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k0konutz posted:Can anyone say a few words on nail care? Is it essential to grow out your nails and file them nicely to produce better sound? I grow out my nails to play guitar, and while strumming the ukulele has been the best for me so far, I think my nails help a lot on the ukulele. The soprano is just so small, it's hard to get the volume I want out of it sometimes when I finger pick. I imagine it is even quieter when you don't have the nails. This might be because I'm used to guitar strings, which are metal and easier to play with less force. I would try out with both long nails and fingers and see which one you like better. If you can get the volume that you want from your finger pads, then there's no point in growing your nails. As a note, I don't file my nails, just trim them often.
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Jan 15, 2008 00:26
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
I got it from my wife for christmas after I kept bugging her. (I saw the thread). She didnt do any research and got this one - even though I kept saying that 4 strings instead of 6 would be easier to learn. Go figure. She didn't tell me anything about where she got it, and all it says inside is "made in china." I'm pretty sure she thought I wasn't going to play it so got me something REALLY cheap... I figure once I play it for a few weeks and decide to stick with it ill upgrade and get a real one. Thanks for the tips, I'll let you know how it goes.
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Jan 15, 2008 00:45
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EvilDonald posted:I have probably a silly question regarding tuning- does a tenor uke tune to the same pitches as a soprano one? Looking at all the tuners online I've seen, they seem to be for soprano ukes, yet with the tenor being bigger I'd think I'd be putting too much pressure on it tuning it up as high as a soprano and cave in the top. Good question. First: yes, sopranos/concerts/tenors are tuned the same (with Low G tuning being an option). How is this possible without crunching the tenor top with massive tension? Higher string gauges. For example (with arbitrary numbers): On a 12" neck, a .20 string will hold G at a comfy tension. On a 18" neck, a .20 string will hit C with high tension, not a prayer of making it to G without snapping. Therefore, we put a .15 string in the same place, it'll hit G with proper tension.
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Jan 15, 2008 01:26
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It is finally here! It is a Kala KA-T from musicguymic. Man, I still can't get over how nice this instrument is! I was really stunned. It came with an excellent case, a chordbook, and a pitchpipe. At first I had a little trouble tuning, it, having never tuned anything before, but with a couple of youtube videos I managed to get in the right ballpark, before finally understanding the pitchpipes and bringing it into some semblance of tunage. I found this instructional video for "White Sandy Beaches" to be great: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78nr8QMaUbI There is a part two to this video as well, and within an hour I was roughing out the tune on all four chords! Even at with my shoddy tuning, this thing sounds like a dream. I am laughing at my old friends who have guitars...this ukulele is dreamy. The toughest thing for me right now is holding my strum pattern. (Specifically for "White Sandy Beaches") Down, Down Up, Up Down will sometimes melt into Down Up Down Up Left Right etc...but I can play the whole four chord sequence pretty well now. No singing yet, I can't concentrate on my playing while singing, and I know these vocal cords are waaaay out of tune. I'm only posting as I had to stop practicing before my landlord shot me for playing uke at 8pm. With any luck, I'll be wooing my fiance via gCEA by Friday.
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Jan 15, 2008 02:32
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tarehart posted:Can anyone recommend a good finger picking song to start out on? I've been trying to learn Dust in the Wind (http://home.arcor.de/crazydawg/ukulele/dust_in_the_wind.txt), but I've realized that I'm not nearly fast enough to make it sound right. The site I recomended before has some great finger picking tabs http://www.ezfolk.com/uke/tabs1/index.html The site from earlier has some good picking arrangements. Just check out the forest gump intro, or stairway to heaven http://www.ukulele.de.vu/ causticfluids posted:The toughest thing for me right now is holding my strum pattern. (Specifically for "White Sandy Beaches") Down, Down Up, Up Down will sometimes melt into Down Up Down Up Left Right etc...but I can play the whole four chord sequence pretty well now. No singing yet, I can't concentrate on my playing while singing, and I know these vocal cords are waaaay out of tune. Just remember the strumming speed is constant, the only variable is whether you're touching the strings or not. Let's say you're strumming four times to keep time with four count D U D U D U D U in the above example the motion is the same, let's symbolise the strum with bold letters D U D U D U D U from this you can quickly work out other strumming arrangements e.g. down, down, down up, down up arguably the most common guitar one (time of your life, amongst the thousands other songs that use it) down, down up, up, down up get used to that one. Now a question from me. How the hell does one get started in flamenco. I'm learning the fan stroke, but it's way too slow. Also, from what I know of guitar flamenco every finger hits where as the uke tute said only, pinky, ring and thumb are involved. I want to pick stuff  edit: Drop the re-entrant G to a low one then play these tabs code:P.S. Tuning the re-entrant G down an octave and playing it, is nothing short of hilarious. Adolfo Castro fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Jan 15, 2008 |
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Jan 15, 2008 04:24
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:
I met her once. She was hanging out in Montreal in the Asian botanical gardens doing a little erhu concert. She's amazing. Still having a ball with my uke, this thread has been so great.
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Jan 15, 2008 19:24
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OK, my ukulele just got here in the mail. I have utterly no experience with stringed instruments. Where do I start? I've started pounding out some C chords, D chords, and so on. Any suggestion what order I should learn chords in? When I'm playing chords, should I always use the same finger for each string? (as in, my index on the A, middle on the E, fourth on the C, and pinky on the G?) I looked at some lessons online, but they don't really seem to go beyond "this is how you strum. let's play a C chord now." I just need an idea of what to do. Should I learn scales? I'm really looking forward to learning how to play 
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Jan 15, 2008 23:12
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The Koala posted:OK, my ukulele just got here in the mail. I have utterly no experience with stringed instruments. Where do I start? I've started pounding out some C chords, D chords, and so on. Any suggestion what order I should learn chords in? So you've got it tuned up okay and all that? So far as learning chords: I'd advise you learn them in context, rather than just as a list. Find a few songs that you like (with not too many chords), and just play the series of chords in that song. Over time, you'll start to develop a feel for how one chord follows the next, how they integrate into a song, etc. Check the OP for links to various chord websites. Some are more guitar oriented (which you can adapt to uke with a little puzzling out), but a uke-oriented site might be an easier start. quote:When I'm playing chords, should I always use the same finger for each string? (as in, my index on the A, middle on the E, fourth on the C, and pinky on the G?) Nope, not at all. You put your fingers however they conveniently line up. Some noob-oriented chord websites might give some advice on what fingers go easily into which chord patterns, but as long as you have a chunk of flesh at a given fret, you'll produce the chord. quote:I looked at some lessons online, but they don't really seem to go beyond "this is how you strum. let's play a C chord now." I just need an idea of what to do. Should I learn scales? At the starter level of "I strum a bunch of chords to form a song", scales are pretty immaterial. If you progress and want to start playing guitar solos, doing more ornate finger-picking, some jazz improv, etc. then you'll find scales useful. There are plenty of folks who can back up any song on uke who have no clue as to how to play scales, so it's really a separate skill-set from "I will know strum and sing Mrs Robinson while I play". Glad to see you're all motivated, feel free to keep coming back with questions as they come up.
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Jan 16, 2008 00:11
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I'm an absolute beginner to any sort of musical instrument, but definitely thinking of buying a nice cheap ukulele after this thread. Accordingly looking for a Makala, would buy from musicmicguy but I live in the UK so that's out. Anyone know what I should buy and whereabouts in England?
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Jan 16, 2008 00:50
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Saki posted:I'm an absolute beginner to any sort of musical instrument, but definitely thinking of buying a nice cheap ukulele after this thread. Accordingly looking for a Makala, would buy from musicmicguy but I live in the UK so that's out. Anyone know what I should buy and whereabouts in England? I don't know anything about UK dealers but you should give musicguymic a shout and see if you can work something out. I talked to him about shipping my 2 ukes together with a different carrier and he was super nice about it. I'm sure you could figure out some kind of shipping scheme and he'd do it for you. Granted it would be slower than going to whatever local shop to get one but if you don' mind waiting a bit then I'd go for it.
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Jan 16, 2008 01:29
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MockTurtle posted:I don't know anything about UK dealers but you should give musicguymic a shout and see if you can work something out. I talked to him about shipping my 2 ukes together with a different carrier and he was super nice about it. I'm sure you could figure out some kind of shipping scheme and he'd do it for you. Granted it would be slower than going to whatever local shop to get one but if you don' mind waiting a bit then I'd go for it. Oh he ships to the UK, but it costs like £25 ($50) for shipping, and I am a poor student . I'm actually not entirely sure what the OP meant by 'tweak' in his first post, but it seems important.
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Jan 16, 2008 01:43
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Saki posted:Oh he ships to the UK, but it costs like £25 ($50) for shipping, and I am a poor student I asked the same question about tweaking and then I found the answer. If you go on musicguymic's profile on ebay there are 2 guides he has written. One of them is about what the setup he does is and why it's important. The short answer is that it gives them better sound but it's actually kind of interesting to read. Is there a cheaper method of shipping internationally that he could use? I know the default is priority mail but when I had him mail mine I asked to go with a different option since the cost would have been so much with a 2-uke box (or 2 1-uke boxes for that matter). It's worth asking at least, I think, because he is really excellent.
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Jan 16, 2008 01:52
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MockTurtle posted:I asked the same question about tweaking and then I found the answer. If you go on musicguymic's profile on ebay there are 2 guides he has written. One of them is about what the setup he does is and why it's important. The short answer is that it gives them better sound but it's actually kind of interesting to read. I'll check it out, thanks. I live with three guitarists and just want to be a bit different I guess.
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Jan 16, 2008 02:30
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Saki posted:I'm an absolute beginner to any sort of musical instrument, but definitely thinking of buying a nice cheap ukulele after this thread. Accordingly looking for a Makala, would buy from musicmicguy but I live in the UK so that's out. Anyone know what I should buy and whereabouts in England? There's a guy on UkuleleCosmos called Almuzo who works for the major importer for Kala in the UK. Makala is Kala's discount brand, so Almuzo is probably a good guy to get ahold of. In general, UkuleleCosmos.com has a high proportion (majority?) of Brits, so a good place to check in if you're otherwise having trouble finding a good supplier.
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Jan 16, 2008 02:37
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Alright, so I am having a f***ing blast with this thing.  It is so nice. I had to take a video for the family, and shall share it with you! So if you enjoy cliche stairway to heaven intros, red heads, or laughing at other people:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko8xQzSLfvs I'm going to work on the rest of the intro tomorrow, though the whole song may be a bit too advanced for now. I'm using the tabs at http://home.arcor.de/crazydawg/ukulele/stairway_to_heaven.txt I think I may be out of tune; I am still having some trouble matching the sounds. The video exaggerates this, as it was taken with a digital camera before being compressed.
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Jan 16, 2008 04:42
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causticfluids posted:Alright, so I am having a f***ing blast with this thing. You really seem to be getting the hang of it. Just carefully following the tab? Just make sure you're in tune before you begin, and press the strings straight down, as you can bring yourself out of tune by sliding the strings horizontally on the face of the fretboard. You can do this deliberately for effect, as well.
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Jan 16, 2008 06:49
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Any help to my post would be much appreciated. BTW, the best spot I found for the pick up, was straight behind the bridge. It's where the wood resonates the best, you can tap near it for a percussion effect and it's not in the way of the strumming.
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Jan 16, 2008 06:53
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Adolfo Castro posted:Any help to my post would be much appreciated. Help with your flamenco question? For that you might need to check on some other forum, or at the very least on NMD: Musician's Lounge SA subforum. We have about five or six semi-experienced ukists on this thread, and plenty of quickly-learning noobs, but unless mofolotopo has some strong flamenco background, I'm pretty sure we don't back a flamenco player on this thread. It's certainly doable, as various folks are doing it on YouTube, and my friend in Newfoundland has been doing it on the tenor I sold him. I actually do a bit of the fan/drag stroke when I play uke, but nothing too technical.
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Jan 16, 2008 07:42
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Next step, make myself a strap.
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Jan 16, 2008 16:50
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I do play a bit of flamenco stuff on the uke, but I basically just took what little I know on guitar and tried to adapt it myself. Using just thumb, ring, and pinky sounds insane and borderline impossible, so I wouldn't put too much stock in that unless you're seeing it everywhere. I actually play Malaguena without tuning the reentrant G down. It sounds like a different song, but it still sounds good.
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Jan 16, 2008 17:39
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I finally got my Flea uke in today!  I'm having some difficulties tuning though, I'm relying on an online tuner and after 10 minutes I'm getting the right sound for the second, third, and fourth strings, but tuning the first one to a G is a bitch with out a electric tuner.  Edit: here's the online tuner I'm using. --> http://www.get-tuned.com/ukulele_tuner.php
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Jan 16, 2008 21:07
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Corbius posted:I finally got my Flea uke in today! Here's a hint: when the High G is in-tune, you can fret it on the second fret and it will match your A string. Try fretting it on the 2nd and comparing to the A string to see how close you are. My da called and says he's enjoying his tenor uke, but wants a second uke to keep at the office to play when he's bored. I think I convinced him to buy a Ohana Longneck (soprano body with tenor neck), so will report back on that when he gets it in.
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Jan 17, 2008 01:27
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Here's a hint: when the High G is in-tune, you can fret it on the second fret and it will match your A string. Try fretting it on the 2nd and comparing to the A string to see how close you are. Ah christ... no wonder it was so hard. The tuning peg for the G string keeps slipping the instant I attempt to tune it to just the right note...  Is there any way I can fix this? It'd be a shame if I should bring back this beautiful uke...
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Jan 17, 2008 07:26
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Corbius posted:Ah christ... no wonder it was so hard. The tuning peg for the G string keeps slipping the instant I attempt to tune it to just the right note... You have a Fluke Flea, yes? Those type of pegs are called "friction pegs", meaning that they stay in place via friction rather than force of the gears. Upside: the friction is adjustable. Note that on the ends of the pegs there's a little screw, just tighten that screw a little bit and see if it holds. If it's too tight, the peg won't want to turn smoothly, but it shouldn't take more than a minute or so of experimenting to find a happy medium where the pegs are smooth but stable. Do bear in mind that, since the uke is new, the strings will stretch a little at first until they break in. Fleas/Flukes usually come with plain (strings with no metal in them) black Hilos , and those last for drat ever. I have a Fluke from 1999 where I've never changed the strings yet. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Jan 17, 2008 |
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Jan 17, 2008 07:34
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:You have a Flea, yes? It is a Fluke, yes, and thanks a butt-load! My terrible vision made it a bit difficult to notice the screws on the pegs at first since they are painted black and seemed to blend in with the pegs. But after toying with the screwdriver for a few minutes, I now have my new uke perfectly tightened and tuned. 
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Jan 17, 2008 07:46
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Corbius posted:I finally got my Flea uke in today!
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Jan 17, 2008 08:35
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KittenofDoom posted:I've been fiddling with this for a pretty long time, and I still can't get my strings to match the sound being played. Mine's concert-sized, though. Will it make a dramatic difference? Not particularly. The note might have a bit of a different flavor, but the actual pitch should be able to match. Admittedly, it can be tricky to learn to "hear" the pitch. Despite being used to strings, the first time I tried comparing flute pitch to accordion pitch I was baffled for a bit, since though the pitch was the same, the feel of the tone was so different. That said, do you have a friend with an electronic tuner you can borrow? I hate to tell folks to buy a $20 piece of gear when they're first starting out, so borrowing wouldn't hurt if you know a serious musician. Even if you can't borrow one, if you're having real trouble with tuning, a basic $20 Intelli 500 tuner is a pretty solid investment. They're all over eBay for around that price.
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Jan 17, 2008 09:39
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My boyfriend got me a brand new Makala soprano uke because of this thread. He got it for $29 + $10 shipping. Considering the pricepoint, I'm VERY impressed with the quality of this instrument. I'm in love with it, and I'm surprised by how fast I'm learning. I was able to play 2 songs (Creep, and the song at the end of Dr. Strangelove) within a couple hours of playing around with it. I will invest in a better ukulele if I become super proficient. Thanks for starting this thread!
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Jan 17, 2008 18:33
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Oh yeah, I forgot my followup! I got a tenor ukulele to play with 4R7 THi3F and we've been practicing together pretty much nightly since then. I think she's doing better though, I'm having a harder time switching between completely different chords than she is, but I'm getting there. The biggest problem I have is going to and from barring. If I deliberately take my time and practice barred chords I can do it just fine, but if I have to bar quickly I'm not holding the strings down enough and I get the telltale buzzing or muffled strum. Practice makes perfect, but something about my strings are bugging me: the C is metal while the rest are vinyl. Would I have better luck restringing it with all vinyl or should the C be metal? Remember, I have a tenor uke. Baby Cakes fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jan 17, 2008 |
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Jan 17, 2008 19:56
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Oplem posted:The biggest problem I have is going to and from barring. If I deliberately take my time and practice barred chords I can do it just fine, but if I have to bar quickly I'm not holding the strings down enough and I get the telltale buzzing or muffled strum. Practice makes perfect, but something about my strings are bugging me: the C is metal while the rest are vinyl. Would I have better luck restringing it with all vinyl or should the C be metal? Remember, I have a tenor uke. "Wound" (including metal) and "plain" (pure plastic) are totally subjective for string choice. A pure nylon string will be thicker but have a smoother texture. Some prefer that, others prefer a metal-wound string (denser thus thinner for the same pitch). If you're buying a new set of unwound strings, make sure that you get either Low G or High G as you prefer. If you get a set of strings similar to your current set, you can probably just replace the C string and save the others for future string breakages. Or, you can take off your current strings and try a different style. A bunch of folks produce pseudo-gut strings ("nylgut" and similar) which are an inetresting change. I believe mofolotopo has some info on the Kala Red nylygut strings. I've just stuck with Hilo (black nylon) and Aquila (white nylon and wound), so not so familiar with the gut substitutes.
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Jan 17, 2008 20:57
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For those without a tuner that are having trouble tuning by ear, APTuner is a great freeware program for tuning. Just pluck an open string into your microphone and the program will tell you what note you're playing and how sharp or flat it is - just like a normal tuner. Hope that helps someone!
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Jan 18, 2008 03:36
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And if you don't have a microphone, try plugging headphones into your mic jack and playing into an earpiece. 
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Jan 18, 2008 03:51
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Incidentally, here are some quick and dirty Radiohead chords (find the guitar tabs for the changes): How To Disappear: D 2220 Dadd9 2420 F#m 2120 F#m6? (really just a D) 2220 repeat those for the verse chorus (I'm not heeeeeere) A 2100 Asus4 2200 F#m F#m6 the end part is just F#m F#m6 with this thrown in twice E 1402 Esus4 2402 I really like that shape of E True Love Waits: C 0002 hammer on 0003 Em 0432 slide to 0433 Am 2002 hammer on 2003 G# 5343 just don't leave part: C 0002 h 0003 F 2010 0010 repeat Am 2002 h 2003 G 0232 h 0233 I figured out some good voicings for Lucky that I'll post later.
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Jan 18, 2008 04:49
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Had to blow a bit of cash to get an electric tuner, but it was worth it to hear my baby strum on-tune for the first time ever
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Jan 18, 2008 08:25
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KittenofDoom posted:Had to blow a bit of cash to get an electric tuner, but it was worth it to hear my baby strum on-tune for the first time ever Yeah, a e-tuner is a pretty useful piece of gear. Plus, you'll be able to use it on any string instrument you ever mess with. It's really not that big of an expense, I just feel bad telling folks to buy something after they already just bought something. However, as in your case, if it makes the difference between "tuning is a bitch" and "I'm in tune in 30 seconds", that's a pretty good deal. I've been dicking around with Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd. I'm surprised I didn't mess with this song earlier, as it's one of those pop songs that just screams to be played on uke. Other great uke pop tunes are Radiohead's Creep and Weezer's Butterfly. Here's a YouTube of Wish You Were Here by ukepop master seeso, which includes a link to his tab in the description: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNkVKXXjuX0
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Jan 18, 2008 19:17
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How the hell do I play D major? I have to hold down the same fret on the top 3 chords and I can't manage it with one finger without touching the A string and it's too small to use three fingers!
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Jan 19, 2008 09:53
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Cy posted:How the hell do I play D major? I have to hold down the same fret on the top 3 chords and I can't manage it with one finger without touching the A string and it's too small to use three fingers! try holding down the top two strings with your index, and your middle finger for the E string. perhaps also angle your wrist out slightly so your two fingertips can fit on the fret.
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Jan 19, 2008 10:19
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Just stopping by to say that I've been a proud Ukulele owner for over a year, and it has increased my quality of life in ways that nothing else can. There's something that's just so Perfect sounding about that 1-finger C chord...
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Jan 19, 2008 10:38
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Cy posted:How the hell do I play D major? I have to hold down the same fret on the top 3 chords and I can't manage it with one finger without touching the A string and it's too small to use three fingers! Okay, I thought the same thing, and it took me ages, until recently where I had to grab it mid song while working it out and realised I grabbed it correctly. While practicing, don't forget, you only need an edge of your index on the string in order to make it sound, so have the center of the index above the fretboard if that makes sense. The workaround, is to grab it with your thumb. It's bad practise and blah, blah blah. But it helped me with some of the songs I was starting to play for some of the more ridiculous chords.
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Jan 19, 2008 12:10
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The other day while I was playing, I noticed my uke really starting to sing, in terms of it's beautiful tonal qualities. I just started playing probably about 2 weeks ago, and it sounded more twangy when I started. Has anybody else experienced this? Is it that everything is broken in, or maybe because my playing is improving? as if I didn't enjoy it enough, I now find myself just plucking randomly to enjoy the "new" tone!
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Jan 19, 2008 12:47
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