Lisa's Ukelele

[Rudolf Wagner]

Hi Jung,

My good ol’ Mandolele! No, it is definitely a Ukulele. I too, noticed Billy Butler calling it a Mandolin but refrained from correcting him in that moment. Silly Billy 😉 To be honest I’ve never tried playing a Mandolin though I am very much intrigued by it.

The Uke that I play in the video for “God Only Know”, “I Don’t Know Birds That Well”, “I’ll Follow The Sun” and “Wonderful Christmas Time” is a soprano uke by Lanikai and the first one we ever bought.

In the video for “Daydream” or “She’s Leaving Home” I use a slightly bigger “concert” style Uke, also by Lankai, sent to us by Steve from Miami! It’s also the one I took on the Steve Harley tour.

I love them both! When I went through the videos above to check back on which one I used in which video, I realized just how many appearances the uke has made in songs already. If you’d have asked me on the spot I would have guessed a lot less, haha.

But I like how it’s such a versatile instrument that (especially if paired with a guitar) can really transform a song and give it a brighter, happier feel. I wouldn’t really say it’s either more or less difficult than playing guitar. It depends what you want to play on it 🙂

I basically treat it as if it was a shrunken guitar with the lower 2 strings missing. I transpose the normal song key to the tuning of the uke and then play the same chord shapes I’d use on a guitar.

Not the most sophisticated approach but it works! There is so much more to know and learn about the ukulele when it comes to technique. Maybe I’ll dig a little deeper into that one day.

Since you mentioned the Beatles, I don’t think they ever used one on any of their recordings. But George supposedly was a huge Ukulele aficionado! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJEtLjnO7E

That might also be one of the reasons Paul decided to play “Something” on the Uke at the Concert for George: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JeMufeiYIc

Such a powerful little instrument ♥
Thanks for the question!

[Jung Roe]

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[Richard McGlenn]

On the Beatles and their Ukulele, while I have no source that indicates that they ever recorded a Beatles song with a ukulele on it, George and Paul during their solo careers have certainly made quite a bit of use of them when the “Guys” get together to socialize and of course singing was a part of the activity. George would practically hand ukes out to other musicians if they didn’t bring a guitar with them. It seems that it was a nice acoustic substitute for them especially when their guitars got to be too valuable to lug around to parties. Whip out a uke and strike up any tune you can remember.

Rich

 

[Thomas Randall]

I bought my first uke because of Lisa last year! A concert size. I recently bought a Kala Baritone which you play like a regular guitar without the E and A strings. FUN! I  LOVE when Lisa uses her ukes. It definitely adds something special to the songs.

[Jung Roe]

Hi Lisa!
What a wonderful way to end my vacation and return to such a thoughtful and insightful response to my question about your Uke!
Coming back from a week long Alaska cruise and a few beautiful days of bliss at sea, I started to feel a little blue and down as we began to approach Vancouver and I realized my little holiday was ending and it will be back to reality again very soon, but reading what you wrote here just cheered me right up and I forgot all that! Thank you!

Also, thanks for the two videos. I didn’t know George Harrison was such a big fan of the Ukelele, and that remembrance concert for George with Paul McCartney and Eric Clapton starting “Something” off with the Ukelele was so touching.

What you said about the Ukelele that it can transform a song and give it a brighter and happier feel makes a lot of sense to me. How you transformed “God Only Knows” is a great example of that, not only because of your wonderful use of the Ukelele, but yours and Mona’s singing/harmonies, and creative musical arrangement and style too.

“I Don’t Know Birds That Well” is also another example of a cheery mood added with a Ukelele, and I love the scene in that video with you on the Uke, and Mona on the guitar, singing/playing and wandering through the beautiful meadows of a spring day. As you explained in detail, I see why the Ukelele is indeed a powerful and versatile instrument. George Harrison and yourself among others being big fans of it, what more validation is there for this great instrument!

Wonderful greetings to you, Mona, Michaela and Rudolph!

[Jung Roe]

Sweet MLT music went to Alaska

[Jung Roe]

Lisa, another great song you did on the Ukelele was on Billy Butler’s June 7 2014 show, where Billy spontaneously suggests a Patience and Prudence song, and you just casually remark  “There is a Ukelele sitting over there..if I could borrow it” and next thing you know, you and Mona knock out a brilliant “Tonight You Belong To Me” on a Ukelele, that just happens to be sitting around in Billy’s office, with your beautiful harmonies.  A perfect real time live example of the versatility of the Uke as you say, in the same vein of George Harrison just handing them out for a spontaneous music session at his house with his musician friends.

[Thomas Randall]

I LOVE MLT’s version of “Tonight You Belong To Me”! There is one or 2 videos of them doing it on Youtube.

[Jung Roe]

Agree Tommy, MLT does great justice to that song with their wonderful harmonies.