Imre Z. Balint, BSc, MPM, MBA

Alright, as promised here's the supplemental post to my video demonstrating how to tune a ukulele and play some easy chords on it. I would like to add that ukulele's tend to go out of tune fairly quickly, so if you play them for longer than about 45 minutes, you'll need to tune up (perhaps sooner, depending on how hard you play it). And it should go without saying, but you should always tune your instrument before playing it anyway. Tisk, tisk. Some errata to report too... well kind of. When I'm showing how to do an E chord, I didn't mention that you also fret the first string on the second fret with your index finger. I've added an annotation to the video, so hopefully viewers won't miss it, even though you can see fairly clearly that I do press down on that string. *sigh* I must've been distracted by my hats and accents. Below I've posted a few links to some ukulele related websites. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is fantastic and a ...

Well there's certainly going to be a part two to this post as my usual pattern kicked in; once again t'is a little late! None-the-less, do enjoy the new video on tuning the ukulele and an introduction to a few chords on the cute little instrument. Plus, I wear four different hats in the vid! Ya can't miss that! And if you haven't already, please do subscribe and check me out on Facebook (become a Fan!) so you can stay up-to-date with my goodies! L8r.

Alright, time to finish the supplemental post to my video on tuning a mandolin . First of all I'll start with saying that the method I use to tune my mandolin is the way I like to do it. I'm pretty certain there is nothing really wrong with starting at the G strings and working my way through to the E's using an electronic chromatic tuner, and then going through again by fretting the strings at the seventh fret and tuning the next pair (since a mandolin is tuned in fifths, fretting a pair of strings at the seventh fret will have the same note as the next higher pitched pair of strings; e.g. fret a G at the seventh fret and you get an D, which is the same note as the next set of strings played open). But I've read about other tactics such as tuning your A string first using either an electronic tuner or another instrument (usually a piano) and then tuning the rest of the strings to that nicely tuned A string. My ultimate recommendation is as usual, do a little research...

Not exactly photography... or at all, but for all you music lovers out there, this one is for you... and I'll probably come up with more too. So, if you've never played a mandolin yet or are thinking of getting one, you might find my video useful about how to tune one. You can watch it below or click the previous link to view it in HD. And I detect a pattern... I tend to stay up far too late, which means that I'll be writing the "real" supplemental mandolin tuning blog post tomorrow evening and I'll be sure to include those links to websites that have some chord charts and scales. Remember to subscribe , check me out on Facebook (become a Fan!), and I'll cya l8r!