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A guitarist meets a uke and it's love at first note
She may not be quite as big an Internet sensation as young Filipina singer Charisse or the 15-year-old South Korean acoustic finger-style guitarist Sungha Jung, but Phennapang Chaidan, 31, is raking up the hits on YouTube with her deft ukulele playing.
The uke, as it's known for short, looks like a small guitar but has only four strings. It's long been associated with Hawaii though it actually originated in Portugal.
Popular in Thailand for the last three or four years, the ukulele achieved star billing last year when singer Singto Numchok picked up the People's Choice prize at the "Ukulele Thai Competition". Early this year, the instrument was accorded an event of its very own, with Ribbee Boutique organising the Thailand Ukulele Festival 2011. Now the ukulele is so popular that anyone wanting to buy one has to join a long queue or book their instrument months in advance.
Phennapang has posted 62 ukulele tutorials on YouTube under the name "SuperAppleshow". In just one year, the simple lessons have attracted more than three million views.
She believes her YouTube success is down to her easy techniques and the fun elements in her teaching style.
"I think everyone can play the ukulele after watching my tutorial," says the owner of Apple Rangers, a ukulele shop in Phuket, adding that she designed the course mainly because she felt she could up with something better than the difficult guitar lessons she'd faced many years ago.
"When I was young, I signed up for a guitar course but I found it very difficult. The technique used was complex, probably unnecessarily so, so I took ages to learn. When I had the chance to teach music, I wanted the lessons to be easy. The technique I used is like a friend talking with a friend," Phennapang says.
Before recording a video clip, she chooses a song and a theme, then creates the mood by dressing and making up her face to suit both mood and theme. For some songs, she goes live.
If she went to all the trouble of studying guitar - and she is now a skilled guitarist - why has she now dropped the instrument in favour of the uke?
"That's simple," she says. "Singto recommended I give it a try."
Although reluctant at first, she agreed to join a ukulele workshop held by the singer.
And, she says with a laugh, it was love at first note.
"It easy to play and easy to carry around. It's much smaller than a guitar. I can take it with me wherever I go," she said.
Phennapang compares the uke to a woman. It's an instrument with several moods, she says. Sometimes it's sweet, sometimes naughty, other times gentle or cheerful. "Just like me," she says.
Her first how-to-clip on Singto's Facebook wall received so many encouraging comments that she decided to go one further and post an ukulele tutorial on YouTube.
"It 's not easy to make people pay attention to a four- to five-minute video clip and watch it until the end. Social media users tend not to focus on anything for long," she said
In addition to the tutorials, she answers questions on her Facebook/fanappleshow and twitter.com/superappleshow links as soon as they come in.
"If it takes two days for the poster to get an answer, he or she may give up the idea of trying the ukulele already. Be answering immediately, the instrument probably wins another devotees.
Despite her success, she doesn't plan to take the next logical step and open a music school. "I wouldn't be able to teach many people that way. Recording video clips is a much better way of reaching out."
However, she is willing to act as a guest instructor from time to time.
And while her SuperAppleshow is popular on YouTube, she'd like to see it evolve into an entertainment channel. Another dream is to have her own album.
In the meantime, she'll focus on managing her ukulele shop.
"I opened my shop in Phuket because I felt that Bangkokians had plenty of chances to buy and play the instrument and I wanted to give a chance to people in other provinces," she says.
Apple Ranger also incorporates a ukulele club where players can get together to talk about their little instruments and teach other. Youngsters who don't have the money to pay a uke of their own are invited to try the instrument for free.
"If you want to play the ukulele, give it a try. You'll quickly realise it's not difficult," she says.
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