Ukulele Tonya

I’ve been asked a couple questions about the way these incredible two guys play. Here’s what I saw at the workshop (and, at the end of the post I’ll explain their take on how to play the famous reggae-type strum IZ uses in “Wonderful World/Over the Rainbow”). Note: There’s a full account of these workshops on the earlier posting, just below this one.

Daniel said he is a classically-trained guitarist and I’d say his playing style reflects that. He used no pick, just his fingers. His right hand nails were not very long (just peeking over the top of his finger pads). He typically maintains a hand position for picking in which each finger is positioned over it’s “own” string. That way, he says, he doesn’t have to think about where to put the fingers, they’re already there, ready to play. He does not “brace” with his little finger on the soundboard. He uses a strap to hold his ukulele in place so he can roam up and down the fingerboard.

Herb uses a thumb pick (but his instrument doesn’t look scuffed up from it at all). His right hand index finger is a long nail (and I think the ring finger, too, but not so long); they looked “natural” but I didn’t ask to verify his nail’s composition! He typically picks using his thumb and his index finger. In most of the songs I saw him play, he used his thumb for the G string and his index for the other three. At least one song, though, found him using the thumb for the G and C strings… Herb does not use a strap–and he stood up playing the whole time and never once dropped the ukulele so I guess it works!

They both repeated—several times—that they were showing us optimal positioning and “style” in their instruction book and teaching, but they didn’t necessarily do that in their actual playing. The notes above reflected how they actually played.

Okay, now for that “IZ strum” as they shared it with us—as always, your mileage may vary: The strum has six elements. The first is a pluck of the G string, then a down-up strum. Then a definite mute action, then a a down-up strum. The count would be (grrr…I’m having a tough time lining this up visually):

Pluck—-Down/Up—-Mute—-Down/Up
1———–2/and———3———-4/and

Easier said then done–but I’m practicing!

It was an afternoon of new strums, arpeggio patterns and plenty of learning when Herb Ohta, Jr. and Daniel Ho presented two ukulele workshops in Sacramento on January 21. The workshop, arranged by Hawaii’s Music Live (415/452-8720), drew folks from as far as the Bay Area and Grass Valley (as well as me, from two hours away in Paradise!).

The beginner course focused on the very basics of ukulele and quickly ramped up to a variety of more complex strums. The workshop’s song for the day was “Pineapple Mango” from the duo’s new CD, Ukuleles in Paradise 2. We played the chord progressions for that song, sampled its tablature (the first time some of the folks had ever *seen* tablature) and were the “back up” for Herb and Daniel as they played the song with improvising and flourishes.

Arpeggios and new strums were the highlights of the intermediate-level class. Herb gave us tips he’d learned from his father, ukulele legend Herb Ohta-San and then laughingly told us he’d ignored all those tips as a young guy, preferring to go out and hang with his friends rather than learn from his dad. I guess that’s what parenting is all about no matter who you are or how good you are in your field! You could really sense the appreciation Herb has now for his father’s reputation and playing, though.

Daniel and Herb are a fun pair to learn from. Together they segued easily into different topics without leaving us “students” with any sense of confusion or disorganization. They were receptive to what the participants wanted to learn but I could also tell they had several topics they wanted to get through and we definitely got to those topics!

And after all the fun and learning (and talking with new and old friends after the classes), I found the nearest L&L Hawaiian Barbecue and enjoyed a tasty loco moco (you might like it, too, if you happen to think rice, a fried egg, a hamburger patty and brown gravy make a delicious combo). Oh, so ono!