I play bass uke and a mandolele, should I be banned because they're not a ukulele, should concert, tenor or baritone ukes be banned because they're not a soprano ukulele?
I run a successful uke club...
I am having trouble seeing how banjo ukes can cause a problem when surrounded by 50 uke players. Perhaps you could allow ukes, but limit the number of them that play at any one time...kind of like basses. Perhaps you could require mutes as some have suggested. My personal experience as one who also plays banjo uke in a group is there has never been a problem, but then I do not find it difficult to strum it softly enough so as to not be overbearing. (hope my English teacher isn't looking down on that last sentence, LOL) I also don't think it's cool to just ban them outright. I could strum my Martin or Kamaka hard and loud enough to cause the same problem you are trying to avoid. One last idea.....identify certain songs on your list as "banjo appropriate" and let them take the lead. Sorry, no more thoughts on the matter.
Been there. Last year I was attending a Jim DeVille workshop and the guy I sat next to just kept doing this finger picking noodling thing wile Jim was talking. I think that it is all about expectations. I'm not a big strum-a-long group type person, but I'll do one if it is all there is, but I don't expect much from them. I guess I'm thinking that one organizes something, pretty much invites people to come and participate, the thing grows to fifty or more people, you are bound to attract people who have conflicting expectations. My advise, ditch the group and start over. Be more selective with the new group right from the git go. Keep the numbers down. Don't just let every Joe with an instrument walk in and do whatever they want.We have a large group too and a few show up with banjolele's sometimes, including myself, doesn't really disrupt anyone. What is annoying to me is the guy who loves his Tahitian "ukulele" that thing is loud and annoying and he's a compulsive noodler.
oddly, I just ran across this...:shaka:
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A banjo uses a skin (or similar diaphragm) stretched over a hoop. It is, in essence, a drum on a stick. The ukulele is very different. If there were no problem in accepting small banjos at ukulele gatherings then the OP would not have needed to ask the question. Quite clearly there is a problem, and my suggestion that a club should keep a couple of "loaners", for anybody who turns up with a banjo, is reasonable and not unfriendly.
Any banjo player who objects to playing a ukulele at a ukulele club is not being reasonable. Whether or not small banjos are accepted where other banjos are played is not relevant.
I think they are more akin to a banjo than a uke, just like an electric guitar is akin to a classical or acoustic guitar.
Think also of the violin family, viola, cello, bass, they are alike, but different sizes, & so ukes are, from the sopranino right through to the baritone, they are alike, but not a banjo uke, it is a small sized banjo, both in shape, construction, & sound.
So a violin is just a small double bass then?
I wonder what happened to the OP? I visualise him (her?) sitting back smirking, with a large bag of popcorn, watching as the drama unfolds.
So a violin is just a small double bass then?
FWIW- I seem to recall that the double bass is actually more closely related to the viol family.