Nightbeats: Jake Shimabukuro brings rockin’ ukulele to Santa Rosa

JIMI HENDRIX OF THE UKE - Jake Shimabukuro does more with his a four-string ? ukulele ? than most can do with a six-string guitar.

Using his Kamaka Tenor uke as an extension of his creative spirit, the Honolulu musician plays songs you’d never imagine hearing on such a small intstrument. Finding inspiration from hearing his mother play tunes on the instrument as a child, Shimabukuro picked up the ukulele at the age of four and hasn’t put it down since.

Gaining popularity after a video of Shimabukuro covering George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” went viral on YouTube, he proved the ukulele could be used for more than traditional Hawaiian music. Since then, he’s toured all over the world, sold out concerts at renowned venues such as the Hollywood Bowl and collaborated with artists like Cindi Lauper, Ziggy Marley and Jimmy Buffet.

You can see the Jimi Hendrix of ukulele for yourself on the Santa Rosa stop of his current tour.

While it’s impressive to see Shimabukuro cover modern songs like Adele’s “Rolling in The Deep,” Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” the most astonishing part of these covers is they are all instrumental. Each cover is reinvented in such a beautiful way. No words can or should mask the exquisite sounds of his instrument.

Shimabukuro’s original songs are musical masterpieces which take listeners on a journey they won’t want to leave. “Missing Three,” a song Shimabukuro wrote by accident after breaking a string, is a soft delicate. And although the album version on Shimabukuro’s 2012 album “Grand Ukulele” features a full orchestra, hearing a live version of the song with just three strings is just as powerful.

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $35-$49; lutherburbankcenter.org

MOORE THAN SONIC - New York birthed dozens of indie-rock bands but before The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Interpol, Sonic Youth ruled the NYC music scene. OK - so maybe ruled sounds like a strong word for a band who doesn’t hold dozens of gold records and awards but group paved the way for dozens of artists to come and still holds a special place within the music scene.

Best known for bold lyrics, unconventional tuning and playing guitar with objects like drumsticks, the band became a legend on the underground music scene in the ’80s and thrived in the ’90s when alternative rock was all the rage. Though the band hasn’t been active in years, guitarist Thurston Moore is still hitting the road with solo tunes and you can catch the drumstick guitarist extraordinaire in Sonoma.

Details: 7 p.m. Saturday, Gundlach Bundschu Winery, 2000 Denmark St., Sonoma. $35; gunbun.com

WHAT L LIKE ABOUT DIRT - You might remember Simon Rex Cutright from the TV show “What I Like About You” starring along side Amanda Bynes or saw him in “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4.” If none of those ring a bell, maybe you saw Cutright as the six-pack behind mainstream add campaigns for Calvin Klein, Versace and Levi’s.

The list of guest appearances and cameos could go on for days but here’s why he’s relevant again - he’s back in the music game.

Taking on the alter-ego Dirt Nasty after his MTV VJ days, the rapper has a musical catalogue that can be summed up with one song: “Nasty As I Want To Be,” in which he offends everyone, including himself.

Details: 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Mystic Theatre, 23 Petaluma Blvd., Petaluma. $23- $75; mystictheatre.com

Help us keep the beat. Write Estefany at nightbeats@pressdemocrat.com