off around people who can 1) play an instrument, or b) sing on key. It is too embarrassing when your Show-Off Moves take on the appearance and coordination of a one-legged coyote swinging desperately at a handful of wire.

(An example: At the uke club the other night, I was encouraged to take a lead line during "Blues In The Bottle" - and got my fretting fingers stuck between a pair of strings.)



-Kurt​
 
You Ain't Nothin' But a Hound Dog, Don't Worry Be Happy, Bad Moon Rising, or the song I wrote, The Patient.
 
uke4life said:
x2 Where did you find the version you're using?
Click to expand...

Honestly, I've had it for quite a while and I don't recall exactly where I got it. I think it might have been a transcription of the UOoGB version, I'm not sure.

Anyway, here it is (the parts in italics are where I 'fingerpick' an arpeggio, the rest is strummed).

[Em]On a dark desert highway, [B7]cool wind in my hair
[Bm7]Warm smell of colitas, [A]rising up through the air
[C]Up ahead in the distance, [G]I saw a shim-mering light
[A]My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
[B7]I had to stop for the night.

[Em]There she stood in the doorway; [B7]I heard the mission bell
[Bm7]And I was thinking to myself;
'This could be [A]heaven or this could be hell'
[C]Then she lit up a candle and she [G]showed me the way
[A]There wre voices down the corridor,
I [B7]thought I heard them say...

[C]'Welcome to the Hotel Californ[G]ia, [B7]Such a lovely place (echo)
[Em]Such a lovely place. [C]Plenty of room at the Hotel Californ[G]ia
Any [A]time of year (echo) You can [B7]find it here'

[Em]Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, [B7]she got the Mercedes Benz
[Bm7]She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, [A]that she calls friends
[C]How they dance in the courtyard, [G]sweet summer sweat.
[A]Some dance to remember, [B7]some dance to forget

[Em]So I called up the Captain, [B7]'Please bring me my wine'
He said, 'We [Bm7]haven't had that spirit here since [A]nineteen sixty-nine
[C]And still those voices are calling from [G]far away,
[A]Wake you up in the middle of the night,
[B7]Just to hear them say...

[C]'Welcome to the Hotel Californ[G]ia, [B7]Such a lovely place (echo)
[Em]Such a lovely face. [C]They're livin' it up at the Hotel Californ[G]ia
What a [A]nice surprise (echo) Bring your [B7]alibis.'

[Em]Mirrors on the ceiling, [B7]the pink champagne on ice
And she said, [Bm7]'We are all just prisoners here, [A]of our own device.'
[C]And in the master's chambers, [G]They gathered for the feast
[A]They stab it with their steely knives,
But they [B7]just can't kill the beast

[Em]Last thing I remember, I was [B7]running for the door
[Bm7]I had to find the passage back to the [A]place I was before
[C]'Relax,' said the night man, 'We are [G]programmed to receive;
[A]You can check-out any time you like,
[B7]but you can never leave!'

C G B7 Em C G A B7 (repeat to fade)
 
I definitely don't show off :)

My go-to songs for trying out a uke are a chord melody of Ain't She Sweet, the chord progression for Five Foot Two, and the lead from a duet of Bach's Minuet in G - these are among the (very) few things I have memorized.
 
I'm not good enough to show off. But in testing a uke, I usually play the fingerpicking intro to Europa by Herb Ohta Jr., the version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Brittni Paiva or play Paris Nocturne by Ukulele Mike - since I have those memorized. For chords, usually a Hawaiian Vamp or two, then some four fingered chords like Cdim.
 
I was in Hawaii last week and checked out some ukes from a couple of shops. I was actually wondering what I should play to test out the ukes since actually trying out ukes is such a rare occasion for me. I think I ended up playing a lot of Ukulolo (burger), Jake's version of Rolling in the Deep, and Bruce Shimabukuro's Cognito Town, plus whatever came to mind while I was testing out the ukes.
 
Jingle Bells in the key of Gm [0-3-3-3] The G major is the bell I ring after strumming jin-gle-bells ^^^ G vvv G jin *5 +3 + 5 *2 oh what fun is [o-4-4-4]. After slowly finishing it, I crank it up in a bossa-nova beat. *(1st string) +2nd string. When they get the uke, we start of with a horrible thing called a barr chord...but they don't know any better. then some note picking. then a rhythm change. The don't hear "You can't do that...that's too advanced for you!"
 
To try out an instrument, I always play some classical, some jazz (usually Misty with my Kimo Hussey tribute solo), a little rock (I know very little). I want to know if I can bend the notes, if it has tone color I want for the jazz, if it has the clarity for Bach, if I have room for my fingers for picking, how hard it is to barre chords up near the headstock. I always play John Lennon 'cause I like John Lennon. I want to see how I like singing with it. I never worry about volume, though.

For showing off, I play whatever I've been practicing most successfully. (But, I never show off for other ukulele players.)
 
OldePhart said:
Honestly, I've had it for quite a while and I don't recall exactly where I got it. I think it might have been a transcription of the UOoGB version, I'm not sure.

Anyway, here it is (the parts in italics are where I 'fingerpick' an arpeggio, the rest is strummed).

[Em]On a dark desert highway, [B7]cool wind in my hair
[Bm7]Warm smell of colitas, [A]rising up through the air..............................
Click to expand...


What picking pattern do you use? T I M A?
 
I play C, F, G7, C every time I pick up any ukulele. It's the perfect demo, too. If softly strumming C, F, G7, C chords doesn't sound good on a uke, it must not be a good uke.
 
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