upside downer

Here's some absolute cobblers from yours truly 

Robot holds kids to ransom and maniac father tries to pay the droid off with an unsuitable offering then threatens violence to the droid who just wants a bit of TLC, or something like that. Warning! Puntastic Chili Peppers outro lyric!

Lyrics hidden below. On the track they're a bit garbled (good, I hear you scream) but I only had time for one take.

Used my homemade cigar box baritone ukulele through a Roland Cube amp with a Vivlex delay pedal, P-bass copy, Ableton for a smidge of keyboard sounds and MT Drums. Recorded using Wavepad and Audacity. Vocals recorded with an Apogee Mic+.

I've a couple of tenors from some mid-price range makers like Aklot (a lovely bamboo one) and Kmise. No problems with them holding their tuning. 17" scale so a good amount of fret spacing for larger hands, too. How about a baritone uke? Usually 19" scale and tuned DGBE like the top four strings of a guitar. I made my own cigar box effort the other week because electric ones are pretty pricey!

Fancied one of these but they ain't half pricey so I've put this together over the last few days.

All done for not much expense. Box and pickup £15 from ebay, bridge saddle and knobs under a tenner, neck from a cheapo quarter guitar (Elevation, 19½ inch scale) at the auction for about the same price.

Bolt-on neck. Braced the inner box with offcuts from laminate flooring.

It's a little rough and scuffed but it sounds good, no major problems with setting it up. May have to add a shim and will probably put a better set of tuning pegs on it eventually but, for pottering about with and having fun, it does the trick. Strings are currently the middle four ADGB off of the cheapo guitar, but tuned to baritone uke tuning DGBE. Think I'll be putting the middle four strings from a standard electric guitar set (12s or 13s) on it. Anyone got any suggestions about that? I've trailed through various ukulele forums and got about twelve different recommendations so another couple won't hurt 😁

Years ago, a friend of mine sent me a text message to let me know of the sad news of his father's death. He tried using 'passed away' but, unfortunately, typed 'Dad pasted away this evening', which made it sound like he'd done a bit of wallpapering before shuffling off this mortal coil.

Another for Dunlop Tortex 1.0 here. I like to attack the strings! Now use the same shape for guitar but a thinner gauge, 0.5 or 0.6.

5 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

Forgot to add earlier. Look for used, rather than new. eBay and similar 

This. Also worth trying out your local auction house. I've picked up some decent stuff at mine for ridiculously low prices. The hammer price for a left handed Harley Benton VT Series Telecaster was £26. Even after fees that work out at about £33. Got a couple of Strat copies too for around £20.

Works fine on my PC 👍

And, having listened to it, you're clearly as mad as a mushroom 😁

Merry Christmas, tunesmiths 

I've recorded a version of the Pink Panther theme using the arrangement that the superb Russian surf-pop band Messer Chups use on their track Pink Pantheratu. Mine contains very little of the guitar dexterity of their six-stringer Oleg. He's fantastic. I'm not.

Used a Strat copy, a Westfield P bass copy, a Vivlex delay pedal and a Roland Cube amp. Drums by MT Drums through Ableton. Recorded in Wavepad and Audacity.

On 14/12/2023 at 15:05, crward77 said:

Fun Lovin Criminals in Newcastle last night

How do they sound without Huey? Is the new fella up to the job?

Call me crazy, but I always thought that the Rutles sounded a lot like the Beatles.

This always went down well when we did it. Not hard, just fun.

Slim Smith & The Uniques - Build My World Around You. Had this playing as we signed the paperwork when we got married.

The Temptations have had a couple of mentions already. Here's another one, with a belting Bob Babbitt bass part. Plus, there's Melvin Franklin's basstastic delivery of the line "and the band played on". 

Somewhat inspired by the 'Motown basslines' thread, I stumbled across this.

...great, innit?

11 minutes ago, taunton-hobbit said:

 

 

😎

Sounds familiar... 😁

...as does this...

This video has a pretty good explanation of James Jamerson's methods and has a PDF attached with his 'cheat code' exercise. Might be useful?

I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it

I said I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it

I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, yeah

I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it, like it, yes, I do

Oh, well, I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it

I like it, I like it, I like it (only rock 'n roll') but I like it

(It's only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it

(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it

(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it

(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it

(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it (only rock 'n' roll) but I like it

(Only rock 'n' roll) but I like it, yeah, but I like it

Oh and I like it, ooh yeah I like it

In conclusion: I like it, like it, yes, I do.

Jackie Mittoo.

23 hours ago, BigRedX said:

If I've paid for a proper producer to turn my recording into a potential hit single I will be happy to accommodate any changes they might want to make, including changing my sound or even removing me from the recording entirely. 

You are Milli Vanilli and I claim my £5.

"It's a holding track", 'e sez. Yeah, holding on to top spot all the way 😁

Bravo, that man 👏 another top tune!