maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Dec 19, 2015 7:21:02 GMT
You can get them very cheap but as usual you get what you pay for and there's a reason for them being very cheap. A reasonable, inexpensive soprano would be a something like a Makala MK-S or Makala Dolphin for something a bit more colourful, both for about £40.
As with any instrument it's always best to go to a music shop and try a few out if you're thinking of buying one. Ukes feel very strange at first if you're used to guitar because they are so small but you soon get used to the size.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Dec 18, 2015 3:01:29 GMT
Ukes are great for strumming chords and singing. They are tuned gCEA, which is the same as capoing a standard tuned guitar at the 5th fret, except the g string is higher than the C and E strings, what's called re-entrant tuning. This helps give them their distinct sound. Chord shapes are different to guitar, but easy to learn.
The main types of uke are soprano, concert and tenor. Soprano is the original size and the smallest body and scale length, concert and bit bigger body and longer neck and tenor larger still. The longer the neck, the larger the fret spacing, which affects how they feel to play and the greater the string tension, which, with the larger body size affects how they sound. Concert and tenors are more resonant and 'guitar like', sopranos have that percussive typical uke sound when strummed.
The tradition uke style is to accompany singing with strummed chords. But the high voicing and re-entrant tuning make it a treat to play fingerstyle in capanella style, where open strings are let ring as much as possible, or banjo clawhammer style.
Pretty good ones are quite cheap, so I would say indulge your yearning if you can! Ukes are great fun but are serious instruments in their own right. It would be good to try one to see how you got on with it.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Nov 29, 2015 19:45:39 GMT
I thought this was going to be about Christmas trees.....
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Nov 27, 2015 15:39:15 GMT
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Nov 27, 2015 9:41:01 GMT
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Nov 1, 2015 18:29:49 GMT
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Oct 26, 2015 6:33:55 GMT
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Oct 14, 2015 13:49:09 GMT
................ I also enjoy playing "Who will dandle my Mary" and "The Big Bens" despite the titles' scope for double entendres.... Brian
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Oct 10, 2015 11:00:51 GMT
Not for me, but an interesting idea and it looks nicely done
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Aug 31, 2015 10:07:23 GMT
Thank you for your good wishes! Back from the op and it all went well and I'm very pleased that I've got much more mobility in my shoulder than I was expecting. Enough to play my tenor uke anyway. The surgeon said I should be OK as long as I didn't put my arm back like throwing a javelin. I assured him javelin throwing didn't feature in my plans for a while. So I'm going to get to grips with the 'Ukulele Course - A Melodic Approach' by Raymond Gamble G.L.C.M. I've learned to play fingerstyle guitar and Ukulele by reading TAB which means I can play quite a few pieces but I've got virtually no knowledge of music theory and I can only play pieces that I can find written in TAB. So I'm hoping to learn to read staff notation and a bit of theory so I can access more material to play and maybe do my own arrangements and compositions eventually. Should keep me busy until I take up javelin throwing again.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Aug 28, 2015 21:09:37 GMT
A bit of a change in direction for a while. I'm having surgery on my shoulder tomorrow and will have to keep my arm in a sling for a few weeks, so no guitar or uke.
I always wanted to learn harmonica so I'm going to have a go one handed. The course I'm using also teaches reading music which will be very handy as I'm coming to realise reading standard notation will open up a lot more music, especially for uke, as there's not that much tab available for the music I'm interested in.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Aug 19, 2015 8:26:38 GMT
There isn't a 5.30 in the morning. Keith Haha! That's my guitar and uke time every day. 2 hours uninterrupted playing watching the sun come up. Can't beat it.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Aug 19, 2015 8:17:54 GMT
Well, he's also doing a workshop at Oulton Broad if you can make that.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Jul 14, 2015 15:43:07 GMT
A bit out of the way but with a great selection is Chandler in Kew. It's close to Kew tube station but that's a bit of a ride out on the District Line.
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maninashed
Cheerfully Optimistic
Mad Farmer Liberation Front
Posts: 4,237
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Post by maninashed on Jul 3, 2015 7:28:44 GMT
Same here, I tried one and really liked the sound and feel. But too narrow at the nut for me.
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