thanksgiving closeout....thumbing

visiting the in-laws for the holidays. i sure enjoy hanging out with them. they are very mellow and are great at chilling.....for the last two days, i've had plenty of time to 'thump' on my baritone uke.

that's the one i brought with me.....there's this thumb strumming thing i've been messing with and i'm realllly enjoying the warm tone in produces....you can't get the same sound or tone on a smaller uke with the re-entrant tuning, though it still sounds cool, but my favorite sounding uke for this 'thump/strum' is the baritone....

now i just have to figure out some songs to post using it.......




*photo by homerun homer :)

ah the power of the three chord song

after a full day of training, maintenance personnel often enjoy drinking.....

i don't mind having a beer or two, but the thought of getting 'pie eyed' after a full day of school and one more day of intense classes doesn't appeal to me....painful in fact....

anyway, at social time after the training, me and a couple of new buddies played a few songs that we slapped together that afternoon....

the guy who was doing the 'main sets' was great....great playing, great song choices for the venue, and he had a beautiful taylor guitar that he let me play....

so, as we blazed through the medley of 'poor boy long way from home/stranger blues' and 'down by the riverside' in our growling, bluesy, and somewhat sloppy manner (i did sing my heart out)....i am again amazed at the power of the simple song done with gusto and gravel....

3 chords baby....it's where i live....most of the time ;)

what songs are next?

i'm diggin "Darlin Cory" and St. James Infirmary....and others...it's time to add some more songs to the song bag.

uke on, folk on, strum on,

UAS kicking in?

what can i say?...i've been up to 8 ukes...

now i'm whittled down to 3 main players...

and i'm feeling it again....

i never did get that tenor....

ooooh, just sent an e-mail about a trade for a reallly nice baritone....

i need a basher uke for work...

gah!....hello, my name is todd and i'm a uke-aholic

Homemade stuff

here's a cookie tin banjo that i finished the other day. i'm stoked it works well. These tins are in more abundant supply than cigar boxes, so i may try a few more 'builds' when i get a chance....

fun.

Gah! work...pffft!

doing an all day training at work...on break...hmmmmfff....with all of our technological advancements, would not a 20 hour work week be attainable....i need to get home to do some uke and guitar bashing....maybe a little tinkering...and spreading some folk music love...

if you asked me what i thought one of my deepest vocations was....it'd probably be that ;)

siftin'

Man, a friend of mine gave me a cd that contained....

a.) Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music
b.) Bukka White
c.) Big Joe Williams
d.) R.L. Burnside

i've been wanting that anthology since i first heard of it last spring....6 cds chock full of old time music, blues, gospel, hillbilly instrumentals....and everything in between....

i've still got to sift though....oh believe me, there are definitely songs that reallly grab me....but not everyone and that's totally fine. it's just that when i put a disc together or put a playlist together for my ipod, i listen to the music because yes, i enjoy it....but also because this or that song might be a song i'd like to share with others.....and if/when i do...they really enjoy it as well, i feel like i've done a small work for the continuation of the folk music tradition....

a doc boggs' song covered by the late great Mike Seeger....doc boggs is on the ol' anthology :)