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Hallelujah
This instrumental from Peace Love Ukulele makes Leonard Cohen’s melody easy to follow with no vocals. Shimabukuro lets the higher notes hang over the chord changes.
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Dragon
The title track of Dragon is a good next step after the ballads. Its quick attacks and runs show how sharply Shimabukuro can articulate a fast line on a ukulele.
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More Ukulele
Try this original from Grand Ukulele for the instrument in a busier setting. Listen for the little changes in emphasis the lead ukulele makes as it repeats a phrase.
More about More Ukulele25
When I'm Cleaning Windows
George Formby’s banjo ukulele has a bright, dry edge. In this brisk song about what a window cleaner sees on his rounds, his rapid strokes give the comic couplets a push.
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Leaning on a Lamp Post
Find George Formby’s performance from Feather Your Nest to hear his banjo ukulele in a softer number. The bright strings give the song a swing even while he holds the vocal notes.
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Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
George Harrison gives the old standard a bouncing strum on Brainwashed. The band supplies plenty of swing around him while the ukulele keeps the phrasing light.
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Something (Live at CitiField, NYC)
On Good Evening New York City, Paul McCartney opens George Harrison’s song on a ukulele Harrison gave him. Hear how the entrance of the band changes the scale of the tribute.
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Lava (From "Lava")
In the Pixar short, the ukulele carries a lilting pattern through a duet between two volcanoes. Kuana Torres Kahele and Nāpua Greig give its melody two distinct voices.
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Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Ritz plays the Duke Ellington tune on tenor ukulele on How About Uke? Hear how the short notes fit alongside Don Shelton’s longer flute lines and the bass and drums keep both players moving.
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Little Girl Blue
On How About Uke?, Ritz plays this Rodgers and Hart ballad with bass and drums. Each chord makes a brief little cushion under the tune, giving his tenor ukulele a different role from its rhythmic part on the faster cuts.
More about Little Girl Blue32
Ritz Cracker
This short How About Uke? selection puts the tenor ukulele alongside flute, upright bass, and drums again. Play it after Little Girl Blue to hear what sharper accents do for Ritz’s style.
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Song for Anna (Live at McCabe’s)
In this live recording from McCabe’s, Herb Ohta, also known as Ohta-San, plays the instrumental melody with a light touch. Listen for the longer notes he allows to ring and the shorter ones that turn each phrase.
More about Song for Anna (Live at McCabe’s)34
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Live in London)
In this Morricone cover by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, voices and ukuleles trade parts of the western theme. Listen for the small strummed parts filling out the space between its more recognizable calls.
More about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Live in London)35
Idioteque
Amanda Palmer translates Radiohead’s electronic rhythm into rapid ukulele strokes. The repeating part still presses forward when her voice changes volume, and there’s no electronic beat to hide the scrape of the strings.
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That's My Weakness Now
Look for Cliff Edwards’ 1928 recording. The nimble, even strokes give an idea of why he could command a stage with a ukulele. His vocal keeps the joke light while the rhythm part makes the tune swing.
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It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo (Recorded October 1923)
Wendell Hall’s 1923 recording keeps its little string pattern going through verse after comic verse. It shows what two sounds, a voice and a ukulele, could do on an early commercial record.
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Postcards From Italy
Listen for the brisk ukulele under Zach Condon’s first lines in Beirut’s recording from Gulag Orkestar. The brass expands the sound later, and the small repeated part gives you a way to follow the beat through that change.
More about Postcards From Italy39
Billie Jean (James Hill’s Ukulele Cover)
Start with Hill’s filmed cover. The low repeated bass figure and the knocks marking the beat come from the same ukulele. He has room left to bring in the melody.
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The Moon (Live Outside)
In the performance filmed at Kualoa Ranch, Taimane’s ukulele moves between plucked figures and fuller strumming while Windy Weather’s violin can hold a note across both. Jasmine Skurtu plays guitar underneath.
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comment section
On Through the Chaos, Brittni Paiva lets the ukulele sing the lead over drum and bass rhythms. Focus on the picked melody against the moving beat for a very different sound from the solo ballads here.
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Can't Help Falling in Love (twenty one pilots Cover)
Tyler Joseph’s Elvis cover uses an exposed ukulele part with an easy, steady pulse. Its size is the point when the recording turns from a quiet solo vocal to other people singing along.
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