What's wrong with accompanying ones-self by strumming? Does that make her less of a uke player? I'm just not following you here amigo... She's a professional singer-songwriter with (for the genre) quite a following.
You seem to be suggesting that virtuosity and picking solos are required to be credible, and that's (no offense intended) just wrong.
Nothing is wrong with accompanying oneself with an ukulele while singing ones heart out. It would be safe to assume that every single member on ukulele underground does that. I do that. But would you agree with me that there is more to any instrument than playing simple chords in different patterns? If that weren't the case, we would have no reason to try and learn any Aldrine's songs or tabs from Dominator or from any other source. I'm not suggesting that she's not a musician, not a song writer, and I'm definitely not saying she's a bad singer.
Huh? Does someone have to be a virtuoso picker to be acceptable as a performer? Geez, then pardon me, but I guess I'm outta here. And a few hundred other members have to accompany me...
You know that's not what I meant, if that were the case, I too would have to leave. But... making an attempt to utilize all the notes that an ukulele is capable of, that's worth doing. I'm sure everyone on ukulele underground strives to be more than a "chord player"
Because music is hard to play doesn't make it better.
eh.... that's true. But better is a subjective term. Beethoven's 5th, at least to me, is better than...say anything T-Pain can throw out in his entire career. But to another, Beethoven's 5ths might be trash and T-Pain might be god. To a 5 year old, Mothergoose songs are the bomb. Are they difficult to play? Some can. Are they better than... Victoria Vox? To a 5 year old, it just might be. Again, you can choose any part of song and create a catchy tune or allow a melody to form, and it would still be wonderfully easy, yet it would be beautiful music. I.e Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, who we can say is the ultimate ukulele player.
My favorite part of this whole post is where he calls a woman who writes and performs her own music which includes the occaisional instrumental solo on an imaginary trumpet "not very imaginative".
Yes, because it's a woman, she's not imaginative.
You know very well that if there were a guy doing the same thing, I would say the same. Buckethead shreds like crazy on Guitar, but there's more to playing fast and KFC. And he's freakishly tall. Regardless though, some find his music inspiring an something to work up towards. Dragon force is another example.
In the end, when all is said and done, I like Victoria Vox's music, just not all of her practices. Whether you want to believe that or not is up to you. She's pretty, she sounds great, and she's something different, exactly what the media wants. I would hope that you have to be imaginative to write music. Otherwise we would all be stuck singing the same tune that our ABC's were written to. Who am I to say she's an insipid person when it comes writing music? But when it comes down to the ukulele... perhaps I should keep my opinions to myself.
I didn't mean to offend any fans of hers nor did I mean to imply that not being able to play like Jake or Aldrine makes her less of an ukulele player. If you can play three chords on any instrument, you could play many songs. But isn't there a bit more than playing an instrument than repeating the same chords over and over again?
To each his/her own, so say we all.