Ukulele

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I'm thinking about playing one of these.

I'm thinking a Ukulele is close to the perfect instrument: easy to play, extremely portable, can play chords, expressive... inexpensive.

Anyone play a Ukulele?

I might pick one up, any recommendations? Everything I've read says get one made out of Koa for the best tone.

I'm not going to spend over 150, but that looks like a reasonable price for a decent Uke.

My dad has one, and hearing him play it as a kid made me automatically hate it for the rest of my life. Funny how that works.

Good luck though.

A Hawaiiana fan - yeehah - so am I!

Yes you described many of the good qualities of the uke. By the way, do you know it's pronounced "oo-koo-lay-lay"?

Did you know Neil Young started with the uke first, before learning guitar?

You can definitely get a nice uke for less than $100. The small size makes it cheaper than larger instruments.

I recommend you go to Hawaii to get one, rather than having it shipped. Then you can pick up some nice aloha shirts to go with.

BTW, about koa:
I'm suspicious abou that. It seems like a marketing ploy to get people to pay more for koa wood.
The thing I've learned about them is you need to get one that stays in tune. They're small and I guess that makes it easier for them to go out of tune. And to find that out, you have to play it for a bit. That's why I say go and get one as opposed to just buying one over the internet. And definitely get one from Hawaii.

Oh Verasae, so sad.

Listen to this, then decide about the uke:

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=PL-uL2M3xvM[/youtube]

I have a ukulele tattooed on my arm.


I love my Ovation Applause uke.....it is so loud...and has such a nice tone...'cept it has a pickup because I play it on stage and it has a tendancy to sound a bit tinny.

I acquired a slightly irregular Oscar Schmidt with active pickups...I bought it on ebay..it ended up being more than just slightly irregular...the defects were more than cosmetic as claimed by the description....it had a horrible fret buzz....and the tone was awful compared to my ovation...so buyer beware. (it died in a falling down accident a few weeks ago...I fell on it and smooshed it....want to use the parts on an ancient banjolele I am trying to restore....not turning out very well though.

I love the uke....I have been completely and utterly addicted for the last few years....the bad news is that my guitar playing has gone completely down the tubes as a result...oh well...

I mostly play chords..part of this has to do with my dismal motor skills...I am bad at playing scales and leads on a guitar too...
Even though I play the uke all the time, I am by no means an expert...more musicly inclined people than myself can often pick up a uke for the first time and just wail on it.

The uke seems to be a mostly chord-friendly instrument...but leads and embellishments are def. posible..(guitars def. seem set up to be more "scale-friendly" to me though)
The uke chords are so simple...some of them have a similar shape to some familiar guitar chords...I mostly work with the GCEA tuning...and in that tuning, a g chord looks just like a d chord on a guitar....While to make a c chord, you only have to hold down one string....There are various handy chord sheets that you can print, as well as web sites with uke chords and diagrams on them for lots of fun songs

Look up Ukulele Boogaloo or Alligator Boogaloo...also "Fleabag music"
There is a ton of uke resources on the internet...there is even a flash website that teaches you how to play a ton of Beatles songs (it goes a little fast for me though)

There are also lots of neat books out there. One of my favorites is the Jumpin'Jim series of uke books. I am lucky there is a guitar store in my area that selss them..but you can probably order them online....

I really like the proximity of various chords from one-another on the uke. It makes alot more sense to me than the guitar, and actually makes playing certain songs a whole lot easier.

Hmm, sounds good. Thanks for the info.

Too bad much of my Bass skill will not transfer over. I don't play chords much, I just play up and down a scale with the Bass... so it'll be a different animal trying to play a uke.

Should be fun learning how though. Is it easy to strum? Testing out guitar from time to time... I never quite got the hang of strumming. But I'm assuming the strings are thinner on a uke, and you always strum 4 strings so it'll be easier.

Yes very easy to strum...very easy to hold strings down too....epsecially compared to a Bass

(sigh)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skU-jBFzXl0[/youtube]

I wonder how many of you non-Brits have heard of George Formby - a genuine British hero!

Check out George on his ukulele -->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxWK9keh3XI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55-oNqY1 ... ed&search=

Wow! That's awesome!! Thanks!!
I think i have a new obsession....

(sigh) I want a Banjuke soooo badly!!