Playing the Heck Out of One Ukulele

luvdat

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You can read in interviews where Jake S. talks about playing and practicing and performing on only one ukulele. Sure, this was after connecting, after a number of instruments.

Is there some virtue or value in that approach even for beginners, intermediates, semi-advanced?

I think so.
 
Totally goes against the laws of UAS, but it's probably a better approach to learning the ukulele overall. If I spent half as much time practicing as I do looking at ukes on the internet and dreaming up my ultimate custom, I'd be a lot better by now. :B
 
Since I have gotten my Moore Bettah Uke I have been nearly exclusive with it. I'd say since it has been mine it has gotten 95% of my total play time.

My goal is to where a hole in it.
 
I personally enjoy collecting them as much as playing.
I know several professional musicians who are fabulous players and don't seem to be constantly shopping for instruments.
I wonder if many of us are always on the prowl looking for that uke/guitar that will take us to the level we dream about, while the pros are already there and view the instrument as a tool to work with.
 
Clarification though I think it's clear: not saying you can't try out even buy a variety first.

But when you do connect (not talking Uke of Your Dreams or the best that is)...you can establish a baseline. You can also see "What else can I make this thing do?"

For me, feel free to chuckle, it's the humble Flea. I can honestly see myself playing that thing and only that thing for at least a year or more without another purchase. Sure, just yesterday I sought and got some great advice on tenors, but hours later...it's this weird conviction: just keep hitting that Flea.

In short, the upgrade is one's playing.

And this is also familar: a really good player can make even a cheapo or a presumed DOA or no big deal ukulele sing. BTW, in some ways there are advantages to playing a pretty good very good vs spectacular instrument. It makes you push a little harder, discover more.

It's in the hands.
 
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My goal is to where a hole in it.

Ditto! I think you get to a certain point and you get a quality instrument and will only ever get a better one by getting sponsored (or getting rich). And to get sponsored you've got to practice. So I only ever play my Kamaka, there is just no point in me using something different. There is no other sound I'm looking for and it's easy enough to play. It's about the music, not how many 'ukuleles somebody has.
 
My instruments are the tools of my trade. I don't name them or warm up the car for them or take them to bed with me at night. I also do not have any duplicates. In other words, I have one soprano uke, one tenor.... one classical guitar, one acoustic, one electric, one bass guitar, one fiddle. I don't feel any pressing need to have more than that. If I get another instrument, it will be something that I don't already have.

And so for me, it's always been about finding the instrument that suits me well and learning to play the heck out of it.

... just a weird thought... do piano players get PAS?
 
Ditto! I think you get to a certain point and you get a quality instrument and will only ever get a better one by getting sponsored (or getting rich). And to get sponsored you've got to practice. So I only ever play my Kamaka, there is just no point in me using something different. There is no other sound I'm looking for and it's easy enough to play. It's about the music, not how many 'ukuleles somebody has.

Hey, if I lived in Hawaii and could have tried out a few Kamaka pineapples and bought the right one that would be it for me for quite awhile. The one I played BTW in NYC was not "dramatic" but simply ON...and for me ON is huge, like transparent, expressive. I just needed a consistent ukulele with volume/projection, playabiity and a different enough sound to be inspired...not the "greatest." We're in agreement. And the weather here in NJ made me think more than twice...even about cheaper solid woods.

Peace to you and yours...
 
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I need different ukes for different occasions.
For example I need a silent uke for playing after 10pm, and there are songs or at least phrases, where I need the wider space of a tenor, on others I need the frets close together to be able to play at the same time things like fret 1 on one string, fret 8 on another.
That's why I prefer concert size, usually everything goes there.
 
For me, having more than one uke was mostly a consequence of trying to find out what I like, and being too lazy to sell the ones I don't need anymore. I have no desire at this point to collect ukes, but perhaps that is because I don't really have any that are "collectible." It took me awhile to discover that I really like the traditional sound of solid wood sopranos. Now that I have one, I still find myself playing my flea a lot, even though I don't think it sounds as good, because it is just easier to play with its wider concert neck. Where I will finally settle, I do not know at this point.

I do think that playing one instrument almost exclusively makes you better on that instrument. As others have said, I find I spend too much time looking for another uke and playing too many takes away from my practice time. That's just me though. There are people on this board who are incredibly talented, and can play anything. If they enjoy it then its all good.
 
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I agree that it's beneficial to stick with one instrument, but I think it's more fun to acquire multiple ukuleles. Truth be told, even with 14 ukes in my collection, one gets about 90% of the playing time while the other 13 shares the remaining 10%, but on the occasion I take one of them out for a spin, it's usually an enjoyable experience. If I was a professional ukulele player, I'd probably stick with one uke though.
 
For me it's a phase, and it's a combination of tools and toys. For me, guitars are strictly tools. I have two identical Gibson classicals I got from Ebay and fixed up. They actually sound quite different, but I don't have any urge to upgrade or get something prettier. When I got them I immediately gave away the guitar I had. So for guitars, it's tools only. I don't dream of guitars.

When I was searching for banjos, I had as many as four, but now I have two, identical (except they sound different - go figure). I had more of the urge to have the prettiest, fanciest, and to have one in every room. Eventually they became tools to me and I got it down to the two that sound the best.

I'm sure it will be the same for ukes. I'm trying all the brands and woods, and when I get the "one" I like best, I'll sell off the others and keep two (or so) that I will play and get used to. Then that will be "my sound" and I'll continue with that. I do like to have two, though, in case of emergency I'm not without.
 
Take it from a recovering Uke hoarder...... Stick to one and get to know it well...... I have pretty much every uke size and variants of them.... I have improved in my playing by sticking to one and admiring the others...
 
A master Samurai usually owned 3 swords a Katana (tenor), a Wakizashi (concert), and a Tanto (soprano) and he learned to master all 3. :cool: The rare samurai was also a master Yari spearman (baritone).
 
It does seem to be the theme, and its the same with me. I have nowhere to try all these ukes out so I want to order them in, play them, but I don't know if its the best, I have nothing to compare it to so I need more and more... with guitars I trolled round hundreds of shops for a couple of weeks trying them out till I found the one that won me over....
 
Since I got the Collings, the following things have happened. First I've been playing it exclusively. Just last week I busted the Lanakai outta' hibernation and had a lotta fun. The Collings has a woody bark to it that I really like. I've been trying to convince myself to get a second Collings, a little flamed mahogany concert number, completely gorgeous and sounds wonderful but the universe is gently telling me to work with what I have.

I put the first little nick on the Collings today, the top of the case came down and one latch just caught the very end by the strap button, not bad but I thought for a second that if I give in to the temptation of flamed mahogany goodness I can justify it by attempting to convince myself that I need at least one in pristine condition. . . and then I was reminded that I bought the Collings as a player and it's certainly being played.

"Shut up", Uncle Frank said, "Shut up and play yer' ukulele".

Also, for a couple of hundred less than the cost of the little mahogany jewel I could have a pair of Shure SM81s and an FMR RNP. . . do you see where this wackiness goes ? ? ? ? ?
 
I know several professional musicians who are fabulous players and don't seem to be constantly shopping for instruments.
I wonder if many of us are always on the prowl looking for that uke/guitar that will take us to the level we dream about, while the pros are already there and view the instrument as a tool to work with.

My dad was a professional musician, and gigged with the same acoustic electric for twenty years. He had a couple of other electrics for playing around with, but his working instrument never changed. On the other side, look at Sonic Youth. Those guys travel with dozens of guitars, and often switch to a specific axe between each song.

I, on the other hand, clearly see the collector appeal. They are pretty, fun and really not all that expensive.
 
I've settled on the fact that not all ukuleles are created equally, and so I have a few of them. I justify it by telling myself that each of them sound quite different. I have a D tuned soprano, two concerts, a low-g tenor, a 6 string, and an electric. All of them make very different sounds. The only duplicate is a fluke concert, but it's built to knock around with, where my mainland concert sounds better, but I wouldn't dare drag it around like I do with my fluke. I actually bounce back and forth between them in spurts. They get, for the most part, pretty evenly played, because no two are alike.
 
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