If a book of Ukulele Music came out, what would you want it to be?

pulelehua

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I'm trying to do a book a year. So far so good. 2 for 2. Plus my arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. So 2.5 for 2. Last time, I asked what you lovely people wanted. You said Duets, so I wrote duets.

This time, I'd like to make it a three-part question:

1. How many ukuleles? (i.e. Solos, Duets, Trios, etc.)

2. What style? (i.e. various, screamo, etc.)

3. What difficulty? (i.e. easy, all fingerpicking, chord solos, etc.)


Thanks once again for your wisdom and input.

John
 
John, thankyou for your wonderful work thus far and some outstanding arrangements.

My great interest is in music from the teens, twenties and thirties so my desire would be for a book of for individual players combining chord solos and melody (fingerpicking) on old-school jazz and blues numbers, maybe a bit of ragtime and vaudeville stuff thrown in. Perhaps not as challenging for you as some of your other stuff, but might be a lot of fun nonetheless. I would look to market such a book at intermediate players. Though of course how one defines 'intermediate' is another whole discussion itself....Lyle Ritz put out a collection of EASY chord solos which were very challenging!

Looking forward to the next stage of the journey mate, whatever genre and techniques you tackle. :)
 
John,

Thanks for your wonderful work. I would definitely buy the book Eugene asked for. A mix of chord solos and fingerpicking would be nice. One thing that I like about Lyle Ritz's books is that he provides interesting chord voicings. I'd second the idea of marketing to intermediate customers (whatever that is). It's hard to gauge. For me if I can sight read easily through the whole book it is too easy. If the stuff is too hard I tend to go on to other things. I thought the Lyle Ritz EASY chord solos was a bit of a misnomer - easier than his other stuff but clearly intermediate.

What I'm looking for is any kind of music that can be played solo. I want it to be interesting enough to keep me (and any listeners) engaged. It's OK if it is a bit of a stretch so long as it isn't just discouraging. I want ideas that I can incorporate into my playing and apply to my own arrangements. I very much want some jazz and not just classical because the chord voicings from jazz can be applied in interesting ways to popular music.

I'd love more popular songs and contemporary songs. I'm guessing books tend to stay away from these because of copyright issues.
 
I'm trying to do a book a year. So far so good. 2 for 2. Plus my arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. So 2.5 for 2. Last time, I asked what you lovely people wanted. You said Duets, so I wrote duets.

This time, I'd like to make it a three-part question:

1. How many ukuleles? (i.e. Solos, Duets, Trios, etc.)

2. What style? (i.e. various, screamo, etc.)

3. What difficulty? (i.e. easy, all fingerpicking, chord solos, etc.)


Thanks once again for your wisdom and input.

John
1. solos but with a flexibility of going duet
2. modern, love songs, classical
3. fingerpicking, chord solos combination with finger picking...intermediate
 
Solo
Fingerpicking, and fingerpicking with chords
Blues: Blind Willie Johnson, Son House, John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, etc.
Difficulty: don't care

Thanks for asking.
 
Thanks for the thoughts thus far. I totally agree about Lyle Ritz. Easy is just a word made to make us feel inadequate. I sweat ages over his Fly Me to the Moon arrangement from his Jazz book.

Great ideas! Keep 'em coming!
 
Thanks for asking us!

1. Solo, primarily. Some guitar books have a solo line, with optional 2nd and 3rd guitar lines.

2. Various styles. Ironically, the one I'm having the most difficulty finding is traditional, old-school, fingerstyle Hawai'ian mele. But I'm happy with lots of styles.

3. Intermediate to advanced. Full (not simplified) chord changes and/or fingerstyle.

Cool thread!
 
Oh, great thread! Thanks for asking us!

One book I'd like to have is one for playing the uke with another instrument (like maybe guitar, fiddle, mandolin, cello... or even brass instruments in other keys!), which would have arrangements for each instrument in it (but with the uke part in tab format to make it easier for us) and also explain how to best combine different instruments together in general, like how to harmonise nicely, make interesting rhythm combinations and improvise a tiny bit (actually a book specifically about improvisation on the uke would be nice too). It would be useful in order to learn how to best play during jam sessions with other instrumentalists, have a good understanding of their parts and best compliment each other.

Styles: probably standard songs that a lot of people know would be easier to learn from but the styles I'd personally like best for this would be folk music, pop, New Orleans jazz and/or bossa nova :)

Difficulty level: start easy with increased difficulty?
 
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I agree with everyone else. Unless strumming with the group I am enjoying the challenge of adding a little fingerpicking.
I Just bought John Kings Classical book and I love that there are some duets in there some with guitar and some with ukulele too. It will be a challenge to play them and learn them well enough to play with others, but I am looking forward to growing as a player in that respect..
 
- solo
- classical
- fingerpicking

:)


:agree:
Personally, with 2 or 3 levels (individual lines) of difficulty for each
 
pop/rock tunes arranged for fingerstyle solos are the sweetest guilty pleasure...

:agree:
Personally, with 2 or 3 levels (individual lines) of difficulty for each
 
Interesting how many people have talked about increasing difficulty. One of those I read and think, "Why did I never think of that?" This is why I ask you! ;)

I actually didn't ask if people prefer arrangements or originals. I've done almost exclusively originals so far. When I arranged Eine Kleine, it was more fun than I had realised it would be.

If I was to amalgamate what you've said at the moment, I would say a healthy dose of old timey jazz arranged in progressing difficulty would be the winner. So, from simpler fingerpicking to chord soloing (which I really have yet to explore enough myself, so that could be fun - or maybe just progressive chord soloing? Hmmmm).

I love the idea of putting together advice for working with other instruments, but it's a very different sort of project. I need to think about how that could work. Double hmmmm.
 
John, thankyou for your wonderful work thus far and some outstanding arrangements.

My great interest is in music from the teens, twenties and thirties so my desire would be for a book of for individual players combining chord solos and melody (fingerpicking) on old-school jazz and blues numbers, maybe a bit of ragtime and vaudeville stuff thrown in. Perhaps not as challenging for you as some of your other stuff, but might be a lot of fun nonetheless. I would look to market such a book at intermediate players. Though of course how one defines 'intermediate' is another whole discussion itself....Lyle Ritz put out a collection of EASY chord solos which were very challenging!

Looking forward to the next stage of the journey mate, whatever genre and techniques you tackle. :)

Jon, not to hijack the thread, but I would be all over a book by you of your songs !!!!
 
Here's a title about playing ukes that I'd like to see, focusing only on chording an soloing.....are you ready?

"ABOVE THE FIFTH FRET"
 
all of the above with a sprinkling of good old punk thrown in for good measure
 
Here's a title about playing ukes that I'd like to see, focusing only on chording an soloing.....are you ready?

"ABOVE THE FIFTH FRET"

I'd buy that book! :agree:
 
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