Hi, I'm Jon, and this is my Ukulele page
Welcome! You've found the biggest collection of Irish music, folk songs, Old Time fiddle and banjo tunes and early music arranged for fingerstyle and campanella ukulele.
What in tarnation is Campanella?
Some stringed instruments, like ukuleles and banjos, are "re-entrant" tuned - that means that instead of all the strings being tuned in order of pitch (from low to high), there is one string at the top or in the middle which is higher. On a banjo, that's the string that only goes halfway up the neck, it's higher than the next strings. On the ukulele it's the fourth string (the one nearest your chin) which is an octave higher than it would normally be in regular "linear" tuning.
The fourth string is only a whole step (=two frets) lower than the first string (the one nearest your feet). While this tuning limits the range of the ukulele, it has the wonderful advantage of making the uke sound like a little harp. Campanella means "little bell" - and that's the sound we are after: getting as many notes as possible to sound at the sound time, like chiming bells or the strings of a harp. So playing in the campanella style involves playing a melody across all the strings - avoiding as much as we can playing two consecutive notes on the same string. It's tricky, but so satisfying.
If you are new to fingerstyle ukulele and don't want to do boring practice exercises, download my free e-book "Learn to Play Fingerstyle with Rock Riffs". I'll teach you all the techniques I use from beginner to advanced. Each unit is based on a famous riff, so you'll be having fun the whole time. There is an accompanying tutorial video with each lesson. Get it for free here
If you can already play a bit and want dive into the lovely sounds of campanella fingerstyle, download my free e-book "How to Play Campanella Ukulele". It will teach you what campanella each, how to play scales the campanella way (useful for learning the notes on the fretboard and arranging your own tunes), and seven tunes to learn from easy to not-quite-so-easy.
Traditional Music arranged for fingerstyle and campanella ukulele
Celtic / Irish / Scottish / Welsh Tunes arranged for Campanella Ukulele
Irish and Celtic music in general can sound great on the ukulele. The campanella technique makes the uke sound like a little Celtic harp. In traditional Irish music, fiddlers, flutists, and accordionists have a whole box of tricks they can use to ornament a tune - the tunes themselves are relatively simple but sound a lot more complex because of the turns, slides, and trills they add. Fretted instruments have fewer options, and we often only hear rapid triplets as ornaments on banjos, mandolins and bouzoukis. The ukulele is not a traditional instrument in Irish music, so I prefer to play trad tunes at a more relaxed tempo, focussing on the melody and using the campanella style to add a harp-like flavour. Like dance music all over Europe and the Americas, Irish music has a lot of jigs, reels, hornpipes and polkas. Add to that the beautiful slow airs, like Danny Boy, or songs like Women of Ireland and the wonderful mix of baroque and Irish music played by Ireland's greatest composer, Turlough O'Carolan. Take the time to learn fingerstyle and campanella ukulele and you're in for a real treat.