#317 - East Bound and Down

Song - East Bound and Down
Artist - Jerry Reed
Chord Source - http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/j/jerry_reed/east_bound_and_down_crd.htm (moved it up into C)

Thank you so much for all the song suggestions folks! It's really helpful!

#292 - Jingle Bells

Song - Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

#288 - It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Song - It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas
Artist - Meredith Willson
Chord Source - http://ahabit.com/song7/

It's taken me a while this year, but I finally feel like I'm getting into Christmas!

#285 - Little Lion Man

Song - Little Lion Man
Artist - Mumford and Sons
Chord source - http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/mumford_and_sons/little_lion_man_crd.htm

Thanks to Emma for joining me on this one!

#244 - Never Let Go

Song - Never Let Go
Artist - Tom Waits
Chord source - http://www.911tabs.com/link/?4212991 (This was a bit low for me so I played it in G.)
I have been wanting to do this song for a while now, so haunting and beautiful. I fudged a couple of the chords, but this was my best run at it. I need to get more comfortable with finger picking!

#237 - It Ain't Me Babe

Song - It Ain't Me Babe
Artist - Bob Dylan
Chord source - http://www.e-chords.com/chords/johnny-cash/it-aint-me-babe
I have been getting a lot of requests on youtube for the chords I use for songs. For some reason it won't let me post links in the comments, so I'm going to start posting them here. Then when I forget how to play songs I can just look them up on here again!

#233 - My Heart Belongs to You

Song - My Heart Belongs to You
Artist - Me!
I'm back!! This break from the blog has been much longer that I anticipated but I am so excited to get back to work on it!
So where have I been you ask? Oh you know, just getting married and going on a honeymoon and stuff! The wedding was absolutely wonderful. The ceremony was short, sweet and perfect followed by a rockin' party that lasted till almost 2 in the morning. We were so lucky to be surrounded by a great mix of friends and family, the love in the room was almost overwhelming. I have none of the complaints that I normally hear from brides: I feel like I talked to almost everyone, I ate plenty of food (big thanks to Carrie for making sure we did that) and I got to dance all night, what could be better!
I wrote this song for Brandon pretty last minute. I was originally going to sing a Death Cab song with the girls but as we got closer to the wedding it just didn't feel right. The song was modeled after our vows. Like I said, our ceremony was super short (I think someone said it was 7 minutes long!) but we did say our own vows, which was scarier than I thought it would be. We said 3 phrases starting each with, "I love, I accept, and I promise." They were a great way for us to voice our commitments to each other while acknowledging our history together.
So the plan was for me to sing this song by myself, but as luck would have it I ended up getting pretty sick on the day of the wedding; I had no voice at all! So I got a little bit of help from everyone on the chorus when I sang it at the reception. My voice was totally squeaky and silly, but I wouldn't have had it any other way, it was just one more thing that made the wedding special.
Here are a few photos from the wedding! Lots more to come! So after the wedding, my body decided it was time to really get sick, not just play around like it was before. I had no voice at all for a few days and a terrible cough that wouldn't quit. Luckily my jobs were really understanding and gave me a few days to recover before we left for Mexico, did I mention we were going to Mexico? Cause yeah, it was awesome!
We flew out just a week after the wedding, which was great, it gave us time to recover and me to feel a little bit better though my cough was still pretty bad on the plane. We spent the first few days at a quiet resort just relaxing and enjoying each others company. Then we switched resorts to meet up with some friends, which was also a ton of fun! We hit the town! We went zip lining and snorkeling! Even with a few people getting sick and some injuries a great time was had by everyone!
Here are a few pictures from the honeymoon! The last day we were in Mexico I decided I wanted to venture into the surf one last time; bad plan. A wave caught me at my waist flipping me onto my shoulder and I heard a loud crack! While nothing appears to be broken, my shoulder has been in some pretty serious pain all week, which is why it has taken me so long to get back to the ukulele!!
The wedding, the honeymoon; all of this has been a wonderful experience. I am so lucky to have Brandon and I look forward to our long happy lives together. If you are reading this, chances are I know you in the real world and you are a part of our lives. Thank you for following my silly blog and being a part of our journey together.

#212 - Tom Dooley

Song - Tom Dooley
Artist - Traditional

A fantastic choice by Billy!

#188 - Sweet Pea

Song - Sweet Pea
Artist - Amos Lee

I took a class today from Lil Rev at Apple Music and it was really inspiring. I need to work on my strumming patterns a lot! I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on chords progressions, but I really need to work on what to do with my right hand. Thanks Lil Rev!

Here is a short video of him demoing some things he taught us, I really want to get those triplets down!

#186 - Pumped Up Kicks

Song - Pumped Up Kicks
Artist - Foster the People

Here is another one of those songs that EVERY ONE with a ukulele has done. I still, however, refuse to do I'm Yours or Somewhere Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World.

#184 - New Soul

Song - New Soul
Artist - Yael Naïm

Apparently I'm bad at saying "lalala" over and over. Who knew!?

#175 - You're Still the One

Song - You're Still the One
Artist - Shania Twain

For you, Uncle Bruce!

#174 - Folsom Prison Blues

Song - Folsom Prison Blues
Artist - Johnny Cash

So I guess Friday was Johnny Cash's birthday! Should have done a song then, but here it is a few days late!

#169 - If You're Gonna be Dumb You Gotta be Tough

Song - If You're Gonna be Dumb You Gotta be Tough
Artist - Roger Alan Wade

This one goes out to everyone who made Mini Bike Winter an absolute blast. I'm not very daring or adventurous, but man, my friends sure are and it is fun to watch. You guys are the best and I love you for the crazy shit you do.

Here are some pics I took over the weekend.

#165 - Granny's in the Cellar

Song - Granny's in the Cellar
Artist - Traditional

Here's one for Oscar and Heidi! Miss you guys!

#149 - The Cabin Experience

Elisa and I have been wanting to do this song for a while and this is our fist stab at it. I am hesitant to label this video as the final version of the song because I know once we work on it it will be a lot better. This video was mostly to give you a taste of the fun we had this weekend on the mountain and what it's like to play with a ton of people, it's a blast!

#41 - Ukulele Lady

Song - Ukulele Lady
Artist - Gus Kahn

Lots of ukulele playin' today! My dad joined me in a ukulele class at artichoke music this morning. It was so much fun and we learned a lot about strumming patterns and finger placement. These are the kind of bad habits I should break sooner than later!

Then this evening we went out to our good friend John's birthday. Lots of beer drinking, eating, music playing, drinking and more music playing. It's so great and humbling to play with these established and seasoned musicians. They pick things up so easily and then are able to run with a tune and solo after only hearing a little bit of it. Playing with them is always an amazing experience and I am lucky to have the opportunity to do it.

Happy birthday John!

#5 - I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You

Song - I'm Gonna Mail Myself to You
Artist - Woody Gurthie

I spent last night with my folks out near the coast where it is SO much cooler than in Portland! My mom gave my dad and me a song book called Rise Up Singing, which lead to us playing music for about 3 hours. It was really wonderful and a great opportunity to "jam" with my dad who is so knowledgeable about music, instruments, and all things interesting about old songs.

We first learned this song (me on the auto-harp and I think my dad on the mandolin) when I was around 13 and we were a production called "A Tribute to Woody Guthrie". It was a lot of fun that we both remembered it and could play it on some new instruments.

Ukulele/Banjo lovin'

I'm headed out to the coast today which is generally out of range to upload anything but hopefully I'll record something with my Pop and get it up here tomorrow (maybe I'll put up a previously recorded video though, just to stay in the habit) . My Dad is the reason music is a big part of my life and has really encouraged me to keep up with this ukulele business.

The day my Pop presented me with the gift of my firefly banjo ukulele boingboing.net ran an piece on the very same instrument.

Here is the article

If you haven't played on before, I would recommend picking one up and plunking around on it . A ukulele itself has a fun sound, but you can't help but smile when you play a banjo/ukulele.