Old-Time-Twanger
Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2017
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 3
Anyone here ever play bluegrass on a ukulele? What techniques have you found most useful?
Laurence is a member here at UU. He's also a very fine player.
Thanks for the replies. I guess that's more or less what I've been doing so far, strumming like a guitar but also hitting the high G string a lot with my thumb so it kind of works as a drone string (I've been playing a lot in the key of G, so that works). Then for the instrumental breaks, I try to imitate a banjo a little bit. Hopefully it doesn't sound too ridiculous.
Honestly, I'm drawn toward old timey string band music in general, whatever you want to call it. My inclination has been to play stuff that sounds more like old-time (as I understand it at least, still learning), but I've been experimenting with speeding it up a bit and going for that "high, lonesome sound." But if anyone told me that ukulele doesn't belong in old-time music, I'd have them take a good look at this picture of the Fiddlin' Powers Family, one of the first string bands on record: View attachment 103610
Yes I try. Use Fred Sokolows book and Ken Middletons. Fingerstyle playing and quite challenging. Never had the opportunity to play proper bluegrass where each player does a solo and then passes it on , because very few uke players do fingerstyle playing.
What do you mean by "playing bluegrass"? Are we talking playing bluegrass songs in the basement, showing up at a bluegrass shindig with a ukulele, or playing in a bluegrass band? I mean, you can play anything on a ukulele, but bluegrass music itself is pretty much defined by the instruments. In my own experience I've found that it is very difficult to fit into bluegrass music with a ukulele. There just isn't a ukulele part. Not saying it can't be done, because as sure as I say this someone is going to post a video of somebody playing a ukulele in a bluegrass band, but I've not found it to be the norm. There is a combination bluegrass/ukulele festival in Minneapolis next month, but the two don't mix .