"Eleventh Season of the Ukulele Contest"

OldePhart

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"Twelve-bar Blues for a Blue Ukulele and Twelve Strings"

The RULES:

1) One take. Doesn't have to be the first take but does have to be a single take with no dubs or cuts, etc. Must be a new video recorded for this contest - no recycling earlier videos. Don't forget the magic words spoken in the intro!
2) Uke must be primary featured instrument though you can include other instruments. Vocals optional.
3) Keep it family friendly! And I don't mean the Manson family! I don't want to hear my four year old grandson singing something questionable that he's seen on my channel!
3) Enter by posting your video on youtube and putting a post here in this thread with a link to the video.
4) Entry must be posted on youtube and entered here by midnight, Hawaiian time, Sunday night (i.e. when Sunday May 6th ends in Hawaii).
5) Must speak the magic words at the beginning of the video. The magic words are "eleventh season of the ukulele" or "twelve-bar blues for a blue ukulele and twelve strings" or some readily recognizable form of those.
6) Must be a blues song. What makes a song "blues" - adversity, pain, hardship, etc. That doesn't mean it has to be sad. Many blues songs are about persevering through adversity, pain, hardship, etc. Some would argue those are the best blues songs. But, if you're singing about how often your Porshe is in the shop - it probably ain't blues. If you're singing about your Porshe being in the shop because your woman's other man totaled it with a sledgehammer - that might be blues.
7) Must fit the "12 bar blues format." A bridge outside the format is permitted, but most of the song should fit the 12-bar blues format. What is 12-bar blues? Twelve bar blues refers to a specific "formula" where each verse or chorus of a song is 12 bars long and follows the formula I I I I IV IV I I V IV I V. That alone doesn't make a song blues, nor do all blues songs follow that formula, but it's a very common forumula in blues and rock. Allowed (for this contest) variations include the fourth in the second measure (i.e. I IV I I IV IV I I V IV I V) and omission of the V turnaround (i.e. the last two measures being I I instead of I V).
8) Any "style" is appropriate within that format. Slow, fast, straight timing, swing or shuffle rhythms, strumming, picking, clawhammer, any variation or combination of the above.
9) One entry per person - you can enter more times, but your last entry will be the one scored.
10) Five percent bonus on your score for singing either an original or something so ancient I haven't heard it.

Scoring

Scoring will be a little different. First, I'm going to have a handful of parameters like vocal quality (if present), instrumental quality, etc. Everybody will start with five points in each category, and I'll subtract if you do not so well a that particular thing or add if you do really well at that particular thing. Your total score will then be the AVERAGE of the PARAMETERS THAT APPLY TO YOU. I.e. if you don't sing it won't count for or against you. If you do a super fancy riff but mess it up - it may actually cause your instrumental score to be lower than that of somebody who plays a more simple arrangement but nails it flawlessly.

What all this boils down to is I want to score based on how well you carry off what you chose to do, rather than how "amazing" one video is when compared to others. Why? Well, for one thing I think it will open the winning possibilities up to a wider field. Secondly, real blues has never been about flash - it's about feeling.

Finally, after scoring, the top 10 percenters are going into a pool, from which I'll draw the winner randomly. The pool will be comprised of the top ten percent of the entries plus one (see the table below). Why? We've seen a lot of people entering these contests and getting really good. Scoring is tough - I learned that last year when I ran the hymn contest. Typically, the top several entries are separated by less than a point. This makes it easier on me to feel like I'm giving everybody that is near the top of the heap a fair shake at winning. BTW, if the last person who would be included in the pool is in a tie both people will go in and we'll have one more than planned.

ENTRIES # IN POOL
<11 2 (1 for the 10 percent, plus 1)
11-20 3 (2 for the 10 percent, plus 1)
21-30 4 (you better get it by now...)

The Prize

A blue Dolphin bridge ukulele, set up by yours truly so it is at least playable, plus two extra packages of Aquila strings (i.e. 4 strings on uke plus 8 in packages gives you the "12 strings for 12 bars" component of the contest theme). If someone across one of the ponds should happen to win I'll pay standard shipping but if you want it shipped express you'll have to cough up the shipping fee. Also, I'll mark it as a gift since it is free - I think that is legal for most country's import rules. If it's not for yours let me know and I'll declare the value.

The Video Playlist

Here's a link to the playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=109N0uPMrjk&list=PL725036DDEB3CB4C9&feature=view_all if you submit a video and it doesn't show up in there after a couple of days I may have somehow missed it so send me a PM (work is kind of crazy right now).

John
 
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With as much time there is until the awards, could it be a Mya-Moe?
 
Okay, rules are up! (See original post.)

I'd planned to add a video showing the prize but I've been working all stinking day so I've had no time. Maybe I'll get one up later.

Let's all have fun and be safe out there... :)

John
 
I don't understand 12 bar blues. Can I send you the song I'm thinking about, and you tell me if it counts?
 
awesome idea John and beautifully thought out. This will be interesting and difficult trying to choose a song...some fast blues 101 learning will be required to do this well methinks....aaaaarrrgghhh!! Exciting, thanks for the super contest brother. Looking forward to everyone's entries :)
 
If I understand this correctly, the cover of Steve Martin's "King Tut" that I did for the 1st Season of the Ukulele would count as a 12-bar blues. Hmm. It's not exactly Robert Johnson.
 
I don't understand 12 bar blues. Can I send you the song I'm thinking about, and you tell me if it counts?

Basically, it it's a bluesy theme and the song repeats the pattern of four bars of the I chord, two of the IV chord, two of the I chord, one of the V one of the IV one of the I and one of the V it counts. The song I wrote for the ninth season is one example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElylfvtM40 it's in C and after the intro the bars go C, C, C, C, F, F, C, C, G, F, C, G through each verse. I use a kind of bouncy shuffle with the sixth and dominant seventh chords but that's not what makes it 12 bar blues - it's those underlying chord degrees. You could play that chord pattern with a slow picking pattern and it would still be "12 bar blues."

There are thousands of blues and rock songs that use this pattern and I'm not going to quibble over the difference between blues and rock or pop too awfully much unless a song is just so "bubbly happy" that it would have blues men rolling over in their graves. :)

JOhn
 
Death don't have no mercy

This song is one of the most popular or Rev Gary Davis' Holy Blues.
The term "Holy Blues" was created to describe the style of Rev Gary Davis.
The style of the song is blues orientated yet the message is religious.

A great live version of the song by Rev Gary Davis on a 12 string guitar and
of course anything the Rev. does then the Grateful Dead have to do as well.

 
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Thanks for throwing down this week's gauntlet, John!

Question: A lot of songwriters have adapted the 12 bar blues slightly, so there are some great songs out there that almost, but don't quite, fit the format you laid out. Is it okay if we re-adapt one of those back into the standard 12 bar format you laid out?

3) Keep it family friendly! And I don't mean the Manson family! I don't want to hear my four year old grandson singing something questionable that he's seen on my channel!

So I guess Afroman's "Because I Got High" is out of the question.:cool:
 
This some is one of the most popular or Rev Gary Davis' Holy Blues.
The term "Holy Blues" was created to describe the style of Rev Gary Davis.
The style of the song is blues orientated yet the message is religious.

A great live version of the song by Rev Gary Davis on a 12 string guitar and
of course anything the Rev. does then the Grateful Dead have to do as well.



I really enjoyed that. Nice and slow, mournful singing, just the right amount of reverb. Very nice!
 
Thanks for throwing down this week's gauntlet, John!

Question: A lot of songwriters have adapted the 12 bar blues slightly, so there are some great songs out there that almost, but don't quite, fit the format you laid out. Is it okay if we re-adapt one of those back into the standard 12 bar format you laid out?

I think that would be great. Kind of take the blues back to its roots. I'm not going to be super-critical about fitting the pattern because I know there are some other popular deviations - if it's syncopated or they toss in an extra chord for flavor that's cool as long as it adheres pretty close to the 12-bar format.

So I guess Afroman's "Because I Got High" is out of the question.:cool:

Yeah...along with Dr. Hook's "I Got High and I Missed It" and about a billion others. References to alcohol, even obscure references to drugs, are okay - this is the blues after all. Just trying to keep out the obviously foul language and sexual inuendo, if present (as it often is in the blues), should be subtle.
 
This song is one of the most popular or Rev Gary Davis' Holy Blues.
The term "Holy Blues" was created to describe the style of Rev Gary Davis.
The style of the song is blues orientated yet the message is religious.

A great live version of the song by Rev Gary Davis on a 12 string guitar and
of course anything the Rev. does then the Grateful Dead have to do as well.



Loved it Rob - a great start out of the gate. Great job with a great song - very soulful. Rev. Gary Davis is one of my favorite trad blues men. The "Saints and Sinners" compilation of his stuff is amazingly good listening in spite of the sometimes poor audio quality of the recordings, in fact, I think I may just go have a listen!

John
 
This song is one of the most popular or Rev Gary Davis' Holy Blues.
The term "Holy Blues" was created to describe the style of Rev Gary Davis.
The style of the song is blues orientated yet the message is religious.

A great live version of the song by Rev Gary Davis on a 12 string guitar and
of course anything the Rev. does then the Grateful Dead have to do as well.



That was some pretty cool singing I listened to it a few times
 
Loved it Rob - a great start out of the gate. Great job with a great song - very soulful. Rev. Gary Davis is one of my favorite trad blues men. The "Saints and Sinners" compilation of his stuff is amazingly good listening in spite of the sometimes poor audio quality of the recordings, in fact, I think I may just go have a listen!

John

He is one of my favourite blues singers. There is a session of him singing
on the Pete Seeger show and a young Donovan is there sort of gob-smacked
as the Rev plays a song that he says "come to me by the Holy Spirit".
He then roars through a rendition of "oh glory how happy I am"

That voice is so powerful, in the chorus it is like a circular saw cutting through
a 2x4. He sings it with such conviction, and his theology is spot on.
 
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