auto_transcript: %uh the matter do her people the No good the the the the the the theme they didn't the p pin this next song I like people perform for you is a you know what one
other in one of the cool things about arm playing
ukulele is that you know you have a bomb you have a very
limited range in you and you you have just
basically four strings to work with who I kinda talked about this the last time
I was here I i said that you only have four strings and sometimes you know it can appear to be very limiting right because you think
all on the ukulele only a for sure and click on the guitar you know guitar at
six strings and you can get a much fuller sound in a bigger sound and you always want more and more more
MORE writes i IA arm I wrote this song a recently let me try to compose more and I always
try to come up with like a concept or an idea you know whenever I'm writing a new
piece so this idea though came about by
accident see I was changing my Google the strings one day and I put the first ring on and I put
the second string on the net and then I was gonna put the third string on but
a I couldn't find that string like people make their Ching cell so I
grabbed the fourth string I put the fourth string of and it said a rushing up to look for
another third string I thought to myself wouldn't be cool to write a song which S
three strings so this is the this is a song called
missing 3 and up and it's a piece in chess uses three strains that's that's it and
I and I thought there was it was kinda cool because on the ukulele
you always want more you always think you need more strings you need a greater
range so this is a a song called missing three
that kinda proves that you don't always need more you know sometimes less truly
is more in a few and if you know what you're going for a
fee know what you wanna see what you try to communicate you know then sometimes you know you can
just do it with three strings rather than for sell here is the here's a song
called missing three a bit the move the new the the the summit I'm missing three I'll the couple are things happen that
to me while since the last time I was here all a shortly after I I was your Google I got married so that was pretty cool
pat down and seven weeks ago my wife and I had
our first baby you know I'm a dad that kinda scary
thought Ryan but it's the most amazing thing I like I
cuz I i'm had about that age where you know a lot of my my friends you know have have children
at a lot upon are you know they they're on their second
child already but i member when they first had their baby you know they would always
send me photos are they went out you know the icon on their on their
phone they show me pictures and you know honey and then i'm just like all your
cute but on the inside I'm like wanna see this one showing right but its
it's amazing like it so different when it's your own child it all when it's your own child to dislike oh
my god every little thing that that they do it's like the most it's the cutest most adorable thing and
it's so funny because like you know now I like Aleve send pictures to everyone
and i'd but it's the but it's it's really the
most amazing thing and and so this this next song was I wrote it actually maybe when my wife
was about six months pregnant you know I I wrote this song for for the
baby and and it's a song I call gentlemen the
land and you like a I was explaining before that when I'm when I
write it when I read a piece I was like to have some concept you know something that is different from anything else that I
that I've done before the pass and and the way the Sun came about was it
was a i I love the sound that the mandolin you
know the mandolin is actually tuned like like a violin so it has a very from it has a wide
range it has over 30 octave range where the Google I the only has a two
octave range so you can get these beautiful lush chords on on the mandolin
that that are very difficult to get on the
ukulele so I came across this chord voicing that you know that that to me in in in
my mind you know kinda mimics the voicing a mandolin player and it sounds like this it's a it's a
really far stretch like this but when you get this kinda cell you know doesn't sound like a new pillow it
sounds more like a mandolin I wrote this song and I i use that that
idea for this tune from my son and I call it
gentle mandolin and the title came about because I was
thinking that I hope one day when my son goes up he'll be a he'll grow up to be a fine
gentlemen darlin yet here we go dude I it's cheesy 80 I in the the theme the the No it then and the new the mall and do home that a theme the new at a KY arm you know I get my inspiration from a from a a lot
of things I mean I'm sure like it's the same for all India mean I love
you hear your you're all artists and you always like you know trying to think up the and the
next thing and the you know what's going to be that that
that next the big idea and it's funny because sometimes you know like I'll get
my I get a lot of my inspiration from like
the most unusual thingy that the most unusual things are I just did that all oh i'd I did a short
interview you for your that that video I think it's called out Mike
my favorite things called my favorite my favorite things and so what I think that I talked about
was was the one of my favorite performances ever was a performance bill cosby you know bill
cosby a long time ago he did this HBO special the stand-up comedy special
call Bill Cosby himself and it was the most I think till this
day in ab like all the comedians up there this performance is still like be the Bible love stand-up comedy you know
and if you haven't seen it you really should check it out you guys have it in your archives cell
you should definitely check it out on but if you can get the
actual DVD up the entire performance it's it is truly amazing it's it's almost two hours long and Bill
Cosby sits in a chair not even a Hi Chile a
regular like a chair that you're sitting Asia
sitting in that chair holding a microphone and telling the stories and you got just I mean everyone just happened at
the edge of their seats just dying laughing so entertain and I realize because see the for me
that was very significant because when I first started out playing ukulele
I was always um I was always playing with the singer
there was always the thinker and that I would be in the back unit you
know I would always be I would be that I would be the backing
guy in Oside be in a bag just got a plane and then and then when it
when they're done thing and then I take a little soul all the you know and then back to you you
know that their thing yet fell so that was kinda my job because
and the reason for that because I am a terrible singer I can't sing to
save my life soul so ap after a while you know I on
when I stopped working with fingers I thought all when my I had to so bad in
high school we did and when we broke up I thought all know that the end for me
because you know what am I gonna do I can't sing
you know I'm just gonna play Michael and I remember being so intimidated by standing up in front of an audience
just with my Google LA and plain in fact some of my early
performances I would like one stated like are all this song
is a called sunshine your love in yell and now it's our play but I I Jess I was so of for ATL because I just
thought the hookah led by itself sounds soul you know it just sounds so empty
and it doesn't have that for found that I'm used to hearing what
I go and listen to a concert I want that Bingbing fell right but I
couldn't get that with this instrument but when I saw bill cosby himself when I
saw him and II just I saw a man just come up on
stage in front o you know thousands of people sit in a
chair with a microphone and he was just he could just connect
with every single person in the room and I'll and I was watching this on television
and I still felt like I was there I felt like he every story he was yeah he was telling he was
like looking right at me and telling this like I was sitting down in his living
room and he was sharing this amazing story with me you know I was so
inspired by that because then I realize you know what the instrument that we hold is just an
illusion you know get our players like if you
watch Jimi Hendrix yeah he's playing the guitar but the guitar is just an illusion you
know his artistry his music he's communicating I mean he's he's just it's his whole before before you even here is get our you're hearing his spirit you know it's
it's like a its he says he's communicating this this
thing you know that I like I like like a 10 things that I believe is all
the music that you play and you hear happens it's created it happens before
it even hit gets your instrument you know before I play that cord I need
to create it inside of me you know like I need you feel it and
just like creative person that then I can play that core you know or or
before I i Ben that no yup the you know I need to like created inside of me
before it even gets to the instrument so that
so I used to watch him and I i swatch all the time I watch that that
performance over and over and just you know he's just so natural and its
and its the the the title that that to our was
bill cosby himself and I realized that that's all
that's all you gotta be as you just you know it doesn't matter if you're
talking to one person or or thousand people you know you just the
more you keep the more you're comfortable with who you are you just get up in for a just not be
afraid to make fun of yourself or you know and not not to have
expectations up the audience i think is a big key and
that's the cool thing about being Google other players that audiences have such
low expectations help me anyway right fell if I i don't
have any expectations that my audience hiking simply get up on stage in just do
my thing and I don't have to worry about anything someone laughs if they stay then that's
all a bonus you know so but I'd like to um I'll but II was I was telling that story cuz
I was gonna go and I was try to relate that to a song a yeah I S L I'll what's wrong with a gonna play now in I
remember but but anyway then anyway so that's
that's kinda bomb that's kinda where we're a lot of my
inspiration came from you know it's it's it's not so much like about plane that
local LA but its it's just it's just about
communicating with people you know and and and that's that's what
I love you do you know i mean through Google to YouTube you know your providing a
vehicle you know for people to communicate from
one side of our planet all the way to the other side and it makes the planet seem so much
smaller makes our world seem so much smaller and
you know and I think that's a great thing you know because because I i grew up in Hawaii you know
where we're very we live on a small island and everyone
so community-minded you know we're always thinking about the other person and we
all see how were related and what I do affect this
other person you know what what that person does affect affect the other person I think I think
it's such a great way you know to look at the world now that
you know we are all connected were all connected and and I i think i to music and true to what what you do I
think it's the perfect example because to me music is not just
the universal language but it's the language of the universe
you know and you're helping to spread that language all across the the world and it's and
it's a beautiful thing so I'm gonna I'm gonna play our one more song here and this is the and
they they asked me to tonight you know to to try to play more original
stuff just because a bomb at a copyright issues and all that but
you know but I I did wanna play this one piece because this is the this is the word the
reason I'm here and this is the what started it all for me and I'll it
was a simple four-minute video clip you know that that happen to show up on the Internet one day and it was for television show
that I'd done in New York called Google a disco and I think I told
the story the last time but since then I've made some changes to
the song so i thought i i'd plant again but this is a George
Harrison's while My Guitar Gently Weeps n by my favorite on the player allied and
I A the new I i cant play the thing up with
a little but its it's amazing you know talking
about how to like express yourself to the
insurer and you know it's not just about it's not just about the note that your
Plano the cords that you're playing you know but it's its everything you know it's the like
just like to all this sounds that you can create you
know good up in up up up in what there there the the the the the the the the theme the the the it up well than well well well well in was when when what the up up huh in her the %ah %ah %ah %ah %ah %ah you the here 0 thank you ok that was awesome 22 doubles just have such a famous
virgins how I was introduced to your music I'll and she want to know if you guys if
you want to talk a little bit about George Harrison I know thats he was an ambassador a
ukulele he's george was famous for writing
rent-a-car Fulham in passing out a warning to get
literally get together and play with everyone he went if you want to talk about that
yeah you know George Harrison now is was one of my heroes I mean he he just adored the system and I mean he
had he had a hundred times more localized
and I have me how headed up but he some that the court thing though
i you know I never got to meet him I i
wish i did. on I met the you know his his his wife Olivia
Harrison a few times she actually came to a couple my
shoulder and salad that with the pretty amazing game but at
to speak with her and and talk with her and she just she she kept telling me like all I
wish you know george was still alive today you know because he just love this
instrument so much and he he really believe that this issue has so
much potential you know to reach beyond you know our arm you know I mean to me and I i think and I you know I can say
exactly but I think George Harrison probably felt
the same way you know I think that the Google is very
special because it's different from other insurance
because people aren't afraid of this instrument they're not intimidated by your you know at because the a lot of people don't
even think of it as a real ensure anything at the toy right but you know and and I embrace
that I love that because I think every instrument should she people should feel like that about
every inch MID the piano all the piano I can do are you you know or the violent or whatever it
is because because if if you're free to finish reading your you're never gonna
wanna pick it up you'll be too intimidated you know or in
your mind you think it's too hard but with the ukulele I mean my
grandmother just started playing ukulele you know and now she's like jamming with her girlfriend you know and
they're like the you are my sunshine I and my only thing you know they're
singing songs like that but but like I said earlier you know I believe that music is not just the
universal language with the language love the universe and there's something
amazing that happens when you have the ability to speak that language
you know when you can pick up an instrument and just do this the new and you know that I can do that it just makes you feel soul good you know it's it I tell you it's
like an entire yoga session in one should drop by me use Ian play
one court over and over and over and there's just something about at and just like brings you back to
center you know it zeroes you out and a and
George Harrison love that about this injury he loved turning people on to it
and love showing people how easy it is to play because you get
that instant gratification the moment you pick it up you know you can just get one finger and
just put it right there the me like Wow theme the lay a oh my gosh if I to do that on a
trumpet it would take me like two months before I could even get a defense sound right or a violin like it
takes you two months before you can even hold the ball without cramping right cell it's that instant
gratification and I think that P when people pick it up for the
first time and it played like wow I can do this I can make music and
to me that's the joy that music should bring I
enjoy that joy everyone should feel that joy when
they're playing the piano for the first time when they're playing the violin for
the first time when you're playing the saxophone for the first time when you're
playing the guitar for the first time everyone could feel that joy you know I think there be a lot more
people playing instruments yeah I by at a question for you JK as at the screening of the documentary
congratulate all that remains in on one thing that really came through in
the documentary is how much a family affair your music it since I
want to see if you could tell us a little bit more about that and maybe let us know if they're dumb
Shimabukuro family concert at that screening that happy hour later I all-weather be a the documentary that that clips
talking about is a I just recently did a a its my first full-length documentary
with PBS and we've been shooting at for a little over two years now and we just I mean we just a wrapped it
up last week Wednesday and and it's gonna
be premiering at some other the film
festivals and and it's also gonna broadcasts on on PBS
special TV sometime early next year I'm very excited about this because a
while in in the in the it was pretty amazing just for me to kinda said and I i don't
like to see myself on on television are you know anything but
but just being a wooded to sit there and and see the last you know like 30 years
above my life just kinda go by and and really took me back
to wife Ellen up with this instrument how I
got into it you know all my started playing at the age of
four and I got into it because my my mom played you know she played and no
like the first thing she taught me was my secord and I would just do this all day 1 you know at I I just I love that I i did
that you know I to better every day I'd come home from
school pick up my local and just and just play and and might my mom loved
that you know my family they they love music and and I think I'll I also have a younger
brother who plays to you know and when we were
kids that's all we do together you know we always play they look a lot like to get my brother
was really good at sports and I mean he was very well-rounded like for me I the only thing I could do
was play too a lot alike to this day I can dribble into a layup
you know I mean I'm like a horrible but but there is
something about music that I I could chess I could just you know we
just sat down for hours at a time and just play and and discover new
chords a new cell phones so you know that that really kept our
family you know together my dad played a little bit I get our and over I mean that you know they they
were profession re: they want professional musicians are
anything but there was always music playing and I'll in the house all I think I'll in the documentary kinda
talks about you know my parents you know they divorced in all that in
you know some music kinda became my arm because my mom was
my first teacher should spend a lotta time you know when I was a kid teaching me citing once
my parents got a divorce and my mom had to work all the time you know my my brother and I were five
years apart so I would always stay home and how does have to watch meio I was felt
like it was more like my son then my brother and and citing plane that local LA for
me was in my mind you know now looking back at
everything was kinda like that was me try to make
up for those lost time you know spending with my mom and my
family and all kinda to be back sell so the some you know so that's why I
guess that's where my passion I guess comes from you know for this
instrument and I and it really is even though I'm away
from home a lot of times having their local other with me and
being able to play and share all these things are I think always I always feel like you
know I'm I'm right back with them you i was just wondering if you had any
plans or expectations on teaching your baby the israeli and also at what age your plan and introduce yeah
well i I have no expectations right now I mean I just you know I I wanted to do whatever
whatever you want to do but I definitely want him to have music and it's funny because up you know I'm I my new album a the the song that I wrote
for him you know it's called gentlemen 11 and it's the third song on
it on the on the album as funny because recently my my a wife discovered a lot while I was
on tour my wife discovered that when he's crying if she
puts the CD on he immediately stop she said that's
amazing so so she's head she put the CD on and as soon as you put it on you know
that the first song start and he just like she said he just like kinda stops and he
just kinda lists and then he just he's just he become super mellow the
second song comes on you don't actually a cover of Adele's
rolling in the deep and he listened through that and then she said the third song comes
out which is the song I wrote for him as should add that song start he start
or a I like card Friday I mean she actually it's it's like it's unbelievable
everything but I keygen she say he just doesn't like that
so I car gotta know so you know I but anyway type I will be teaching and
that song but I'll yeah but I definitely want to get him
into music at for sure thank you thank you very much you're
talking a little earlier about just kinda
growing up with ukulele into plan for so long but it's an instrument
I've heard my entire life in its I've never heard it played a the way you do until you came on so what happen in your life when you were
playing what was when did it start transpire you
start learning new things and you started bringing things out a bit at the instrument that other people
didn't see alright I think you know for me I like I started
out playing our traditional Hawaiian music and arm but then I I think there there came
a time label I think when I was a %uh Justin
you know in my early teenage years arm when I saw my first a Van Halen concert you know because and and it wasn't so much that I wanted
to play all those fancy guitar riffs or anything like that but
it was more about the energy when I see rock bands play I admire
their energy you know it's not not necessarily
I wanna play that kinda music or I wanna play that song writing but I wanna play with that kinda energy and
so whether I'm playing a of wine to or a jazz standard or like a classical
piece or a a pop tune or even if it if I'm
covering a rock song you know I wanna play with that energy
all the time and it's not always the physical kinda
energy or the kinda %uh the kinda energy that
that that you can see visually like just the
running and jumping on stage you know jumping around and all that I mean that's great too I like that you don't
like what I but the you know I like you I like to cuddle
mood you know what with the music but its its also the
other kinda energy that the energy that comes from within you know that that that focus that that
mental focus like I'm always talking about like when I mom
like when I'm surely like what I would do workshops and I would I would talk with kids and
performers about you know when you're playing you're in
shred doesn't matter what insuring your plane you know like 10 when I'm playing the
ukulele and and I'm gonna and I'm gonna play a chord you know it's not just the mechanics
it's not just about my my AR my finger in my hand you know why
fingers holding down the right strings and my hand is doing this it's not it's not about that but there's
so much that happens before and after you know the the stroke so there there's a lot of lot of
preparation and I always arm I always kinda compared to like a
picture you know when you watch a really good baseball pitcher you know the wind up i mean everything
that the follow through the the focus you know the the visualizing a how the the ball is going to curb or you
know or drop although that is so important that you
know when you're playing the ukulele you know like that that's that's what
I'm thinking I'm you know be before I even I even hit the strings like you know arm you can't really tell but like my Mike
tolls like curl up you know a Mike issues and you
know and I i can. its its I can feel like all that energy
you know in in Mike in my ankles in a bother my feet again
to my knees to my hips I me everything that comes down up up my
back to my shoulders and and when I make contact with the string
you know it's just its all that energy you know directed
this when it's not just the physical energy but its thats all my my mental focus my thoughts everything is going in that direction
going with the with the music you know the plane with
that kinda conviction way my spirit everything that I have that I
have controller I try to bring that into every stroke into every strong and it's not just the
hard hitting stuff you know it's it's the soft stuff too it's like when you
play you know the new you know I wanna just
bring that theme in bring every no doubt you know and it's
and it's still that follow through that that same conviction that same energy
that I would if I were playing like a rock tune you know in a classical piece or ballad
it's a different kind of energy you know but it's still that same intensity with that
same conviction you know that you wanna like put into
every little know every little movement you know
everything that you do needs to be somehow connected to the
movement I mean to the music you know whether it's like the whether
it's a just a simple tapping up the foot by tapping up the tolls or if it's a little like twitch in the
in in the face you know like you watch the top there sometimes Andy they do these uncontrollable like a
shaker you know they're just like you know and and its it's because it's
because they're all that all of that movement everything
that's happening is somehow connected with the sound or
an idea or concept that they're trying to convey you know he motion only now and I i
remember what the question was it anymore a but all I hope I answered at to you did answer are you hurting right
here thank you so much for your for playing for us today on I'm I have a
question about if there's anything particular about your instrument at you like to talk about I'm how did
you end up choosing this particular you can learn to play it all yeah what
this is mom this is an instrument and ukulele made
by a family called the comarca family and they're made right in Hawaii and
they were the first family to start manufacturing Google is in the
world there there I think they're going on they're going on for generations a
vocal a makers right now and it's it's just a family business and and they were the first alliance to learn how to build the bench
mens from the Portuguese immigrants that came over to the islands
you know to work in the plantation fields solo you know so they were the ones who
really started to build the first Google LA's and and its quite extraordinary you know
because they've they've been building will close for
almost a hundred years now and and when I was a kid you know in Hawaii everybody knows come oxo local
LA it's like it's kinda like the I me when I was when
I was growing up my dream was to have this Google alley
this if this is a they call this a tener size and Schmitz
a tener forced wrinkle mocca and it was my dream to have this entry
because in be in my eyes it was like the Excalibur
UHV instruments and I A arm and you know but they're
they're very expensive so you know at you know when I was a kid
there was no way I could afford something like this and you know so now that I I get to play
this instrument every day on my I just feel souls so honored you know
because I'm you know there's just so much history
and so much experience and knowledge that goes into every single one other insurance so to
actually be able to to play and and to to use one you know
to travel with and to you create music what to write music with I
am you know I just feel like I call it that that that history you
know comes with everything that I that I do yeah at that's what it is that
the comarca yeah yes film hey it I always such an inspiration to see
you perform and I am last two years ago when I last
saw you I was so inspired that I went my bot in ukulele yeah I used to play the soda
venezuela imports drink water it's Paul yet yet thing right so I took it I went to the guitar store
just with right from where you are right to the toy store
brought a lot of boys drinking ticket home in there I am with my little
three Kortina yeah to cheaper anyway my my thirteen-year-old my then 13-year-old
wonders ap like hey mom what's that I never saw it again I law yeah he goes up to school every day
with the fiberglass ukulele strong span across your back and I i just you know she says so I just
wanted to let you know that you know you kinda you know had that
kinda impact all I don't like you you thank
you very much thinking to that's beautiful you know all what are
the coolest things for me is seeing you know like when i when i tour
now and do shows we see a lot of kids you know young kids um come to the show now and A&A and they don't look like Google Apps
Thursday they come with the club there's but the app their fingernails all painted black they
had like spiky hair piercings you know and they just think
like that localize the coolest thing they'll come up in a bit like oh yeah I used to play like you know
heavy metal guitar and then I saw you know you play like
what my guitar gently weeps on YouTube and ought I to my guitar when I bought a
hookah like a this is all I play now at its chest the most incredible being right because
because ten years ago or even I don't know like
yeah maybe not even 10 years ago it was always the opposite you know
people would start on ukulele and then after that what they want they can play pretty good
anyone up put away a move on to a guitar you know cuz their goal is to play the
guitar and the use a Google as a stepping stool to get to the guitar but now it's it's really cool that
people that have been playing the guitar wanna put their guitars away and pick up
the local LA now so much greater are people yeah haha
pop-up you yes 0 thanks for it anything
government soldiers Herman questions at have you ever thought about
like giving up becoming the musicians like that then
when you were first written in how you get that all arm no I mean it's its I've never arm II never the thought never crossed my mind that
that I would ever want to give and give up playing you know all but to be honest when I was a kid or I mean even up until ten years ago or fifteen years ago I had
no idea that I was going to be a touring
musician and or or even up you know I could do this all the time I
mean I knew that I would always play this instrument for the rest of my
life because it's it's my passion you know but I thought it would just be like coffee
shops are you know I we went out with Alyssa just thought I school I used to play at
a lot of weddings and graduation parties and birthday parties and family functions but never in my wildest
dreams did I ever think I'd be doing what I'm doing today you know cell arm so it does that it
never crossed my mind that I'm gonna ever give this up you know but
as as a as things started to evolve and at
a career started to shape up for me you know throughout through the
internet and all that and now I'm touring I mean you know I me now we like now weird data on on this justice in
this next two months you know we're touring 240 cities and you know we got a whole tour bus now in
like you know 7 as a seven-man crew let me with a sound
and lighting guy in I never imagined any attack you know i
mean it's Jess incredible I mean when I was growing up
I I thought I was going to be like a schoolteacher it I thought I was gonna go into
education because I love working with kids and then I thought the local LA is the perfect way to
connect with kids you know site but in my classes in the lessons I could
always use this I would always have it but it's been it's been really
challenging and I mean there have been times like when I first started touring you know arm you know it was it was a yeah I mean there there were a lot of
challenges you know but you can I get through them you know you
work through them I mean like I said when I first started
performing I couldn't look at everyone and play I mean I was so nervous I would just you know I'd be
so afraid to talk and and and you know and and it's hard you
know but but you Jess you love that you love it
so much in you wanna you always want to arm figure out all
how can I how can I improve on this how can I make
this better because I realize that as you know I can practice all I want in
my room you know just by myself but it it doesn't it it doesn't give me that same satisfaction you know because to me again music is is all about
communicating its about making a connection with people and once
I started learning how to connect with people through this
instrument all my gosh it was like just rush you
know like now when I perform you know tonight at a venue in its and there are moments where like you
know i i'd be I'd be playing then you get to a real
sense it apart and like you know you play that one Cory and you can just almost feel the entire audience just breathing with you and
just taking it all then just waiting for that last note to till to fade away and then even after
you can you can't hear it anymore it's just side
and silence silence silence and that everyone like you know kind of site clapping or like
you know and and it's those moments that you know it's such a rush because um you just feel like everyone is
experiencing the same thing and its II guess only way I can think
about is like when you are like for surfers you know when they catch that
that perfect wave and they're just on that way then just nothing else
matters you know you just on that wave or like you know when I'm
on stage and I plane it's like nothing else matters I'm just just having really literally having the
time of my life and I'll and so for me I know it's our you know I
mean yeah there there are challenges but but a lot of it is just you know it's
just pressure that I put on myself you know just because I want our you
have a bit of a perfectionist in some ways and you know and I 10 keep learning and keep discovering
new things you know so sometimes you go through these periods
where you just at a plateau on you like when that next idea you know that a
calmer winds that you know that next concept you know gonna come but but yet you you find ways
to you know when there but then when when
you when you find it and it's like oh my gosh guess that's that's amazing
and you know and it just instead it carries you that inspiration
that that that excitement carries you through the
next one in our hands out thank you yes hi yeah I guess I can't get enough of
hearing about why my guitar gently weeps which was always one of my favorite all and it's the reason I know who you are
because a close friend of mine said are you gonna listen to the sky you know
he is on YouTube his name state something and yeah and and they eat your vers an avid is blew me away is as a
link you gorgeous an especially song and I care so much about to hear someone else
do it in it was so beautiful it moved me to tears
I actually made it my ringtone and Leone are you came to google the
first time here and then I cite the first time and had a chance to talk to
you and ask if he'd ever met george harrison and I forgot to tell you that I'd
actually just made it my ringtone even for yeah I'm day going on have yet copyright issues
notwithstanding the heart I but I just wanted to ask you I'll what made you put doubts on up on
YouTube was that also and your favorite songs or weather just by chance yeah well you
know to be honest like till this day I don't know who put it up
on YouTube you know I'm because all you know what I said this
last time to you know I I mean you know you know I'm not not you
know just I'm just being like totally honest and
sincere like you know but because this was like seven years ago so I i I didn't know what you to place
back then you know I mean I'm not very internet
savvy but I think newt you just kinda started around that time to write so was
it you with that famous yet right I me not
to make people knew about it but I mean I was I was doing some email
but you know I wasn't really active on on
the on the web sites and internet and all that you
know but arm but when so what happened was I will I just did this thing for local
TV show and that's what they did the interview for the the videotape in doing
that and it aired on on TV you know it was
just a small local network and and I was it and then I went back home
to Hawaii and about two months later I had a lot of friends that were that
were here on the and why week we call this the mainland Europe so where I had a lot of friends on email
and going to school and and they started calling me or sending you know that
you're like a you know like there's this a this video clip that's kinda you know that that's going are on our
campus have you playing like what he talking about so they they
sent me the link at this time it you know and at that
time it was still like you know that concept the emailing a
video or video link to some but was kinda like let you email me a video what
he talking about you know but it was a because it was
just kinda starting out so arm so he day they emailed me this this link and I clicked on it and it
took me right to that YouTube video and I then there was that
I just was like I don't understand what happened and
what am I looking at you know and then and it and already it had it had or
almost 2 million views already and I I couldn't believe it
right and i was just and there was and that was in a term for back that we weed
and even there was an even such thing as a viral
video yet we would even know what to call it was it happening and and it was a shortly after
that you know the numbers just started growing and growing and growing and there were multiple videos so there
was one that that didn't even have my name is just
said while my guitar gently weeps and it was that same d/o then there was one that was like Creevy
Asian ukulele player yeah call for I I saw about you know there by
eight or nine different videos and all of them had like over a million views right and
there but not about had my name he had perhaps a so it wasn't until I think like a few
months after that that finally there was a video that had
my name on it was cigs you look for all you know whatever and that all and then that that
video to start growing and growing growing and and so and all the other one just slowly
disappeared I think now there's I think there's there's still a couple
couple other ones out there but the main one right now are that that was
laughed at I know when when it first just had my
name on it it with you know like something like
thirty thousand you know views and that was like maybe four years ago or something you know but
then doubt when even from four years ago that one grew
to over 10 million now and it's amazing how it's still just
growing and so people are still discovering this video for the first time in itself and says
been quite extraordinary and and you know that that video changed my
life I mean I wish I knew who the first person was that put it
online because the yeah I only or yeah I yeah that that's what I that's why tell
people I think George Harrison up there had something to do it that you now by yeah it really it did changed my life
and up and from that I started getting calls
from other artists to come and open for them all to care you know to tour with them into an open
for them or record with them and spend told the
extraordinary so thank you yeah San at jkjk said I know
why it took so long for them to attach a name to the video because it took them
that long to learn how to spell your last name yeah I I died so true so true alright so I have a
quick question how to give a heads up a little bit of a setup
question but data me know about the the work that you did with Alan Parsons
are so obvious he's a very well-known you grammy-nominated producer and
engineer but you know yourself as a musician for a long time have work with
a lot of producers and engineers what made him different what did he do
differently like radically different then you know the
masses a a pretty audio engineers are out there
okay arm while the the one of the coolest things
about out i mean from from day one just like
being in a request to deal with him was that the first thing I noticed was
the way he might my Google Ali the way he recorded my
ukulele every recording engineer I ever worked with
you know always I mean they you know the there
was always at least one microphone in front have
mine Schmidt you know a lot at the record in stereo
they would have one here and one here I could that's how they you know the
record guitars and scary like that i dont need side my king you know where
you have we have 11 mike in the middle like kind
of hysteria spread and did you have one across the top I've you know I'm
been in situations where they would surround me with microphones you know
put microphones all over me or put a microphone you know put two
microphones right here and then but two in the back in the wrong more
behind me but this was the first time that someone tell me to okay yes just
and right here he got one microphone he put it here under the neck up my local LA and he put
another one right here above my right shoulder and I was like in ensure this is kinda work I add up so you'd like a edges just plan I'll
make some adjustments ice type lane and he just kinda tweaked it a little bit just more but
kept it right there and then kinda take this one like that and and
and the like are you I just play some things I i just i just i denied much to
the song and I i played at and and then he said
okay come in and tell me if you like the cell so I walked into the control room he
played it back and I couldn't believe what I was
hearing it was just it was the sound of my in Sherman the
way that I always hear it the way that I hear it
you know like cuz eyeball the I I'm always just
accepted that every time I i record you know my studio sound what I
can get on our record is just different from like my
life's out I like what I hear when I'm practicing but it was the first time I walked into
that room any played it back in it just II I can I was stunned because I
was like oh my gosh I I feel like I am I play my insurance right now you know I
mean that's how it felt and so I asked him about that I i said I
said how did what made you decide to record that will call
in this way he said what he went through he wanted
to recorded you why two recorded in stereo so he wanted at least two microphones
and so we could get a right and a left channel but what he said was when he records
guitars that way usually put one here and one up here
right because the guitars longer so you can get out a wider stereo spread that way but he will but he thought that
because that would allow the shorter if you were to put one mic here at the
body one mic at the neck because the a little tiny the mites are
gonna pick up pretty much the same cells you're not going to get that much of a
stereo difference the right and the left were gonna sound very similar so he thought he could get a wider
stereo spread if he put one mic down here to pick up
closer to the for sharing and one mic up here which
would pick up closer to the fourth string and I we can keep the Mikes further
apart yet baby the same distance to the instrument you know and I mean that was just it sounds simple but it was just the most brilliant thing
you know that I had ever heard I was like wow so when you listen to the album
you're thinking this a great stereo spread that you're
hearing i mean it's like you're in the middle of the instrument by it's not so much right and left but
it's more up and I'll you know so it's like he
took that up and down salinger's that that over so you get you right in your lap and you
know that so that that for me was like while that was amazing and then and then you know other
things like because outing comes from that old school we have recording he y to do everything life I me so we
have a 29 peace orchestra on on a few these tracks and everything was required light there are
absolutely no over dubs so we went we went into this huge studio
we had the 29 peace orchestra there and then I was in the same but with the
orchestra the only thing that divided me from the orchestra was a glass door and we all watch the same conductor up
there and and we all played and and there's something amazing that
happens when you when you do that when you play live because all the instrument I any all the
musicians are listening to each other and playing of love each other you know so there are
a lot of spontaneous things that just happen that wouldn't have happened if we
just played all or parts separately because we would have just been reading
the music and just played guitar parts but because we were playing it together
you know it's that whole synergy affect you know we're all creating
something together we're all in the room together making this you know and and it was just it was
really beautiful you know there's a um that song missing three that I played
for you know it's it so it's a three strengths I was so
proud of it because you know I'd like on you I play with
three strings and I sent that was the first demo that I'd sent to Alan and he listened to it I in telling the
story I just sent in this Aug a disease like all gosh that's beautiful
and he told me I can just hear an entire string section playing here with you on that right that
they love it was ironic because you know the song
that that you know I wrote it was just three shillings but now there's a point
I keys are too shy so there's over over a hundred strings on the song
out but still you know i mean but he was
very very on he was he was very careful about making sure that the local LA was
here and everything else played around it you know he did a 180 thing to bury the
local LAN and it was just amazing working with him
he makes the entire record in two days he would just get up there and it all
the feeders and coach and in like 20 seconds kept like a perfect mix up like a 29
peace orchestra with me and and we just like the and you just sit
back in SA like homie the horns to calm down right here you know and your tear I be
like or what what do you think I say cops
great yeah let go yeah I with really inspiring
orchid up I think this is our last question to
it is and so I was wondering in each year albums you know your style changes
are sour bulbs so wat what about grand grand ukulele
are you most proud of in the pollution your
style and where you see it going in the future are there aren't you know that there
were a lot of things on on this record like just really subtle things that that are you like I was talking about like always
just looking for that one thing you know to make a difference arm that there were songs on this album
where I utilize techniques that I never used before you know for example %uh there's this one song
called music box where where you know the more I do this thing
right he might Tom alternating between the third and
fourth string and that I play the whole entire saw our entire melody on abortion the the the No and but there's this one section
the song where I play that melody arm harmonically so while I'm keeping this
going I play the smell it the and it as out how to play free courtesy
theme go that that section right there for me was
like I'd never done anything like that before
so I thought that was cool there is another in another place and and you know you
never know is that unless I talk about but and I i did a version up arm a a field goal and there's this one
section in there where I take the melody United the mo now %uh so there's this one sec you why play
that harmonically as well again but what I do is II utilize this
technique where in Sturgis is they're just plain
harmonics by itself I would threat a string to almost like to make like a base a base no so I have a so like a so this all over
the over the F court what I'm doing is I'm
holding the F room but as i play that F rude I'm also going to use my the
figures to play the harmonics up the the other
strings together like that so I can get this kind of harmony which
is something you you don't you you can't you don't you're
like a lot of players will when I like your bat F major 7th out you
know with harmonic but so when I play that part is like had had that stay sell for me that was another like
you know I'd never done eating you know this kinda stuff you know that that kinda cell phone it's very arm you know jack up a story
is one of my favorite guitar player I mean favorite bass players you know we
do things like that where he would had a role you know he would kinda roll
that the base around it he would he would fret these amazing harmonics and
just get these in credit you know and if you can hear
that so that so that the flat 7 there you never hear that you
you would never use you hear that on the ukulele but you know but you yeah yeah cell at so those kinda things you know what i
mean that's the kinda stuff that really keeps me going to most people
what won't won't hear it I won't notice that by you know but for me it's like I add
up you know i'd that make the entire arrangement for me
and I learned that and I the entire song fell yes I mean it
was it was I had a great time working on this this
record you know I agree he ate really feel like you know i i out and
really pushed me in the studio and and and so it was great because that's what
you want from a producer will knows how to push but not over push you
know where you get discouraged her you know you just and and it was such a
great experience he brought in just some amazing musicians like it
linger you know for the bed where he did somebody orchestral arrangements we had I'll
Simon Phillips on my favorite drummers hear from told all he he played on the record I ready t
cause phenomenal the bass player arm now it was just it was just really
inspiring you now so for me because Allen you know
I mean he's worked with a ring from the Budos to you know I'm I mean every just you know what this Alan Parsons Project
and all that you know Pink Floyd you know he's a boat his
vision is Seoul Grand its sole he has so much
experience and so is for me a lot of times my vision
only comes with what I can you know it it all I only see what I can do with the
ukulele but I don't think beyond you know beyond that you know
where is alan Alan Parsons comes from that school
where you know he's you know he he's worked with so many
orchestras he's worked with so many readers he's worked with so many rhythm sections and and he's
recorded so many different kinds of instruments and he knows all about microphones and preamps & he
knows how to get this had a salad or fine china if I'm trying
to you know express something he knows the best way to to capture that so that translates you
know when you listen to it on a record I'm going for that real sensitive you
know touch like he knows how to how to pick it up with a mic and you
know using the right microphone with the right pre-ap you know and placing it in the in
the ache in the in the right spot so that we can get that sound or even if I'm playing with the
orchestra how to how to arm how-to geek you the the shootings or how
to EQ the the horns are the woodwind so that so
that it doesn't it does and that the frequencies don't
don't overpower ukulele ukulele can still be over cuz
lot I'm just not just a volume issue but it's a pending issue like where you
place it in the mix in the stereo mix you know and also how unique you it so that
unique you adjust in a way so that it it it on you know which is i eight is I i'm I don't really understand all this
kinda stuff but but you know anybody just thats that you
know I am very limited under say I mean it's a whole science and and it's amazing his years I just
incredible like we'd be mixing would be mixing the song
you know we we like be required something in a heap in the Roman and then the you know will be under this
thing on a playback right every night just nothing like going out at federated where this thing and then and the phone
will ring Alan glycol okay I got I get the phone and so you're
still cast about and he'll be on the phone unite and he'd
like outside the studio also said he'll come right back at what what was that well that let go go
go back go back like it all go back like 20 seconds you know it's amazing like he just
here's everything and and it was just the extraordinary to to work with him in to see somewhere you
know cuz when he's when he's in the studio like you just like a little kid
like he just he loves it he saw passionate about
recording and also to work with someone like that
job was really inspiring you know because for me this is what I
you know I'm passionate about this and then to work with him was passion
about doing all the other stuff is I think it was a great collaboration and
you know is what I the the greatest recording experiences up my
life so yep will great thanks so much for coming
here and we look forward to picking up a conversation when you come back you at
all bank like the her
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