Dominator Ukulele Tabs

Here is a video sample of the spruce top tenor playing a little of Gently Weeps and Crosscurrent. I'm really pleased with the sound and look forward to it maturing down the road.

Tonight I strung up the spruce top tenor I made specifically to use during my performance at the upcoming Southern California Ukulele Festival (SCUF) in Cerritos on October 4th. Out of the gate the tone is a little brighter than I had expected but it sounds great and will definitely mature over time. Still need to do more work on the saddle as soon as the strings stabilize a bit more.

The spruce top and figured walnut were given to me by Pete Howlett, known as Ukulele Pete, from the Uke Talk forum. This is my first ukulele with a slotted headstock design and, overall, I’m pleased with it but I will adjust a couple of things on the next one to make it even better.

I purposely made the neck on the beefy side to see how it affects my carpal tunnel issues. I can always shave it down later but adding to it would be impossible.

Some of the specs:
Spruce top with paua abalone rosette with bwb inner and outer rings
Figured walnut back and sides
Curly maple binding top and back
Bwb fiber and maple top purfling
Mahogany bolt-on neck
17” scale joined to the body at the 14th fret
19 frets total
Ebony fingerboard with paua abalone combination side and fingerboard markers at the 5th, 7th, 10th, 12th and 15th frets
Ebony peghead overlay with paua abalone logo
Grover 18:1 Sta-Tite gold slotted peghead tuners
Ebony through body bridge
Corian nut and saddle
Worth CH strings
Misi-Acoustic Trio battery free pickup
Top finished in lacquer
Balance of instrument finished in hand rubbed oil and wax

The pics don’t really show it but I hurried the oil finish and up close it shows. I needed to get it strung up so I can spend the next week and a half playing it in and getting acquainted with it prior to SCUF. I spent some extra time on the lacquer top and though not perfect it is 100 times better than my first attempt on my number 002 mahogany tenor.

As soon as the strings are settled and I intonate the saddle I will get a sound sample put together.

Well folks, I know I haven’t been doing much transcribing lately because I’ve had other activities and priorities to deal with. I’ve been spending most of my spare time, which is really hard to come by right now, in the work shop building some ukuleles. Tonight I’m posting some pics of a soprano that I’ve just completed for Howlin’ Hobbit. I started this ukulele approximately 17 months ago. Unfortunately things like the day job caused many months of inactivity in the shop. Fortunately, Hobbit was not in any hurry and not once during the process did he ask when the uke would be finished. God bless that man . I plan to ship it in the next few days or so and hope to get a sound clip recorded before doing so. Too late to do it now and the noise level in the house is currently not conducive for recording. We had water damage to the laminate floor in the kitchen the other day and Serv Pro has the de-humidifier and blowers running big-time. But that's a whole different and very unsettling story. Here's a few pics.

EDIT: Here is a quick Sound Sample

Some specs:
Western red cedar top
Figured cherry back and sides
Mahogany bolt-on neck
Ebony fingerboard and bridge
Peghead© geared tuners
Aquila Concert gauge strings
Ebony peghead overlay with MOP logo
MOP side/fingerboard markers at the 5th, 7th and 10th frets
Top finish is lacquer
Balance of instrument finished in Tru-oil and wax

I'm also working on a tenor that I hope to have completed in time to play during my performance at the Southern California Ukulele Festival (SCUF) at Cerritos coming up in a few weeks. I'll post pics and a sound clip with it when it's completed.

I finally received the raw footage of my performance at the 15th Annual Ukulele Festival held this past April in Hayward, California. Here are the two songs I used to open and close the show. This was my first real, official, ukulele gig and a real good experience.

If all goes well I will be performing this year at the 7th Annual Southern California Ukulele Festival held on October 4th in Cerritos, California.

Blue Roses Falling

The Star Spangled Banner

Tonight I’ve completed a tab for Erroll Garner’s jazz classic, Misty. The tab represents my interpretation of the song as played in the video excerpt below. This has some really cool chord changes. Enjoy!

Tab can be found on the TABs page from the link at the very top of this page.

In case you haven’t heard yet, the Ukulele Underground crew is coming to California. Aldrine Guerrero and Ryan Esaki will be performing at DaSilva Ukulele Company in Berkeley, California on Friday July 18th. So if you are from the Sacramento valley or the Bay Area make it a point to see this show. If you haven’t checked out Ukulele Underground yet surf on over and sign up for the FORUMS. They have tons of ukulele giveaway contests, video lessons and a new video installment called “Uke Got Mail” where Aldrine answers member submitted questions.

See you all there!

I just got back a few days ago from visiting family in Michigan and Ohio. While I was there I also attended my 35 year High School Reunion. It was a great time and, as you can see from the pics, some of my classmates were in prime form as they did “the gator” on the dance floor.

When I attended the 30 year reunion I sat in with the band for a couple of tunes. The committee booked the same band and I was extended an invitation to play with them this year. They sent me a song list and there were a fair number of songs on the list that I currently do with my classic rock band, Rockslide. I brought my Stratocaster with me and had a blast playing with the band. Another classmate, Doug Cross, from Oakland, CA also joined the band with his saxophone.

Here's a pic showing Doug enjoying the company of several of the ladies that were getting loose and having a great time.

During the times I wasn’t on stage with the band I made a point to discuss my passion for the ukulele. The only reference for about 99% of the people there was that of Tiny Tim or Arthur Godfrey. I was asked if I was going to play Tiptoe Through the Tulips. I told them I was going to play some Led Zeppelin. Of course, I was told “you can’t play Led Zeppelin on the ukulele”. I politely told them to make sure they didn’t leave early.

When the band was finished with their last song the sound guy quickly plugged my Glyph into a direct box and set some levels in the PA. I played Going to California and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. The reception was overwhelming and I think most of them were very surprised to hear all of the music that was coming from such an unassuming 4 string instrument. My only regret is that I didn’t have a video camera to capture the moment. Here are a couple of pics. One from the back of the room where you can see everyone up front checking it out and the other showing how focused they were watching me play.

It was such a blast. Doug and I were invited to an after party where we played a few more tunes on ukulele with sax.

The 15th Annual Ukulele Festival of Northern California was yesterday in Hayward California. It was a beautiful day for a ukulele festival and as usual it seemed a good time was had by all. I got to meet up with some old friends and also got to meet a few new friends that are part of the Ukulele Underground (UU). UU is a relatively new website dedicated to promoting the Aloha spirit which seems to go hand in hand with this incredible addictive instrument we know as the ukulele. If you haven’t already done so, stop over to UU, become a registered member, and look around. You will find video lessons, tablature, within the forum as well as links to outside sources such as Dominator Ukulele Tabs and Ukulele Hunt, as well as helpful tips from the forum members. There are plenty of exciting things such as ukulele giveaways and online open mics that members can participate in.

The most memorable part of the day for me is that it was my first time as a performer at any Ukulele Festival. It was definitely an experience to go through the process of moving between the stations as you work your way to the main stage. I was fairly relaxed by the time I hit the stage as I opened with Jake’s Blue Roses Falling. Then I got a little tense as I worked my way through my arrangement of George Harrison’s Something. It was just a short ten minute slot so I needed a short one to finish with and I chose the Star Spangled Banner. I left the stage feeling like I did a decent job of controlling my nerves and getting through the set. I wasn’t able to capture any video on my own but I should be receiving the footage in the next few days or so. I’ll post some videos once I have the DVD in hand. In the meantime, here are a few pics from the show.

James Hill gave me the green light to post my “interpretation” of one of his “Live” arrangements of the One Note Samba. The standard notation is reflective of D6 tuning with a low A string, however, there’s no need to change any of the chord shapes to play the arrangement in C6 tuning. Use the same “chord shapes” that are indicated in the tablature staff and it will sound great just down one full step in pitch.

I’d like to point out that the midi file has a 16 measure space of silence which represents the section of percussion on the ukulele. I never did count the actual measures that James plays the percussion in his video or, for that matter, the number of measures I play percussion in my own YouTube video.

This is a great progression. I hope you have fun with it. The tab can be found on the TABS page.

I was blown away when I saw James Hill play the One Note Samba on Youtube. He has two versions and the middle percussive sections are quite different. I worked from a video of this earlier arrangement but changed some chords in one of the sections to fit within my own playing abilities.

James takes the middle section to new heights in this version where he adds his imaginary friends to the mix.

I tried to record this the other night and after about 6 tries I was finally able to make it through the complete arrangement without stopping. However, it was very poor and I knew it was time to just leave it be and come back to it later.

So tonight, after a wonderful dinner out with my wife, I decided to have another glass of wine and give it another go. Somehow I managed to get through the entire piece on the first take and decided that even though it wasn't the greatest I'd better leave well enough alone.

I'm working on a tab and will have it available soon.

ONE NOTE SAMBA - Video