We are joined on this program not only by Vern Brown but also by Jake aka Cubworld of Sellaband fame. We talk about fishing, Dr. Trey’s operation, Colon Cleansing and much more. Oh and we also settle on who we’re voting for on the Hōkū Awards. Cubworld performs this coming Friday the 23rd at BYU at 7:30pm. If you’re in town and can’t make it out to Lāʻie, we’d encourage you to to head out to watch Mailani Makainai at the Willows restaurant. She plays from 6-8 pm. Also Mailani plays at Haleʻiwa Joes from 8:30 to 11:00 on June 13th then at Kincaids on the 20th from 8:00 to 11:00. Hope to see you all there. If you want the promised link because you have DoctorTrey.com on your top 8 MySpace, email Dr. Trey with the link to your MySpace Page. For the record, meebo has a chatroom now, so we’re going to use it for the live shows. Also, if you want to get notified when we’re doing a live show, jump on twitter and get text messages sent to your phone informing you of this.

Links:

Our Chatroom
Twitter Dr. Trey
808talk
808talk TV
Mighty J
The Icon
Cubworld
Cubworld on myspace
Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards
The Aloha Podcast Network
The New DoctorTrey.com

MySpace Linkers:

Mailani Makainai
Katie
Miracle
Kanoa of Gomega
King Kekai
Hekili
Beach Walks With Rox
Kimo Watanabe
Shane Konno
John Cruz
CTrav
Rob Yamanoha

Technorati Tags: doctortrey.com, dr. trey, the icon, jroq, jenn wright, podcast, podcasters, podcasting, hawaii, music, hawaiian music, ukulele, music industry, V. Brown, Vern Brown, 808talk, streaming video, video, cubworld, na hoku hanohano awards, fishing

 

 Kickin' It In The Dressing Room [62:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

If youʻre one of those who have crazy chops yet somehow it always sounds messy, this ones for you. This is not so much a trick, itʻs more of a necessity. Consider the metronome to help you get your playing cleaned up. Before you begin, pick a goal tempo i.e. the tempo you want to eventually reach. The way I work the metronome is to set it to a very slow speed. This tempo would need to be so slow that you would be allowed to hear all your mistakes. Speed is an interesting thing, it does impress the hell out of people, yet it also covers up your mistakes and might even make you think youʻre playing it well. So start out very slow on the metronome, play it through 10 times perfectly, then move the tempo up by 1 (or whatever the smallest increment on your metronome.) Keep doing this till you reach your desired tempo and youʻre good to go! Your playing should be much cleaner. Why does this work so well? By practicing this way you practice every part of the movement, therefore when you reach your goal tempo, every part of the movement is perfect. Incidentally, if can’t stand working with a metronome, a drum machine would work just as well.

Donʻt have a metronome, or cant afford one? go here
Here is the metronome that I use

Technorati Tags: metronome, practice, ukulele, music, hawaii, dr. beat, tempo

As you all know, well at least the tens of you who listen to the podcast, Nine Inch Nails is one of my favorite groups.  Here’s the great news for those of you who share my passion.  If you have yet to download their free album visit their website to grab it.  Trent Reznor is giving this one away.  It is offered in many different formats, but the great thing about this genius is that he is even offering it in better than CD quality.  Thank you NIN!

Here’s their site

Technorati Tags: Nine Inch Nails, NIN, Trent Reznor, Free Album

This question gets asked quite often by my students and I thought I would address it here. Shaping the nail to play the ʻukulele can amount to a bit of trial and error. Hereʻs a few suggestions to set you on your way. First off, let me say that I particularly have odd shaped fingers. On my fingering hand, I have to deal with my middle and ring fingers on which the nails grow upward. For those who are considering acrylic, please be forewarned that the reason for my nails wanting to grow in a different direction is because I used to use acrylic and it has since forced the odd growing pattern. The reason? I wanted my nails thicker so I used a lot of acrylic to give them a thicker sound. So, on to the good stuff…

Why shape your nails? Your nails can drastically change the tone of the instrument. If you think of your nails like a built in pick, you will understand why I say to shape them the way I do.

All you would need to purchase for this is a 4 to 6 way buffer. Emory boards will heat up when used and you normally canʻt get that smooth finish as you would with a buffer. The one i use is made by Revlon called the Shape ‘N’ Buff. You can find these at most drug stores. Obviously you would use these buffers from coarsest grain to the least coarse to get the smoothest possible finish. Always hold the buffer underneath the nail and not head on. Try to create an angle of about 45 degrees when filing and remember you can overdo it, so use your best discretion.

The shape of the nail itself should allow for the nail to run down the string so that you can utilize as much energy of the nail as possible. This would mean that you would need to create a ramp on the left side of the nail (if youʻre right handed, and all ʻukulele players should be.) The left edge of the nail should be pretty much flush with the skin and the ramp should not be too steep. In other words, although itʻs a matter of preference, the longer the nail, the less control you will have over your picking, also the length will affect the tone also. Remember that you will probably want to feel the string as youʻre picking it.

I hope this helps you in your quest for the perfect tone on the ʻukulele, and by all means, if you feel I’ve left anything out, feel free to comment.

Technorati Tags: ukulele, fingernail, shape, shaping, nail file, revlon, Dr. Trey, music, hawaii

Congratulations to all the finalists.  Personally I’d like to congratulate those who I’ve had the chance to work with this past year.  So, a special congrats to:  Mighty J, King Kekai, Hula Records for the Tribute to Gabby slack key compilation and the Hawai’i Falsetto Contest winners Vol. 8, and Darin Leong!

Heres the link.