Cool 'Maraca' effect

thejumpingflea

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Hey guys, I am the new guy here and this is my first thread.

So I got a Mel Bay book at my favorite music store the other day and it has some awesome little tricks in it.

Go grab a match box, fill it with a little Rice pieces and then hold it in between you pinkey and ring finger of your strumming hand. When you strum it sounds like a maraca and adds a lot of flavor to many different songs. (I didn't have a match box so I took a black film canister and filled it with needles for a good effect. See a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hkUKDKUlhM )

Another cool trick is to use a pencil to 'drum' on your strings. It adds a percussion like feel to your sounds. I'll post a video later for that.

Hope you can get some use outta this!
~Matt

(Sorry for half my head being cut off in the vid, I accidentley altered the settings so it'd be 16:9)
 
Go grab a match box, fill it with a little Rice pieces and then hold it in between you pinkey and ring finger of your strumming hand. When you strum it sounds like a maraca and adds a lot of flavor to many different songs

Stitch or glue a ring of cloth to it and you can slip it onto a finger and it's less likely to get away from you while you're strumming. You could also use a plastic ring of some sort (maybe cut off the end of a piece of scrap pvc or suchlike).
 
wow, did you think of this? i gotta say, that's thinking out of the box haha
 
The easter egg idea sounds really fun. I think I still have some of those lying around and of course lots of raw rice and dried noodles in my house.

What really amazes me more and more about the uke is that it is such a versatile instrument. It can play the melody, accompaniment, and rhythm all at the same time! (I can't do that yet, but most of you folks can...)
 
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