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Hey guys. I was asking around in the weird instrument thread, looking for an instrument to learn music with, and I'm sort of curious about both actual early music as well as renfaire-esque fantasy nonsense, so TTFA sent me over here. I live in Finland, so finding an uke is kind of a puzzle. There are a couple of local instrument shops that stock ukuleles, but they're way too expensive for me. The only affordable ones are produced by the German guitar company Ortega. I have no idea about European online dealers beyond Thomann, and I'm pretty sure they don't actually check every single instrument they sell. Y'all keep saying to buy from someone who does that, so does anybody have experience with Southern Ukulele Store or the Duke of Uke linked above? Edit: I'm starting to eye this Ohana pineapple simply because I like the shape. Siivola fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Mar 7, 2015 |
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Mar 7, 2015 19:15
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 23:13 |
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Welp. Instead of waiting for Eurogoons to chime in, I caved in and pulled the trigger on a koki'o pineapple and a set of Aquila whites. Nobody in that Ukulele Underground thread went explicitly "NO DON'T" on either koki'o or buying from Uke Surfer, so I figured it would be worth a shot. What the hell, if I get a lemon (instead of a pineapple  ) I've got a month to mail it back and get a full refund. I'm sort of scared, that was a lot of money for a broke student like me.  Also, you're seriously the most helpful goon. Thanks a ton.
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Mar 8, 2015 18:57
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What's this? There's someone at my door at eight in the morning! Who could it be? The strange man handed me a box, and inside was this! I wonder what it is?  It's a pineapple!  I'm in love. My tuner app recognizes the sounds it makes and I haven't managed to make it rattle or buzz yet, so I guess it's a working instrument? Haven't changed the strings yet since I can't tell how bad the stock ones are. Maybe once I get Twinkle Twinkle Little Star down.
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Mar 13, 2015 12:49
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I took your advice, switched in the Aquilas and wow, I didn't think the new strings would be quite that stretchy. First time I tuned them, they were going out of tune literally in front of my eyes. The sound's much better now, so I'm glad I didn't put it off. I've been picking it up almost every day, but most of the time I'm just going up and down the C major scale and wishing my fretting fingers would grow calluses already. I can't lift my middle finger off the fretboard without the groove on the fingertip plucking the string.
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Mar 18, 2015 22:05
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Most of the hardcore early music stuff is a little tricky for a beginner, so I'd focus on googling up online pages of "beginner fingerstyle ukulele" to find stuff like this one, which just shows how to fingerpick really easy nursery rhymes: http://www.ukuleletricks.com/ukulele-fingerpicking-nursery-rhymes/
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Mar 25, 2015 20:19
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 23:13 |
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Yikes, that's a bunch of songs. I think I know what I'm going to do over the summer. Specifically, I'm talking about these bars in the tablature sheet. (I actually haven't seen the video. Maybe I should!) The ninth bar is the same as the second, but the fingering is different for some reason.  And yeah, reading tabs turned out pretty easy once I got used to how the lines are oriented. I like the way the PDF minstrel tabs are written, with the staffs above. I can't actually read staff notation, but I can still tell how the pitch is supposed to change and how long the notes should be. Learning an instrument is hella dangerous, though. I'm already thinking about all the other cool things I could learn to play. Maybe the gottan, or maybe something more mainstream, like a piccolo bass or whatever. (If I get both a piccolo bass and a baritone uke, wouldn't that make me technically a guitarist?  )
Siivola fucked around with this message at 08:13 on Mar 26, 2015 |
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Mar 26, 2015 08:10
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