| Exclusive Video! Click here to watch an exclusive video interview with Jake. |
The video, “Ukulele weeps by Jake Shimabukuro,” had nearly seven million hits as of press time, and it features Shimabukuro playing an incredible interpretation of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in the Strawberry Fields memorial section of New York’s Central Park (an area of the park near where John Lennon was assassinated). It was filmed in a single take and originally aired on the cable access show Midnight Ukulele Disco.
Shimabukuro’s fame spread rapidly. He was soon featured on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and some began calling him the Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele. Now 34, Shimabukuro is one of the world’s greatest ukulele virtuosos, with an awe-inspiring technique that is especially apparent on his unaccompanied arrangements and excursions. And his repertoire is remarkably wide-reaching, too: He’s equally comfortable playing everything from pop to classical and reggae, and he’s done so alongside such notables as Yo-Yo Ma, Jimmy Buffet, and Ziggy Marley.
Peace Love Ukulele, Shimabukuro’s new album, features 10 tracks full of impressive playing. But the two biggest highlights are the stirring original, “Go for Broke”—a tribute to World War II veterans— and an orchestral-like solo rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” We chatted with Shimabukuro about the new album, how he managed to channel both Brian May and Freddie Mercury with his diminutive little axe, and how he’s transformed the light and simple ukulele into a seriously heavy instrument.
When did you start playing the uke?
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When did you get serious about it?
When I was a teenager I started branching out, listening to a little bit of everything—rock ’n’ roll, jazz, classical, and blues—and I would try to mimic it all on the ukulele. That’s what led me to developing a different technique and approach to the instrument altogether. In the beginning, it was all by ear. But when I got into high school, I started getting some formal music training, learning about sight reading, theory, and composition.
How important was that training to your musicianship?
It has played a really huge role in my musical life. While the training helped me better understand what I was doing on the instrument, it made me not just a stronger ukulele player but a complete musician. And I’m still always trying to expand and challenge myself by discovering new things about music. The great thing about it is that, the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know. That’s the beauty of it—you can never know everything you want to know about music in a lifetime.
Your music is remarkably diverse. Who were some of your biggest influences?
I’m influenced by the guitar greats of all styles—Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Pat Metheny, Michael Hedges, Andrés Segovia. I’m also inspired by consummate musicians like [cellist] Yo-Yo Ma, [bassist and composer] Edgar Meyer, [banjoist] Béla Fleck, and [vocalist] Bobby McFerrin. But it’s actually not just music that informs my arranging, composing, and performing: Bruce Lee is a huge influence. His philosophy and approach to martial arts are valid in any art form—and even in life in general. Bill Cosby is also an influence, because of his ability to just be himself, to seem so natural and sincere in his performances. And Michael Jordan, whose vehicle was of course basketball, expressed himself in a way on the court that was just truly magical and that I find musically inspiring.
Let’s talk about technique. Do you use a pick, or do you play fingerstyle exclusively?
I got into picks for a while, because I listened to a lot of Al Di Meola and was so blown away with what he did with a pick—such fast lines and such clean, precise runs. But, to me, fingers really give music a lot more character and uniqueness. Think about it: Anyone can run out and buy the same pick as you, but no one can go out and buy your hand in a music store. So, I believe that using your fingers really brings something special to the table.
What type of ukuleles and tunings do you prefer?
I play with a traditional tenor ukulele tuning in which the two outer strings are higher than the two middle strings. The notes [1st string through 4th] are A, E, C, G, the lowest one being middle C.
What brand and model do you play, and what kind of strings are on it?
I play custom-made Kamaka ukuleles. It’s funny, because people are always wondering what specs I ask for in the instruments. But I know nothing about making instruments—that’s Kamaka’s area of expertise, so whenever they ask me what I want for my next ukulele, I just let them surprise me. And every time they make a new instrument, it’s truly amazing and exceeds my wildest expectations. It’s important to me to have a working relationship with a luthier, because there’s a certain kind of energy that goes into building an instrument. If that energy is intended for a specific player, then he or she will have a special bond with the instrument, and the music that comes out of it will be enhanced.
For strings, I use D’Addario’s J71 tenor uke set, the clear nylons with normal tension. I love those— they sound fantastic every time. They’re so consistent and very expressive, great for playing really soft or strumming hard. They are very sensitive, and that’s a really big deal because if I’m going for more of a piano sound, I need the strings to respond to the subtle things that I’m doing to shape the tone.
In 2006, Kamaka began making the limited-run Jake Shimabukuro Signature Model ukulele, which features a curly koa body, rosewood binding, and ebony fretboard and bridge. Each instrument sells for $5500 and takes 18 months to complete. All 100 have already been sold. Photo by Sencame
There are some great original tunes on Peace Love Ukulele. Can you describe your compositional process?
I’m a very simple person and I play a very simple instrument, so I normally start with one simple idea and turn that into several minute, even just one-minute expressions. The idea could be something I experienced in childhood, or it could be something that inspired me recently, or maybe even a chord voicing that I just discovered. Then, I’ll work around that one idea. I know it sounds so basic, but there have been instances when I’ve had a handful of ideas and tried to cram them all into one song. That’s tended to not work for me.
The covers are remarkable, too. How do you approach arranging?
I don’t just pick up my ukulele and arrange a tune. It would be easy enough to put together a melody line and some chords, but whenever I do an arrangement it’s not just about making a tune recognizable—it’s about doing something that makes it unique to the ukulele. It wouldn’t make sense for me to make an arrangement that could be replicated on any other instrument. A lot of my arranging strategy has to do with using the high 4th string—perhaps making an unusual cluster chord or playing the melody by bouncing back and forth between the 1st and 4th strings so they kind of ring over each other. Basically, in arranging I try to find the least obvious way to do the most obvious thing.
Arranging “Bohemian Rhapsody” must have been quite difficult due to its complexity.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is such an epic tune. It was really tough, because it’s multilayered— and, with the ukulele, I’ve only got four strings and two octaves to work with. There are certain sections where the harmony gets very complicated, and there’s a lot of contrary motion going on. So trying to scale everything down to four strings was definitely an undertaking. In making the arrangement, there were many moments when I wished I had a couple more strings. But then I realized that, since the ukulele is such a simple instrument, I just needed to take the song and strip it down to its bones. So, I started by thinking about how the song might be played from beginning to end on a monophonic instrument, like a saxophone or trumpet. That was actually tricky, because there are a lot of areas in the song where it’s hard to separate the melody from the harmony. Once I had the bones in place, I fleshed out the arrangement by adding what I thought was essential. A lot of trial and error was involved. Luckily, since “Bohemian Rhapsody” is such a well-known song, I discovered that some of the more obvious parts could just be implied in the arrangement, as I sensed that listeners would fill in what was missing in their minds.
While your version of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a solo interpretation, you’re playing with a band on most of the record. How do you approach those two contexts differently?
When I’m performing solo, I don’t always know exactly what’s going to happen but I know I can just go with whatever I’m feeling. But when I’m playing with my band, it’s like I’m in a relationship— I have to give and take and be sensitive to others’ needs. I have to remember that there are other musicians up there onstage with me who also want the same outcome: to create something beautiful that everyone can walk away from feeling like they’re in a better place than before the music started.
One of the other amazing things about playing in a band is that we hardly spend any time together and don’t know each other that well on a personal level, but because we share these moments that are so personal, so deep and heartfelt, we connect on a level that’s strangely deep. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for those guys. They could call me up at three in the morning and say, “Hey, my car broke down,” and I’d be right there.
Shimabukuro’s custom Kamaka uke features abalone inlays of his initials across the
10th to 14th frets. Photo by Danny Clinch
In concert, you’ve been known to stretch out and improvise a bit.
Yes, I think improvisation is very important in music. It’s like having a conversation with someone you haven’t seen for a long time. You meet up at a coffee shop and just start talking. You have no idea what the other person’s going to say or what you’ll say—it’s all about just going with the moment. Ideally, each part of the conversation leads organically to the next. If music really is the universal language, then we should be able to spontaneously communicate with our audiences and with other musicians. That’s important because, through improvisation, everyone feels like they’re an indispensable part of the music. And, for me, that’s when the real meaningful stuff happens. It’s beautiful and heartfelt and honest and real—and exactly right for that moment.
Jake Shimabukuro's Gearbox
Ukuleles
Five custom-made Kamaka four-string tenor ukes that feature curly koa construction (top, back, and sides), ebony fretboard and bridge, rosewood binding, mother-of-pearl and abalone inlays, gold-plated Schaller tuners, and Fishman Acoustic Matrix Natural I pickups
Amplification
The Leon Audio Active DI Box
Strings
D’Addario Pro•Arté Tenor J71
Clear Nylon
Miscellaneous
Peterson StroboClip tuner
Onstage, Tommy Emmanuel executes a move that is not from the playbook of his hero, Chet Atkins.
“My biggest decision every day on tour is, ‘What do I want to start with? How do I want to come out of the gate?’” Emmanuel explains to me over a video call. “A good opener has to have everything. It has to be full of surprise, it has to have lots of good ideas, lots of light and shade, and then, hit it again,” he says, illustrating each phrase with his hands and ending with a punch.“You lift off straightaway with the first song, you get airborne, you start reaching, and then it’s time to level out and take people on a journey.”
In May 2023, Emmanuel played two shows at the Sydney Opera House, the best performances from which have been combined on his new release, Live at the Sydney Opera House. The venue’s Concert Hall, which has a capacity of 2,679, is a familiar room for Emmanuel, but I think at this point in his career he wouldn’t bring a setlist if he was playing Wembley Stadium. On the recording, Emmanuel’s mind-blowingly dexterous chops, distinctive attack and flair, and knack for culturally resonant compositions are on full display. His opening song for the shows? An original, “Countrywide,” with a segue into Chet Atkins’ “El Vaquero.”
“When I was going to high school in the ’60s, I heard ‘El Vaquero’ on Chet Atkins’ record, [1964’s My Favorite Guitars],” Emmanuel shares. “And when I wrote ‘Countrywide’ in around ’76 or ’77, I suddenly realized, ‘Ah! It’s a bit like “El Vaquero!”’ So I then worked out ‘El Vaquero’ as a solo piece, because it wasn’t recorded like that [by Atkins originally].
“The co-writer of ‘El Vaquero’ is Wayne Moss, who’s a famous Nashville session guy who played ‘da da da’ [sings the guitar riff from Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’]. And he played on a lot of Chet’s records as a rhythm guy. So once when I played ‘El Vaquero’ live, Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’” Emmanuel says, laughing.
Atkins is the reason Emmanuel got into performing. His mother had been teaching him rhythm guitar for a couple years when he heard Atkins on the radio and, at 6, was able to immediately mimic his fingerpicking technique. His father recognized Emmanuel’s prodigious talent and got him on the road that year, which kicked off his professional career. He says, “By the time I was 6, I was already sleep-deprived, working too hard, and being forced to be educated. Because all I was interested in was playing music.”
Emmanuel talks about Atkins as if the way he viewed him as a boy hasn’t changed. The title Atkins bestowed upon him, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player), appears on Emmanuel’s album covers, in his record label (C.G.P. Sounds), and is inlaid at the 12th fret on his Maton Custom Shop TE Personal signature acoustic. (Atkins named only five guitarists C.G.P.s. The others are John Knowles, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed, and Atkins himself.) For Emmanuel, even today most roads lead to Atkins.
When I ask Emmanuel about his approach to arranging for solo acoustic guitar, he says, “It was really hit home for me by my hero, Chet Atkins, when I read an interview with him a long time ago and he said, ‘Make your arrangement interesting.’ And I thought, ‘Wow!’ Because I was so keen to be true to the composer and play the song as everyone knows it. But then again, I’m recreating it like everyone else has, and I might as well get in line with the rest of them and jump off the cliff into nowhere. So it struck me: ‘How can I make my arrangements interesting?’ Well, make them full of surprises.”
When Emmanuel was invited to contribute to 2015’s Burt Bacharach: This Guitar’s in Love with You, featuring acoustic-guitar tributes to Bacharach’s classic compositions by various artists, Emmanuel expresses that nobody wanted to take “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” due to its “syrupy” nature. But for Emmanuel, this presented an entertaining challenge.
He explains, “I thought, ‘Okay, how can I reboot “Close to You?’ So even the most jaded listener will say, ‘Holy fuck—I didn’t expect that! Wow, I really like that; that is a good melody!’ So I found a good key to play the song in, which allowed me to get some open notes that sustain while I move the chords. Then what I did is, in every phrase, I made the chord unresolve, then resolve.
Tommy Emmanuel's Gear
“I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head,” Emmanuel says. “So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever.”
Photo by Simone Cecchetti
Guitars
- Three Maton Custom Shop TE Personals, each with an AP5 PRO pickup system
Amps
- Udo Roesner Da Capo 75
Effects
- AER Pocket Tools preamp
Strings & Picks
- Martin TE Signature Phosphor Bronze (.012–.054)
- Martin SP strings
- Ernie Ball Paradigm strings
- D’Andrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm
- Dunlop medium thumbpicks
“And then to really put the nail in the coffin, at the end, ‘Close to you’ [sings melody]. I finished on a major 9 chord which had that note in it, but it wasn’t the key the song was in, which is a typical Stevie Wonder trick. All the tricks I know, the wonderful ideas that I’ve stolen, are from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Diamond. All of the people who wrote really incredibly great pop songs and R&B music—I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a -half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
I share with Emmanuel that the performances on Live at the Sydney Opera House, which include his popular “Beatles Medley,” reminded me of another possible arrangement trick. In Harpo Marx’s autobiography, Harpo Speaks, I preface, Marx writes of a lesson he learned as a performer—to “answer the audience’s questions.” (Emmanuel says he’s a big fan of the book and read it in the early ’70s.) That happened for me while listening to the medley, when, after sampling melodies from “She’s a Woman” and “Please Please Me,” Emmanuel suddenly lands on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”
I say, “I’m waiting for something that hits more recognizably to me, and when ‘While My Guitar’ comes in, that’s like answering my question.”
“It’s also Paul and John, Paul and John, George,” Emmanuel replies. “You think, ‘That’s great, that’s great pop music,’ then, ‘Wow! Look at the depth of this.’”
Often Emmanuel’s flights on his acoustic guitar are seemingly superhuman—as well as supremely entertaining.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
A trick I like to employ as a writer, I say to Emmanuel, is that when I’m describing something, I’ll provide the reader with just enough context so that they can complete the thought on their own.
“You can do that musically as well,” says Emmanuel. He explains how, in his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” he’ll play only the vocal melody. “When people are asking me at a workshop, ‘How come you don’t put chords behind that part?’ I say, ‘I’m drawing the melody and you’re putting in all the background in your head. I don’t need to tell you what the chords are. You already know what the chords are.’”
“Wayne Moss came up to me and said, ‘You know, you did my part and Chet’s at the same time. That’s not fair!’”
Another track featured on Live at the Sydney Opera House is a cover of Paul Simon’s “American Tune” (which Emmanuel then jumps into an adaptation of the Australian bush ballad, “Waltzing Matilda”). It’s been a while since I really spent time with There GoesRhymin’ Simon (on which “American Tune” was first released), and yet it sounded so familiar to me. A little digging revealed that its melody is based on the 17th-century Christian hymn, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” which was arranged and repurposed by Bach in a few of the composer’s works. The cross-chronological and genre-lackadaisical intersections that come up in popular music sometimes is fascinating.
“I think the principle right there,” Emmanuel muses, “is people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart found the right language to touch the heart of a human being through their ears and through their senses ... that really did something to them deep in their soul. They found a way with the right chords and the right notes, somehow. It could be as primitive as that.
Tommy Emmanuel has been on the road as a performing guitarist for 64 years. Eat your heart out, Bob Dylan.
Photo by Jan Anderson
“It’s like when you’re a young composer and someone tells you, ‘Have a listen to Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind,”’ he continues. “‘Listen to how those notes work with those chords.’ And every time you hear it, you go, ‘Why does it touch me like that? Why do I feel this way when I hear those chords—those notes against those chords?’ I say, it’s just human nature. Then you wanna go, ‘How can I do that!’” he concludes with a grin.
“You draw from such a variety of genres in your arrangements,” I posit. “Do you try to lean into the side of converting those songs to solo acoustic guitar, or the side of bridging the genre’s culture to that of your audience?”
“I stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a-half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.”
“If I was a method actor,” Emmanuel explains, “what I’m doing is—I’m writing music for the film that’s in my head. So, I don’t think, ‘I’m just the guitar,’ ever. I always think it has to have that kind of orchestral, not grandeur, but … palette to it. Because of the influence of Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Elton John, especially—the piano guys—I try to use piano ideas, like putting the third in the low bass a lot, because guitar players don’t necessarily do that. And I try to always do something that makes what I do different.
“I want to be different and recognizable,” he continues. “I remember when people talked about how some players—you just hear one note and you go, ‘Oh, that’s Chet Atkins.’ And it hit me like a train, the reason why a guy like Hank Marvin, the lead guitar player from the Shadows.... I can tell you: He had a tone that I hear in other players now. Everyone copied him—they just don’t know it—including Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, all those people. I got him up to play with me a few times when he moved to Australia, and even playing acoustic, he still had that sound. I don’t know how he did it, but it was him. He invented himself.”
YouTube It
Emmanuel performs his arrangement of “What a Wonderful World,” illustrating how omitting a harmonic backdrop can have a more powerful effect, especially when playing such a well-known melody.
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