Improving Tone

Joyful Uke

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What tips do you all have for improving tone?

Obviously, fretting cleanly is important, but what else? (I'm a fingerpicker, but would think that the same techniques would help strummers too?)

There are those who can make any ukulele sound great. What do you think they've practiced over the years to get good/great tone?
 
The idea behind this thread I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. Not enough discussion imo takes place here in technique and pedagogy in making great sound. I'll have some comments to post later but wanted to encourage everyone out there to chime in!
 
I heard a story that goes like this:
Yo Yo Ma's teacher told him that when he was learning to play a new song that he was to play it so slowly that if someone was walking by they wouldn't be able to tell what song he was playing.

That is how I approach getting proper tone.

Take time to slow down to speed up.
 
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I read something similar the other day, but this dealt with mistakes. When playing a new piece of music, it was suggested to read it through thoroughly and then play it very slowly and try not to make any mistakes. The theory being, that the initial mistakes we make, we tend to repeat. From my own experience this plays out exactly. I know I've tried some rather simple compositions and would continue to make the same mistake. So I am trying to slow down my first attempts to improve both accuracy and tone. Hopefully this will work.
 
I believe that attack and damping are the keys to sounding good...to sounding great. This might sound simple minded, but sometimes first principles are at least stimulating to think about.

Regard the harpsichord or the pipe organ: How do you "improve" their tone? There are no dynamics. To get any kind of voicing there is only the length of the note followed by the damping of the note. What else is there?

I find this greatly illuminating. If you extrapolate to the ukulele and you assume "perfect" fretting, what else is there except the addition of dynamics?
 
Regard the harpsichord or the pipe organ: How do you "improve" their tone? There are no dynamics. To get any kind of voicing there is only the length of the note followed by the damping of the note. What else is there?

With regard to organ at least.. that's not true. Organ stacks ranks for voicing. There's also mechanicals to control swell, tremolo, etc. A good organist understands the ranks of their instruments, the effects, and how to use them together.

As for how to improve tone... I think paying attention, and trying different things.
Brushing with the flesh vs nail even lightly sounds different.
Up strum vs down strum. Where you fret... ie closer to the wire, or in the middle. How much pressure you use on the left hand. Partial muting. How you hold the instrument, is it away from your body, or pressed against. Where you pick and strum. Hammer on, pull off vs pluck. Moving the body. Bend, vibrato, Etc.

There's sooo many ways to make sounds, and they all sound different. Pay attention, experiment, watch videos instead of just listening, or live.
 
So much can impact tone beyond the actual construction of the instrument. The strings themselves do a lot, as some are softer/harder, more mellow/bright. Changing strings can really make a difference.

Strumming/picking technique determines how the string will respond. I used to finger pick/strum years ago on the guitar, so tried that on ukulele. I eventually went to a flat pick on ukulele (as I do on my other stringed instruments), as I find I can manipulate the pick to get both a more uniform response and greater variation when wanted as well.

A decent set-up will also make a difference. Fretting a stringed instrument which has the strings too high over the frets often leads to unintentional dampening/muting which affects tone. Strings set too low results in buzzing.

One often-overlooked tonal impact is how one holds the instrument. If one holds a ukulele in a manner where the back is pressed against one's chest or stomach, that action effectively dampens the instrument's back. This nullifies the instrument's back from its role in sound production. I first experienced this phenomenon with mandolin, as I held it against me. I put a Tone-Gard on the mandolin and was blown away be the sound difference. That has kept me from holding ukuleles too close and too tight.
 
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Tone? How your fingers hit the strings plays a big part. Where you fret makes a difference. I have resisted using my thumb for fingerpicking. But truly, truly you get a much better tone with your thumbnail. I am having a horrible time mastering tremolo. I think I can do it better using my index finger. But I am trying so hard to learn to tremolo with my thumb. Know why? It sounds better.

Tone is not the same as loud or soft or emphasis on notes. It's how those notes sound.
 
Finger vibrato, the amount of and the length seriously impact tones. Also, obviously where a note is played and on what string on the fret board. A C note on the open C string is audibly tonally different when played on the upper fret board A string. Add variations of finger vibrato, and you have virtually endless tones.

Instrument quality, woods, strings and set up can greatly improve or diminish tone and results. But in the end, practice makes the greatest impact.
 
With regard to organ at least.. that's not true. Organ stacks ranks for voicing. There's also mechanicals to control swell, tremolo, etc.

I think my point might have been lost. Of course you can add registers both to a pipe organ and to some harpsichords. But it doesn't work during the production of the note. And I agree that there are mechanical devices that change dynamics. A buff stop on a harpsichord and countless variable baffles on organs. One could also grab a resonator ukulele or a mandolin with a Verzi to change tone, or drop a snake rattle inside. But I was using the example of constrained dynamics to offer a thought experiment about the variables available for changing tone. My simple-minded suggestion is that two important variables are the timing of attack and damping.
 
It's 95% about how your finger interacts with the string (providing you're not messing anything else up grandly). I've spent LOTS of time just sitting and watching/experimenting with how my finger touches and leaves the string. I think this is really important and, for me, was time well spent (still is every once in a while). Examine the way you shape your fingernail, the angles of attack, the striking force, etc...

After all the work I've spent trying to make my other fingers sound strong and fat like the thumbnail, I've found that the rest stroke is the easiest solution. It's the best-sounding way to pick I've found. Unfortunately, it doesn't fit with my style all the time. I'm still trying to figure out how to "flatpick" with my nail and make it come out sounding as good. Daniel Ho plays like this a lot. He might have some instructional stuff on the rest stroke.

Eric Johnson's "Fine Art Of Guitar" DVD is fascinating in this aspect. He's Mr. Tone, IMO. And he details all of his picking techniques on the video. Lots related to pick work, but I found it highly informative anyways.

Try everything.
 
Seems like the more you practice properly, the more your tone (and everything else) will improve.
 
I was shown to raise my right hand higher, so that my fingers have more leverage when plucking the strings, like my thumb, (which is stronger) does. This position makes my fingers point at the strings, so I'm pulling them toward each other, instead of pulling them away from the uke, which can cause more buzzing. So far, it seems to work.
Maybe after I retire from nursing, growing long fingernails on my right hand will be an option.
 
Lots of interesting ideas. I think I'll go try Nickie's idea of raising the right hand higher right now.
 
Also nails.... and nail shape.... which is a debate in itself.
But I do seem to have better tone control with some bit if nail.
 
The pinch is something that will help if you explore it. There are endless techniques but wood-shedding is the key as with all instruments. I am a big fan of Kimo Hussey and his many,seemingly effortless, abilities.
 
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