Acoustic vs. Electrified Ukulele—different technique?

CTurner

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I'm interested in hearing from those of you who play your uke electrified, plugged in. Can you say there is a difference in your strumming or picking technique <because> of the electrification? My guess is that with electric amps you can shorten sustain and thus change how you strike or pick the instrument. Does hearing the difference change how you personally play?
 
I have found that playing electrified ukulele makes me hear the details clearer. I find that I have to have more precise fingering, and that subtle changes can be heard, making the uke more expressive with a lighter touch. The sustain is better, especially on a low g string, so sometimes you have to manually mute it.

–Lori
 
Be sure to unplug the 'uke before you step into the shower or tub.
 
I have found that playing electrified ukulele makes me hear the details clearer. I find that I have to have more precise fingering, and that subtle changes can be heard, making the uke more expressive with a lighter touch. The sustain is better, especially on a low g string, so sometimes you have to manually mute it.

–Lori

Thanks for your input Lori, you have hit the nail on the head. The amplified sound can be brutally honest and demands accurate fingering and a sensitive touch. The rewards are there, but you've really got to be on your game, otherwise it just turns to custard.
 
Everything they said. My Risa sticks are very brutal with showing me how bad my technique is. Having recently picked up a Konablaster soprano the magnetic pickups and steel strings give a much narrower frequency Kenneth. It had been quite awhile since I plugged in anything with magnetic pickups so the choked sound was surprising to me.

Now having the scientific pattern brain I am stuck with. A piezo pickup with nylon strings will not add sustain where a magnetic pickup on an over driven amp will drive the strings to a frenzy. I think since the piezo is picking up so much more than a magnetic pickup the vibrations are the same you just hear more amplified.

Jimi Hendrix had a piezo pickup on his famous strat to pickup finger noise and string noise.

Currently I plug into a Digitech RP360 and play through headphones. I had to tweak a few settings to get the nylon strings to sound good while the steel stringed Konablaster sounds better with standard guitar settings. I read something about shortening sustain in the OP. I'm not certain if this is what you mean but I will tell you the noise gate you can emulate with the RP360 is worth the money spent. Ring out a chord or note as soon as you stop it or depending on the settings when it decays there is silence.

The other effects can make the stick sound like a guitar or even a bass. echos, choruses, pitch shifts, distortions, delays are all at your fingertips. The Risa sticks can sound like a ukulele while the Konablaster not so much. Of course when you add in an echo a delay or other effect it certainly does effect the way you play.
 
Thanks for your input Lori, you have hit the nail on the head. The amplified sound can be brutally honest and demands accurate fingering and a sensitive touch. The rewards are there, but you've really got to be on your game, otherwise it just turns to custard.

I agree 100% with all stated by both Lori and Campbell. The first time I played plugged in I was a bit shocked at how I could hear all my mistakes that I did not hear unplugged. Softer touch, less pressure will get you there with greater sustain and clarity. If nothing else it's a great training tool for clean playing.
 
Absolutely. Depending on the pickup you have a much wider dynamic range and loud becomes very loud quickly when you really start to bang on the strings. You also have to play more cleanly like everyone has mentioned, but I find it's more to keep the risk of feedback or "sore thumb" notes down. Getting your EQ and speaker placement right goes along ways towards making it more comfortable.

In my experience, it's much easier to sound consistent plugged in when you attack the strings harder. It's tempting to tread really lightly because you feel like you're too loud, but in reality, you can always turn down. If you play at 70% volume most of the time, you'll get more juice out of the pickup which usually leads to a fuller sound, less feedback, and less room for overly loud notes. However, if you only play at 30% volume, you turn up the amp more to compensate which makes feedback more likely and when you do get hold of a string (it WILL happen) it's embarrassingly loud. It drives me crazy to run sound for very light players - especially in bad sound situations. Not that you should ever just play your loudest, but find your volume ceiling and play with people who know how to use dynamics to highlight solos.
 
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I have found that playing electrified ukulele makes me hear the details clearer. I find that I have to have more precise fingering, and that subtle changes can be heard, making the uke more expressive with a lighter touch. The sustain is better, especially on a low g string, so sometimes you have to manually mute it.

–Lori

THIS!! I neither normally play in public or in a group of other instruments but I want to which is why I recently got a pickup installed and bought a small portable amp. Now the reason I almost always play plugged in is exactly this - I can hear every single mistake I make. Then when I unplug, I notice that I take that cleaner playing with me. It's great. The only reason I dont play plugged in is I'm scared I might get used to that volume and loose my ability to create volume "au natural" or ... the amps too far away from where I'm sitting LOL.
 
My actual playing technique of attacking the strings and fretting doesn't change. But, usually when I'm plugged in, I'm also going through delay/chorus/compression/phase, or whatever I stomp on, per song and playing to those effects definitely forces me to change what I play or my style. Definitely agree, when I first got my K&K pick-up installed and the LR Baggs gigpro, I could hear every sigh coming out of my finger nails. But you get used to it quick.
 
Amplification is great if finger-picking a solo whilst others are strumming and, means less "leaning" into the strings for emphasis on turnarounds and licks between verses.
 
This has been a great education for me to hear all the responses to my original question. Thanks to everyone.
 
Very interesting thread. Thanks to all for the input.
 
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