[PLAYING MUSIC]
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Thank you.
Thank you.
This next song that I'd like to perform for you is-- you
know, one of the cool things about playing the ukulele is
that you have a very limited range.
And you have just basically four strings to work with.
And I kind of talked about this the last time I was here.
I said that you only have four strings.
And sometimes, it can appear to be very limiting.
Because you think, oh, on the ukulele, I
only have four strings.
But on the guitar, a guitar has six strings and you can
get a much fuller sound and a bigger sound.
And you always want more and more and more and more.
So I wrote this song recently.
Because I've been trying to compose more.
And I always try to come up with a concept or an idea,
whenever I'm writing a new piece.
So this idea, though, came about by accident.
See, I was changing my ukulele strings one day.
And I put the first string on.
[PLUCKS STRING]
And then I put the second string on.
[PLUCKS STRING]
And then, I was going to put the third string on, but I
couldn't find that string.
So I was like, where did I put my third string?
So I grabbed the fourth string.
I put the fourth string on.
[PLUCKS STRING]
And instead of rushing off to look for another third string,
I thought to myself, wouldn't it be cool to write a song
with just three strings?
So this is a song called "Missing Three."
And it's a piece that just uses three strings.
That's it.
And I thought it was kind of 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 song called "Missing Three" that kind of
proves that you don't always need more.
Sometimes less truly is more.
And if you know what you're going for, if you know what
you want to say or what you're trying to communicate, then
sometimes you can just do it with three
strings, rather than four.
So here's a song called "Missing Three."
[MUSIC - JAKE SHIMABUKURO, "MISSING THREE"]
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Thank you very much.
Thank you.
A song entitled "Missing Three."
A couple other things happened to me since the
last time I was here.
Shortly after I was here at Google, I got married.
So that was pretty cool.
And seven weeks ago, my wife and I had our first baby.
I know, I'm a dad.
That's kind of a scary thought, right?
But it's the most amazing thing.
Because I'm kind of at that age where a lot of my friends
have children.
And a lot of them, they're on their second child already.
But I remember when they first had their baby, they would
always send me photos.
Or they on their phones, they'd show me pictures.
And then I'm just like, oh yeah, cute.
But on the inside I'm like, I don't want to see this.
Why are you showing me this?
But it's amazing.
It's so different when it's your own child.
When it's your own child, you're just like, oh my god.
Every little thing that they do, it's the cutest, most
adorable thing.
And it's so funny because now, I'll
send pictures to everyone.
But it's really the most amazing thing.
And so this next song, I wrote it actually--
maybe when my wife was about six months pregnant.
I wrote this song for the baby.
And it's a song I call "Gentlemandolin." And like I
was explaining before, that when I write a piece, I always
like to have some concept, something that is different
from anything else that I've done before in the past.
And the way this song came about was, I love the sound of
the mandolin.
The mandolin is actually tuned like a violin.
So it has a wide range.
It has over a three-octave range, whereas the ukulele
only has a two-octave range.
So you can get these beautiful, lush chords on the
mandolin that are very difficult
to get on the ukulele.
So I came across this chord voicing that to me, in my
mind, kind of mimics the voicing of a mandolin player.
And it sounds like this.
It's a really far stretch like this, but you get
this kind of sound.
[STRUMMING CHORDS]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: It doesn't sound like a ukulele.
It sounds more like a mandolin.
So I wrote this song.
And I used that idea for this tune for my son.
And I call it "Gentlemandolin." And the
title came about because I was thinking that I hope one day
when my son grows up, he'll grow up to be a fine
gentleman--
dolin.
[LAUGHTER]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Here we go.
All right, it's cheesy.
I know.
All right.
Here we go.
[MUSIC - JAKE SHIMABUKURO, "GENTLEMANDOLIN"]
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Thank you very much.
Man.
I get my inspiration from a lot of things.
I'm sure it's the same for all of you.
All of you here, you're all artists.
And you're always trying to think of the next thing and
what's going to be that next big idea.
And it's funny because sometimes I get a lot of my
inspiration from the most unusual things.
I just did a short interview out here for that video.
I think it's called "My Favorite
Things." What's it's called?
AUDIENCE: Yes.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: "My Favorite Things." So one of the things
that I talked about was one of my favorite performances ever
was a performance of Bill Cosby.
Bill Cosby, a long time ago, he did this HBO special, this
stand-up comedy special, called "Bill Cosby, Himself."
And it was the most--
I think till this day, of all the comedians out there, this
performance is still like the bible of stand-up comedy.
And if you haven't seen it, you really
should check it out.
You guys have it in your archive.
So you should definitely check it out.
But if you can get the actual DVD of the entire performance,
it is truly amazing.
It's almost two hours long.
And Bill Cosby sits in a chair.
Not even a high chair, a regular--
like a chair that you're sitting in.
And he's just sitting in that chair, holding a microphone,
and telling these stories.
And everyone is just at the edge of their seats, just
dying, laughing, so entertained.
And I realized-- because see, for me, that was very
significant.
Because when I first started out playing the ukulele, I was
always playing with a singer.
There was always a singer.
And then I would be in the back playing--
[PLAYING CHORDS]
[LAUGHTER]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: I would be the backing guy.
So I'd be in the back, just kind of playing.
And then when they're done singing, then I'd take a
little solo.
[PLAYING MELODY]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: And then back to--
[STRUMMING CHORDS]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: --and then they're singing again.
So that was kind of my job.
And the reason for that is because I
am a terrible singer.
I can't sing to save my life.
So after a while, when I stopped working with singers,
I thought--
I had this little band in high school.
And when we broke up, I thought, oh, no, that's the
end for me.
Because what am I going to do?
I can't sing.
I'm just going to play my ukulele?
I remember being so intimidated by standing up in
front of an audience just with my ukulele and playing.
In fact, some of my early performances, I would go on
stage and just be like, (MUMBLING) uh, oh, this song
is called "Sunshine of Your Love."
[MUSIC - "SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE"]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: And I would start playing.
But I was so afraid.
Because I just thought, oh, the ukulele by itself, it just
sounds so empty.
And it doesn't have that full sound that I'm used to hearing
when I go and listen to a concert.
I want that big, big sound, right?
But I couldn't get that with this instrument.
But when I saw "Bill Cosby, Himself," when I saw him-- and
I saw a man just come up on stage in front of thousands of
people, sit in a chair with a microphone.
And he could just connect with every single
person in the room.
And I was watching this on television.
And I still felt like I was there.
I felt like every story he was telling, he was looking right
at me and telling this.
Like I was sitting down in his living room and he was just
sharing this amazing story with me.
And I was so inspired by that.
Because then I realized, you know what?
The instrument that we hold is just an illusion.
Guitar players-- like if you watch Jimi Hendrix, yeah, he's
playing the guitar.
But the guitar is just an illusion.
His artistry, his music, he's communicating--
it's his whole--
before you even hear his guitar,
you're hearing his spirit.
He's communicating this thing.
Like one of the things that I believe is all the music that
you play and you hear happens.
It's created and happens before it even gets to your
instrument.
Before I play that chord, I need to create
it inside of me.
I need to feel it and just create it first.
And then, then I can play that chord.
Or before I bend that note--
[PLAYING MUSIC, GUITAR-SOLO STYLE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: --I need to create it inside of me, before
it even gets to the instrument.
So I used to watch him.
And I used to watch him all the time.
I watched that performance over and over.
And he's just so natural.
And the title of that tour was "Bill Cosby, Himself." And I
realized that that's all you got to be.
It doesn't matter if you're talking to one
person or 1,000 people.
The more you're comfortable with who you are, if you can
just get up in front of-- and not be afraid
to make fun of yourself.
And not to have expectations of the audience, I
think, is a big key.
And that's the cool thing about being a ukulele player,
is that audiences have such low expectations of me anyway.
So if I don't have any expectations of my audience, I
can simply get up on stage and just do my thing.
And I don't have to worry about anything.
If someone laughs, if they stay, then that's all a bonus.
So I was telling that story because I was trying to relate
that to a song.
Yeah, yeah, so.
What song was I going to play now?
I don't remember.
But anyway, that's kind of where a lot of my
inspiration came from.
It's not so much about playing the ukulele.
But it's just about communicating with people.
And that's what all of you do.
Through Google, through YouTube, you're providing a
vehicle 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.
It makes our world seem so much smaller.
And I think that's a great thing.
Because I grew up in Hawaii, where we
live on a small island.
And everyone's so community-minded.
We're always thinking about the other person.
And we all see how we're related and what I do affects
this other person.
What that person does affects the other person.
And I think it's such a great way to look at the world now,
is that we are all connected.
We're all connected.
And I think through music and through what you do, I think
it's the perfect example.
Because to me, music is not just a universal language, but
it's the language of the universe.
And you're helping to spread that language
all across the world.
And it's a beautiful thing.
So I'm going to play one more song here.
And they've asked me to try to play more original stuff just
because of copyright issues and all of that.
But I did want to play this one piece because this is the
reason I'm here.
And this is what started it all for me.
And it was a simple four-minute video clip that
happened to show up on the internet one day.
And it was for a television show that I had done in New
York called "Ukulele Disco."
And I think I told this story the last time.
But since then, I've made some changes to the song.
So I thought I'd play it again.
But this is George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently
Weeps."
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: And it's probably my favorite song to
play on the ukulele.
And I can't play this enough.
This is just so much fun.
But it's amazing, talking about how to express yourself
through the instrument.
It's not just about the notes that you're playing or the
chords that you're playing.
But it's everything.
It's just all the sounds that you can create.
[PLAYING MUSIC]
[MUSIC - "WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS"]
[APPLAUSE]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Whew, thank you.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
MALE SPEAKER: That was awesome.
And I just wanted you to know that was just
such a famous version.
That was how I was introduced to your music.
And I just wanted to know if you wanted to talk a little
bit about George Harrison.
I know that he was an ambassador of the ukulele.
George was famous for riding around in a car full of them
and passing them out and wanting to literally get
together and play with everyone he went.
If you want to talk a little bit about that?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yeah, George Harrison was one of my heroes.
He just adored this instrument.
He had 100 times more ukuleles than I have.
But the cool thing--
though I never got to meet him.
I wish I did.
I met his wife, Olivia Harrison, a few times.
She actually came to a couple of my shows.
And that was pretty amazing, being able to speak with her
and talk with her.
And she kept telling me, oh, I wish George was still alive
today because he just loved this instrument so much.
And he really believed that this instrument had so much
potential to reach beyond.
To me--
and I can't say exactly-- but I think George Harrison
probably felt the same way.
I think that the ukulele is very special.
It's different from other instruments because people
aren't afraid of this instrument.
They're not intimidated by it.
Because a lot of people don't even think of it as a real
instrument.
They think it's a toy, right?
And I embrace that.
I love that.
Because I think every instrument should--
people should feel like that about every instrument.
The piano-- oh, the piano, I can do--
oh, yeah, yeah-- or the violin or whatever it is.
Because if you're afraid of an instrument, then you're never
going to want to pick it up.
You'll be too intimidated.
Or in your mind, you think it's too hard.
But with the ukulele--
I mean, my grandmother just started playing the ukulele.
And now, she's jamming with her girlfriends.
And they're singing, you are my sunshine, my only sun--
they're singing songs like that.
But like I said earlier, I believe that music is not just
the universal language, but it's the
language of the universe.
And there's something amazing that happens when you have the
ability to speak that language.
When you can pick up an instrument and just do this--
[STRUMS CHORDS]
and you know that I can do this, it just
makes you feel so good.
I tell you, it's like an entire yoga
session in one strum.
I mean, you can play one chord over and over and over.
And there's just something about that.
It just brings you back to center.
It zeroes you out.
And George Harrison loved that about this instrument.
He loved turning people onto it.
And loved showing people how easy it is to play.
Because you get that instant gratification.
The moment you pick it up, you can just take one finger and
just put it right there, and be like, wow.
[STRUMMING CHORDS - "MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB"]
[LAUGHTER]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Like, oh my gosh.
If I had to do that on a trumpet, it would take me like
two months before I could even get a decent sound.
Or a violin, it takes you two months before you can even
hold the bow without cramping.
So it's that instant gratification.
And I think that when people pick it up for the first time
and they play it, they're like, wow, I can do this.
I can make music.
And to me, that's the joy that music should bring.
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 they're playing the saxophone for the first time,
when they're playing the guitar for the first time.
If everyone could feel that joy, I think there would be a
lot more people playing instruments.
AUDIENCE: Well, I had a question for you, Jake.
I was at the screening of the documentary.
Congratulations on that.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, thank you very much.
AUDIENCE: That was pretty amazing.
One thing that really came through in the documentary is
how much of a family affair your music is.
And so I wanted to see if you could tell us a little bit
more about that.
And maybe let us know if that Shimabukuro family concert at
that screening is going to be available later.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, well, the documentary that Cliff's
talking about is, I just recently did my first
full-length documentary with PBS.
And we've been shooting it for a little over two years now.
And we just wrapped it up last week Wednesday.
And it's going to be premiering at
some of the film festivals.
And it's also going to broadcast on PBS national TV
sometime early next year.
So I'm very excited about this.
Because it was pretty amazing just for me to kind of sit--
and I don't like to see myself on television or anything.
But just being able to sit there and see the last like 30
years of my life just kind of go by.
And it really took me back to why I fell in love with this
instrument, how I got into it.
I started playing at the age of four.
And I got into it because my mom played.
She played.
And the first thing she taught me was my C chord.
And I would just do this all day.
And I loved it.
I did that every day.
I'd come home from school, pick up my
ukulele, and just play.
And my mom loved it.
My family, they love music.
And I also have a younger brother who plays, too.
And when we were kids, that's what we'd do together.
We'd always play the ukulele together.
My brother was really good at sports.
And I mean, he was very well rounded.
Like for me, the only thing I could do was play the ukulele.
Like till this day, I can't dribble and do a layup.
I mean, I'm horrible.
But there was something about music that I could just sit
down for hours at a time and just play and discover new
chords and new sounds.
So that really kept our family together.
My dad played a little bit of guitar.
But they weren't professional musicians or anything.
But there was always music playing in the house.
So I think in the documentary, it kind of
talks about my parents.
They divorced and all that.
And so music kind of became my--
because my mom was my first teacher.
And she would spend a lot of time, when I was a kid,
teaching me.
So I think once my parents got the divorce and my mom had to
work all the time--
my brother and I, we're five years apart.
So I would always stay home.
And I would always have to watch him.
I always felt like he was more like my son than my brother.
And so I think playing the ukulele for me was--
in my mind, now looking back at everything--
was kind of like that was me trying to make up for those
lost times of spending with my mom or my family.
It kind of took me back.
So I guess that's where my passion, I guess, comes from
for this instrument.
And even though I'm away from home a lot of times, having
the ukulele with me and being able to play and share all of
these things, I think I always feel like I'm
right back with them.
Thank you.
AUDIENCE: I was just wondering if you had any plans or
expectations on teaching your baby the ukulele.
And if so, at what age you're planning on introducing it?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Well, I have no expectations right now.
I mean, I want him to do whatever he wants to do.
But I definitely want him to have music.
And it's funny because on my new album, the song that I
wrote for him is called "Gentlemandolin." And it's the
third song on the album.
And it's funny because recently, while I was on tour,
my wife discovered that when he's crying, if she puts the
CD on, he immediately stops.
And she says, it's amazing.
So she said, she puts the CD on.
And as soon as she puts it on, the first song starts.
And she said he just kind of stops and he
just kind of listens.
And he becomes super mellow.
Then the second song comes on.
And it's actually a cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep,"
and he listens through that.
And then she said the third song comes on, which is the
song I wrote for him.
As soon as that song starts, he starts, [WAILING]
like starts crying.
She says it's unbelievable--
every single time.
She said, he just doesn't like that song.
So I don't know.
But anyways, so I probably won't be
teaching him that song.
Yeah, but I definitely want to get him into music.
Yeah, for sure.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
MALE SPEAKER: You were talking a little earlier about just
kind of growing up with a ukulele and
playing it for so long.
But it's an instrument I've heard my entire life.
And I've never heard it played the way you do,
until you came along.
So what happened in your life when you were playing?
When did it start transpiring, you started learning new
things and started bringing things out of the instrument
that other people didn't see?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: I think for me I started out playing all
traditional Hawaiian music.
But then I think there came a time, I think when I was just
in my early teenage years, when I saw my
first Van Halen concert.
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.
It's not necessarily I want to play that kind of music or I
want to play that song or anything.
But I want to play with that kind of energy.
And so whether I'm playing a Hawaiian tune or a jazz
standard or a classical piece or a pop tune, or even if I'm
covering a rock song, I want to play with that
energy all the time.
And it's not always the physical kind of energy or the
kind of energy that you can see visually, like just the
running and jumping on stage, jumping around and all that.
I mean, that's great too.
I like that, when I'm like--
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: I like to kind of move with the music.
But it's also the other kind of energy, the energy that
comes from within, that focus, that mental focus.
I'm always talking about like when I would do workshops.
And I would talk with kids and performers about when you're
playing your instrument, it doesn't matter what instrument
you're playing.
Like when I'm playing the ukulele and I'm going to play
a chord, it's not just the mechanics.
It's not just about my finger and my hand, my fingers
holding down the right strings and my hand just doing this.
It's not about that.
But there's so much that happens before
and after the stroke.
So there's a lot of preparation.
And I always kind of compare it to a pitcher.
You know, when you watch a really good baseball pitcher,
the windup--
I mean everything, the follow through, the focus, the
visualizing of how the ball is going to curve or drop.
All of that is so important.
Like even when you're playing the ukulele,
that's what I'm thinking.
Before even I even hit the strings--
you can't really tell, but my toes curl up in my shoes.
And I can feel all that energy in my ankles and the balls of
my feet, to my knees, to my hips.
Everything that comes down, up my back, through my shoulders.
And when I make contact with the string, it's all that
energy directed this way.
And it's not just the physical energy.
But it's all my mental focus, my thoughts.
Everything is going in that direction, going with the
music, playing with that kind of conviction, my spirit.
Everything that I have, that I have control of, I try to
bring that into every stroke, into every strum.
And it's not just the hard-hitting stuff.
It's the soft stuff, too.
It's like when you play--
[PLAYING MUSIC, DELICATELY]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: I want to just bring that--
bring every note out.
And it's still that follow-through, that same
conviction, that same energy that I would if I were playing
like a rock tune and a classical piece or a ballad.
It's a different kind of energy.
But it's still that same intensity, with that same
conviction, that you want to put into every little note,
every little movement.
Everything that you do needs to be somehow connected to the
music, whether it's just a simple tapping of the foot or
tapping of the toes.
Or if it's a little twitch in the face.
Like you watch guitar players sometimes and they do these
uncontrollable facial expressions.
They're just like--
and it's because all of that movement, everything that's
happening, is somehow connected with the sound or an
idea or a concept that they're trying to convey emotionally.
And I don't remember what the question was anymore.
But I hope I answered it.
MALE SPEAKER: Yeah.
You did answer it.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, OK.
MALE SPEAKER: Right here.
AUDIENCE: Thank you so much for playing for us today.
I have a question about if there's anything particular
about your instrument that you'd like to talk about.
How did you end up choosing this
particular ukulele to play?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, yeah.
Well, this is an instrument, a ukulele made by a family
called the Kamaka family.
And they're made right in Hawaii.
And they were the first family to start manufacturing
ukuleles in the world.
I think they're going on four generations of ukulele
makers right now.
And it's just a family business.
And they were the first Hawaiians to learn how to
build these instruments from the Portuguese immigrants that
came over to the Islands to work in the plantation fields.
So they were the ones who really started to build the
first ukuleles.
And it's quite extraordinary.
Because they've been building ukuleles for
almost 100 years now.
And when I was a kid--
in Hawaii, everybody knows Kamaka Ukulele.
When I was growing up, my dream was
to have this ukulele.
They call this a tenor-size instrument.
It's a tenor, four-string Kamaka.
And it was my dream to have the instrument because in my
eyes, it was like the Excalibur of instruments.
But they're very expensive.
So when I was a kid, there was no way I could afford
something like this.
And so now that I get to play this instrument every day, I
just feel so honored.
Because there's just so much history and so much experience
and knowledge that goes into every single one of their
instruments.
So to actually be able to play and to use one, to travel
with, and to create music with, to write music with, I
just feel like all of that history comes with
everything that I do.
So yeah, that's what it is.
It's a Kamaka.
Yes?
AUDIENCE: Hi.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Hi.
AUDIENCE: It's always such an
inspiration to see you perform.
And two years ago, when I last saw you, I was so inspired
that I went and I brought an ukulele.
Because I used to play the Venezuelan four-string cautro.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, yes, yes.
AUDIENCE: It's pretty much the same thing, right?
So I took it and I went to the guitar store.
I just went right from--
where you were, I went right to the guitar store.
I bought this little four-string
thing, took it home.
And there I am with my little three chords, you know,
chinka, chinka, chinka, chinka, chinka, chinka,
chinka, chinka.
Anyway, my then 13-year-old wanders up, like, hey, Mom,
what's that?
I never saw it again.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Wow.
AUDIENCE: She goes off to school every day with a
fiberglass ukulele slung across her back.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Nice.
AUDIENCE: So I just wanted to let you know that you had that
kind of impact.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Aw, thank you very much.
AUDIENCE: Thank you.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: That's beautiful.
One of the coolest things for me is seeing--
like when I tour now and do shows, we see a lot of kids,
young kids, come to the show now.
And they don't look like ukulele players.
They come with the ukulele players.
But they have their fingernails all painted black.
They have spiky hair, piercings.
And they just think the ukulele is the coolest thing.
They'll come up and they'll be like, oh, yeah, I used to play
heavy metal guitar.
And then I saw you play "Why My Guitar
Gently Weeps" on YouTube.
And I threw my guitar away and I bought a ukulele.
And this is all I play now.
And It's just the most incredible thing.
Because 10 years ago, or even I don't know--
maybe not even 10 years ago, it was always the opposite.
People would start on the ukulele.
And then after that, once they can play it pretty good, then
they want to put it away and move on to a guitar.
Because their goal is to play the guitar and to use a
ukulele as a stepping stool to get to the guitar.
But now it's really cool that people that have been playing
the guitar want to put their guitars away
and pick up the ukulele.
So it's great.
[? AUDIENCE: Guitar players ?] are [INAUDIBLE].
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yes?
AUDIENCE: Thanks for the amazing performance.
So I just have a question--
have you ever thought about giving up becoming a musician
like that then?
When you were frustrated, and how you get over that.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, no.
The thought never crossed my mind that I would ever want to
give up playing.
But to be honest, when I was a kid--
or even up until 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I had no idea
that I was going to be a touring musician or even or I
could do this all the time.
I knew that I would always play this instrument for the
rest of my life because it's my passion.
But I thought it would just be like coffee shops.
When l was just out of high 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.
So it never crossed my mind that I'm going to
ever give this up.
But as things started to evolve and a career started to
shape up for me, through the internet and all that, and now
I'm touring.
Like now, in this next two months, we're
touring through 40 cities.
And we got a whole tour bus now and a seven-man crew, with
a sound and lighting guy.
And I never imagined any of that.
It's just incredible.
When I was growing up, I thought I was going to be a
school teacher.
I thought I was going to go into education because I love
working with kids.
And then I thought, the ukulele is the perfect way to
connect with kids.
So I thought in my classes, in the lessons, I
could always use this.
So I would always have it.
But it's been real challenging.
There have been times, like when I first started touring,
there were a lot of challenges.
But you kind of get through them.
You work through them.
Like I say, when I first started performing, I couldn't
look at everyone and play.
I was so nervous.
I'd be so afraid to talk.
And it's hard.
But you love it.
You love it so much.
And you always want to figure out, how can
I improve on this?
How can I make this better?
Because I realized that I can practice all I want in my
room, just by myself.
But it doesn't give me that same satisfaction.
Because to me, again, music is all about communicating.
It's about making a connection with people.
And once I started learning how to connect with people
through this instrument, oh, my gosh, it was just a rush.
Now when I perform at a venue and there are moments where
I'd be playing.
And you'd get to a real sensitive part and you play
that one chord.
[STRUMS CHORD]
And you can just almost feel the entire audience just
breathing with you and just taking it all in and just
waiting for that last note to fade away.
And then even after you can't hear it anymore, it's just
silence, silence, silence, silence.
And then everyone starts clapping.
And it's those moments that it's such a rush.
Because you just feel like everyone is experiencing the
same thing.
And I guess the only way I can think about it's like for
surfers when they catch that perfect wave.
And they're just on that wave and just nothing else matters.
You're just on that wave.
Or when I'm on stage and I'm playing, it's like nothing
else matters.
I'm just having, really literally, having
the time of my life.
And so for me, it's--
yeah, there are challenges.
But a lot of it is just pressure that I put on myself.
I'm a bit of a perfectionist in some ways.
And I want to keep learning and keep
discovering new things.
So sometimes you go through these periods where you're
just at a plateau.
And you're like, when's that next idea going to come?
Or when's that next concept going to come?
But yeah, you find ways to--
but then when you find it, then it's like,
oh, my gosh, yes.
That's amazing.
And it carries you.
That inspiration, that excitement carries you through
the next one.
Thank you.
Yes?
AUDIENCE: Hi.
I guess I can't get enough of hearing about "While My Guitar
Gently Weeps," which was always one
of my favorite songs.
And it's the reason I know who you are.
Because a close friend of mine said, oh, you've got to listen
to this guy.
Here he is on YouTube.
His name's Jake something.
And your version of it just blew me away.
It was absolutely--
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Thank you.
AUDIENCE: --gorgeous.
And especially a song that I care so much about, to hear
someone else do it.
It was so beautiful it moved me to tears.
And I actually made it my ringtone--
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Oh, no way.
AUDIENCE: --like a week before you came to
Google the first time.
And then I saw you the first time and had a chance to talk
to you and ask you if you'd ever met George Harrison.
And I forgot to tell you that I'd actually just made it my
ringtone, even before you'd even come to Google, copyright
issues not withstanding.
But I just wanted to ask you, what made you put that song up
on YouTube?
Was that also one of your favorite songs?
Or was it just by chance?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Well, you know, to be honest, till this
day, I don't know who put it up on YouTube.
And I said this the last time to you.
I'm just being totally honest and sincere because this was
seven years ago.
So I didn't know what YouTube was back then.
I'm not very internet savvy.
But I think YouTube just kind of started
around that time, too.
So it wasn't that famous yet.
Not too many people knew about it.
I was doing some email.
But I wasn't really active on the websites and
internet and all that.
So what happened was I just did this thing
for a local TV show.
And that's what they did the interview for.
They videotaped me doing that and then it aired on TV.
And it was just a small little local network,
and that was it.
And then I went back home to Hawaii.
And about two months later, I had a lot of
friends that were here--
in Hawaii, we call this the mainland--
so I had a lot of friends on the mainland going to school.
And they started calling me or sending me emails.
And they were like hey, there's this video clip that's
going around our campus of you playing.
And I was like, what are you talking about?
So they sent me the link.
And at that time, it was still that concept of emailing a
video or a video link to somebody was
kind of like, what?
You're going to email me a video?
What are you talking about?
Because it was just kind of starting out.
So they emailed me this link.
And I clicked on it.
And it took me right to the YouTube video.
And there it was.
And I just was like, I don't understand.
What am I looking at?
And already it had almost 2 million views already.
And I couldn't believe it.
And there wasn't a term for it back then.
There wasn't even such thing as a viral video yet.
We didn't even know what to call it.
It was just happening.
And it was shortly after that the numbers just started
growing and growing and growing.
And there were multiple videos.
So there was one that didn't even have my name.
It just said "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and it was that
same video.
Then there was one that was like, Crazy
Asian Ukulele Player.
[LAUGHTER]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: So there were eight or
nine different videos.
And all of them had like over a million views.
But none of them had my name yet.
So it wasn't until, I think, a few months after that, that
finally there was a video that had my name on it.
It was Jake Shimabukuro, whatever.
And then that video just started growing and growing
and growing.
And so all the other ones just slowly disappeared.
I think there's still a couple other ones out there.
But the main one right now that was left--
I know when it first just had my name on it, it was like
something like 30,000 views.
And that was maybe four years ago or something.
But then that one, 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.
So it's been quite extraordinary.
And that video changed my life.
I wish I knew who the first person was that put it on,
because, yeah--
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE].
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yeah, yeah, that's what I tell people.
I think George Harrison up there had something to do it.
But yeah, really, it changed my life.
And from that, I started getting calls from other
artists to come and open for them-- oh, take care--
to tour with them and open for them or record with them.
And it's been totally extraordinary.
So, thank you.
AUDIENCE: So now, Jake-- hey, Jake.
So now you know why it took so long for them to attach your
name to the video.
Because it took them that long to learn how to
spell your last name.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yeah, I know.
No, it's so true, so true.
AUDIENCE: All right, so I have a quick question.
I'll give you a heads up, a little
bit of a set-up question.
But tell me a little bit about the work that you did with
Alan Parsons.
So obviously, he's a very well-known, Grammy-nominated
producer and engineer.
But you yourself, as a musician for a long time, have
worked with a lot of producers and engineers.
What made him different?
What did he do differently, like radically different than
the masses of audio engineers that are out there?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Well, one of the coolest things about Alan,
I mean, from day one, just being in the recording studio
with him, was--
the first thing I noticed was the way he miked my ukulele,
the way he recorded my ukulele.
Every recording engineer I've ever worked with, there was
always at least one microphone in front of my instrument.
A lot of times if they record in stereo, they would have one
here and then one here.
Because that's how they record guitars, in stereo like that.
I've done mid-side miking where you have one mic in the
middle, like kind of a stereo spread.
And then you have one across the top.
I've been in situations where they would surround me with
microphones, put microphones all over me, or put two
microphones right here and then put two in the back of
the room or behind me.
But this was the first time that someone told me, OK, just
stand right here.
He got one microphone.
He put it here under the neck of my ukulele.
And he put another one right here, above my right shoulder.
And I was like, are you sure this is going to work?
And so he's like, yeah, yeah, just play, and I'll make some
adjustments.
So I started playing.
And he just kind of tweaked it a little bit, just moved, but
kept it right there.
And then he kind of tweaked this one like that.
And then he's like, all right, yeah, just play something.
So I just started--
I punched into a song.
And I played it.
And then he said, OK, come in and tell me if
you like the sound.
So I walked into the control room.
He played it back.
And I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
It was the sound of my instrument the way that I
always hear it, the way that I hear it.
Because I've always just accepted that every time I
record, my studio sound, what I can get on a record, is just
different from my live sound or what I hear when I'm
practicing.
But it was the first time I walked into that room and he
played it back.
And I was stunned because I was like, oh, my gosh.
I feel like I'm playing my instrument right now.
That's how it felt.
And so I asked him about that.
I said, Alan, what made you decide to record the
ukulele this way?
And he said he wanted to record it in stereo.
So he wanted it at least two microphones, so he could get a
right and a left channel.
But what he said was when he records guitars that way, you
usually put one here and then one up here,
because a guitar is longer.
So you can get a wider stereo spread that way.
But he thought that because the ukulele is shorter, if you
were to put one mic here at the body and one mic here at
the neck, because the ukulele is so tiny, the mics are going
to pick up pretty much the same sound.
So you're not going to get that much of a stereo
difference.
The right and the left are going to 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 first string,
and one mic up here, which would pick up closer to the
fourth string.
And that way he can keep the mics further apart, yet they'd
be the same distance to the instrument.
It sounds simple, but it was just the most brilliant thing
that I had ever heard.
And I was like, wow, so when you listen to the album,
you're thinking--
this great stereo spread that you're hearing, I mean, it's
like you're in the middle of the instrument.
But it's not so much right and left, but
it's more up and down.
So it's like he took that up and down sound and just
flipped it over so you get your right and your left.
And so that, for me, was like, wow.
That was amazing.
And then other things-- like because Alan comes from that
old school way of recording, he wanted to
do everything live.
So we have a 29-piece orchestra on a
few of these tracks.
And everything was recorded live.
There are absolutely no overdubs.
So we went into this huge studio.
We had the 29-piece orchestra there.
And then I was in the same room with the orchestra.
The only thing that divided me from the
orchestra was a glass door.
And we all watched the same conductor up there.
And we all played.
And there's something amazing that happens when you do that,
when you play live.
Because all the musicians are listening to each other and
playing off of each other.
So there are a lot of spontaneous things that just
happen, that wouldn't have happened if we just played all
our parts separately.
Because we would have just been reading the music and
just played our parts.
But because we were playing it together, it's that whole
synergy effect.
We're all creating something together.
We're all in the room together, making this.
And it was really beautiful.
That song "Missing Three" that I played for you, it's a
three-string song.
I was so proud of it because I was like, oh, you only play it
with three strings.
And I sent that.
That was the first demo that I'd sent to Alan.
And he listened to it.
I didn't tell him the story yet.
I just sent him the song.
And he listened to it.
And he was like, oh, gosh, that's beautiful.
And he told me, I can just hear an entire string section
playing with you on that.
And so it was ironic.
Because it's a song that I wrote it with just three
strings, but now there's a 29-piece orchestra.
So there's over 100 strings on the song now.
But still, he was very careful about making sure that the
ukulele was here and everything else
played around it.
He didn't want anything to bury the ukulele.
And it was just amazing working with him.
He mixed the entire record in two days.
He would just get up there.
And you know, all the faders, and he just--
whst, whst, whst.
And in like 20 seconds, he'd have a perfect mix of a
29-piece orchestra with me.
And he would just sit back and listen.
He would go, maybe the horns need to come down a little bit
right here.
And then he would turn around and be
like, what do you think?
I was just like, it all sounds great.
Yeah, let's go.
It was really inspiring working with him.
MALE SPEAKER: I think this is our last question.
AUDIENCE: It is.
And so I was wondering-- in each of your albums, your
style changes, your style evolves.
So what about "Grand Ukulele" are you most proud of in the
evolution of your style?
And where do you see it going in the future?
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: There were a lot of things on this record,
like just really subtle things.
Like I was talking about, always just looking for that
one thing to make it different.
There were songs on this album where I utilized techniques
that I never used before.
For example, there's this one song called "Music Box," where
I do this thing where I keep my thumb alternating between
the third and fourth string.
And then I play the entire song or entire melody on the
first string.
[MUSIC - JAKE SHIMABUKURO, "MUSIC BOX"]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: But there's this one section in the song
where I play that melody harmonically.
So while I'm keeping this going, [ALTERNATING NOTES]
I play this melody.
[PLAYING MELODY]
I'm going to play it for you here.
Just listen.
[MUSIC - "MUSIC BOX"]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: That section right there for me was like, I
had never done anything like that before.
So I thought that was cool.
There's another place-- and you'll never notice it unless
I talk about it.
But I did a version of "Fields of Gold." And there's this one
section in there where I take the melody--
[MUSIC - "FIELDS OF GOLD"]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: (SINGING ALONG) Da, da, da, dah, dah.
So there's this one section where I play that harmonically
as well, again.
But what I do is I utilize this technique where instead
just playing the harmonics by itself, I would fret a string
to almost mimic a bass note.
So I have this over the F chord.
What I'm doing is I'm holding the F root.
But as I play that F root, I'm also going to use my other
fingers to play the harmonics of the other strings
together, like this.
So I can get this kind of harmony, which is something
you don't hear.
Like ukulele players wouldn't know, how do you get that F
Major 7 sound with harmonics?
So when I play that part, it's like--
[MUSIC - "FIELDS OF GOLD"]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: See.
So for me that was another--
I'd never done anything, this kind of stuff.
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: That kind of sound, it's very--
Jaco Pastorius, one of my favorite bass players, would
do things like that where he would kind of
roll the bass around.
And he would fret these amazing harmonics and just get
these incredible--
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: I don't if you can hear that.
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: So hear that?
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: So the flat 7 there, you would never
usually hear that on the ukulele.
But you are able to--
[PLAYING MUSIC]
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yeah, yeah, so, yeah.
So those kinds of things, that's the kind of stuff that
really keeps me going.
And most people won't hear it or won't notice it.
But for me it's like, oh yeah, that makes the entire
arrangement for me, or the entire song.
I had a great time working on this record.
I really feel like Alan really pushed me in the studio.
And so it was great.
Because that's what you want from a producer, who knows how
to push, but not overpush, where you get discouraged.
And it was such a great experience.
He brought in just some amazing musicians, like Kip
Winger, from the band Winger.
He did some of the orchestral arrangements.
We had Simon Phillips, one of my favorite
drummers, from Toto.
He played on the record.
Randy Tico, a phenomenal bass player.
It was just really inspiring for me.
Because Alan--
he's worked with everyone from the Beatles to--
even with his Alan Parsons Project and all that, Pink
Floyd, his vision is so grand.
He has so much experience.
For me, a lot of times, my vision only
comes with what I can--
I only see what I can do with the ukulele.
But I don't think beyond that.
Whereas Alan Parsons comes from that school where he's
worked with so many orchestras.
He's worked with so many arrangers.
He's worked with so many rhythm sections.
And he's recorded so many different kinds of
instruments.
And he knows all about microphones and preamps.
And he knows how to get this kind of sound.
Or if I'm trying to express something, he knows the best
way to capture that so that it translates when you listen to
it on a record.
If I'm going for that real sensitive touch, he knows how
to pick it up with a mic and using the right microphone
with the right preamp and placing it in the right spot,
so that we can get that sound.
Or even if I'm playing with the orchestra, how to EQ the
strings or how to EQ the horns or the woodwinds so that the
frequencies don't overpower the ukulele and the ukulele
can still be over.
Because a lot of times, it's not just a volume issue.
But it's a panning issue, like where you place it in the mix,
in the stereo mix.
And then also how you EQ it, so that you EQ it just in a
way so that it--
I don't really understand all this kind of stuff.
But I have very limited understanding.
I mean, it's a whole science.
And it's amazing.
His ears are just incredible.
We'd be mixing the song.
We'd be recording something.
And he'd be in the room.
And then we'll be listening on the playback.
And we'd be just listening.
And like, oh, yeah, OK, that sounded all right.
And we're listening.
And then the phone would ring.
And Alan would be like, oh, OK, well, I
got to get the phone.
And so he'll kind of step out.
And he'll be on the phone outside of the studio.
All of a sudden, he'll come running back in.
What was that?
Go back, go back, go back like 20 seconds.
It's amazing.
He just hears everything.
And it was just extraordinary to work with
him and to see someone--
because when he's in the studio, he's just like a
little kid.
He loves it.
He's so passionate about recording.
And so to work with someone like
that was really inspiring.
Because for me, I'm passionate about this.
And then to work with him, who's passionate about doing
all the other stuff, I think it was a great collaboration.
And it was one of the greatest recording
experiences of my life.
MALE SPEAKER: Well, great.
Thanks so much for coming here.
And we look forward to picking up the conversation when you
come back here.
JAKE SHIMABUKURO: Yeah, oh, thanks.
Great.
Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you.
[MUSIC - JAKE SHIMABUKURO, "WHILE MY
GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS"]