I am so impressed. This guy makes it look so easy. I can not believe that he can add lib while playing all that. He's got that song memorized to his sub conscious.
He was amazing, really nice guy too - he spent an hour teaching us Ukulele Jazz before the concert, and made it really easy to understand. If you have a Uke and get a chance to go to a James Hill Workshop, go.
that was so damn good...i dont know about the thumbs down folks...but clearly they are not as talented as this guy...I mean I could care less for the singing...but the way he arranged that on the ukelele is fantastic...cheers from Canada :)
Apparently 1500 people have no idea how hard this is....this is not the best cover ever, but it is probably one of the best adaptations of a song and great display of overall talent...I am guessing more than 1400 of them can't even play the chord progression in time.
It would be lovely for us to see you and others with your talent go around schools and show skills that you have earned that you have achieved I believe music is great for the mind and spirit the way you played that uklayle you owned it xxx 💜
so cool great job biggest michael jackson fan ever......... i usually cringe at any cover/attempt to emulate- but good job dude spot on..... congrats keep doing your thing
Thanks for reminder! I am saving $ towards acquiring one. I shall then travel across the pond and audition for a spot in the 'Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain'. If you've not heard any of their tunes you need to do so immediately...then thank me later(!)
I think the microphone recording this is too close to the speakers, and, yes, the recording audio "gain" is up too high. Better audio could be recorded by tapping into his mic, his Uke pickup, but that would require more wires, a mixer, and cooperation with the people that own the PA equipment.
here's the brasilian cover I mentioned... ruclips.net/video/rtN1Y0CGAA4/видео.html after this guy can summon even the holy gosht, no one will ever reach that proximity if not equality
James is awesome, but the sound here is awful. Imagine being one of the greatest ukulele players ever and playing gigs in school lunch rooms with an old boom box for your PA system. Honestly, he deserves better.
Nice! I hadn’t heard that cover yet and it’s awesome so thanks! I full well expected to argue The Civil Wars did it best but it’s a draw in my mind. But thanks again for turning me on to such an incredible version of Billie Jean.
This man has great talent. However, by far the most amazing Billie Jean cover "ever performed" was by the greatest male vocalist of my generation. His name is Chris Cornell.
The MOST AMAZING Billie Jean cover, in my opinion, was done by the late Chris Cornell R.I.P. I never thought I would hear anyone do as well (yet very different from)as Michael Jackson's original version. If you want to evoke emotion, which I feel is the whole reason for music, listen to Chris Cornell's solo acoustic cover of Billie Jean. To each his own, but in my opinion, this doesn't even come close to Chris Cornell's cover version, nor does it Michael Jackson's original version. Chris switched it up, made the song his own, and OWNED IT! I really do not care for this version AT ALL! I apologize if that offends anyone. At least I gave this cover a listen, and was open minded enough to do so. I recommend everyone does the same for Chris Cornell's version. R.I.P to both, the incomparable Michael Jackson & Chris Cornell. You are both TRUELY missed💗😪
Why isn't this amazing? He's playing the bass line, the riff, lead, and the drumbeat at the same time!
Cause people don't understand talent, dude is amazing
Он ещё умудряется петь!!!
I am so impressed. This guy makes it look so easy. I can not believe that he can add lib while playing all that. He's got that song memorized to his sub conscious.
Those who dislike this apparently have "ZERO" knowledge playing an musical instrument. This is quite a display of how good this really is.
Hi unless they disliked this because of the poor audio quality. I still liked the video anyway
nah feng e's cover is better. This percussion is not that hard
and i am back here and I still enjoy it. he is amazing
Do you still enjoy it now?
If you still like the cover, give this a listen ruclips.net/video/fHe9sHImMoY/видео.html
@@YourLocalMedic Thought it would be a self promo vid, but was pleasantly surprised
Totally amazingly inspiring!
Pure talent! Just because the recording doesn't do this justice, doesn't mean it's not good! This guy is a true musician
To everyone saying it's not that great... Do you realize he's playing the bass line, guitar riff, and drum beat at the same time? That's phenomenal!
I know right?! This guy is literally a one-man band. He's so talented!
Can you freakin' believe the audacity
I can believe the audacity .....but I cant believe the AUDIO
I have no idea how he's doing it
Gooby's Freekicks I have no idea how he is doing her.
Why no one is giving him an award for this , he does that so effortlessly , what would take 100 yrs otherwise
I can barely eat soup without making a mess. Amazing musician.
"oh yeah, I forgot! This is a sing-a-long."
This guy kills me. Great stuff
Anyone who plays ukulele and/or guitar, knows just how difficult that kind pf playing is ( Rythym , bass, percussion and lead ) damn good job!!
John Schips just the rhythm is hard enough 😂
Karlpulford1 : So true, Karl, especially when I entered my fifties.
Good one, John.. ;)
I agree been playing 30 years this shit is impressive.
John Schips since you have a nice appreciation of musical difficulty. Check out shaky graves.
one of the best. guess I can't stop watching this :D
he's not using loop pedal guys, He has my respect and yours too!
Big facts... had me stunned ...he a beast
Amazing! What a really cool interpretation, one of the coolest things I've listend to so far!
Wow! Amazing sound from the humble little uke! Jaw dropped!
WOW! That was so dope! Dude is definitely entertaining. I really enjoyed watchin this...thx for the vid.
What!!!???!! Mad skills!!
Life long, one gloved
MJ fan..
Newly subscribed one gloved James Hill fan...
TOTALLY lives up to the title! Not only musically incredible - but funny, charming, and plain fun to watch! Awesome!
Awesome!!! I love creativity!!!
SO HIPPY AND CREATIVE! BRAVO! M.J. WOULD BE DANCING PROUD TO YOUR BEAT!
Been playing guitar 30 years and wish I had his imagination , this guy is awesome
He was amazing, really nice guy too - he spent an hour teaching us Ukulele Jazz before the concert, and made it really easy to understand. If you have a Uke and get a chance to go to a James Hill Workshop, go.
that was really funny ! great stage presence and pretty great on the uke too
Thank you Sir xo
Stephen Bruce Where's the full video?
Terry light foot
I hate nice guys
Absolutely awesome stuff!!!
It's brilliant. A Uke doing justice to Billy Jean. Fantastic. Mr. James Hill, please keep this up.
this is one of the most hipster things i've ever heard. my headphones just grew a mustache and fedora
You mean a trilby that hipsters call a "fedora"?
whitedevil2 Totally.
whitedevil2 my headphones now have a top knot and some horn rimmed glasses.
D'Anna Smith lol
Mine just brought me a PBR and painted my bike chain yellow..
Not the greatest cover you'll ever see...however, the dude is ridiculously talented. Much respect.
i get the chills whenever i listen to this..which is about a couple times everyday
What a great performance, Thanks for this enjoyable video
Wow Dude!! This is way too awesome for words!!!!
3:00 Ok dude stop it you’re just showing off! Haha love it amazing job
Hi rob
that was so damn good...i dont know about the thumbs down folks...but clearly they are not as talented as this guy...I mean I could care less for the singing...but the way he arranged that on the ukelele is fantastic...cheers from Canada :)
I'll take a quarter of your talent and still be great haha nice work man I loved it.
Refreshing difference !! Great bit of true art !
wonderful display of art and skill, wonderful
An outrageous display of skill! Most impressive.
They have ZERO skill
Song starts at 2:22 if you want to skip talking...
You would have to go to the end to skip the talking
adam hartson .
adam hartson
Thank you! I wasn’t looking for an ukulele lesson! 😡
saved me
I have a feeling that you're all the same people who are okay with thinking everything runs on magic.
I didn't know that anyone could produce that kind of music with a Ukelele.
This is so amazingly fantastic, in too many ways to mention! Masterful!!
Awesome buddy,loved it.
Apparently 1500 people have no idea how hard this is....this is not the best cover ever, but it is probably one of the best adaptations of a song and great display of overall talent...I am guessing more than 1400 of them can't even play the chord progression in time.
Up over 5000 morons now.
Shite
Hard does not = better
Incredible! Thanks for sharing!
Wow! I bet MJ had a little smile on his face wile watching this. Still miss the King of pop.
You mixed up your tenses there. It should read "would have had". ;)
Quotenwagnerianer .. I have to point out some irony. :) Shouldn't it then be "You have mixed"?
Shalom Bhooshi Burrrn ! ;-) It always sucks for grammar Nazi's, when they meet G. I. Grammar, LOL.
something tells me MJ may have not been able to view this
He's still alive
living in disguise
Incredible! So much fun!
totally awesome!! blew me away!
his ukulele playing sure is godlike
That was cool! I bet Michael would've dug it.
That had my foot tapping and my face smiling!
why the heck did 4 thousand people dislike this, don't they know how cool this is? And HIS FINGERS MUST BE NUMB
I like this because its just a clean good time..! The coordination he shows is fun too..!
This guy is amazing! I always liked the uke but never knew of its versatility.
this guy could play a twig and make music
Can't believe I just seen this. Thanks for the wonderful morning 'start'. Bravo.
Well, nice to see a video live up to the superlative in the title once in a while. Cool!
Have never before been introduced to the ukelele to such an extensive range of sounds Thank you.and never would have believed ..... till now.
It would be lovely for us to see you and others with your talent go around schools and show skills that you have earned that you have achieved
I believe music is great for the mind and spirit the way you played that uklayle you owned it xxx 💜
Doesn’t it annoy you how some people can just get all the talent. Impressive skills and great on stage personality. Its a yes from me.
Then you get older and learn to just enjoy those who can.
Winterz Night You mean while we can still hear👂 😁
yeah, and put in the zillion hours of practice
was just writing out my troubles in an email to a friend, but after watching this I can't remember what they were.
so cool great job
biggest michael jackson fan ever.........
i usually cringe at any cover/attempt to emulate- but good job dude spot on.....
congrats keep doing your thing
Hipster mastery....killer rendition!
Awesomely Done!!!
I really enjoyed the playing and the humor! (Reminds me to acquire a ukulele to add to my strings collection...)
boboala1 don't forget to buy a ukulele to add to your sting collection.
boboala1 Did you get a ukulele yet, i bet u forgot
Thanks for reminder! I am saving $ towards acquiring one. I shall then travel across the pond and audition for a spot in the 'Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain'. If you've not heard any of their tunes you need to do so immediately...then thank me later(!)
This is the first time i ever thought of a ukelele as cool.
Talent+humor= awesome performer (and that is hard to pull off).
Very creative. Mad skills.
Loved it! Humor and music,the perfect storm. 🎵
It's a pity that the mic is distorting his voice.
yeah, that's really terrible. What causes that? too much gain?
I think the microphone recording this is too close to the speakers, and, yes, the recording audio "gain" is up too high. Better audio could be recorded by tapping into his mic, his Uke pickup, but that would require more wires, a mixer, and cooperation with the people that own the PA equipment.
It's a pity he's doing this song.
it's a pitty I've being not born deaf. Mother of crist that was still "jeeeeeeezus" where is the Michael cover part or its a prank?
here's the brasilian cover I mentioned... ruclips.net/video/rtN1Y0CGAA4/видео.html after this guy can summon even the holy gosht, no one will ever reach that proximity if not equality
Cozy and charming certainly not Boring
"Just practice one time-"
*"HEEEEeəƏEEEGH"*
Wonderful - very enjoyable. A new dimension to this powerful song.
Mad respect for this guy and that talent !!!!
rarest of things - virtuoso and entertaining
James is awesome, but the sound here is awful.
Imagine being one of the greatest ukulele players ever and playing gigs in school lunch rooms with an old boom box for your PA system.
Honestly, he deserves better.
1oolabob and yet he made it sound very nice his way!!!
Sounded great to me
yep I agree it was amazing but the sound quality was shocking!
In the room it would have sounded fine...it was simply the settings and proximity of the recording device.
That ukelele better be over 18
GuitarAlex Rock101 u cracked me up it’s 3am 😂😂😂😂
HAHAAHAHAHA laughed so hard
hahahahaha !!!!!!!!! the ultimate Best comment on the internet !!!!! so funny !!! great !! i remind that hahaha
@GuitarAlex Rock101 Your Golden 😅
Excellent
Wow ... serious talent!! Awesome!!
We all need this fixed. Sang and videoed again.. or remastered... love it so much. Wow. LOVE.
Made me smile for a long long time
And yes He is that good. Thanks for the video
The best cover for this song is from Chris Cornell live in Sweden! hands down!
Absolutely. When someone said this was the best. Im gonba have to say no mmmmkay.
Chris Cornell's is the best ive ever heard. Victor wooten second.
Wolfteeth64 Damn right. This is nasty
Nice! I hadn’t heard that cover yet and it’s awesome so thanks! I full well expected to argue The Civil Wars did it best but it’s a draw in my mind. But thanks again for turning me on to such an incredible version of Billie Jean.
Wow fantastic!! Such talent! (And...for some naysayers here: his voice is PERFECT here for what he’s doing...showing his BRILLIANCE on the uke)
Awesome thanks for posting.
This man has great talent. However, by far the most amazing Billie Jean cover "ever performed" was by the greatest male vocalist of my generation. His name is Chris Cornell.
Hardware Addict exactly
The MOST AMAZING Billie Jean cover, in my opinion, was done by the late Chris Cornell R.I.P. I never thought I would hear anyone do as well (yet very different from)as Michael Jackson's original version. If you want to evoke emotion, which I feel is the whole reason for music, listen to Chris Cornell's solo acoustic cover of Billie Jean. To each his own, but in my opinion, this doesn't even come close to Chris Cornell's cover version, nor does it Michael Jackson's original version. Chris switched it up, made the song his own, and OWNED IT! I really do not care for this version AT ALL! I apologize if that offends anyone. At least I gave this cover a listen, and was open minded enough to do so. I recommend everyone does the same for Chris Cornell's version. R.I.P to both, the incomparable Michael Jackson & Chris Cornell. You are both TRUELY missed💗😪
Nick Draven ...well said! FINALLY! I don’t get this. Maybe because I don’t wear flannel or have a beard? I found it odd!
I now have a new appreciation for an instrument called UKELELE.
Super talented. Lacking soul. See it every day.
Absolutely amazing
Please do that with better audio equipment! Thank You
This guy is a genius!
he is a genius!♡
Amazing!
Absolutely brilliant
This is freaking awesome.. Made me smile.
Your comment added to this Kool clip. Made me smile🐒
Professor Of Ukuleleism.
hard to tell what it really sounded like with all that distortion
The only way this could get better is if William Shatner was singing.
Mate, that is exactly what this needs.
Oh man, that's cold. Not untrue....
I needed to see these two do this song I'm sharing on Dave's Basement Tracks #119 October Bandcamp Favorites.
SO FUN....THANKYOU...AMAZING MUSCIAN...MUSIC MAKER...CREATIVITY...JOY IS LIFE...
Music begins at 2:20
Actually it begins as soon as the next video starts...
would you ever think by looking at him that he has that kind of rythem... and then he sings
Did he start to sing? I must have missed that part.
So sad that the sound is so bad. This is one entertainer with skills! :D
This is very excellent.
Wow! I kept saying how on earth is he doing all that on a Ukulele! Supremely talented. Just wow!