Isekai Ukulele

Category: Music

All things related to music, my own or otherwise.

  • The Big List of AniSong

    The plan is coming along, slowly but surely. I’m typically the time to prefer to Aim, Fire, Repeat, but I recognize that sometimes Fire, Scramble, Aim can lead to success. That’s how I started this project, and it was a good way to test my capacity. I’ve learned a lot about myself since it started. But it’s not how I want to continue, so I’m taking the time I need to put together what I feel is the best way for me to ensure my long term success.

    This means a lot of thinking, and drafting up a written plan execute. While I do this, I naturally like to listen to music. During a break I happened to watch Project A-ko, and really liked a song, so I thought I’d add the ending theme to my anime songs playlist. One thing led to another, and the playlist ballooned from a bit over an hour to over six hours long.

    Here it is for your listening pleasure:

    Click the dots to play on Spotify, find the YouTube playlist here and full track list below



    The rules were simple:

    1. I must have actually watched the anime, and preferably liked it.
    2. Multiple entries from an artist or series should be minimized.
    3. I should like the song, to the point of being willing to create an instrumental arrangement.

    Very few songs broke rule one – none the first half, but there were a couple songs I liked much more than the show itself (*stares at domestic girlfriend*). How much I liked the show did play a big part in the selection. I was able to keep most duplicates down to two, though Creepy Nuts managed to sneak a third banger in. Finally I’ve said before that this project was initially intended to be about anime song instrumentals, and this is basically the pool of music I was thinking of drawing from. If you have any requests, I will consider giving them priority, though I am currently in another one-string training arc so it may take some time. No guarantees.

    Actually, I could probably add another couple hours of music if I tried – especially if I go out of my way to watch some popular things I just happen to not have seen, and ease the dupe rules for the popular (and long running) shounen’s. I don’t watch a lot of anime movies, so there’s another source of quite a lot I could easily draw from. In fact I’ve probably only seen three or four Miyazaki films ever, and those could easily add an hour of awesome music alone. And there’s the vast sea of mediocre isekai whose songs I might want to revisit someday.

    But what, six hours isn’t long enough?!

    I also like that I get to share some of the music of some maybe more obscure shows that I really enjoy. And if anyone out there is already familiar, maybe it’s nice to hear that someone else likes what you like.

    I ran into the wall while making this where I added something I liked but later forgot what show the song was from, then couldn’t look it up because Spotify won’t let you copy the Japanese to search. So, you may have to count, but in case you hear something you enjoy and want to check out the series, I’ve prepared a written list of the shows each song is from. I’ve also mirrored the list on YouTube so you can watch the actual title sequences too. YT quality isn’t as consistent though, and I don’t pay for premium so I get ads and issues with play-in-picture mode. The plus side is these are mostly the 1:30 min tv edits which I’d base any instrumentals on, and not everyone is on Spotify anyway. You can contact me on YT or discord if you have any questions or find mistakes.

    After the anime name, “op” means opening, “ed” means ending, and “ost” means original soundtrack. A number indicates which season, if there is none, it should be the first (or only) theme. I may have messed up some of the romanji, but hopefully you can find whatever you’re looking for.

    Track: Anime title op/ed/ost – Song name by Artist

    1. Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt ed – Fallen Angel by Mitsunori Ikeda feat Aimee B
    2. Call of the night ed – Yofukashino uta by Creepy Nuts 
    3. Ya boy kongming op – chitty chitty bang bang by queendom 
    4. Oshi no ko op – idol by yoasobi
    5. Spy x Family op2 – Souvenir by Bump of Chicken 
    6. Revolutionary girl utena – Rondo Revolution by Shoko Nakagawa 
    7. Neon Genesis Evangelion – A Cruel angels thesis by Yoko Takahashi
    8. Darling in the Franxx op – Kiss of Death by Mika Nakashima
    9. Rising of the Shield Hero op – Rise by Madkid
    10. Hunter x Hunter op – Departure! by Masaroshi Ono
    11. Humanity has declined op – Real World by Nano.ripe
    12. Erased op – Re: re: by Asian Kung Fu Generation
    13. Gintama op – Pray by Tommy Heavenly6
    14. Nana op – Rose by Anna Tsuchiya 
    15. Non non biyori op – Nanairo Biyori by nano.Ripe
    16. Non non biyori ost – Ren-chan and a sunny road by Hiromi Mizutani 
    17. Serial Experiments Lain – Duvet by boa
    18. Bakemonogatari op2 – Kaerimichi (Road Home) by Emiri Kato 
    19. Bakemonogatari op4 – Ren’ai Circulation by Kana Hanazawa
    20. Red ranger in another world ed – Explosive Heart by Uchida Aya
    21. Is the order a rabbit? Op2 – No Points! by petit rabbit’s
    22. Is the order a rabbit? Ed2 – Tokimeki poporon by Chimame-tai
    23. Haiyore Nyaruko-San W op – Love is the servant of chaos by ushirokarahaiyoritai G
    24. March comes in like a lion op2 – Goodbye Bystander by YUKI
    25. Keep your hands off eziouken op – Easy Breezy by chelmico 
    26. So I’m a spider, so what? ed – Ganbare! Kumoko-san by Aoi Yuuki
    27. Welcome to the NHK ed – Dance baby human by Otsuki Kenji and Kitsutaka Fumihiko 
    28. Cowboy Bebop ed – The real folk blues by Mai Yamane 
    29. Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure: phantom blood op – Jojo soon chido sadame by Hiroaki Tommy Tominaga
    30. Cromartie High (mechazawa’s humming song) – Ningen Nante by Takuro Yoshida
    31. (YT only) Cromartie High School op – Jun by Takuro Yoshida
    32. Ranma ½ op – (Ya) jajauma ni sasenaide by Etsuko Nishio
    33. Fushigi Yuugi op – itooshi hito tame ni by Satou Akemi 
    34. Dragon Ball op – makefushigi adventure by Hiroki Takahashi
    35. Project A-Ko ed – Follow your dream by Valerie Stevenson
    36. Zeta gundam ed – Believe by Mami Ayukawa
    37. Armored trooper votoms op – Honoo no Sadame by TETSU
    38. Bubblegum Crisis op – Konia wa Hurricane by Kinuko Ohmori
    39. Outlaw star ed – Hiro no Tsuki by Akino Arai
    40. Hakumei to Mitochi op – chima by urar 
    41. Laid back camp op3 – Laid back journey by Kimi no ne
    42. My deer friend shikanoko op – shikario days by Deer Club 
    43. Let this grieving soul retire ed – Scream by pmaru sama
    44. Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear ed – anone by Yuna
    45. Catch me at the ballpark ed – Shake! Don’t shake! by ruriko, aona, and sara 
    46. Food for the souls ed – Miso soup and butter by Reira Ushio
    47. Heaven’s design team op – Give it up? by kuroneko 
    48. Shimoneta: A boring world where dirty jokes don’t exist ed – Inner Urge by Sumire Uesaka
    49. Go go loser ranger op – Preview of Me by Tatsuya Kitani
    50. Excel Saga op – Ai (chuuseishin) by Excel Girls
    51. Gunslinger girl op – The light before we land by The Delgados
    52. Escaflowne op – Yubiwa by Maaya Sakamoto
    53. Kino’s Journey op – all the way by mikuni shimokawa
    54. Domestic Girlfriend op – Kawaki to Ameku by Minami
    55. Your lie in April ed – wacci by  kirameki
    56. Love, chunnibyo, and other delusions op – sparkling daydream by zaq
    57. Chobits op – Let me be with you by Round Table feat nino
    58. Konosuba op2 – tomorrow by machico
    59. Witch Hunter Robin op – Shell by Bana
    60. Ergo proxy op – kiri by Monoral
    61. To your eternity op – Pink Blood by Hikaru Utada 
    62. Mushishi op – The sore feet song by Ally Kerr 
    63. Samurai Champloo op – Battlecry by Nujabes feat Shing02
    64. Mashle op – Bling-bang-bang-born by Creepy Nuts 
    65. Dan Da Dan op – Otonoke by Creepy Nuts
    66. Shangri-la Frontier op2 – Danger, Danger by FZMZ, icy
    67. Negative positive angler ed – Shonen Yokkyu by kuroneko
    68. Pseudo Harem ed – Ad lib by Nanakura Rin
    69. Apocalypse Hotel op – Skirt by aiko 
    70. Apocalypse hotel ost – Welcome to hotel “Gingaru” by Yoshiaki Fujisawa
    71. Baccano! op – Guns and Roses by Super Soul Bros
    72. Campfire Cooking in another world with my absurd skill op – Luxury Spoon by Van de Shop
    73. Delicious in Dungeon op2 – unmei by sumika
    74. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid op – Rhapsody of Blue Sky by fhana 
    75. Space dandy op – Viva namida by Yasuyuki okamura
    76. Kaguya-sama love is war op – Daddy daddy do by Masayuki Suzuki 
    77. Cowboy bebop op – Tank! by Seatbelts 
    78. Birdy the Mighty Decode ed – Let’s go together by Afromania 
    79. Great Teacher Onizuka op – Driver’s high by L’arc en Ciel
    80. Tsukimichi -moonlit fantasy- op – gambling by syudou
    81. The melancholy of haruhi suzumiya ost – god knows by Aya hirano
    82. Ninja and assassin under one roof op – Yarenno? Endless by Kana Hanazawa
    83. Re:zero ed1 – Styx Helix by Myth and Roid
    84. Overlord III op – Voracity by Myth and Roid
    85. Dorohedoro op – Welcome to Chaos by (k)now_name
    86. Bocchi the rock op – seishun complex by kessoku band 
    87. Demon Slayer op – guruenge by LiSA
    88. Sword art online op – crossing field by LiSA
    89. Code Geass op – Colors by Flow
    90. Naruto op4 – Go by Flow
    91. Ping pong the animation – Tadahitori by bakudan Johnny 
    92. Death note op – the World by nightmare 
    93. Bleach op – Asterisk by Orange Range 
    94. One piece op – We are! by Hiroshi Kitadani
    95. That time I got reincarnated as a slime op – nameless story by Takuma Tereshima
    96. Spice and wolf op – Tabi no Tochuu by Natsumi Kiyoura
    97. Made in abyss op – Deep in Abyss by Miyu Tomita
    98. Mushoku Tensei – Tabibito no Uta by Yuiko Ohara 
    99. .hack//sign ed – yasashii yoake by see-saw 
    100. .hack//sign op – obsession by see-saw
    101. Ghost in the shell op – the birth of a cyborg by Kenji Kawai
    102. Texhnolyze op – guardian angel by Juno reactor 
    103. From Bureaucrat to villainess: Dad’s been reincarnated ed – Matsuken Samba by Inoue Kazuhiku and MAO
    104. Pokémon op – Pokémon Theme (Gotta catch em all!) by Jason Paige

  • Not all who wander…

    On one hand:

    “If you fail to plan, plan to fail”

    on the other:

    “If you don’t care where you’re going, it doesn’t matter what road you take.”

    Upon reflection, it became very clear to me that I like practicing and performing music more than recording and blogging about the process. So, instead of doing weekly updates like last time, I just learned and performed a new set:

    These are all songs from 2020-2025 that I picked out of a massive playlist of “hits” so I could get a better sense of what modern popular music is like. I’ll post the setlist timestamps and charts at the end of this post (they’re also in the video description). When I say jpop here I actually mean anisong, but I didn’t want to go through that whole explanation lol.

    This performance isn’t as clean, but I had a much more enjoyable and stress-free experience. I’m sure the right way to grow the audience would be to break each song into its own video and drip feed them to the algorithms, but ugh. Editing and uploading and spamming feeds is not my idea of fun. For now, fun matters more.

    I also realized that I’ve put off telling my full story a little too long. I’ve added it to the About Me section on the About page, and will hopefully summarize it for the next video for the channel.

    In the time that I’ve just been chilling and doing my own thing, I’ve started to form a new idea of the direction to take this project, so I’ve started to write the plan out for that. Please look forward to it.

    I’ve also been making steady progress with the voice lessons and playing jazz. That’s been a lot of fun, but it also takes up a lot of brain power. Hopefully next up is a proper jazz set. These songs are taking a lot more effort to learn though.

    Oh, I also acquired a new Fanner electric ukulele, which I posted a bit about on the channel and did a mini blog of the experience over on the Ukulele Underground forums. I really like it, though I think I still prefer the Sparrow overall.

    Speaking of UU, I have been participating in their weekly song challenges which I mostly post as unlisted videos, though they all can be viewed on this public playlist of challenge songs.

    So, that’s the update for now. I’m hoping soon I’ll have my plan together and can start working toward that bigger goal again. And I hope you’ll join me on this journey as well.

    Charts for the Modern Pop set songs: https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/playl…

    Timestamps

    0:00 Intro

    1:03 Too Sweet by Hozier

    4:26 Blinding Lights by The Weeknd

    7:40 Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter

    11:09 Play with Fire by Nico Santos

    14:10 Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish

    18:08 Lose Control by Teddy Swims

    22:33 A bar song (Tipsy) by Shaboozey

    25:36 I like the way you kiss me by Artemas

    28:13 Austin by Dasha

    30:46 August by Taylor Swift

    34:27 Die With a Smile by Bruno Mars (feat Lady Gaga)

    38:19 Stick Season by Noah Kahan

    41:31 I Had Some Help by Post Malone

    44:20 Mood by 24KGoldn

    47:05 Heat Waves by Glass Animals

    50:42 Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan

    54:31 Ghost in the Machine by SZA

  • Next steps…

    A goal without a plan is but a dream. Dream’s are fine, but they as free and plentiful as the stars. We can dream as much as we like. There’s nothing wrong with chasing a dream, holding to a dream, or letting go of one at any time. After all, they are just the flickers of imagination that fill our head at night.

    An issue only arises when we start wanting to make our dreams a reality. For most, dreams are challenges that lie beyond the reach of ordinary effort – if it were easy we’d just get it already. I have found that when I want to get from here to there in the most effective way possible, a plan is an indispensable tool.

    A plan begins with a goal. What are we trying to achieve? We identify the conditions for success. Then we look at all the obstacles in the way, and then how to overcome those. Without being explicitly written out, its easy for things to slip between the cracks. After all, the goal is a challenge because we are reaching for something our grasp.

    When we put the plan in motion, we get feedback so that we can better choose how to spend our limited time and energy to get to where we want to be. It’s important to have the solid description of what was tried so we know what works to repeat, and what to change to do better next time.

    Of course, I’m writing all this now because I have no plan. And I’m doing this instead of writing a plan because I don’t know what my goal is. I find myself in a post-sprint exhaustion wherein I’ve accomplished my initial goal and am uncertain of the direction I want to go from here.

    In truth I wanted to have the plan written out before starting this blog so I could hit the ground running and not look back. But I kept putting that off to the point where I decided it would probably serve me to just jump in and play it by ear.

    That balance of rigidity to flexibility is always a difficult thing to maintain. Sometimes just going for it works out. Done is always better than perfect. Reality always trumps fantasy. Now I have a blog, instead of just vague dreams of a blog.

    And so here I am caught in between breaths not knowing which direction to take. There’s nothing wrong with just doing whatever feels right, but it’s hard to maintain the momentum to overcome difficult challenges when there’s no shining light at the end of the tunnel. This week’s offering is exactly that: a half-assed interpretation of a song I’d like to play, but was not willing to put in the effort to do it properly.

    Doing it “properly” means learning how and why this song that I like works, and brings me a step closer to understanding how the musician I admire created it. Instead, I just churn out what sounds “close enough” to me and is fun and easy for me to play. I like it enough to share, but it doesn’t push me closer to any specific goal.

    Here’s the real song:

    Right now I just have a general goal at getting better at playing ukulele, and any playing can be considered a step in the right direction. But its a stark contrast to having a set of repertoire to polish up to “performance ready.” I felt the improvement, and felt the accomplishment for the work I did over the past few months, but where to go from here is unclear.

    I have a thing where I try continuously have to realign my ideas of “what I want” with “what I actually do.” For example: I think and say that “I want to be a better ukulele player” and so I practice daily. But the way that I practice by default is not in a way that moves me toward the direction of the “better ukulele player” that I want to be. Objectively, these actions reflect that I “just want to have fun making noise” instead of becoming a “better player.”

    At the start of the year I set a goal to polish up a set that I could take to play by a pool. I made a plan to focus on three songs a week, followed through on the plan, and feel like I now have a set that I could play in public. It was freaking hard. I never put in that kind of work before to become a better player, and without a hard challenge I’m slipping back into my default practice habits.

    But that’s the kind of “better player” I want to be. I want to be able to proudly play in public. Maybe? Maybe not, since I’m not doing it. I need to get out of my house and try it out more, but my physical condition makes it an somewhat risky activity. There’s a rather high chance that I will wind up with nausea and a harsh migraine that will last for several days if I dare to push my physical limits.

    There’s a lot of music I’m interested in being able to play too. I still have all the anime music instrumentals I want to learn to play. I’ve picked up some new modern pop songs and some new older pop songs to extend the performance set. There’s a handful of jazz standards that are entering my repertoire. I’ve even managed to play an hour’s worth of instrumentals, albeit at a lower level of polish than performance set.

    Going outside to perform might be worth the risk. I can get it if I really want, but I must try, try, and try. If I really want to “get there” someday, I need another plan. I need to find where “there” is. Then I can try to find the right path to travel. Just, where is it that I want to go? What is worth putting all the effort and energy into?

    Why not just chill and not worry about it and watch more isekai?

  • Lovesong by The Cure (instrumental + tutorial)

    Here’s one idea I had of how to move forward so I’m giving it a go.

    Direct link to download the tab

    You may have noticed that my instrumental interludes were a constant point of struggle during my performance set focus. If you ever want to improve at something, all you need to do is pay more attention to it. So I spent the time to write it all out and learn it all as an instrumental piece. My original intent for this entire project was to get good at transcribing and playing instrumentals, but I just kept singing so, here we are.

    You may also notice that I don’t play it as written in the tab. I explain this in the “tutorial” but also I just gave up on trying to write out the little ornamentations that I do because I change them all the time anyway. It sort of just depends on how I’m feeling on a particular day. There are times when strict adherence to the music is appropriate, but I have a feeling it would just add unnecessary complexity here? The tab is mostly for you fine folk out there, so please do let me know how you feel about it.

    Also writing out the whole form of the song would make the tab several pages longer of mostly repeated stuff (or with some fancy notation tricks like second endings and coda’s and stuff). So I highly recommend just listening to the song and using the tab more like a lead sheet to suggest how to create the performance you want to give.

    I don’t typically watch YouTube videos to learn songs, so this is kind of a new world for me. In fact, I find it difficult to even watch that stuff, so I definitely feel a little strange trying to do it myself. I also haven’t done the proper research to see how successful and properly trained educators do it. But whatever. I’ll try on the hat and see if my own style resonates with anyone first.

    Sort of like the singing, being a teacher was not front and center in my plans. I definitely see myself as an intermediate level player at best, so I don’t really feel like I’m in a position to be a proper educator. At the same time, I recognize that part of sharing my journey is to connect with people at or approaching my level, so it seems proper to at least try. Who knows, I might like it. You might like it. It can only benefit me to learn how to explain what I’m doing more effectively.

    Anyway, comments are turned off here, so if you feel like offering any feedback or advice, please use the YT comments or find me on the Uke Tribe Discord. Thank you kindly!

  • A Big One: Performance Set 2025 Run Through

    Here’s the end of the first chapter in this new story I’ve begun.

    It started with a semi-new year’s resolution challenge to put together this blog and start a YouTube channel. Mainly it was to see if I could handle making weekly posts and content, and it was mostly successful. I managed to make the videos every week, but I did miss writing this blog and sharing the content once. Here’s the whole journey so far in a playlist. I’ll go deeper into what I’m thinking will come next further down the post, but first I’d like to review a bit about the journey.

    So first of all, this whole endeavor was an experiment in doing the “thing,” you know, that thing that everyone tells you when you say you want to get better at making music:

    1. Practice a set of repertoire daily.
    2. Record yourself, critically review the recordings, and improve to the best of your ability.
    3. Get lessons from an expert.

    As I write I’m listening to my performance, and I’m mostly satisfied with the improvements. There’s a couple points where I drop the ball and space out on lyrics, but all in all I think it’s rather presentable. I think the progress is real. It was not always fun, and it was not always easy, but I surely think the overall quality of my performance has improved. The goal of the thing is to make better music after all, not to have fun or enjoyably pass the time. Don’t get me wrong, it was often fun and enjoyable, but it was definitely also work and stress.

    Of course, it’s hard to be objective about improvement when you’ve been so close to the work for so long, so I definitely appreciate any feedback or constructive criticism. I think I’m happy enough with this to try go out and play it in public… unless one of you out there convinces me I need another few months in the woodshed!

    There’s been a lot more distractions along the way than I expected. I’ve been participating in two different weekly song challenges (which have been mostly unlisted, but you should be able to see all my entries on this playlist here). Then there was the voice lessons and unitar study on the electric ukulele that added extra important musical things to focus on. And there’s been the whole challenge of learning to use my recording gear, both audio and video. It’s all progress, but not necessarily in the directions I had initially anticipated.

    Actually this whole adventure has been a bit different from how I had initially envisioned it. Originally I didn’t think I wanted to be a singer at all. My first intention with this project was to transcribe instrumental anime songs for uke, hence the “isekai” moniker. I still want to get back to that, and I fully intend to pursue that soon enough. Key word intend. We’ll have to see if the body follows the brain this time around.

    Actually the voice teacher just mentioned that it’s important to give the voice regular breaks, and instrumental sections or songs often actively serve this purpose. I had never thought of it that way, and mostly been just singing the instrumental lines… which I now know is not ideal thanks to some off-hand expert advice.

    So getting some instrumentals solid, and actually learning good instrumental breaks is more than just about being a well rounded musician. It’s not just showing off. It’s a practical way to extend your vocal stamina. I definitely hope to give instrumentals more attention in this next phase.

    Giving the throat breaks is also why you may notice I take little sips of water throughout the set this time. There’s a practical reason why singers do this, and it’s another new healthy habit I’m trying to pick up. I had always seen singers have water but never really knew why. And on my own I never really felt like I needed it. But then I rarely ever sang for over an hour at a time. Once the teacher gave me warm ups that flexed the muscles and pushed my range, it added an extra half hour of daily practice, and I started to actually feel the strain.

    Compared to the first set, things are clearly much more refined. The vocals have definitely improved. Instrumental breaks are ok when they do exist. I think the audio and video quality has slightly but noticeably improved. I don’t think its good enough to coast yet, but it’s a good step forward. And everything is memorized! So now I can play with my eyes closed instead of fixed on the charts lol.

    My voice is kind of shot by the end, but that’s also partly because I unexpectedly had to do my voice lesson on this day as well. I figured things like this happen in real life too, so might as well give it a go anyway – can’t always just change the date of your scheduled performance, right? So while I’m pretty sure I could do better, I just have to be ok with how it is. And really I am ok with it. For the most part. At the present moment.

    The path forward

    It became clear about halfway through this exercise that a single pass over these songs in this manner over these songs will not be sufficient to get them to where I want them to be. At the same time, I am… kind of sick of singing these same 21 songs over and over every day.

    So I’ve decided that this is just going to be the foundation of my setlist for this year. I’ve put together a second set list of songs to consider that I’m mostly familiar with but would still need to memorize and work out instrumental nuance. I’ve also identified another set of songs released after 2020 to try pretend like I’m hip and modern. In truth I’m a total pop poser. I’ve mentioned it before, but left to my own devices I like to listen to much more eclectic, typically darker music. Haven’t quite figured out how to play Skinny Puppy on uke… yet…

    I also have a fascination with jazz, and so I’d like to learn a set or two of standards, which hopefully will double as instrumental pieces. And as mentioned before, instrumentals were part of the goal from the start, so I’d like to have a set of those to pull from as well. So… that’s like another 80 songs to learn? Ah, such ambition!

    Well, I am disabled and bedridden with no remedy in sight, so I do have a lot of time to kill. It’d be nice if I could figure out a way to get to a beach or pool to start gaining experience properly playing in public, but that’ll depend on my family and my physical condition.

    While I can happily play ukulele all day, recording and blogging and posting is a much more difficult task for me to manage. Moving forward I’m thinking to really only focus on improving a single song per week to record. I’d also like to start doing more writing on anime and fingerstyle transcriptions, so I expect the more focused efforts should open up space for that. I’d like to start making and posting some tabs alongside learning the instrumentals as well, so. Hopefully. We’ll see.

    Hopefully you’ll continue enjoying this journey with me, or at the very least appreciate this record of the struggle I’m leaving!

  • Week 6 and 7 Updates

    Wow, well, I missed a few days due to headaches and that threw off my schedule, and then it seems a week has already passed so I missed an entire update. I guess its a reminder of why I’m disabled and doing this low stakes musical project instead of traditional work where people expect you to be reliable and consistent. I’ve been mostly consistent with my practice and recording videos at least, but this extra layer of writing and posting and sharing with the world is a bit more of a challenge.

    Anyway, here’s last weeks and this week’s videos. Looks like I even failed to make the week 6 video public, though I did share it with the Uke Tribe. Better late than never!

    Week 6 progress

    Blind Melon – No Rain

    Song Choice

    Its one of my favorite songs from the 90’s alt rock radio era, and I resonate with the lyrics pretty strongly. Even before becoming disabled, I always had a rather unique perspective on life that often left me feeling awkward and strange. And now my life really is pretty strange. Plus I really just want someone to always be there when I wake. Maybe some day.

    Instrumentation

    I know a lot of new players struggle with the E chord, and this song is a great one to practice it because the chorus is literally just switching between D and E. For me the major challenge was figuring out something interesting to do for the instrumental break, which I think I managed to simplify enough while keeping it interesting. It could always be better though.

    Vocals

    This song always makes me want to sing in a somewhat nasally voice, maybe in an imitation of the original? I’m not sure why or how I picked it up. I guess I like it because I keep doing it though. The original line is “read a book to stay awake” but I think replacing it with “isekai” is rather apt, and it does truly rip my life away sometimes.

    The Killers – When You Were Young

    Song Choice

    I’m quite fond of The Killers, and felt like this song was probably the most appropriate to include on this list. The runner up was “Human,” which I do know how to play, but mastering it seemed more difficult so I went for the easier route. I can also play Mr. Brightside and Somebody Told Me, but they seemed a little too much for the context. And Smile Like You Mean It didn’t really seem to fit either. I’m down with the theme of this one, and its fun to sing too. It’s the closest nod I could make to the 00’s post-punk revival bands I like that I could think to squeeze in.

    Instrumentation

    This one was a little tricky just because of the rhythm and chords for the key that I’m singing it in. It’s also a rather unconventional song structure, but it mostly makes sense so it wasn’t that bad. The descending chord break is something I still don’t have complete accuracy with yet either, but luckily I landed it for this take. I decided to sing the synth line that follows most of the verses because… I couldn’t think of a way to play it. I also didn’t like the way that the chart I was using came out of the bridge, so I just came up with something that made more sense to me for that. It may not be how the recording works, but they’ve got a whole band to work with.

    Vocals

    In some ways, a song like this that doesn’t have a standard verse and chorus structure is a little easier to memorize than something like Lovesong by the Cure where each verse is altered by exactly only two words. I also feel the voice lessons have helped immensely in the progress that I have made. I definitely got much further than if I had been doing this solely on my own.

    Crosby, Stills, and Nash – Love the one you’re with

    Song Choice

    This is another song I picked up from Uncle Wilmont down at Castaway Cafe. Like I mention in the video, I like the ambiguity of the lyrics. I also like how it suggests accepting the position you find yourself in, instead of wishing for something different, which is a very prescient message for someone disabled. Its really easy to get disheartened by focusing on what other people can do freely. No, I need to love what I got, because well, I do have a lot, and it could always be worse.

    Instrumentation

    That instrumental break was bugging me immensely for this entire month, but I think I figured out a decent enough way to play through it. Playing in a group that section really opens up to very fun solo time, but having to carry the rhythm through the break while playing solo is a real challenge. I’d like to have gotten even more intricate in the instrumentation, but alas, good enough has won out over perfect this time.

    Vocals

    Memorizing the order of verses was a little tricky on this one, as was getting good at hitting the initial pitch. Otherwise though, the main reason it took so long to get this one playable for me was that instrumental break. It’s a fun one to sing, and I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve sung it here.

    Recording

    It’s quiet for some reason, but since I didn’t write down my thoughts immediately after doing it, I honestly don’t remember what I was trying to do. So it goes.

    Performance

    Aside from the volume, I’m overall pretty happy with the progress. I made it through without dropping anything completely, and actually played the instrumental breaks. I’m feeling pretty good about the vocals, and even though I know I still have a long way to go, I think that the progress is sounding good.

    Week 7 progress

    Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel

    Song Choice

    This is yet another Uncle Wilmont special! I’m told this is actually a rather popular song, but I had never heard it before. It’s a bit outside of my usual musical preferences too, but it is a fun one to play. It’s kind of a very nice warm up song. It’s straightforward enough to play and sing, and the message is relatable enough even if you don’t recognize the song.

    Instrumentation

    There’s a couple sections where the original song features banjo picking, which I try to emulate, but actually struggle with while using a pick. And I normally play this with a pick and skip the plucking. However, I have learned that I need to not change between fingerstyle and pickstyle while doing videos, so whatever I start with is what I need to stick with. There’s a button on my flyrig that I need to press to boost or cut the signal if I want to swap between styles. I have more control with fingerstyle, but my nails don’t last so I prefer using a pick for most of the rhythm heavy rock stuff I do.

    Actually, I tend to play all three of these songs pickstyle, but I guess I just wanted to be more accurate and not risk messing up, so I chose to use fingers for today’s recordings.

    Vocals

    This is a quintessential warm up or break song, one that doesn’t push the voice too much so I can recover and push on the harder ones. And this is another one I tend to try add a twang to just to mimic the original. I’m not sure how convincing I am it it to a native southerner, but I’m happy enough with my style at least.

    Neil Young – Harvest Moon

    Song Choice

    Have I mentioned how influential Uncle Wilmont has been on my song choice for this setlist? Well, the idea was to make a set of songs to play by a poolside bar, and Castaway Cafe is literally a poolside restaurant that’s facing the ocean so. The songs are essentially safe battle-tested bets. These selections are a combination of the songs I liked, and what the audience of people who could afford to eat at a restaurant liked to hear. I had never actively listened to Neil Young before this song, though I did recognize his name from the annals of rock and roll.

    Instrumentation

    This is actually a pretty fun one to play on uke. This is one of the few songs I’m actually using a chart written for uke that described how to play that iconic riff. It seems that the notes that ring out at the start of each verse are typically harmonics, which can be done on a guitar or bari uke, but harmonics are also a lot easier when you can look down at your instrument to see exactly where to pluck. Unfortunately laying flat like I do makes that rather difficult, so I typically don’t worry much about harmonics where possible.

    This was another song that kept getting pushed back because the instrumental break was important, and difficult for me to figure out what to do with. Also because I couldn’t really work on those sections during the whole unitar exercise. But I think it came together, and was mostly successful for this recording.

    Vocals

    I cracked a little here because I was trying to sing softly and in a high pitch, but overall the song is pretty straightforward. I like the change in tone during the bridge sections. I also like how the lyrics describe a kind of peculiar situation (“when we lovers”) which is a unique challenge to try and embody. Its an interesting challenge,

    The Platters – My Prayer

    Song Choice

    This one was actually inspired by Fallout 4. I mean, classic music is timeless. It shouldn’t matter where I heard of it, just that I liked it and wanted to play it. This was intentionally chosen to push my vocal abilities. I felt like I still didn’t quite nail it, but it’s coming a long. I kind of like this as an ending song because its somber but hopeful. And hey, if you are also a Fallout enjoyer, even better!

    Instrumentation

    I missed a chord. I had one job, and I blew it! So it goes. This one has been hard to memorize because of its somewhat unconventional structure. I think its the only song on this setlist that actually uses a diminished chord as well… and that’s the one I missed. Go figure. I want to play more jazz, but never felt my vocal chops were up to the task. Maybe now after the lessons settle in a bit I’ll think about trying out some proper standards soon.

    Vocals

    As mentioned earlier, this one was supposed to be a challenge and I didn’t quite nail it. Maybe a C grade. This was always kind of a stretch goal. But I do think I have improved quite a bit from the first attempt at the start of this journey. Hopefully. Actually I have yet to listen to my progress side by side with the original. Guess that will be part of next week’s adventure.

    Recording

    I boosted the level a bit on my uke and on the mixer, and I think it came out well. Last week I had tried recording some of my baritone uke and it came out super quiet, so I decided to double check my volume levels this time.

    Performance

    I think it sounds good. And I think it could sound better. But overall, I’m satisfied with the production this week. I’m a little bummed about missing last week, and subsequently being stretched a little thin by doing two performance reviews on the same day. Always better late than never though. Missed notes aside, the music is pretty okay, but the process of sharing needs work.

  • Thoughts on the voice lessons so far

    I asked the teacher and was recommended to stick to the warm up exercises using the piano instead of trying to learn to do them on the ukulele, so that’s what I will do. I did want to record a bit of my journey with the vocals too though, so I’ll try to document some of my main takeaways here. Be aware that the advice I’m getting from my teacher is tailored to me and my situation, so it may or may not be relevant to your journey. 

    If you are interested in taking singing seriously though, I can highly recommend investing in some private lessons (after reading Singing for Dummies and trying to implement the ideas on your own for a bit first). It’s expensive, but I would be so much further along if I had had these three lessons I’ve taken so far 5 years ago. This are my thoughts and takeaways after about one month of lessons.

    So, the first big idea was that the voice is a unique instrument and that it needs to be treated as such. Like most wind instruments, there is a point of resonance that sounds the “fullest” because all the air is moving through the instrument in just the right way to create that effect. 

    The voice is no different. If we pay attention, we can choose where the sound “rests” when coming out of our mouth. We can move it forward and make it nasal-y, or backward to be more open. So my first big idea was to move my tone to a point where it sounds naturally full. 

    And to keep it there. In fact, I was instructed to pay attention to the way that I speak to develop the habit of placing my voice in the pocket by default. Now, I don’t speak much in general since I spend most of my time alone in bed in my room, but it’s certainly a new exercise to try to be away and maintain control in every single conversation. It makes perfect sense though. Being a proper good singer is an entire lifestyle choice. 

    Next, a lot of the issues I have are actually very similar to what I faced in the unitar exercises: paying attention to the attack, release, and tone of my notes. With singing there’s several unique layers of challenge. Of course we need to hit the right note, but we also need to use the right consonant and vowel sounds, with the right dynamic, and the appropriate attack for the music. And follow that by holding the pitch with the right tone for the proper duration. Then end the note on time in the way that sounds best. 

    So, how do we get there? Vocal exercises. The captain of the ship Serious who facilitated the unitar exercise could tell immediately that I did not do any proper vocal warm ups or training. And my voice teacher has quickly honed in that the best thing for me to do is expand the set of exercises that I go through daily to work on these fundamental aspects of singing. 

    We’re partially working off the Bel Canto Method, but not in the exact numerical order of the method file I was provided. So far I’ve been assigned two note scales, three note scales, chromatic half steps, major arpeggios, and three-count tones. Mostly on an “ah” vowel, sometimes also on “ee.” 

    Also lip trills while humming to practice moving air a higher speeds. In hindsight it shouldn’t be surprising how physical the activity is, but apparently singing very much a practical athletic endeavor.

    I’m paying close attention to how I start my notes, how I hold them, and how I end them. Honestly it’s pretty mentally taxing. I’m trying to apply these lessons to the songs I’ve been singing, and I feel like my brain doesn’t have enough bandwidth to properly compute. But I trust that with time and practice things will improve. It hasn’t even been a month of lessons yet, and I already feel like I’m poised to make great strides in this field. 

    At the same time I’m also seeing just how far this field goes. I mean, obviously it’s a long and well explored discipline, but I naively believed that I was maybe getting halfway to decent just by doing whatever felt right. If you noticed, I’m more of a book learner than a youtube learner, and actually mostly prefer to try to figure things out on my own. But taking a closer look with an actual expert, it’s clear that I’m more like halfway to halfway decent. A little bit of tailored expert guidance surely goes a long way. 

    The road ahead seems long, but also like a fun and rewarding journey. I never really thought I had the ambition to be a good singer, but it seems I have grown to enjoy it and actually do want to get good. Having a good teacher is giving me hope that it may be possible. The motto of this year rings true as ever: you can get it if you really want, but you must try, try and try, try and try… You’ll succeed at last! 

  • Week 5 Progress Update

    It’s a new pedal week! I’m a little delayed in posting because I was just having so much fun with it. The Simplifier X I picked up for the Sparrow finally came in (handmade from Chile!) and it’s opened up a whole new world of sound for me to explore. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed until I realized that it has 54  different amp + cab + speaker configurations available, which rockets up to over 700 combinations if we consider running both channels in stereo. Plus 10 contour/eq/volume knobs and reverb for each of them that drastically changes the tone and acoustic qualities. So yeah, no surprise when there’s so many choices.

    As someone who hasn’t really used a guitar amp, it’s definitely a bit overwhelming. But it’s also pretty amazing to have such a wide variety of choices to explore. I’m looking forward to learning how to dial in my favorite sounds over the next few months and figure out what kind of amps I may be interested in owning one day. I’m glad I was convinced to go with the analog modeling route of this pedal instead of one of the many digital options. It really feels great to play, and though I don’t really have the contrasting experience with digital, I certainly appreciate the immediateness of the response and the complete lack of menu diving. 

    Also I’m back up to 3 strings on the electric, and finally enjoying feeling some of the progress I’ve made during the unitar study. Anyway, here’s some day one noodling with the pedal after finding some sounds I liked: 

    Driven noodles

    Clean noodles

    Acoustic Electric through the grit

    And for this week, I actually managed to make some progress on the performance set! I got three of the five remaining challenge songs memorized, and actually have the lyrics for the rest down pretty well. It’s just a matter of solidifying the chord changes for the last few, and hammering out instrumentals. And working on the vocals. Same story as ever! 

    Ku’u Home O Kahalu’u – Olomana

    Song Choice

    It would be remiss to not include some classic tunes from Hawaii in my setlist. I’m not Hawaiian and I don’t speak the language or really know a lot of traditional hula songs, but I did grow up here in the islands and am familiar with a range of early contemporary music. It’s not typically my preferred musical taste, but I appreciate all kinds of music. And this is only half about me. The other half is about you, the audience. So I hope this is a selection that can be enjoyed. 

    I like that the song is a sweet ode to growth, change, and acceptance. It seems to me entirely heartfelt. It captures a romantic notion of Hawaii and recollections of our youth. I imagine many people can relate to that wistful longing for the home of our youth. But times change, and the best thing to do is move along with it. Personally, I’ve had to accept a lot of change – losing my pride, and finding myself again in the aftermath. Definitely a song worth singing. 

    Instrumentation

    Like “Just my Imagination” this is primarily a two chord song with a couple G7’s thrown in. There is an instrumental introduction and break in the original, and in typical fashion for this time around I am skipping them entirely. For this song I use a much more traditional strum, though I do employ some pedaling on G to emphasize certain parts with the C5 chord. I also like to let bass notes drone out a bit on this one to kind of emulate the slack key style of the original. This is actually one I’ve made a fingerstyle arrangement for before too, but I need to revisit that (and relearn it a bit) before sharing it again. 

    Vocals

    Memorizing the lyrics was a challenge like usual, and this time I employed the method of trying to fully understand how the story progresses in the song. First we remember days when we were younger, and this makes me fear that I won’t be as I left you. Then we remember days when we were wiser, and this makes me fear that you won’t be as I left you. Finally we remember days when we were smiling, and I will greet you as I find you with the sharing of a brand new song. 

    So as we remember our younger days, we fear that we have changed. Then we remember our dreams and fear that you have changed. Finally we accept the change and will greet you as we are. I appreciate that kind of resolved acceptance. 

    The singing itself needs a bunch of the standard stuff I’m working on, and I’m not entirely satisfied with my ability to hit the notes in the bridge on the head every time. But I think it’s still better than it was. Hopefully I’ll be able to polish it up over the coming weeks. 

    In this life – Iz

    Song Choice

    You can’t play ukulele and ignore Bruddah Iz. I mean you could, and actually I would, save that I don’t want to be known as that guy who only plays The Smiths and The Cure on uke. Like the last one, this was picked to be a crowd pleaser – and a staple if I ever decide to try playing at being a wedding singer. I’m not really interested in that, but you never know. It might be nice to one day be skilled enough that that’s an option, right? And this is a sweet song. I almost think it’s a religious thing, but he left it open enough that it could be purely about romance.

    Speaking of Iz, I kind of would rather not play his version Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s not a Hawaiian song, it’s not an original song, and it’s not particularly compelling enough for me to learn to sing proficiently. I recognize its quality and the impact it has had in the public sphere, and I probably should learn it properly anyway, but I feel like it’s a bit passe. At least if you’re trying to play a Jake song you want to be able to match his technical prowess to even attempt it. I’ve put some time into learning Hawaii ‘78 to play instead in case anyone asks me to play Over the Rainbow. Yeah, that’s how I roll. Cry for the gods, cry for the people, cry for the land that was taken away. 

    Instrumentation

    This one is in a weird key, and it took me a long time to understand the chord changes. I mean, it’s not really a weird key – key’s are just keys right. Bb isn’t really any stranger than C. But I guess it’s a less common one on ukulele. And the progression is a little different than most tunes as well. There are times where the chords are held to start the next phrase, or abruptly changed to land on the refrain. Oh and instrumental breaks? Skip. I know, I’m weak. I do like to do a little picking in some parts and strumming for others though, so I didn’t abandon the instrumentation completely.

    Instead of trying to learn the song as a whole, I approached it by connecting the chord changes to the different lyrical progressions. So like, “In this life, I was loved by you” has certain chords associated with it. The timing of chord changes in the verses do make sense, but trying to remember it separate from the lyrics was proving too much of a challenge. Now I just sing the lyrics and play the chords that sound right for that moment. Is that a little esoteric? It feels very Hawaiian style to me, don’t think too hard just play. Appropriate for a Hawaiian style song. 

    Also I added in a couple things not written in the tab. First, some Bb7’s to the transitions that I don’t think were in the original, just because I think it sounds better. Second I did a little thing to move up to a higher F chord in the E chord shape in the bridge. Maybe that can make up forr not having an instrumental solo. 

    Vocals

    Obviously I’m no Iz, and the singing was a typical challenge for a slower song like this. Just gotta do the best I can to make it sound as good as possible. Apply all those voice lesson learnings. Start and stop notes the right way, sing with a good tone, enunciate, etc. Memorizing the lyrics wasn’t too bad since there’s really only two short verses and a break. Just bringing it all together and selling it is the challenge. 

    This one is a bit tricky because I don’t really have anyone I actually feel this way about in my life, so I kind of just have to sing it with the hope that someday I may. I kind of understand it because I’ve definitely felt like I’ve “found the one” before except that every time it was just kidding. Oh well. Part of the joy of art is that we can celebrate ideass beyond our current situation. 

    House at Pooh Corner – Loggins and Messina (Ka’au Crater Boys)

    Song Choice

    I’m definitely one of those kids who grew up liking the Ka’au Crater Boys without realizing that a lot of their music were actually covers. They were just so good and sounded so right on the ukulele that I assumed they were all originals. This song is no exception. But it’s a great song, and I think it nicely bridges a gap between the people like me who grew up with the uke version, and the broader audience who know the original from Loggins and Messina. I also fondly remember Winnie the Pooh, and I’m not trying to break into China anytime soon so it seemed like a nice choice. 

    I intentionally chose a lot of older songs for this set because I’m aiming for an audience of people around my age and older. I’d like these songs to remind people of their childhood, or their parents. And so this is a perfect fit as a song reminiscing about a more innocent time. It’s the kind of song that if I heard someone playing it well on the beach, I might actually hang out nearby to hear more. Which is kind of the current goal to be honest. I don’t know if or when I’ll be able to land a poolside gig, but the beach is always an option! 

    Instrumentation

    This song… has a lot of chords. And they change quickly. The timing is a bit unique too. I’m pretty sure it’s 4/4 but it’s quite syncopated so I don’t really bother counting. I just kind of play it as I hear it. Luckily the chord chart is pretty accurate. Still it took me quite a long time to memorize the various progressions for the different parts of the song. My approach is always to just play the song every day, and eventually the time will feel right to look away from the chart. In this case it took about a month to be able to look away, but then I never had to sit down and force myself to try and memorize all the chords. It’s still not 100%, but I’m getting close. 

    Vocals

    Compared to the chords, memorizing the lyrics for this one was relatively easy. I think the concise narrative structure made it easier for me to memorize. Or maybe it’s because I listened to the song a lot while growing up, so learning the words just kind of clicked. It’s nice that there aren’t many subtle turns of phrase until the very end, unlike several other songs on my list (including Ku’u Home). 

    There are some very high notes while chasing the bees and clearing the skies. I can only hope I can hit them when the time comes. Also at the end of each chorus there’s a tricky note to land on for that final “Pooh.” It’s part of why the ending works as well as it does, but it’s also a challenge to execute consistently. Just gotta keep practicing! 

    Recording

    So I think I got the gain staging better so that there’s not so much hiss over everything whenever sound comes through. And got the reverb back. It took some rerouting of my whole signal, but I was doing that anyway to integrate the new amp sim pedal. As predicted, it basically took an entire day, and I still had to stop before getting to an ideal configuration because I just ran out of upright time. Bit by bit I’ll get there.

    Once I get really dialed in I’ll do a whole rundown of my rig, which is kind of a unique dawless contraption built to be pushed over my bed so I can work it while laying down. I’m also finding I need to change some settings depending on the venue that the audio is going through: zoom is different from discord is different from recording video for the phone. Oh the fun never ends.

    Performance

    I’m much happier with the performance this week. It’s been on my mind all month to memorize these ones, and its finally clicked. I don’t like trying to brute force memorization over short time frames, so instead I just play the song every day until I don’t need to look at the lyrics and chords anymore.

    It’s still not perfect, and I’m still copping out of doing proper instrumentals, but these nice slow songs let me practice my new approaches to singing which is kind of the theme of the week. I’ll definitely have to do a second pass over all of these to get proper instrumentals in, and continue improving the vocal quality, but I’m feeling like the setlist is coming together.

    I’m thinking about trying to go to the beach and try play through it all in public someday soon. Or maybe host an online performance somehow. Either way I’ll have to do a follow up of the full set to compare to how I was at the start of the year, so I’d better start thinking about how to make that happen.

  • Week 4 Progress Update

    Well what I say in the video is true. I didn’t manage to really focus on three songs to improve. It feels like I’m coming forward with a lot of excuses this week, but I guess it’s good to review why I think things turned out the way they did. This might actually be a good opportunity to examine the elements of this endeavor and refine my approach. So, I’m going to break this down into five key sections: 

    Song Choice

    Previously I was writing about the reasons for my song choice to give me ideas about what to talk about when introducing the songs, and this week I decided to try actually start talking in between songs and play more of a “entertainer” role than just presenting my music progress in isolation (thanks UU podcast for the idea). Figure that’s another thing to start working on sooner than later. So, that’s why some of the things I’ll write here will mirror what I say in the video. And I still think it’s a useful exercise to examine why I chose the songs I did. 

    Instrumentation

    This mostly refers to the ukulele playing, the strumming and instrumental breaks. This should give me an opportunity to examine any challenges with playing and talk about how I overcame them (or didn’t). Sadly being true to the one string experiment has made it difficult to really work on instrumentation for the past few weeks, but I do feel like it will pay off and make me a better player in the long run, so. Sorry. 

    Vocals

    I’ve had two voice lessons so far, and it has become exceedingly clear that the voice is its own instrument that needs appropriate dedication to get good with. For now I’m mostly just trying to implement the many things I’ve learned and keep up with the new warm up exercises and techniques the teacher has suggested. I do plan to make a whole video about it eventually, particularly once I can play the warm up exercises on ukulele, so I can share that with everyone. 

    Recording

    It doesn’t really matter how good you play if your recording setup is bad. And my setup is bad. Part of it is that I don’t really know what I’m doing, and another part is that I can’t really put as much time into it as I would like since some of the things involved require being upright to work with my mixer and move things around in the rig. I lost the reverb on my vocals again this week, and I’m not exactly sure why. My gain staging sucks and I’m not sure how to fix it. It’s going to take a whole half-day of my time upright to troubleshoot these issues, which means I’ll probably need to find a meal I can eat in bed or just don’t take a shower until after midnight. But the problem ain’t gonna fix itself. Fun.   

    Presentation

    Well, I’m looking at the television and seeing myself staring right back at me. And I’m not sure I like what I see (or hear). That’s another reason why I started talking this week. I knew from the start that the music would not be good enough to deserve your attention for a while… so maybe my cheerful disposition can carry some weight. This is like the “overall” score for the video, or at least my overall impression after self review. 

    Unless there’s something specific in the song, I’ll probably do the recording and presentation reviews as an evaluation of the final product at the end. 

    Let’s see how this goes. 

    I’ve really been so engrossed in practicing my fundamentals that I just never found the time to drill down and work on specific things. Between the voice lessons and the one-string experiment, glaring flaws in my basic techniques have come so far forward that I feel like the best use of my time is to just work on those things. Also the half hour of vocal warm ups eats into the time that I was previously spending working on songs. 

    This weeks songs were: 

    Just My Imagination – The Temptations

    Song Choice

    A majority of my pre-90’s songs are things I picked up while playing drums with Uncle Wilmont at Castaway Cafe way back before COVID, and this is no exception. It’s true that I’d like to play Girl From Ipanema instead, but the bossa nova is currently a little bit beyond me. I also like how it seems and sounds like a happy song, but it’s just kidding! Mmm delicious irony. This was one where the vocals needed more work than the instrumentation, so it got picked for this week. 

    Instrumentation

    There’s actually a couple of different ways I play this depending on how I’m feeling. Today I did light strumming, with pedaling between C (0003) and C5 (0033) during the verse to taste. Sometimes I like the sort of travis pick the G and C strings, and if I had more time to practice properly I kind of would have preferred to make this the default way. I’m struggling between deciding to use a pick or not because it affects the balance when I’m recording if I switch styles in the middle of a take. But I like some songs better with pick and others without. Originally I was doing the first half with pick and the second half without, so I might stick to that and just make adjustments halfway. 

    Vocals

    There’s a lot of songs where I feel I don’t really get into the groove until halfway through. I think that just means I need to practice more, which was part of the point of focusing on three songs to improve per week. Since I didn’t do that, I just had to rely on implementing the things learned from voice lessons to this one. A particular challenge for this song is enunciation – I have a tendency to say “just my ‘magination” instead of “just my imagination” if I’m not careful. This one also has a lot of notes held for a long time, which gives me the chance to try to hear if I’m on pitch and work on ending my words with better enunciation. 

    Brown Eye’d Girl – Van Morrison

    Song Choice

    The Ka’au Crater Boys were a big influence on me growing up, and most of the first ukulele songs I learned to play were by them. The first version of this song I heard was by them, and the version of the House on Pooh Corner I’m playing is technically a chart of their version as well. It’s hard to deny the talent and impact of Troy Fernandez when talking about ukulele, and I’m well counted among his many admirers. And this song is another “sounds happy but actually…” that seems to be my flavor of  the moment. I figure it’s a classic song that people will recognize and would fit a wide range of appropriate situations. 

    Instrumentation

    The intro run is in thirds which is something I have been practicing a lot on my two strings, but it’s on the two strings I haven’t earned back yet, so… that’s my excuse. I have a feeling I could do it smoother by doing the run on the C and E strings because I think starting on the open A is a source of issue, but since I’m not allowed to use the E string, I haven’t figured out how to do it. This is also one I typically play pick-style too, so it was a little awkward for me to approach it without one. I think at least the core is there, I just need to refine things. Really could have properly focused on this one for the week…

    Vocals

    You can hear I lose it when I need to do some instrumentation. It needs much work to get automatic. Removing almost all the ornamentations to focus on just hitting the notes seems like it was a good choice. Again there’s a good amount of notes held for a long period of time that give me time to think if I’m nailing the note or not. With the vocals alone I’m about 70% pleased with it, so I’ll have to put a good amount more effort into it before I can really consider it “performance ready.” It’s close, but no cigar. 

    Luv Sic pt. 2 – Nujabes

    Song Choice

    Another song that I didn’t really need to work on the instrumental parts for, and had the lyrics mostly memorized. And actually, before I knew how to warm up properly, I usually used a busy hip hop track like this to get the voice moving at the start of a singing session. I’d actually like to do the whole Luv Sic Hexology, but it would behoove me to jazz (and chill-hop) things up a bit to better reflect the vibe of the originals. I actually can do half of them already, but only two are memorized. This is another one of those “if you like Nujabes, I like you” songs because the music is great, and the interests that would lead you to discovering the music seem well aligned with mine. I really like the message of this song in particular, so I had to include it. Truth be told I’m not a big hip hop head, but when I hear stuff I like, it’s always a treat. 

    Instrumentation

    The main thing here was trying to find a rhythm that captures the hip hop vibe and keeping it consistent. The chords are pretty straightforward and don’t change up so much. The vocals are the big challenge for this. Maybe someday I’ll add some more colorful chords to spice things up eventually. Once the vocals are fully automatic, of course.

    Vocals

    So many words lol. One of the big things pointed out to me in the lessons was that I don’t have a refined enough sense of exhaling excess air, or the control to properly take breaths in the right places. This song really demands specific breathing places, and part of the challenge of learning it was balancing what I can do with the cadence of the original. I don’t hit it perfectly, but I am pretty pleased with how this sounds. If only my reverb didn’t mysteriously vanish on me. 

    Recording

    Well, I’m really sad about the lack of reverb thing, but I guess not sad enough to go back and try recording again. I really don’t know what changed. This is going to take some investigation. I’m on an entirely dawless setup because using a computer is pretty hard, so post-processing is not a thing. And I think its a good proxy for the one chance you get in a live performance. So like a live performance, if you suck there’s no point denying it. But in the wise words of Jake the Dog: “dude, sucking is the first step to becoming sort of good at something.” Let’s immortalize my awfulness by giving the video to youtube. /cheer

    I mentioned gain staging earlier, and that’s been a constant issue I thought I had come to terms with. Apparently I thought wrong. If you listen you can hear the background static that happens when I go from silence to talking. If things are properly balanced, that doesn’t happen. It’s not as big of a deal while I’m playing busy things, but it’s pretty noticeable on quieter passages. I’m gonna have to do some research and try to solve this thing once and for all. Hopefully before next week?

    Presentation

    I think talking is a little better than just going straight into the music, and I’m hoping I’ll get more comfortable with it the more I do it. It still feels pretty awkward, but this is like the first time I’m doing it so I suppose that’s only natural. I wanted to talk more about the songs but… well, I didn’t lol. I also didn’t write up my summaries till afterwards, unlike in previous weeks so, maybe next time I will prepare a little more in advance. 

    I also just got a bunch of these white shirts which I think are going to be my uniform while practicing for now. I’ll put on something nicer whenever I’m doing a “performance” but for now I think it’s good enough. It’s also kind of a signal that these videos are supposed to be works in progress. And I don’t like having to worry about what to wear. Before these videos I rarely left my room and it was never a problem. So, solutions! 

    Idk. If I could do better I would do better. All in all it seems mostly watchable. If you read down this far, got any feedback or suggestions? 

  • Week 3 Progress Update

    The voice lesson went well! I learned almost as much in a half hour with a pro as I did from reading the entire Singing for Dummies book. It did cost almost 3 times as much for the single session as the whole book as well though, so if you’re considering investing in expert guidance, I strongly recommend going in with a good knowledge of your weaknesses and what you want to work on. And be prepared to follow through with all the advice you receive. There are no shortcuts, but every once in a while a simple sentence from a master can change your whole trajectory. It’s kind of like that thing with good luck though – you can’t really create luck, but with diligence you can put yourself in a position to take advantage of the opportunity when it arises. 

    The first thing I learned was that there’s a subtle change I need to make to the way I’m singing. Its a matter of “knowing my instrument” and identifying how to make it sound its best. Apparently there’s a natural point of resonance that we can target to make the notes come out stronger. Its probably only subtle to my untrained ear – the teacher picked up on it instantly. Hopefully this will help me with that “wispiness” in my tone that I could never quite get rid of. 

    The second thing I discovered was that singing with a grand piano is a completely different experience than singing with uke. It becomes much clearer when you are on or off pitch. Almost immediately I realized that I need to stop trying to do vocal ornaments and focus on really nailing the pitches. Combining this with the previous lesson of refining my tone, my singing bandwidth is already starting to feel taxed. 

    But wait, there’s more! The final big takeaway that the teacher spotted instantly was my breath control. I had read about it in the book, and I thought I was doing it, but I really wasn’t doing it properly at all. Taking the uke out of my hands and singing along to someone else playing the chords made it possible for me to really pay attention to my breathing. We noticed that I never really exhale excess air at the end of phrases, And of course the poorly timed breaths became super apparent when I had nothing to focus on but my vocals. 

    As a user on the UU forums mentioned, it’s probably a good idea to treat the voice as a completely separate instrument to improve alongside the ukulele. I definitely agree. There is enough nuance to singing that if you want to do it well, there needs to be some dedication to the craft. And that sounds like a good plan to me – I need something to do when my fingers get tired from playing all day long! Some say learning how art is made can ruin the magic, but personally, as I learn more about just how difficult it is to make good sounding music, I only find myself with greater awe and appreciation of the artists I look up to. 

    Back to the topic of a master’s advice completely changing your course: a professional musician on the Uke Tribe discord gave us a workshop on the wonderful world of the Unitar on the condition that we would commit to going down to one string on our primary uke until thoroughly working the exercise. The value of doing this was so apparent that I eagerly complied. I’ve been playing for about 10 years now, it’s time to properly learn the notes of the fretboard and go past the 12th fret! 

    This also means I’m supposed to put all my time into working the one string and not cheat by using my other 4-stringed ukes. As a compromise, I’ve been doing my daily singing while only playing on one string… and holy cow is it hard. This also means I haven’t been able to work on the instrumental parts that are typically a large weakness. So for this week I tried picking a few songs that mostly required lyric and chord memorization more than instrumental development. And of course songs that would be nice to try incorporate the new lessons in singing into. 

    Count On Me – Bruno Mars

    There’s no denying the talent of Bruno Mars, and I appreciate that he’s from Hawaii too. I picked this little tune over some of his other major hits because it resonates with me more. It’s relatively simple and straightforward, but it’s nice. Cozy. Memorable. The kind of song that when I first heard it I said “oh, that’s cute!” Then I looked it up and decided to learn it. I’m hoping that’s the kind of response my audience has when I sing it too. I think it’s a good one for uke, and it’d be a particularly nice song to sing to your child or to woo a lover. Not that I have either. But if I did, this would probably be a staple in our house. 

    The progression has more than four chords, but it’s pretty consistent so once you get the order down it’s not too bad. I was able to find and play the roots on one string to practice while memorizing the lyrics and focusing on the vocals. Stripping back and focusing on the essentials is the name of the game this week, so I chose not to even try the very memorable high-note ornament he uses toward the end of the song. Someday I may, but for now I’m just trying to get through with solid pitches and accurate lyrics. 

    One thing I did want to do for this song was add in a travis picking style strum to form a bass line, and to use the movable shape for Em (4432) to create something a little different from usual. But, that would take practicing with 4 strings. So for now I’m just using the open Em and letting it be a little less tight than it ideally would be. Just another “someday I may” get it right.  

    Hey There Delilah – Plain White Tees

    I was reminded that I knew how to play this song in a recent Uke Tribe Open Mic, but the original key was a little bit too high for me so I had to relearn the chords along with remembering the correct order of the lyrics again. I’m told I should change up the key for sequential songs, but I was struggling so much on one string I just had to default to a familiar progression.

    I think this song was popular when I was in college, and so I assume it will be recognizable by my target audience of millennials on vacation in Hawaii. I think it translates nicely to low-g ukulele, and is definitely a challenge for the vocals. There’s no hiding in that chorus! The point of practice is to get better at doing things you couldn’t do before, and I’d like to be able to sing refrains like this with confidence. So, on the set list it goes. 

    It helps that it’s a quaint message too. It came from a time before online relationships were the norm, and when long distance relationships were much harder to maintain. Not that I really know if it’s any easier these days, but now that everyone has a good camera and zoom, I’m sure you can make it work if you really wanted to. Back then there really was a worry about the distance, and if you got lonely maybe you could text, but sitting in front of your computer with laggy low-resolution webcams was not a compelling substitute for a heartfelt song. It also encapsulates the mythos that one can “make it” with music. After all, they did make a successful hit with that guitar. I think it’s something most musical aspirants at least dream about at some point. I did too. Wouldn’t it be nice. 

    Yeah, I’d surely like to have the girl, and to hit those high notes. But I’ll stay on uke thanks very much. 

    The Impression That I Get – Mighty Mighty Bosstones

    I try to only keep half of an eye on what’s happening out there in the real world, and it seems to me like the standard empathetic impulse has been continually degrading. Being born and raised and living in a relatively small community on a relatively small island makes it highly likely that you will encounter the same people throughout your life. This means that if you’re a jerk, people will remember you. So there’s mostly a sort of default level of respect most people afford to each other. Word travels quickly here, and if you’re too unfriendly you stop getting invited to parties. Now that you can be anonymous on the internet there’s a whole sense of “I’m never going to see this person again so I’ll say anything I want” which sort of baffles me. I mean, I get it, but I don’t really understand what life is like with that mindset. 

    When the fires took out the heart of Lahaina town, there was not much I could do but watch on in horror. Then thank my lucky stars we survived. So this song has quite a bit of a personal relevance for me. I know lots of people who were affected, and I know it isn’t good. But I still didn’t face the fire directly myself, so all I have is this impression. Now that I see something similar going on in California on a much grander scale, my heart goes out to them. It’s an awful feeling to see your community destroyed, to lose all the landmarks of your youth, and to be left with literally nothing but ashes. And it’s hard to empathize with such a grand tragedy. But I think it’s important to at least make the effort to sympathize. 

    And this doesn’t only apply to victims of natural disasters. We can rarely fully empathize with the lives of others, but we can recognize that they are having a human experience just as we are, and should be treated with a certain amount of dignity by default. People are the way they are for reasons. Treating others as you would like to be treated seems like a good policy to me. 

    Ok I’ll get off my soapbox now. Back to the jumpin’ ska tune. Since this one is a lot about rhythm, again my main work this week was on memorizing the lyrics, forms, and chord progression. Again I mostly just practiced by playing the roots on one string, and picking the rhythm of the strumming to settle on when to use upbeats. Just like with the Jack Johnson song I skipped the unique intro because I lack the skills to emulate it. It’s challenge enough for me to sing the horn parts and get the words correct. Oh, and to sing it with feeling. Man, there’s so much to work on. I’m really thinking a second pass over everything is probably going to be necessary to get to where i want to be. Maybe even a third. Who knows. 

    In other news, lately I’ve been kind of obsessed with Chet Baker and Wolfgang Lackerschmid’s Ballads for Two. Something about the ethereal vibraphone and soulful trumpet really does it for me. I’d love to play around with something similar with uke solo’s over atmospheric synths. One day, after I conquer the unitar. 

    This week in anime I’m continuing to catch up on the fall season that just finished. I hate waiting for weekly episodes so I just wait till the season ends and binge. I needed to not look at my fretboard while running scales, so I wound up watching a bunch of shows while I practiced. 

    “The Do Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor” was actually objectively pretty decent, if you can ignore the MASSIVE ELEPHANT THEY KEEP POKING throughout. I don’t care if there’s lore reasons, your emperor just can’t be so excited that his bride is under 14. I guess it’s some consolation that in reality it’s an adult woman voice acting as a 16-year old who was time warped back into her 10 year old body to marry a 19 year old dignitary. Ugh. Nope that’s not any better. The story would have been just fine, if not superior, if everyone was of legal age from the start. It wasn’t as bad/good as Onimai, but I’d say maybe similarly discomforting. Oh Japan.

    “Loner Life in Another World” was basically Mary Sue: The Isekai. By episode 2 he was no longer a loner, and all his “junk skills” turned out to be crazy OP and everybody loves our whiny reluctant isekai hero and everything always turns out well for him because he’s just so “ingenious.” The show was so aggressively average I was somewhat impressed. They have to like, intentionally avoid being too unique or interesting and actually be actively annoying to hit 5/10 so hard. I actually do kind of like it for that, but I would not go as far as to call it remotely good. The premise sounded like it had promise. Unfortunately, they did not deliver.   

     “Let this Grieving Soul Retire” was like a wish.com Eminence in the Shadow. It was actually a pretty fun not-isekai fantasy romp that I enjoyed. It never quite hits the same highs as Eminence… no, it doesn’t even come close to the peaks of Eminence, but it’s still a good time nevertheless. At least this whiny reluctant hero is actually weak, and the ensuing hijinks are definitely more entertaining than annoying. That ending song kind of grew on me as an earworm too. Maybe it’s that scream. Or the way they did interesting transitions into it. Or the booty shorts? Idk. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next season. 

    Finally the dark horse of this week was “Kinokoinu: Mushroom Pup.” The UU weekly challenge theme was “animal farm” so they wanted a song related to animals and I thought I might find a quirky opening or closing theme to learn. Alas, I was hit with a heart wrenching story of overcoming grief and breaking out of depression after everyone you love has died. With the help of your very own magical mushroom dog mascot character, of course. If you find yourself listless after losing a pet or a parent, it might be a comforting watch. Otherwise on its own I felt it was kind of a downer. Sadly, unconditionally loving magical mushroom dogs don’t seem to pop out of nowhere to comfort us in real life very often. 

    I didn’t get a cute song out of that show, but defaulted to one of the few songs featuring animals I already knew. Here’s my submission to the UU weekly song challenge as a bonus for making it this far: