A certain song for a certain uke?

I know that certain songs may "sound" better on certain ukes and are even easier to play on one uke than other.

Yet I also find that certain ukes seem "to let me know" what they'd like. For example, I was never a fan of "Kum ba yah" until my Clara inspired me to tap the chords at the bridge, which gave the song an intriguing tribal percussive feel. Just this week, my new Riggio myrtle tenor (a gorgeous ukulele) "wanted" fingerpicked solos from the "lute to uke" book. I think the old wood wanted the old songs.

Has anyone else experienced this? (Please excuse me if I haven't recognized this in a prior thread.)

Absolutely! Sometimes I will play the same song on several ukes, different tunings (C, D, B, B flat, low G, Baritone DGBE/GCEA) and different keys before I find the right fit. It is not necessary for every song, but I have experienced it many times. It can be very frustrating in the process, but when you find it, it's a good feeling.

turtledrum said:

Has anyone else experienced this?

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Sort of. I don't have enough ukes in the same tuning to compare directly, but I find that some pieces I work out on a certain stringing doesn't work as well on others. So my arrangement of ONE NOTE SAMBA on hi-G soprano uke doesn't sound right on my multi-string-course tenors or on guitar. Or the progression and especially the second chord I use on AIN'T SHE SWEET sounds just right on my Kala KA6 with its octave-doubled C and A courses but sounds sour on other uke-tuned axes, while much of my usual fingerpicking sounds 'off' on that Kala. It's sort of like the different approaches a song demands on various nylon-string, 6-steel-string, and 12-string guitars.

It was easier back in my salad days. One 6-steel-string acoustic guitar at a time, that's all, and I learned to make pieces fit it, from Bach to Beatles to bottleneck blues to banjo tunes. Now I have a couple dozen string instruments, almost all with very different voices -- and certain pieces only sound 'right' on a specific axe. That means more gear to schlep around while traveling. Yow. (I regard the four instrument cases next to me in this week's rented room and think of others to soon join them.)

I know more ukes will enter my life. I'll leave some in common tunings and I'll discover if they call out for their own songs. Some voices are brighter, or more brash, or deeper, smoother, slower. I'll let those voices sing to me.

This is one of my main reasons for continuing to buy different ukes from different builders with different wood combos. Some ukes seem to be better finger pickers, some better strummers. Then there is high G vs low G.

Of course you can play any song on just about any uke. But having a justification to one buy "just one more" is always nice :shaka:

I found that "Simple Gifts/ Lord of the Dance" was most extraordinary on my Waverly Street Low-G Soprano uke (Thanks again for that one, Mitch!)

That is the tune I use to test out a ukulele, because I do finger picking, strumming, and some chord melody playing on it - it showcases my strengths, and downplays my weaknesses, and sounds pretty good on any good uke, but on the Waverly Street? Just wonderful.

A few blues tunes shine more on the National Resonator than on other instruments, but nothing else stands out like the Waverly Street/Simple Gifts combination.

whenever I play Mr. Bojangles, I have to get out the ol' style 0...

The jangly old timey songs seem to really sing on my retro style soprano, though I also enjoy playing them on other ukes. Since getting my Blackbird Clara, I've loved everything I've played on it. At this point, I don't have the feeling that I need another uke other than the Clara. I would like one with a high G so I could play both types of fingerpicking solos. My Clara has a low G that I love, I'd just like another one for ease of moving between the two G's.

Ukejenny said:

The jangly old timey songs seem to really sing on my retro style soprano, though I also enjoy playing them on other ukes. Since getting my Blackbird Clara, I've loved everything I've played on it. At this point, I don't have the feeling that I need another uke other than the Clara. I would like one with a high G so I could play both types of fingerpicking solos. My Clara has a low G that I love, I'd just like another one for ease of moving between the two G's.

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there's one for sale in the marketplace!!!

turtledrum said:

I know that certain songs may "sound" better on certain ukes and are even easier to play on one uke than other.

Yet I also find that certain ukes seem "to let me know" what they'd like. For example, I was never a fan of "Kum ba yah" until my Clara inspired me to tap the chords at the bridge, which gave the song an intriguing tribal percussive feel. Just this week, my new Riggio myrtle tenor (a gorgeous ukulele) "wanted" fingerpicked solos from the "lute to uke" book. I think the old wood wanted the old songs.

Has anyone else experienced this? (Please excuse me if I haven't recognized this in a prior thread.)

Click to expand...

Well for me this would be overthinking things but that could be due to lack of knowledge and experience. But when my uke starts talking to me I'm going back on my meds. (with my luck and skill the uke would be giving out unmerciful critiques of my play)

For blues, I like a mellow uke tuned low g with wound 3 and 4 strings. Size wise, in descending from largest to smallest.

Kala resonator tenor for blues, Gold Tone banjo-uke for old-time, otherwise any uke for any music as the mood strikes me. The Kala acacia tenor (re-entrant tuning) is a decent all round instrument for not a whole lot of money so i use it for many things.

LOL! My wife who never played an instrument until last year wondered for years why I had so many different basses and guitars. To me, the answer was simple. "They all have different songs in them."

Then, last year, we got ukes. Started with two, one for each of us. Now she has two, and I have, uh, more.

She gets it now.

There are some songs that sound right on the resonator, some that sound right on the Les Paul, and even some that sound right on the grandson's plastic First Act uke.

They all have different songs in them...