Walk'n an Talk'n the Blues

tHeDirTyJoHnSon

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Yo Momma
Blues music has many shapes an forms, that stem to the modern music of today,,
thought i'd start this thread to discuss Blues music thats being played on the ukulele,,
If your a BluesUker, walk'n the walk,, its time to talk the talk
and share the knowledge you know with other ukers and enthusiasts
Share knowledge on,, eg. tunings, technique,scales/pentatonic and tunes
I wish i had someone to show and teach me, when first starting out

To get things start'd, I play slide blues on the ukulele,
http://au.youtube.com/tHeDirTyJoHnSon
from what i have been told,, this is not very common, if any one has any questions,, am more than happy to help out,,,

theres no need to go sell'n your soul to the devil at the crossroads-
if this thread works,, youll have all your ukulele blues needs right here,
Bro. DeeJ:rock:
 
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But your uke'in is freakin KILLER! Never heard ANYTHING like that before.

Steel strings with the slide?
 
When play'n around with a slide, you need to open tune your Uke
(you can slide in standard tuning, but probably for the more advanced)

Open D (D f# A D)

Open E (E g# B E)

Open F (F A C F)

Open G (D G B D)

Open A (E A c# E)

Use these tunings for good and not evil!!!!!:rock:
 
When play'n around with a slide, you need to open tune your Uke
(you can slide in standard tuning, but probably for the more advanced)

Open D (D f# A D)

Open E (E g# B E)

Open F (F A C F)

Open G (D G B D)

Open A (E A c# E)

Use these tunings for good and not evil!!!!!:rock:


Looks like I have an excuse to buy 5 new ukes.
 
nice playing and dude, nice dreads (as far as one could see 'em^^)


but you should edit out the smilie from your first post, it cripples the link... just put a space in between...
 
Looks like I have an excuse to buy 5 new ukes.
haha,, just 2 man..
D, E, F have very similar string pattern,,, G, A similar to
Although, I'm sure Mike from Mainland. would be glad to here you say 5 thanks
 
Thanks for the advice man,, but if you worry'n about dreads, tatts, smiles n bad footage, i think you need to re-look at the title of this thread,,,, its about music!!!

hehe, you're right, but I liked it anyways^^ plus the footage isn't bad. I dig your blues. it's always nice to watch someone doing something he really enjoys, just as you do the blues. I'm not that much into blues, well I like to listen to it but never really played it. (apart from tuesday when I played blues on the bagpipes the very first time...)

it was simply meant as a compliment
 
There's a link on that site that will take you here: http://howtoplayukulele.com/how-to-play-blues-ukulele/

Its a sweet ebook instructional thingy. Good stuff in there, but I got a LOT more practicing to really GET IT.

My picking is S...L....O.......W, my sense of rythm sucks, and I don't have a beard which, from what I have read elsewhere, is essential for proper playing.

I got the learning blues-uke blues:cool:.
 
When play'n around with a slide, you need to open tune your Uke
(you can slide in standard tuning, but probably for the more advanced)

Open D (D f# A D)

Open E (E g# B E)

Open F (F A C F)

Open G (D G B D)

Open A (E A c# E)

Use these tunings for good and not evil!!!!!:rock:

I forgot to note that when using the slide ,,
the trick is to just rest the slide on the string,,,,just rest the slide on the string above the frett,not between frett's, and pluck, pick or strum ,,,you will hear a clearer note,
dont frett with the slide as you would with your fingers
 
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I've been messing around with the blues scales that were here: http://ukulelehunt.com/2008/07/09/ukulelebluesscale/

The solo's don't really seem to be working for me. Are there any tricks or do I just need to put the time in and mess around until it works? If a song is in Dm (Dm A7 Gm), would I use the D scale or does the minor make it different? I haven't changed the tuning on my other ukulele yet... and haven't gotten around to trying out the slide. Baby steps.
 
I've been messing around with the blues scales that were here: http://ukulelehunt.com/2008/07/09/ukulelebluesscale/

The solo's don't really seem to be working for me. Are there any tricks or do I just need to put the time in and mess around until it works? If a song is in Dm (Dm A7 Gm), would I use the D scale or does the minor make it different? I haven't changed the tuning on my other ukulele yet... and haven't gotten around to trying out the slide. Baby steps.

To be totally honest with you ben, i have'nt play'd standard tuning for about 2 yrs now,, I've been concentrating my dark powers of the force strictly on open tunes, so if anybody else can answer this question "please do"
Thats what this thread is about.....how to play them bloooozzzzzz!!
Sorry dude,,, but as soon as you strt using open tunes, n krank that slide out,, i'll be able to help ya out,,,
Bro.D
 
I'm picking up a slide tommorow after work. Do you still use reentrant tuning or is your top string low? any one of those open tunings I should try first or are they pretty much the same?
 
If a song is in Dm (Dm A7 Gm), would I use the D scale or does the minor make it different?

Dm is the relative minor of F. Try the F scale.

F major
F G A Bb C D E

D minor
D E F G A Bb C

Note that neither of these is the "blues pentatonic" scale.

Go and download Curt Sheller's e-book Harmonic Analysis for Scale Selection and Chord Substitution. But do it soon as the link will go away at the end of the month!

It's got some depth to it but it also has some great "cheater pages." Check out the charts on pp 67 and 68. They show all the major and minor scales (with the harmonized chords for each but you can just use the scales too).

Also check out my "Cheater Music Theory" doc. It's on the Ukulele page on my web site.
 
thanks for the links, HH. It seems like alot to wrap my brain around. I've seen your cheater page before (and I also saw your interview on uketoon which was very nice,btw) slowly it seems like I'm getting it... slowly. gimme time.
 
Thanks! Please keep this thread going, I've always wanted to play the blues but always get stuck not knowing what to do w/ the scale once I learn it...
 
In addition to immersing myself the available tabs and YouTube videos (what did we do before the internet?), I've been listening to the blues every chance I get- You might have more than you think- The Allman Brothers, Jerry Garcia Band, Blues Traveler, Little Feat, and if you don't have an Robert Johnson, listen here:
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=11:2q47gjerj6i9
 
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