Oléha Streaming Live on IG from Long Beach Airport, 9/8 4-6p Pacific Time

[roastbeast]

Aloha fellow UU'ers. It's about time I share what I've been doing with music. My time and interactions on UU have been particularly influential with my progress. In fact, my two gigging ukes are from transactions from UU Marketplace. So, mahalo to you all for the support.

We are Oléha (Olé + Aloha), an acoustic duo that performs a live jam fusion of Spanish flamenco guitar and Hawaiian ukulele, akin to dueling pianos but with cultural flair. My buddy plays a flamenco song and I improv over him, and then I play a Hawaiian style / uke song and he'll improv over me. We perform at local venues in Orange County, CA and have even had the honor and privilege of Abe Lagrimas Jr. coming out to play with us!

Our music thus far is strictly instrumental, but in the future I might perform vocals.

I've recently uploaded live directly recorded performance tracks to Soundcloud.com/uke4peace

Here are some directly recorded live performance vids: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiNiV3OtyB_XnLdn65H6-93PIxTmFOGG3

And one of our jams with Abe:


Our IG @oleha.music

Though I've played uke quite a while, I've been at beginner level for a looong time until I decided to take uke seriously at the beginning of COVID lockdown. All questions, feedback, comments are welcome! Mahalo nui for all your support!!

Oléha!

 

[mjh42]

Nice......an all lefty ensemble as well.

 

[roastbeast]

Nice......an all lefty ensemble as well.

Thank you... but filming with my selfie cam so it's just a reversed view you are seeing.

 

[don_b]

Very cool!

 

[roastbeast]

Very cool!

Thank you!

 

[SurferJay]

I absolutely love your style of music. A quick question what scales are you playing at the start.

I often play over Flamenco backing tracks with a harmonic minor to get that flamenco sound but it can only be played over certain chords in the progression so it’s a bit flat.

What key/scales/modes you playing at the start..

Thank You

 

[roastbeast]

I absolutely love your style of music. A quick question what scales are you playing at the start.

I often play over Flamenco backing tracks with a harmonic minor to get that flamenco sound but it can only be played over certain chords in the progression so it’s a bit flat.

What key/scales/modes you playing at the start..

Thank You

Aloha SurferJay, appreciate your patience with my reply and mahalo nui for your compliment! We are very happy you like our sound

When we play, we try to remember to tell each other what key the song is in. If we forget then whoever is accompanying figures it out by ear. I don't know all the modes Victor plays on his guitar, but I know aeolian and phrygian are a couple of them. I don't know if he is strictly sticking to them or not. I would wager not.

For me on uke, I play using pentatonic heptatonic and blues scale (on occasion). I don't stick to a single mode... I'm self-taught and do not have an in depth knowledge of music theory for playing within certain modes. I play by ear... whatever sounds good to me, whatever I'm feeling at the moment, working within those scales.

Am / C scales are both one of our favs. Vic really like Em scale too.

From what I've learned from online resources and other musicians, it's not necessary to stick to any single mode... play what you think sounds good... what works for the sound you want. Staying in key is the most important thing. But even then you might want to add some dissonance occasionally as well.

I hope I was able to answer your question! Would love to hear some of your music if you have any to share. Maybe I can provide feedback or learn something new.

 

[SurferJay]

Aloha SurferJay, appreciate your patience with my reply and mahalo nui for your compliment! We are very happy you like our sound

When we play, we try to remember to tell each other what key the song is in. If we forget then whoever is accompanying figures it out by ear. I don't know all the modes Victor plays on his guitar, but I know aeolian and phrygian are a couple of them. I don't know if he is strictly sticking to them or not. I would wager not.

For me on uke, I play using pentatonic heptatonic and blues scale (on occasion). I don't stick to a single mode... I'm self-taught and do not have an in depth knowledge of music theory for playing within certain modes. I play by ear... whatever sounds good to me, whatever I'm feeling at the moment, working within those scales.

Am / C scales are both one of our favs. Vic really like Em scale too.

From what I've learned from online resources and other musicians, it's not necessary to stick to any single mode... play what you think sounds good... what works for the sound you want. Staying in key is the most important thing. But even then you might want to add some dissonance occasionally as well.

I hope I was able to answer your question! Would love to hear some of your music if you have any to share. Maybe I can provide feedback or learn something new.

Thanks for taking the time to share your process It's really interesting that you are playing by ear. It's a beautiful sound. I've started exploring the Harmonic Minor quite a bit recently. I'm sure you're including it... It definitely fits in with your play style

 

[roastbeast]

Thanks for taking the time to share your process It's really interesting that you are playing by ear. It's a beautiful sound. I've started exploring the Harmonic Minor quite a bit recently. I'm sure you're including it... It definitely fits in with your play style

Bravo dude! That sounded sick. What pickup does your uke have?

Is this vid an example of harmonic minor scale sounding flat that you mentioned?

 

[SurferJay]

Bravo dude! That sounded sick. What pickup does your uke have?

Is this vid an example of harmonic minor scale sounding flat that you mentioned?

Thanks man I have a Misi pickup. It’s insane. The sound is crystal clear.

I basically played Am / Dm and then played A Harmonic Minor over it. It’s a beautiful scale.

My favourite use for it is over a Rumba chord progression. It sounds great over the E chord If your playing over Am, G, F & E.

Look forward to more of your music

 

[roastbeast]

Thanks man I have a Misi pickup. It’s insane. The sound is crystal clear.

I basically played Am / Dm and then played A Harmonic Minor over it. It’s a beautiful scale.

My favourite use for it is over a Rumba chord progression. It sounds great over the E chord If your playing over Am, G, F & E.

Look forward to more of your music

I just looked up the progression for harmonic minor. I'll have to experiment incorporating it. It's essentially making the second to last note a dissonant note to add color to the tone... if I'm understanding the concept.

Thank you Surfer. We just posted a holiday song from our gig at Long Beach Airport. I was supposed to be doing the chords from Aldrine's version of Jingle Bell rock but I accidentally held the chords too long and it turned into a diff song. Still sounds cool tho

Give us a follow and we will follow back. Look forward to more of your music too! @oleha.music @uke4peace

 

[SurferJay]

I just looked up the progression for harmonic minor. I'll have to experiment incorporating it. It's essentially making the second to last note a dissonant note to add color to the tone... if I'm understanding the concept.

Thank you Surfer. We just posted a holiday song from our gig at Long Beach Airport. I was supposed to be doing the chords from Aldrine's version of Jingle Bell rock but I accidentally held the chords too long and it turned into a diff song. Still sounds cool tho

Give us a follow and we will follow back. Look forward to more of your music too! @oleha.music @uke4peace

I’ll check it out now and I’ll follow for sure.

So this is the scale I was using:

https://ukulelescales.com/A-harmonic-minor

It’s the same as A minor but the 7th note is raised. So for this example it’s A minor but the G becomes Ab

This is a good soundtrack to practise it to:



It only works over Am and E Chords so I found the easiest way to get started is play the A minor scale with over the backing track and when you get to The E chord start using the Ab note. Continue doing this through the Am chord and then when G and F chords are being played don’t touch the Ab note. That way you can hover around the same shapes (A minor shape) soloing and introduce the Ab as and when.

Have fun

 

[SurferJay]

Your sound inspired me so much I had to have another try at it :

 

[roastbeast]

I’ll check it out now and I’ll follow for sure.

So this is the scale I was using:

https://ukulelescales.com/A-harmonic-minor

It’s the same as A minor but the 7th note is raised. So for this example it’s A minor but the G becomes Ab

This is a good soundtrack to practise it to:



It only works over Am and E Chords so I found the easiest way to get started is play the A minor scale with over the backing track and when you get to The E chord start using the Ab note. Continue doing this through the Am chord and then when G and F chords are being played don’t touch the Ab note. That way you can hover around the same shapes (A minor shape) soloing and introduce the Ab as and when.

Have fun

Nice, I've used this same backing track to jam with before!

Your sound inspired me so much I had to have another try at it :

Dude, that was awesome! What is your pedal setup?

 

[SurferJay]

Dude, that was awesome! What is your pedal setup?

I’ve got 3 pedals on a small board.

LR Baggs - Para DI. Gives a lot of Dynamic range and super clean signal.

TC Electronic - Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal.

Boss RC5 Loop Station.


My amp is a Fishman Loudbox Mini.

 

[roastbeast]

I’ve got 3 pedals on a small board.

LR Baggs - Para DI. Gives a lot of Dynamic range and super clean signal.

TC Electronic - Hall of Fame 2 Reverb Pedal.

Boss RC5 Loop Station.


My amp is a Fishman Loudbox Mini.

What's your electronics? On my primary gigger I have an LR Baggs 5.0. My pedals are a Digitech Trio+ Looper and Band Creator and a Boss RC-10R. My amp is a Fender Acoustic SFX II

 

[tiburris]

Wow! Amazing!

 

[roastbeast]

Wow! Amazing!

Thank you

 

[roastbeast]

Oléha will be live streaming at Moon Kill Radio Studios 2/26 Sunday, 1p Pacific time!

Join us on YouTube!
@moonkillradio

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[roastbeast]