The Cliff Edwards Story (Ukulele Ike)

Cliff Edwards sings “I Feel Pessimistic”.

Cliff Edwards sings “I Did It With My Little Ukelele” with James Dunn looking on.

by Ian Whitcomb
In this wonderful collection Ian Whitcomb shows how to handle the uke in such a romantic way that the gently murmuring strums emerge to act as a sweet stream of accompaniment upon which one’s vocals can float along smoothly and pleasingly. All of the classic ballads included in this book were originally published before the ukulele established itself as an instrument to be taken seriously by the pop industry, before it became the 1920’s equivalent of the rock guitar. The music on the companion compact disc is performed …

by Lee “Drew” Andrews
Featuring 28 well-known Christmas songs arranged for ukulele with chord symbols for an accompaniment instrument. Book contains chord diagrams for ukulele and guitar as well as common strum patterns to use for rhythm backup. All songs are arranged in standard notation and tablature for ukulele.
This book may be used along with Mel Bay’s Mandolin Christmas Songbook (MB21013) and Mel Bay’s Dobro Christmas Songbook (MB21508). All songs, except “Away in a Manger” are in the same key and can be played together. Most songs in Mel Bay’s Tenor …

An excerpt from the book “Famous Solos & Duets for the ‘Ukulele” edited and arranged by John King
THE MUSIC
T. H. Rollinson’s setting of the traditional tune The Blue Bells of Scotland as a theme with one variation offered a glimpse of the solo possibilities of the ‘ukulele at an early date. The arrangement includes scales, broken chords and arpeggios, and an implied polyphonic texture. More accurately described as a fragment, The Blue Bells of Scotland could easily have been mistaken for music written for unaccompanied violin or mandolin. The inclusion …