“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.
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.
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!
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:
Practice a set of repertoire daily.
Record yourself, critically review the recordings, and improve to the best of your ability.
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!
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.
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.
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?
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:
Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face. – Mike Tyson
I lost another two and a half days to migraines again this week. One was kind of expected: a doctor’s appointment that included an hour long drive to and from. We do have our car set up so I can lay down in the back, but the extra movement and the unavoidable upright time just navigating the clinic and waiting my turn adds up quickly. I returned home pretty useless for the rest of the day.
Then a few days later I had a New Pedal Day for the electric uke that I still need to write about. I was having so much fun playing there was no way I was going to stop. Following that day though, we had the one-string experiment workshop for which I took off every string except one on the Sparrow in an attempt to force myself to master the instrument. Well, it seems that the workshop was a little too much and my brain overloaded and again I had no recourse but to sleep off a powerful migraine.
When the going gets tough, the tough watch anime! When I’m feeling sick I don’t typically want to watch anything good, so trashy isekai fits the bill nicely. Maybe Why Does Nobody Remember Me in This World? isn’t technically an isekai, but he does find himself in a new version of his own world, where, spoiler: nobody remembers him. Delightful. It was bland enough to be able to turn off at any time, but interesting enough to not dread every episode. Barely. Would not recommend it unless you’re deep in the time-wasting anime woods.
On the second headache day I made it through As a Reincarnated Aristocrat, I’ll Use My Appraisal Skill to Rise in the World Season 2. If you can’t tell how good it will be from the title alone, your training is lacking! I did enjoy season 1 so I was looking for this, and it certainly delivered the lukewarm isekai soup I was craving. This is one of those where the punchline to every episode is “wow, MC is soooooo talented, and a decent human being who respects others!!” So. It’s good enough to distract from the pain, but not so good that I’ll stay up late to find out what happens in the next episode. Just right.
Anyway, back to the music. This week for my performance set polishing I chose two songs I felt already pretty comfortable singing, and one that needed a good amount of work. I’m starting proper voice lessons from Lahaina Music next week so I wanted to leave the more challenging and delicate stuff to refine until after my knowledge expands. I’ll probably have to revisit these too. Honestly the whole set might need a second pass through to truly get to performance quality. And I’m now singing daily with only one string for now so… eep. But that’s a different story.
It’s the goth set! I’ll be honest, I am a big fan of the goth rock and music on the darker side of the spectrum. I actually could have made a 20 song set out of songs by The Cure and The Smiths alone. But, that’s so commercially kosher, especially not in my bright sunny holiday resort town so I had to compromise. Imagine that, a guy just wailing Morrissey while you’re trying to enjoy the pool on your vacation. Hah!
I hopefully tastefully snuck these into the set because it was important for me to signal that I have an interest in this kind of music. It’s not necessarily stuff associated with the ukulele, and it’s only the tip of the iceberg for all the things I’d like to play. But I’m far from the point where I can get away with playing whatever I want because I know how to make it interesting and engaging. I won’t subject you to my renditions of Joy Division or Siouxie songs… yet.
There’s a growing awareness that there is a higher rate of depression and mental health issues among the musically inclined. I am no exception. It may be about how we are wired, whatever draws us to music may also lead us to a pessimistic outlook. There are many theories attempting to explain why and wherefore, but for the point is that as a musician, if you’re feeling down or things seem hopeless, you are not alone. And what better way to show that than indulge in the misery with waves of melancholy sound! I’m partial to the idea that studying music forces one to adopt a holistic approach to understanding, and when you apply this approach to the world, it’s hard to ignore that it’s kind of a terrible place.
Even before I became disabled I had a long history of fighting against depression. And I gave in to the resignation of despair for many years when all my hopes and dreams and plans for the future vanished. Having the rug pulled from under your feet by a random malady isn’t the kind of thing you can really prepare for. But languishing gets boring after a time, and if we’re lucky we find a way out of the hole. It’s all peaks and valleys. You’re either facing a challenging climb, or sliding down after an accomplishment. If it’s all the same, I might as well sing.
There is a light that never goes out by The Smiths
I suppose I could call this a theme song from my younger years. Growing up in a small town on a remote island, I could only imagine what it would be like to have the option to go see live music that I liked being performed. When I was in college, I played in an indie rock band, and we went out to make music and see life every chance we got. I really like Morresy’s overbearing angst and the compelling ambiguity to the lyrics. And more than anything, this song directly references truck-kun, the unsung catalyst of many an isekai. So of course I had to bring this one out.
Really though, a lot of parts of this song resonate with me quite strongly. The idea of being so enthralled in an experience with someone else that I wouldn’t mind if the world ended before the night sounds great. I haven’t found the one to spend the rest of my life with, but I’ve certainly had nights like these. The idea that home is nowhere was another prominent theme for my youth. I was never truly unwelcome at home, but I probably wouldn’t have willingly chosen to come back under most circumstances. Finally, I interpret the ending refrain (and title of the song) in a couple of different ways. On one hand, it could be saying that the lights of the music venues never go out – that there is always hope for a good time out there somewhere. On another it could refer to the light of the soul, the spark that survives reincarnation, or the love between lovers who get hit by a bus. I doubt Morrissey was an isekai fan (especially back then), but if the shoe fits!
From a musical perspective the biggest challenge was getting the order of verses properly aligned. This is another one of those ones where the lyrics are relatively similar throughout, but the slight variances have big impacts on the meaning. I also purposefully ignore Marr’s approach to the song because I’m under no illusion that I could replicate that vibe alone on a uke. Maybe someday if I incorporate backing tracks and synths into my show. Truth be told, I’m somewhat more influenced by a cover done by Braid, an early midwest emo band that I’m quite fond of.
All in all this was a softball of a song since I had most of the lyrics and chords memorized from long ago. Just needed a bit of polishing. There was a bit of attention paid toward expressing the emotions visually as well as sonically. And an attempt to make crooning about getting killed by a ten ton truck not too cringy. Of all the songs by The Smiths I’ve learned to play, this seemed the most popular and least niche, so it won. If you like The Smiths, and you like my version, I like you!
Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode
There’s not as much backstory to this song, I mostly just like it. Well, I am a synth and synthpop enjoyer. But I’m as much of a KMFDM fan as I am of Depeche Mode. And again, I don’t really feel like singing some of the darker songs I know from them by the poolside. As an early millennial, I never really got to experience a true goth club scene, so all I really know of the legacy is how I feel about the music. I wanted a bit of a dancy song, and I felt my voice matched the natural pitch and timbre of this song, so it was kind of another fun softball for me.
You can hear I also don’t really even attempt to replicate the synth leads. Instead I simplify the picking and choose to use a busy strumming style to try to capture that driving dance beat. I actually do experiment a little with an uneven strum to try to add a subtle depth instead of breaking into a proper solo, but I’m not actually sure how effective it is. And I know I got it backwards: There is a light that never goes out ends with a fade out of the refrain, this song just fades with an instrumental. But whatever. I do what I like.
Lovesong – The Cure
There are many songs by The Cure that I’ve learned and enjoy playing, but again for the sake of appealing to the legions of my adoring poolside fans, I had to go with one of the most well known and least angsty songs. Honestly I had half the heart to do this in an upbeat island reggae style like how I approach “Boys Don’t Cry” but you know, sometimes it’s good to be serious. If the timing ever feels right I am actually interested in doing a whole Cure/Smiths set someday. I’m vaguely aware of some issue between the two bands or something, but given Morrisey’s famous attitude, that’s not really surprising.
The first two songs were softballs because this was the beast of the week. I figured that putting time into working this one out early means I’ll have more time to really polish it up by the end of the exercise. For this one I actually wrote out a whole (relatively simple) fingerstyle arrangement of it to help inform how I wanted to do the instrumental half of the song. These musical themes are worth learning and including in my version. I did skip writing out the solo section though because… I am weak.
Lyrically it was a little tricky to place all the words in the right place, but I came up with some little memory tricks to help:
First, while rattling through the only words that are different in each verse, I noticed that the variance in the second verse sounded kind of… Chinese. You make me feel like I am young/fun again. I’m half Chinese and appreciate a good chuckle, so this is now an inside joke for me to memorize the second verse (young/yung is a common Chinese last name, and fun means noodle, i.e. chow fun).
Then for the last verse we’re free and clean, and for some reason clean comes second which gives it a sort of emphasis that I found strange. Somehow it feels like putting “clean” last makes it feel more important than “free.” That oddness is the trick to remembering that one. You’d rather be clean than free? Sure why not.
Finally for the first verse it’s just a matter of remembering that “Home” comes before “Whole.” We come home first. Then we’re whole. Have some chinese noodles. We’re free, but more importantly, we’re clean again. I don’t know if it makes any sense, but that’s what works for me to remember it. I didn’t really see any other logical connection between everything to help otherwise.
This… was an ambitious plan. And I even designed it to be able to cheat a little by including a good number of songs I felt were close to ready already. Thing is, under the spotlight, my “close to ready” really is anything but. Anyway, here’s the progress I made on the three songs I chose to focus on this week:
In truth I think that even though they still aren’t there quite yet, by the end of this exercise I think they will be pretty solid. Well, ignoring the fact that the exercise doesn’t end until everything is solid anyway! What I really mean is within the intended time frame of two months. We’ll see!
I am very open to constructive criticism to help me improve, so if you have any to share please don’t be shy! I am signed up for proper voice lessons starting next week, so hopefully soon I’ll be making some good progress in that department.
I’ve also decided to document and share the specific things I worked on, to both reinforce my learning and reveal more of the process. I’m not interested in making tutorials for how to play these songs – I’m more of a peer in this journey to get good than a pro. But I am trying out this format of giving “hints” about what I did in this polishing process. Maybe someone with the knowledge and skill will surreptitiously offer some wisdom to boost my efforts. I… tried making this into a video, but ugh. Ughhhhh. XD We can live without this, yes?
Mr. Jones by Counting Crows
I was always a fan of this song from when it was a hit on the radio back when I was still in primary school. I like how it describes a dream, from hanging out in a dingy bar to becoming a star of stage and screen. And it presents in no uncertain terms the irony that ‘when everybody loves me, I will never be lonely.” To me, this is a perfect encapsulation of the musician’s aspiration. We all want to be big stars, but we don’t know how, and we don’t know why. We want to be loved. We don’t want to be lonely. We all want something beautiful. I wish I was beautiful.
We know that chasing fame is a fool’s errand, but what else can we do? For me a prescient reminder to be happy and satisfied in the present moment. In our imagination we wish for all these things that we think will get us “there.” Becoming disabled forced me to confront my aspirations and what it means to be satisfied. I used to be a highly productive member of society. For years I’ve languished, and now, well, my reason for wanting to be a big big star has gotten strong enough to start up this project.
I also like how the song starts with “shalalala” in a direct call to another song on my set: “Brown Eye’d Girl.” In that song we sing “shalalala” while remembering good days gone by. In a way this mirrors the journey of this song. We start with a wish to believe, we get our grey guitar, and the band does get to see themselves staring right back at them on the TV. And he still wants to be Bob Dylan. The appetite of imagination knows no bounds.
This was the “softball” song of this week’s set, with the main challenge being memorization of all the lyrics. Oh, and learning to sing “Jones” in the right pitch. That was driving me crazy. I just had to get that down or else it would bug me forever more. So, priority number one was finding the pitch of “Jones” to hit that iconic part of the chorus. Can’t sing this song without nailing that.
Priority number two was to memorize the little turns of phrase that he uses in every pre-chorus. There’s a certain logic to the progression, but it’s pretty subtle and has been tricky for me to get flawless. I’ve got it mostly down, but still stumble over the secondary point: first they’re telling fairy tales while smiling in the bright lights and coming through in stereo; then they look into the future where he’s standing in the spotlight and bought himself a grey guitar; finally they’re stumbling through the barrio, and they stare at the television.
The final bit that needed (and still needs) work is the strumming pattern. I want it to be slightly different from my default 2 and 4 chuck in the verses to better replicate the original sounds, and to give space to roll into that driving beat in the heat of the chorus. The challenge is where to place some of the accent chucks that I want to do, and I’m trying my best to internalize the timing instead of writing it out explicitly to follow. So this will just come with time as I continue to practice this song daily. .
You can get it if you really want – Jimmy Cliff
I’m more of a ska fan than hardcore reggae junkie, but I do really enjoy a lot of the early rocksteady artists coming out of Jamaica. I really appreciate the optimism and message of this song, and have kind of adopted it as my motto for the year. The message really rings true for me. I firmly believe that if you really want something, you can get it. But you must try, try, and try. The catch is that often what we think we want isn’t really what we want, so it’s important to be very aware about one’s goals and aspirations. Know why you want to be a big big star, right?
I have been playing ukulele in some capacity for almost a decade now, but I was primarily a drummer in my previous prime. For the past few years I’ve been taking the uke more seriously, and really trying to not be terrible at singing. I took Choir for a few semesters in high school, but otherwise I’m a primarily self-taught musician. Well, taught by many books and videos as well, though I learned in a time before YouTube tutorials were a thing.
Since becoming bedridden, it’s really become my weapon of choice. I tried getting into synths and sound design, which I still find really intriguing, however most hardware is painfully designed to sit on a table. Which makes it particularly hard to use in bed. I wanted to play piano, and we put together a rig to lift one over my bed, but that caused unfortunate muscle strain because of holding the arms up vertically instead of horizontally letting them rest on the keys like normal. So, if I wanted to make music, ukulele seemed like my best choice!
For this particular song, singing in the falsetto voice was my primary challenge. I had actually originally learned this song two keys higher, so I had to relearn the chords again. It’s not a particularly challenging song chord wise, though the instrumental break did take a few days to get consistent. Finally, the strumming technique to come in and stay on the up beats took a little while to learn. Again it’s important to do this to give contrast between parts of the verses and the chorus.
I decided to pluck out the horn theme at the start, but then to vocalize them following each of the chorus’. That’s mostly because I couldn’t figure out how to do the upbeats while playing the melody, a pure skill issue. Would be so nice if I had an actual horn player for accompaniment! I’m not entirely sure about the hard stops, but for now I think it’s ok enough. I might find something better to do before the final deadline.
Ultimately, this entire project is an attempt to show that you can get it if you really want. That’s the motto! That’s why I showed my initial performance in the unrefined state. And why I’m sharing this intermediate stage. In the original piece, there’s a vocal fill “Don’t I show it??” that I’ve not figured out how to squeeze in, but that’s the point. I believe the line, now I just need to show its truth.
Better Together – Jack Johnson
The song is a crowd pleaser that Stoney in the Uke Tribe reminded me that I had learned in the past. I like the juxtaposition of the struggle of expressing one’s feelings with the simplicity of the solution: we’re better together. This is a message I want to send to my audience. I may not know you, and I don’t know the right words or the right songs to say it, but I do know I appreciate you listening to me. And I hope you can agree that you’re better off for listening to me too.
Also I’m currently loveless, and would love someone to be able to genuinely sing this to. Better start practicing! You can get it…
This was the major challenge for this week’s set. I had learned the song in the past but never memorized the form or lyrics. Worse yet, there’s an instrumental prelude, interlude, and break. I needed to find things to play for each of those. I settled on simple arpeggios with some scale runs to make it more of “my own” sound instead of trying to replicate the original interludes. I’m sure it’s playable, and I may figure it out someday, but I had too many other things to work on for this piece already. I wanted to add an instrumental solo, but then realized the song actually only has a little break before the conclusion. Someday I may, but for now I just skipped it.
I played this song last in the presentation to force an unavoidable capture of my current progress. If I were recording the songs alone, I would typically spend up to a half an hour per song trying to get the perfect take to share. That might make for a better sounding video to listen to, but it surely isn’t pushing me toward my goal of becoming a better performer. You don’t get to redo takes until you get it right on stage! I just have to live with it, and learn from my inadequacy.
Maybe three songs a week really is a bit too much…
One of my goals for this year is to focus on polishing up a set of vocal ukulele covers to get it to “performance quality” where I would feel satisfied with my mastery over the material to the point that I could present it with pride. This is not that.
This is where I am today, and the hope is that in a few months I will be able to run this set again at significantly higher quality. Or at least by the end of 2025. Guess we’ll see. The idea is that I’ll pick 3 songs a week to work on, and try to tune them up to standard. Maybe I’ll make a tutorial for the mini-set, or just do a minor presentation of the weekly progress. That’s the plan.
These are the songs I want to play well, and how I sing them currently. Some songs are almost there, but most need much improvement. Lots to work on!
A better way to do this would be to join up with other people and get both the external and internal feedback from the experience of live performance. Since I’m disabled and basically bedridden, it makes it very hard for me to leave my room. So, I’m relying on other methods.
Luckily, everyone has a camera in their phone these days, and so we can all record ourselves and see what we look and sound like. It’s… not really super fun to watch your self flub up and identify all the mistakes, but I’m not doing it for “fun”. I’m doing it because I want to do better. It’s actually quite nice to have such a powerful tool for self-improvement at our fingertips. And it does become fun to work through the issues and get good.
But don’t get me wrong: I am definitely embarrassed by this performance. The shame is only slightly buffered by the thought that very few with care to watch through this in the vast sea of content. I also recognize that even though I am hyper critical of all my flaws, there are those out there who may appreciate or even enjoy seeing the work in progress.
I hope this might be something inspiring, either in the way of “I could do better, maybe I should make my own content too!” or “wow that level of skill seems attainable, and I can see how that eventually becomes solid. I can do that too!” And I truly hope that in a few months I’ll be able to run this set much more proficiently, and will look back at this recording and laugh. Here’s hoping.
The main issues I notice to work on are intros/endings, first note pitch and pitch in general, instrumentals and breaks, and of course, memorizing the lyrics and chords. I really need to sit down and work out proper instrumentals for many of the songs to compliment the singing. Also the break sections in many of the songs give me trouble, typically because of a change in pitch and chords.
Also, add reverb to the vocals. My lord. I was hearing reverb while I was playing, but it didn’t get recorded because the wrong button was pressed on my mixer. Well, suppose that’s one way to make it seem like I’ve drastically improved in a very short time!
I don’t like trying to brute force memorization, so instead I play through the setlist daily. So yeah, that means I drill into 3 songs specifically to work on them, and then play through the whole set, daily. This equates to about two hours of practice. I’d do more if I could, but that’s about as much as my voice and brain can handle. I usually take a several hour break and continue with instrumental / electric uke practice in the evenings.
Well, ideally at least. I’ve had relatives in town for the holidays so I haven’t been able to drill down as much as I’d like – and I expect that this is a common problem for all of us. Life often gets in the way. Nothing to be done. Its rare for all my siblings to all be back in town, so I choose to spend time with them while I can. They all head home tomorrow though, so hopefully then the rubber hits the road.
Here’s the set list on Spotify and the charts for it on Ultimate Guitar. About a third of the songs are actually relatively new to me so I’ve had to listen to them a bunch. I also make the whole set list to double check how it “flows” and feels when placed next to each other. I do re-interpret a couple of the songs by making them slower (or taking out the instrumentals because I’m weak). That’s all part of the process.
I also run through the set as a “performance” practice by streaming that in the Uke Tribe Discord Woodshed at around 12pm HST unless otherwise noted in the #progress channel. If you have any interest in streaming or want to work out nerves in front of a small and supportive audience of fellow uke enthusiasts, feel free to join up and jam in the woodshed too!
And last but not least, here are the time stamps for my setlist:
0:00 Intro
0:51 Nujabes – Luv Sic Part 2
5:00 Old Crow Medicine Show – Wagon Wheel
8:44 Counting Crows – Mr. Jones
13:10 The Smiths – There is a light that never goes out
17:03 The Temptations – Just my imagination
20:15 Blind Melon – No Rain
23:30 The Cure – Lovesong
28:07 Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence
30:50 Bruno Mars – Count on me
34:50 Van Morrison – Brown Eyes Girl
38:23 Crosby, Stills, & Nash – Love the one you’re with
42:08 Jimmy Cliff – You can get it if you really want
44:36 Jack Johnson – Better together
48:20 Loggins & Messina – House at Pooh corner
51:46 Israel Kamakawiwo’ole – In this life
55:50 Hapa – Ku’u Home o Kahulu’u
1:00:40 Neil Young – Harvest Moon
1:04:08 Plain White T’s – Hey there Delilah
1:09:12 The Killers – When you were young
1:13:09 Mighty Mighty Bosstones – The impression that I get
1:16:30 The Platters – My Prayer
When I have a bit more time I’d like to write a bit about why I chose each song. Maybe I’ll do that in the follow up posts as I refine them.
If any songs catch your ear and you are interested in seeing a tutorial or hearing them get polished up first, let me know on YT or Discord. I’m just playing it by ear, don’t really have an order of refinement. There’s enough variety here that I can kind of gravitate toward whatever I feel like working on, at the moment at least.
And I think 12 songs for a full set sounds better than 11, so I’m open to a couple more suggestions to make a nice round double if anything comes to mind that you think would fit my style and vibe. I’m all ears!