I bought a Ukulele!

Subject: I bought a Ukelele!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:03 PM

There, I've 'fessed up.

Any tips hints or advice, for a novice yooker?

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Rafflesbear
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:10 PM

sell it on ebay   :-)

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Dave Swan
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:11 PM

Relax. Have fun with it. Head over to Flea Market Music on the net for lots of good resources.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:11 PM

Hi Giok,

welcome to ukeworld!

a few hints:

#1. It is spelled ukulele ;0)

#2. heres a site with a load of links

#3. Launch the "Ukulele Orchestra of Scotland" immediately!!!!

Best wishes
Ernest

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: DonMeixner
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:17 PM

Thank god it wasn't another_________________! (fill in the blank)

Don

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:19 PM

Come to Clive Harvey's all-day ukulele workshop at the Lewes Saturday Folk Club on 19th. February 2011. Cliver performs at the club in the evening and there will be plenty of opportunities for floor singers, with or without ukes.

Good to see you at Whitby!

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:32 PM

Chords

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:42 PM

Lots of good videos on youtube with basic to more advanced "how-tos."

And, according to Dr. Mark, who used to live in Hawaii, it is pronounced "oo-koo-lay-lay," just in case ya wanna know.:-)

Did you get a baritone, tenor, concert, or soprano?

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Bernard
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 01:57 PM

Lots of videos on YouTube explaining the clever tricks George Formby used to use - a really skilled technician, though most people don't realise it. Just search and enjoy the ride!

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: Haruo
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 02:07 PM

In Hawaiian I'm pretty sure it means "Jumping Flea".

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: TheSnail
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 02:20 PM

Did you get it from that shop in Skinner St. next to The Resolution? I looked in the window several times but managed to resist.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: evansakes
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 02:27 PM

They're definitely back in fashion....just got back from Shrewsbury FF where Heidi Talbot was playing one throughout her set. Quite a few were on display (and sold) at the Music Room stall.

Steve Knightley didn't play anything else either (during his spot with Dervish). Both looked like baritones to these untrained eyes.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: jacqui.c
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 02:31 PM

I'm getting one for my grandson for his birthday - thanks for the cords Terry - I'll copy, laminate and send them home with him!

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukelele!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 03:39 PM

Or you can tune it like a mandolin if you like.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 03:51 PM

One of our volunteers renamed this thread I bought a <strike>Ukelele</strike> Ukulele! to correct the spelling. That was cute, but it made it so people couldn't post without changing the message title.


So, why is it "ukulele," but also "uke"? My highly honed spelling sense tells me is should be "ukelele," but my dictionary tells me I'm wrong.

Have fun with it, John. There's a woman at the Getaway, Dottie Hurley, who plays a uke most of the times she sings. She always chooses very interesting songs to sing, mostly from the days of Tin Pan Alley. It's always such a pleasure to hear her.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Will Fly
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 03:54 PM

I've had a koa wood tenor uke for several years - great to play and surprisingly loud for such a small instrument. Enjoy!

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: CupOfTea
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 04:16 PM

Interesting to see the fashion for ukes is trans-Atlantic. Here in the US it's the biggest trend I've seen in ages. All sorts of folks are picking up playing them in and out of the folk community. Our suburban library has a monthly uke club session.

The quality of the instruments varies wildly. I've seen racks of them in wild bright primary colors for not-so-much money at dulcimer fests. One of the lads in our open band brought an incredible gorgeous blue resonater uke with multicolored strings to the annual picnic. It's such a happy instrument, it seems and most folks do talk about getting one with exclamation points in their chat.

My favorite ukelele instance was years ago when I was working the door for an Andy M. Stewart and Gerry O'Bierne concert. O'Bierne is a fantabulous musician and did a dynamite intro on "Echo Mocks the Corncrake" and went on to talk about the uke underground, mentioning an all uke punk band called "Uke till you Puke" (what else?)

Wishing you much joy of yer new musical toy,

Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: ClaireBear
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 04:17 PM

Get Jake Shimabukuro's DVD, "Play Loud Ukulele." Ignore the concert footage, but go through the tutorials; they're brilliant.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Will Fly
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 04:28 PM

Phil Beer - the Ukuele Orchestrator Of Great Britain

Just shows what a tenor uke can sound like in the hands of a master...

[Thinks: wonder how Phil is, by the way...]

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: JennieG
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 07:04 PM

Six months ago I bought a uke, it's fun.....they are getting bigger (the trend not the instruments) in Oz too. I bought mine as therapy when I couldn't play some guitar chords after I broke my arm, couldn't play in C for instance - but a C chord is only one finger on the uke.

And now I can play guitar C again but uke C is still much easier.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: evansakes
Date: 31 Aug 10 - 07:06 PM

Phil Beer was talking about George Harrison picking up a ukulele for relaxation after a hard day's night down at Abbey Road.

Here's a clip of George picnicking in the park and having a sneaky strum with a couple of familiar looking buddies

Aint She Sweet

If they played that on the 6 o'clock news they'd sell about a million ukes the next day.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 12:51 PM

It's like this However it doesn't have the geared tuners, but the old type straight through tuners.
J

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: maeve
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 12:58 PM

Very nice, John. We used to have one like that and liked it very much. I know you'll enjoy putting it through its paces.

Maeve

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Goose Gander
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 01:25 PM

I got one for Christmas last year, and I just can't put it down.   

Here's something from the Old Time Herald . . .

Ukuleles in Old Time Music

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Bernard
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 01:51 PM

George Harrison used to own most of George Formby's ukes... and I got to play some of them when he loaned them to Warrington Museum for the George Formby 30th anniversary exhibition... he is buried in Warrington cemetery.

I got lucky because I was installing the sound system prior to the exhibition opening, and the person responsible for George Harrison's collection thought I was bluffing when I said I could play!

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 02:45 PM

Wikipedia says:

"The ukulele, (pronounced /ˌjuːkəˈleɪliː/ YOO-Koo-leh-lee, from Hawaiian: ʻukulele [ˈʔukuˈlele]; variantly spelled ukelele in the UK)..."

Now, instead of "YOO-Koo-leh-lee" I would have said "YOO-kuh LAY-lee" because that's how I've heard it. What say the rest of you?

And can anyone translate "ˈʔukuˈlele" into layman's terms? I'm guessing "OO-koo LEH-leh". Is that right?

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 02:51 PM

George Harrison used to own most of George Formby's ukes.

I'm sorry, Bernard, but that is simply wrong. Just because someone said so is not a decent proof of veracity.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: evansakes
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 06:47 PM

Never mind Formby.....Tessie was quite useful too.

Tessie O'Shea

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 10 - 07:01 PM

"Uke till you Puke"
A group recently formed in Brisbane Aust called
Brisbane Ukulele Music Society - BUMS for short ...

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 02:56 AM

This might be something everyone knows about already, but it was new to me. I heard this (among other things) on the radio program "Jazz Facts" on HR2 (Germany) yesterday:

Jake Shimabukuro
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puSkP3uym5k

He said, this really got his career started and led to his first opportunity to tour outside of Hawaii.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 02:57 AM

Sorry, forgot.

Here's the link

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Hamish
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 03:30 AM

Such fun! I've been running a ukulele session for six months: BURP! in Berkhamsted and will be running a workshop at Banbury Folk Festival in October having just dabbled with it for years. But late last year I strayed into Ukulele Wednesdays in Charing Cross, central London and the scales fell from my eyes...

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: evansakes
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 11:49 AM

I just searched Spotify for 'My Dog Has Fleas' and the resulting tune doesn't sound anything like my uke tuning.

Confusingly there's also a tune up there called 'Fleas My Dog Has'....mind you the bloke playing it certainly knows his way around four short gut strings.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: evansakes
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 11:52 AM

Hamish,

Just an idea....when you do your workshop maybe you should get them all to attempt a composition entitled 'Dog Has My Fleas'

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 02 Sep 10 - 12:56 PM

Bill Sables gave me a list of 7 different tunings, and I believe the 'My Dog Has Fleas' tuning is A D F# B

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 10:12 AM

Are there any issues for left-handers apropos of ukeleles? I was thinking of having a go, absolute beginner, ukeless at present... and no, I wouldn't be able to hack it right-handed at all.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 12:09 PM

Full details and a printable booking form for Clive Harvey's all-day ukulele workshop and evening performance at the Lewes Saturday Folk Club on Saturday 19th,. February are now on the club website.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Tootler
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 04:01 PM

I just bought one too. I went to an absolute beginners workshop at the Sage yesterday and bought one from their shop. It's a cheapo Chinese job, clearly not as good as the ones they lent us, but it will serve me until I can afford something better - providing I make reasonable progress, that is.

I managed to flog through Calico Printer's Clerk this afternoon, if more than a bit hesitant on some of the chord changes :-) I am surprised how I have managed to pick it up given that I'm really a wind player and have struggled with guitar in the past and never really got on with string instruments.

I loved the Tessie O'Shea clip and was most impressed by Jake Shimabukuro.

Steve Shaw,
The tutor at the workshop yesterday was left handed but he plays right handed. When asked, he recommended the left handers tried that first. His reasoning was that you are using your better hand for the intricate stuff. My uke is symmetrical and the also the two outer and two middle strings are each the same gauge so I imagine it would not be a problem to tune it the other way up.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 05:42 PM

I'm afraid I'm one of those horribly confirmed left-handers. I doubt that I'd even be able to pick the thing up right-handed, let alone play it. :-(

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Tootler
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 04:44 PM

You sound like my daughter, Steve. She's very left handed. Can't do anything right handed at all.

Just try tuning it the other way up. The conventional tuning is

       G C E A
       | | | |
       +-+-+-+
       | | | |
  

The G is pitched higher than the C and E, so tune it A E C G and hold it the other way round.

If you go after chord diagrams on t'internet, you'll have to flip them over in your favourite image editing software. (I hope you're good at reading mirror writing!)

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Fidjit
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 11:13 PM

Helsingborg, Sweden are going for the Guinness World record in August 2011..

Chas

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Valmai Goodyear
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 07:07 AM

Chas, what are they aiming for? Length of playing? Highest possible pile? A mile of ukuleles? All three?

It sounds excellent. Many ukulele players seem to have a cheery, social, have-a-go attitude which is most refreshing.

Valmai (Lewes)

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Fidjit
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 01:14 PM

Don't know Valmai. just read it in the local paper.

Chas

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: Tootler
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 05:28 PM

Probably the largest Ukulele group. At the moment it stands at around 750 players.

At the absolute beginners workshop I was at on Saturday we were told that the Sage are also planning an attempt on the record.

Subject: RE: I bought a Ukulele!
From: maple_leaf_boy
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 06:49 PM

I'd like to get a banjo-ukulele combo. They bought and restored one
on Pawn Stars.