My voice is so messed up from my cold that I can barely sing. When I call on it, the sound doesn’t do the usual…stuff it does. It’s quite upsetting, actually. I cannot wait to be over with this cold so I can stop just trying to stay on the right melody, and can start really enjoying singing again.
Today’s video is a soft and smoky version of Christmas Is Coming, an R5 song from a Disney Christmas album I love to bits, no matter what anyone says. *shrugs*
Read MoreThis cold is the worst. I sound like a Smurf.
In other news I threw a party, and December 8th’s song is late because it was recorded hastily in the five minutes (that I wasn’t cooking masses of food or dressing my infected frame) before my guests came round. It’s a reedy rendition of the fun, festive bop, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. In hindsight, it came out better than expected, given how difficult it was to breathe… Shame I couldn’t upload it last night, but still.
I’m pretty sure you can do better, so come get the chord sheet!
Read MoreI have a cold. I feel pretty terrible right now, and my voice is all reedy and rubbish. Weirdly, I sound more normal singing than I do talking, but I can hear the difference, for sure.
It feels like a bit of a shame to do I’ll Be Home For Christmas when my voice isn’t on top form, but it’s one of the few Christmas songs that’s both short and doesn’t require much vocal oomph. I am severely lacking in vocal oomph today.
Read MoreGuess who got a cold? Yes. I know. It is the worst possible timing, isn’t it?
I flail internally with impotent sadness, but, this is the body I’m stuck in, and the endeavour’s about radical acceptance so, *shrug*, not much I can do.
Which means I must bring out, as the Blue Peter crew might say ‘one I made earlier’ for today’s song. In this case, Silver Bells, recorded last night, where I’m mega puffy and a little off because my cold was taking hold like mad.
Read MoreLet It Snow! Possibly one of the best Christmas songs of all time, no? And it doesn’t even mention Christmas once in the lyrics. The song title itself has an exclamation mark in it, to really hit home how little they cared about the snow while canoodling!
I love the smooth-as-butter Dean Martin version for my classic Christmas Playlist. But regardless of who’s singing, it’s a ditty that makes you feel all cosy, doesn’t it?
Read MoreLook, a video with B-roll! Intercut! What Christmas magic is this?
Marvel as we decorate our mini tree, in time-lapse footage that I’m immensely proud of.
Listen in awe at the okay take of It’s A Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, as made famous by smooth operator Andy Williams. (HIs was better!)
Goggle at the part where we jig briefly because that Mike Oldfield track comes on our playlist.
Go ‘Aaaaaaah’ when it’s done and we put the lights on.
Aaaaaah.
Read MoreThe Christmas Song is a Nat King Cole classic that I simplified for ukulele, seemingly so I could murder it. Or at least, so I could do something untoward with it, judging by the video.
(Your mileage may vary. I don’t think it came out that badly, if I’m honest. Remember, it’s one take with me and my uke: no effects on my voice, no edits, no extras. Singing, playing and looking good simultaneously is a bit like like manufacturing cheap, fast and high quality: you can only have two of those three attributes at any one time. Regardless, it’s harder than it looks.)
Read MoreToday’s song is It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, sung previously by Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and more. It felt right to go with something a bit more boppy and rocking after yesterday’s gentle Judy Garland number. Variety being the spice of life and all that.
Before you ask, yes, I did a switcheroo on a couple of the names in the bridge, because there’s no reason a girl couldn’t want a pistol that shoots, or a boy couldn’t want a doll that’ll talk and go for a walk. (If that bothers you, then please, sincerely, get over it.)
Read MoreI'm not a fan of how I look on camera. My face Out There doesn't look how I think it does In Here, nor do the expressions I make when singing. Plus, if the camera adds 10 pounds, I could clearly do with dropping a good stone.
But, y'know, it is what I look like. This is just my face, and I've a need to make, and create, and do. In this case, sing – and the best venue for that is YouTube.
So it's time for some radical acceptance. Look at me, growing as a person.
Read MoreSometimes my Kind-Eyed-Boy has to travel for work, and one of the things I tend to do when he's away is send him recordings of my hapless covers. He doesn't seem to mind.
This is one I sent to him last time he was away.
Herein you'll find some simple ukulele chords to cover this altogether pretty and and uplifting song by The Smashing Pumpkins – plus an imperfection project recording with some serious issues...
Read MoreRight now, I'm feeling fairly pleased with myself. It's Friday night, and I spent the evening figuring out some chords for this lovely song, did two (quietly holding back because it's past ten) takes into my phone, decided to run with the second one, and barrelled straight into writing this. I think the recording sounds pretty nice. Your mileage may vary...
Read MoreIt's Father's Day – a day that's really difficult if your dad has passed, as mine has. Social media is full of people who don't know what this feels like yet, and I hope they won't for a long time.
As always these days, I choose to meet my challenges head on – but facing down grief is no small task, even though the years render the crashing waves of loss fewer and further between. Somehow I managed to get through recording my imperfection project version of this song without full-on crying, so that's the take we're going to go with, okay? Good.
Read MoreLook, I know its not 'cool' but neither is playing the ukulele, or stopping drinking, or baring your lack of talent for folk to poke fun at in a steadfast exercise to grow as a person: Billy Joel is one of my favourite artists. Yeah. You heard me. I just really like his voice. His lyrics strike a chord with me. His vocal range and mine have a pleasing crossover. Some of his songs are pleasantly hard to play and have chord progressions that make me smile big. I'm resolutely uncool. And I am cool with it.
Read MoreAs a hopeless romantic at heart, I can't help but adore an earnest love song - and few contemporary artists do earnest quite like Hunter Hayes. Somebody's Heartbreak is a pretty song that's easy to play, has some nice stops and starts, and lends itself well to just you and a uke.
Read MoreIf you plan on doing cardio, you're going to need music. But, you don't want some generico-smug club dance mix. No. You deserve an incredible, motivating curation of bizarre juxtapositions that'll make you want to
MOVE YOUR BEAUTIFUL BODY.
Here is one such mix I made, just for you...
Read MoreA little while ago I wrote about how ukulele songbooks are often awful, and loftily pledged to publish songsheets for tunes I enjoy singing and playing. Since then I've been debating how to start the series. (Something easy, classic, or a lesser-known favourite?) I've settled on embracing the me, and now. It's a song I figured out this last week, and which nobody on the internet seems to have quite the right chords for: Halfway Home by Nerina Pallot.
Read MoreUnless you can read sheet music or tablature, you'll probably begin your musical journey playing songs from songsheets, or songbooks. They're created with good intentions, but kind of make me want to scream sometimes. Okay, okay. Most of the time. And this is where I sign myself up for loads of work with very little reward...
Read MoreUkulele is purported to be cheap and easy to start with, and in my experience that's true enough – but due to the weird orthodoxy around ukulele (and musical instruments in general) newcomers like myself have to figure a lot of stuff out ourselves, which someone could just have written down. Here's some of that useful stuff I figured out, written down.
Read MoreI play the ukulele. I know, you're probably thinking, "Oh, you're one of those hipster pricks." While I like fairy lights and Mason jars about as much as the next man, I didn't choose ukulele so that I could fit with the great sockless, box-drumming masses. The whys of my choice lie at the intersection of biology, spontaneity, history and happenstance.
Read MoreAfter a recovery playlist that isn't about wallowing in addiction? Me too. But all I could find were depressing lists full of songs about drinking or taking drugs – which isn't what I want to be focusing on when utilising music to strengthen my resolve. So I made my own.
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