Ohashi Hidehiko and publications

Last time I wrote about a chord solo book. Today I will touch on an author that has lots of books out. Probably almost anyone who has taken up ukulele in Japan has at some point seen, read, or used one of this guy's books.

Any trip to any shop that sells books about ukuleles and how to play them will put you in contact with Ohashi Hidehiko. His website has a page dedicated to the 15 books he's put out--14 on ukuleles or ukulele arrangements and one on lap steel guitar. He probably has more books out than anyone in Japan on things ukulele. I must confess to possessing four of them*.

In the order that he lists them on his site, the books are:
Solo Ukulele: from the Ghibli Studio
Solo Ukulele: Standard Songs that Forever Resonate in your Heart (sounds better in Japanese)
*Solo Ukulele: Famous Songs that can be played solo on one ukulele
Ukulele Solo Repatoire: Songs you want to play right now Volume 1
Ukulele Solo Repatoire: Songs you want to play right now Volume 2
How to Play Ukulele at a Glance
Ukulele Solo for Oldies Volume 1
Ukulele Solo for Oldies Volume 2
*Ukulele Solo: Bossa Nova Volume 1
*Ukulele Solo: Bossa Nova Volume 2
Ukulele Solo: Pop songs
*Jazz Standards Ukulele Solos
Solo Arrangements for an Ukulele Christmas
Lap Steel Guitar Method

(All the title translations are my own. There may be "official" titles, but I don't want to spend all afternoon in the music shop trying to find them.)

The Jazz Standard book is probably the most solid of the four that I have. It includes 35 songs such as "L-O-V-E", "12th Street Rag", "St. Thomas", and "Mona Lisa". That makes it a heaftier tome than most. It seems to have the entire notation for each of the songs (more on that below). It has regular musical notation with tabs below. Unlike many of his other books, it does not include a CD. It would not be a great surprise if that is because of copyrights and fees. Every third or forth song there will be a very brief comment about the songs, perhaps noting the level of difficulty or some particular point about the song.

It also includes 16 mini-tabs (four songs per page!) of old-time standards like "Old Black Joe", "Aura Lee", and "Danny Boy". The arrangements for the main 35 songs are not for absolute beginners. Perhaps after a couple of years of ukulele most of them become rather accessible.

The second book I have does come with a CD for the songs. There are 28 songs...sort of. These have been boiled down to one page--mostly one verse with no turnarounds. For example, "Every Breath You Take" has been distilled down to 35 measures.

There is a silver lining to the cloud, however. Most of the songs also feature a particular playing technique. "Happy Birthday" is done in a Blues style. This gives the user an opportunity to see how some Blues songs end. Other songs feature percussive strokes, arpeggios, or alternate pickings. Songs are also ranked according to level of difficulty. It is more a book to learn techniques than songs.

The two bossa nova books both come with CDs and (I think) pretty much the entire songs. Unfortunately, both of them are rather slim books with 10 songs each and about 30 pages. Probably the reason for dividing the books into two rather than put it all into one is the cost. At 2,300 yen ($21) each, the publishers probably realized fewer people would by a book at twice the cost.

One of the features of these two books is that the CD has two versions of each song. One to learn by and the other is a play-along karaoke version that allows the learner to play with the band.

Those interested in the kinds of arrangements he does might want to check out his "song of the month" page. Clicking on the title of the songs will start a Real Audio download.

As can be expected from someone who writes books of this sort, he also has a school going in Tokyo. He, himself, was a student of Haida Yukihiko, one of the Great Grandaddies of the ukulele in Japan.