The Ukulele Tunes

Ukulele in Amazon

2007-03-05T22:55:00.000+08:00

Choosing The Right Musical Instrument For You

2007-03-05T22:26:00.001+08:00

If music is your middle name, then musical instruments are sure to adorn your room. Music is an excellent way to get rid of the blues. And if you are the creative type, then you can compose your own songs with musical instruments.

Musical instruments are mainly categorized by the way they generate sound. All musical instruments fall under one of the following – string, wind, percussion and keyboard, though there may be further divisions and sub-divisions. Examples of string instruments include guitars, violins, ukuleles and cellos. Wind instruments include pipes, sax, clarinet, flute and such other types. Drums, bongos, cymbals and bells fall under the percussions category. And keyboard instruments include pianos, harpsichords, organs and accordions. Over 1000 musical instruments are available across the world, including folk instruments.

If you want to play on your own, then it is better to start with a musical instrument you like, and then gradually master the instrument by joining music classes. If you like music in general and are not interested in specializing in any particular type of instrument then a keyboard can be the perfect choice. Electronic keyboards nowadays can produce all sorts of sound ranging from guitar tunes to drum beats. A variety of DJ equipments are also available on the market nowadays, which provide creative sound mixing options for the wannabe DJs as well as for the experienced disc jockeys.

On the other hand, if you were thinking of organizing a band then you would need different types of musical instruments. A band normally includes a couple of string instruments, percussions and preferably a wind instrument.

You can purchase your musical instruments online. Choose your favorite instrument from the various websites that you will find on the internet. They often offer discounts if you buy their package deals, which include various types of musical instruments. This can be your best option if you are planning a band with your friends.

Musical instruments can be a costly affair, especially if you are planning to buy the best available on the market. These can set you back by anything from $100 to over $10000. A good Yamaha or Roland electronic keyboard may cost almost $2500. Used musical instruments are often a good choice, especially if you are learning to play a new instrument. For beginners it is advisable to invest in musical instruments in the lower price range.

Musical instruments can also be made at home with items of daily use. Homemade musical instruments mainly fall under the category of percussion instruments. You can make almost anything, from shakers and jingle bracelets to drums and tambourines. You can also make wind instruments such as comb harmonica or kazoo. These help your child to be creative and can keep them busy. And you can now have your own band at home.

If you're thinking of buying an accordion or an ukulele, come visit Susan's sites All About Accordions and All About Ukuleles.

Enjoy Molokai's Relaxing and Romantic Nightlife

2007-03-05T22:25:00.001+08:00

Molokai nightlife is all about relaxing after an adventurous day, chatting with the locals and participating in time-honored island traditions. Known as the “most Hawaiian island”, you won’t find any flashy nightclubs, trendy bars or posh lounges in Molokai. What you will find is the opportunity to experience some magical Molokai sunsets, walks along moonlit beaches and the island’s traditional festivities.

One of the most popular activities on Molokai is stopping to enjoy the vibrant sunset. The island’s year round warm weather allows visitors to view an unforgettable sunset on the beach any time of year. Grab a blanket and relax with the sand between your toes, refreshing breezes on your face and rich colors spread out in front of you. Kaunakakai Beach is a great place to enjoy a Molokai sunset and is also home to the MARC Molokai Shores. These oceanfront condos are located near many of the island’s best shopping spots and provide a long list of amenities. Guests can enjoy an evening at the pool, star gazing on the beach or grab a lime from one of the several lime trees on the premises and prepare a delicious Hawaiian cocktail.

Many Molokai nights can be spent participating and watching exciting hula shows. Known as the birthplace of hula, Molokai offers lively celebrations featuring this captivating Hawaiian art form. Legend has it that Lake, goddess of the hula, journeyed from Molokai to the rest of the islands sharing the graceful movements of hula with everyone who wanted to learn. Hula is full of spiritual meaning and presents Hawaiian history, traditions and genealogy in a beautiful way. Every year on the third Saturday in May, Molokai celebrates the Molokai Ka Hula Piko. Camping out on the Friday and Saturday nights of Ka Hula Piko is a common event that brings with it the smell of frying kole, a black reef fish and plenty of plate lunches. This annual festival draws in thousands of locals and visitors every year eager to enjoy hula performances, musical entertainment, Hawaiian crafts, special ceremonies and plenty of food.

Another island tradition is the Midnight Molokai Bread Run. Every night between 10:30 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. the Kanemitsu Bakery sells hot loafs of sweet bread from the back door. Located next to Imamura’s and Mango Mart the Kanemitsu Bakery offers guests bread straight from the oven. With toppings of your choice like blueberry, strawberry and cinnamon the bread is more like a dessert. Only Molokai hot bread is available at night but the bakery offers a wider selection when the front doors open at 5:30 a.m.

Other popular nighttime options in Molokai include live entertainment from local musicians at the Hotel Molokai in Kaunakakai. Favorite Molokai artists include Darryl Labrado who sings and plays the ukulele, Pound for Pound, a group of talented artists who are each over 250 pounds and Pa’a Pono which features contemporary Hawaiian and reggae sounds. The Maunaloa Cinemas is a great choice for those who want to relax and enjoy a current blockbuster. Maunaloa is also the home of The Lodge at Molokai Ranch which provides live music on Friday and Saturday nights from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Molokai is hidden from the stress of the outside world and offers adventurous days and tranquil nights. Visitors can experience a simpler time where light shows are put on by mother-nature, flashing neon is replaced by sparkling stars and instead of red velvet ropes you will find sweet smelling plumerias. Offering laid back retreats and incredible live entertainment Molokai after dark can be whatever you want it to be.

Book Your Molokai Vacation Online or Call (888) 782-9722 Toll Free!

Lisa DiSpirito is a Hawaii expert and the Content Associate for BookIt.com - the Internet Travel Company Offering Discounted Hawaii Hotels and Vacations with “No Booking Fees, Ever!” Visit BookIt.com Travel Guides for Additional Hawaii Travel information including Articles, Reviews and Helpful Travel Tips.

Hawaiian Music: What is it?

2007-03-05T22:19:00.000+08:00

Hawaiian Music has been developed over the years as a kind of melting pot of sounds from around the world. As such much of the Hawaiian Music that we associate with the islands is composed of a few basic native Hawaiian elements with other cultural influences woven into it.

Contemporary Hawaiian Music often contains one or several of the following; a Ukulele, a guitar, double-bass, steel guitar, slack-key guitar, falsetto or high pitched singing, chanting, and native instruments such as the Pahu or a shark-skin covered drum, and the hanu ihu or the nose flute. Many of the listed items came to Hawaii with Merchants and Missionaries, even the falsetto singing style was learned from missionaries who first taught Hawaiians how to sing the hymnals. Chanting is traditionally used in Hawaiian music. Most of the introduced musical instruments have been adapted by the Hawaiians.

Slack-Key guitar is a tuning technique developed on the islands that leaves one or more of the strings on a guitar slackened. This can allow for longer bass notes that continue while the other strings are being plucked. It is an entirely unique method for playing the guitar. The steel guitar was actually invented by a Hawaiian and the Ukulele is a modified form of an instrument that was brought over by the Portuguese.

Much Hawaiian Music has a wide range of flavors too. You will find Hawaiian Music with a Jazzy influence or rock, blues, country and even reggae and the Hapa-Haole sounds often found in Don Ho’s Greatest Hits Album or the song Blue Hawaii. Some other album’s thought to be solidly Hawaiian Music are Hapa-Hapa, Ke Alaula, and Guava Jam.

The truth is that Hawaiian Music may best be described as whatever sounds and stylings that remind one of the Islands. So if you want to listen to Elvis's Blue Hawaii at your Luau go ahead.

Mrs. Party... Gail Leino is the internet's leading authority on selecting the best possible party supplies, using proper etiquette and manners while also teaching organizational skills and fun facts. Luau Party Supplies, decorations, favors, paper goods, centerpieces and scene setters. Plus, free party games, printable activities, coloring pages, word find to help complete your event.

Ukulele Tab: Learn To Play Love Me Tender

2007-03-05T22:18:00.000+08:00

Can you play the melody to Love Me Tender on your ukulele? With the help of ukulele tab you can learn to play it in no time. Let's start!

Love Me Tender is a song sung by Elvis Presley, to the tune of Aura Lee, a Civil War song by George R. Poulton. Elvis originally performed it in the movie Love Me Tender.

I will use my own form of ukulele tab to be sure that the tabs are readable on article sites.

You can find the more common ukulele tab staff on my site with ukulele tab, guitar tablature and free sheet music.

The string with the highest pitch on the ukulele is usually an A and is called the first string. This will be the bottom string when you hold your ukulele in playing position.

The first number indicates the fret. The second number tells you which string to play. Here is the first part of Love Me Tender with ukulele tab:

03 12 02 12 32 23 32 12 02 23 02 12

03 indicates that you play the third string without pressing down a left hand finger. We call this to play on an open string.

12 means that you press down a left hand finger on the first fret on the second string.

Play the notes with your right hand thumb or in some other way you like.

The length of the notes is not indicated with this type of ukulele tab notation. I guess you will find out this by yourself.

Let's play the next part of the song:

03 12 02 12 32 23 32 12 02 23 02 12

A repetition of the first melody as you can see.

What left hand finger should you use when you play? I suggest that you play the notes on the first fret with your first finger, the notes on the second fret with your long finger and the notes on your third fret with your ring finger.

It can be a little bit difficult to play like this at first but don't give up!

When your left hand fingers get used to this way of playing it will actually become easier for you to find the right notes.

When you get used to this way of playing you don't even have to look at your fingers when you play.

The next part of the melody with ukulele tab looks like this:

01 01 01 01 01 01 01 01 32 12 32 01

I guess that you hear that the seventh note should be a little bit longer than the rest.

01 01 11 01 32 23 32 12 02 23 02 12

In this last ukulele tab the seventh note should also be a little bit longer.

Now the melody is complete!

I guess this means that you can play Love Me Tender on your ukulele. Congratulations!

This melody can be played on guitar too with the use of the above ukulele tab notation! The first three strings on a guitar are tuned the same way but not in the same pitch.

I suggest that you take one melody line at a time and learn it by heart so you can play it anywhere and anytime!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and ukulele tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Ukulele Tab: Ukulele Tuning For Beginners

2007-03-05T22:09:00.000+08:00

How can you be in tune with your ukulele? The ukulele is a fantastic little instrument with many possibilities. You can play chords and melodies on it but a requisite is that your ukulele is in tune. Let's tune up!

The most common ukulele tuning is the standard C tuning.

It is of course preferable to use a tuner or piano or tuning fork in ukulele tuning but it is not necessary to tune exactly to the concert pitch if you don't play with others.

You can tune the ukulele by ear, using the method outlined below.

The strings on the ukulele is numbered from the highest pitched string. When you hold your ukulele in playing position string number one will be the string nearest your feet.

Now I will show you some steps in ukulele tuning to get your ukulele in tune.

1. Tune your first string to an A or a pitch that sounds okey to you.

2. Press down a finger on the fifth fret on the second string. Tune the second string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the first string.

3. Press down a finger on the fourth fret on the third string. Tune the third string until the pressed down fret will have the same pitch as the second string.

4. Press down a finger on the third fret on the second string. Tune the fourth string until it sounds the same as the pitch of your pressed down fret on the second string.

We can test if your ukulele is in tune by playing the first part of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

The first notes you will play are on the third string without pressing down any finger. I will use a form of ukulele tab with numbers.

The first number indicates the fret. The second number after the slash indicates which string to play:

0/3 0/3

This means: Play two notes on the open third string. Let's play some more ukulele tab:

0/3 0/3 3/2 3/2 0/1 0/1 3/2

Let's explain some of the numbers: 3/2 means press down the third fret on the second string and play the note. 0/1 means that you play the note on the open first string.

Let's play one more part:

1/2 1/2 0/2 0/2 2/3 2/3 0/0

If this sounds like the beginning of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star you can be quite sure that your ukulele tuning is correct.

We haven't used the fourth string in this melody but you can listen to the two notes 3/2 and 0/4. These two notes should have the same pitch if you have tuned the ukulele correctly.

Good luck with your ukulele tuning!

P.S. Why not try to find out the rest of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star by ear!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and ukulele tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com