Be sure to visit Gerald's web site for sample of his style. Gerald is a
multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, lap steel and ukulele.
When the mood strikes him, he has been known to pick up a mandolin,
bass, steel guitar, banjo, harmonica, Cajun accordion and ukulele. A
ukulele is not a toy.
Transcriptions of Gerald Ross's songs are
available at Dominator's Ukulele TABS:
- Aboriginal Blue
- Easter Parade
- Runaway
Gerald's String Choices
(From FleaMarketMusic.com forum) I use the Worth CT on my
Talsma tenor and Worth CM on my Concert uke. Love the strings! Bright tone and
virtually no string noise/squeak.
Gerald's Recording Process
From Gerald Ross (Flea Market Music - Bulletin Board reply to a posting)
Multi track recording - my technique.
- I use Pro Tools LE for
my recording software.
- I generate a bass line for the song using Band In A Box. I dump that bass line to
a WAV file. I import this to a single track in Pro Tools. The bass is much nicer
to play against that a boring click.
- I record the scratch melody line of the song. I don't care if I make mistakes on
this track. This "scratch" track is solely used as a guide for the rhythm
guitar.
- I record the rhythm guitar track listening to the bass and scratch melody.
- Once the rhythm guitar is in the can I erase the scratch melody tracks and
re-record them.
- Then mix and you are done.
A review of 'Ukulele Stomp' from the November 2006 edition of Current Magazine!
Gerald Ross
Ukulele Stomp
(UkeTone, 2006)
It's hard to say whether the ukulele is making a comeback -- if it will ever again be
as popular as it was in the 1920s and '30s. Certainly many musicians in a number of
different and sometimes unexpected genres such as rock 'n' roll and pop are taking it
up. Not only musicians, either. Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world,
plays one. (I wonder what Bill Gates plays: a piccolo?)
The ukulele is a Mini Cooper among the SUVs of the music world. It has neither the
volume, nor the tonal range of guitars, violins and other acoustic stringed
instruments, but if you know how, you can get a lot of musical mileage out of it.
Gerald Ross knows how. Long a familiar face on the Ann Arbor and national music scene
for his work with the Lost World String Band, among others, Ross is an excellent
guitar player who is also accomplished on Hawaiian steel guitar and Cajun accordion.
However, on his latest recording it's the uke that wins pole position.
On Ukulele Stomp, Ross expertly steers his way through a wide variety of musical
styles from Western swing to jazz and blues, and of course a few requisite Hawaiian
tunes, smoothly shifting gears from Irving Berlin to the Beatles, from "That's Amore"
to "Chattanooga Choo Choo." Every track is tastefully arranged and masterfully
performed -- Ross plays all the instruments on the album -- and every tune serves as
yet another fine vehicle for displaying the ukulele's unique capabilities. Ukulele
Stomp belongs in the winner's circle.
-- Sandor Slomovits
More information available on artist's web site.
Links
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