Bluegrass Ukulele

I was introduced to bluegrass at my first position after college. One colleague in particular would spend one lunchtime per week teaching bluegrass. That went on for two glorious years. I still run across him now and then, and I always make it a point to thank him again for what he gave us.
You're not going to sit in with a traditional bluegrass jam, but there's nothing wrong with playing bluegrass tunes on ukulele. I like playing fiddle tunes on ukulele, and my two dogs don't mind it either. They strongly object to my actual fiddling, even with the bridge mute. One of my favorite pastimes is to play random tunes from "Kaufman's collection of American fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar" on a ukulele. It's no longer in print in this huge 400+ page format. That book is a treasure.
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Renaissance-Man said:
I was introduced to bluegrass at my first position after college. One colleague in particular would spend one lunchtime per week teaching bluegrass. That went on for two glorious years. I still run across him now and then, and I always make it a point to thank him again for what he gave us.
You're not going to sit in with a traditional bluegrass jam, but there's nothing wrong with playing bluegrass tunes on ukulele. I like playing fiddle tunes on ukulele, and my two dogs don't mind it either. They strongly object to my actual fiddling, even with the bridge mute. One of my favorite pastimes is to play random tunes from "Kaufman's collection of American fiddle tunes for flatpicking guitar" on a ukulele. It's no longer in print in this huge 400+ page format. That book is a treasure.
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I'd love to figure the flatpicking for uke. I just tried to do one song with it transposing a guitar song to uke, and it took me forever to do it. I'm still trying to get it up to speed to make sure that I have it even close.
 
I suppose you could call this bluegrass. Recorded it 8 years ago with my beater Lanikai 21b baritone, Ashbory bass, and me myself I and I doing harmonies. Can't really tell you anymore what I did - just sort of finger and thumb picking with a high D on the baritone. I'd suggest headphones if you want to hear the bass.

 
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I've also heard this one at bluegrass jams, although its a slow song. It has an interesting history. My friend and one time ukulele buddy recorded it with his voice and Mainland cedar concert ukulele. A few years later, I added the ukulele bass (with Pahoehoe Road Toad strings) and harmonies.

 
SweetWaterBlue said:
I've also heard this one at bluegrass jams, although its a slow song. It has an interesting history. My friend and one time ukulele buddy recorded it with his voice and Mainland cedar concert ukulele. A few years later, I added the ukulele bass (with Pahoehoe Road Toad strings) and harmonies.

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I'm guessing its a technology issue on my end but I'm unable to access the attached link.
 
RenascenceMan says it played for him, but he had to click, "Play in Browser" SoundCloud has always been a bit wonky.
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
RenascenceMan says it played for him, but he had to click, "Play in Browser" SoundCloud has always been a bit wonky.
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Can't make it work from my desktop PC but plays just fine on smart phone. Though IMHO that's "Western" rather than bluegrass, I love the tune and your arrangement is wonderful! Another great Western tune with lyrical reference to roses and an interesting history (and with American Civil War lyrics that have been liberally sanitized) is "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
 
Oldscruggsfan said:
Can't make it work from my desktop PC but plays just fine on smart phone. Though IMHO that's "Western" rather than bluegrass, I love the tune and your arrangement is wonderful! Another great Western tune with lyrical reference to roses and an interesting history (and with American Civil War lyrics that have been liberally sanitized) is "The Yellow Rose of Texas".
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Thanks. Glad you got to hear it. Maybe an Apple thing?. It was originally recorded by my friend on his iPad with a Meteor mic. Then I modified it on my Mac, so not surprised it worked on an iPhone. Works fine from my Safari browser on my Mac.
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
I suppose you could call this bluegrass. Recorded it 8 years ago with my beater Lanikai 21b baritone, Ashbory bass, and me myself I and I doing harmonies. Can't really tell you anymore what I did - just sort of finger and thumb picking with a high D on the baritone. I'd suggest headphones if you want to hear the bass.

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I doubt anyone would call "Mountain Dew" anything but Bluegrass! Enjoyed this! MD was one of the first tunes I learned on 5-string banjo. The very first was the G-C-D "Bile Them Cabbage Down" and third was "Cripple Creek". Some tune in between had a hammer-on and may have also had "mountain" in the title. Because of all the quick chord changes, I learned "Fox On the Run", "Rocky Top" and "Grandfather's Clock" (still love those 5th, 7th and 12th fret chimes!) much later.
 
Oldscruggsfan said:
I doubt anyone would call "Mountain Dew" anything but Bluegrass! Enjoyed this! MD was one of the first tunes I learned on 5-string banjo. The very first was the G-C-D "Bile Them Cabbage Down" and third was "Cripple Creek". Some tune in between had a hammer-on and may have also had "mountain" in the title. Because of all the quick chord changes, I learned "Fox On the Run", "Rocky Top" and "Grandfather's Clock" (still love those 5th, 7th and 12th fret chimes!) much later.
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My youngest son took bluegrass guitar lessons for a while "Bile Them Cabbage Down" was the first song he learned too. For some reason he didn't stick with it though :( As I recall, he also learned "Rocky Top."
 
Oldscruggsfan said:
I'm guessing its a technology issue on my end but I'm unable to access the attached link.
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Thanks for sharing both! Are you using reentrant uke for Rose? I've been trying to figure out flat picking and Carter picking using low g GCAE tuning. Any tips or a place to go for any? I've mostly been using Aaron Keim.
 
SweetWaterBlue said:
My youngest son took bluegrass guitar lessons for a while "Bile Them Cabbage Down" was the first song he learned too. For some reason he didn't stick with it though :(
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Lessons are a tough sell IME. My wife still occasionally chides me for not insisting that our son take classical violin lessons rather than bluegrass fiddle. Fact is, I doubt he would have stayed with it if we'd gone the classical route.

We did a trial visit to a local classical violin instructor who gave lessons in her home's immaculately-finished basement. I kept my opinion to myself but she struck me as far too fussy and regimented. Meanwhile, the bluegrass fiddle teacher - a retired electrical lineman - gave lessons in the slide-out kitchen portion of his family's motor coach, parked in the side yard of his home.

Initially because it was a set-up that any reasonable parent should view as creepy, I insisted on joining my son during each lesson. After the third week, the guy encouraged me to bring my banjo along to help my son get accustomed to high-noted backup rolls. We became good friends. The teacher twice invited us to travel with him and his two adult sons to the annual Nashville bluegrass jam. Because attendance would have entailed encouraging a young man who was on track for engineering school to skip three days of high school for the sake of becoming a better fiddler, I couldn't justify it.
 
Oldscruggsfan said:
In my [very loud and ringing 5-string banjo] experience at 'grass jams, much of the objection is lack of volume rather than silly macho chauvinism. I never grasped the point of jamming when you can't hear your own instrument, and others within arms-length aren't able to hear you either. My word for that is "an-noise" and I have yet to find anything fun or relaxing about it.
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The lack of volume issue of ukulele can be partly managed with the use of some picking tools - either the thumpick and fingerpick(s) or the flatpick. My choice is the thumbpick and fingerpicks, and I treat my low g tenor ukulele as "small bluegrass guitar" played by thumpick and index finger pick.





I admit that the three finger banjo picking (shown from 2:32 in the following video) is not so loud as "guitar strumming" so it is not so suitable for jam sessions.

 
Mirek Tim Patek said:
The lack of volume issue of ukulele can be partly managed with the use of some picking tools - either the thumpick and fingerpick(s) or the flatpick. My choice is the thumbpick and fingerpicks, and I treat my low g tenor ukulele as "small bluegrass guitar" played by thumpick and index finger pick.





I admit that the three finger banjo picking (shown from 2:32 in the following video) is not so loud as "guitar strumming" so it is not so suitable for jam sessions.

Click to expand...

I particularly like your arrangement of Bury Me Beneath The Willow. Well done!
 
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