What exactly is ukulele bass?

Vindelanda · May 18, 2010

Sorry for the probably dumb question, but what exactly is a ukulele bass?
Is it a bass, but ukulele-sized and tuned GCEA? Or is it something completely different?
They seem really cool, but I'm pretty clueless.
Thanks so much!

GrumpyCoyote · May 18, 2010

Vindelanda said:
Sorry for the probably dumb question, but what exactly is a ukulele bass?
Is it a bass, but ukulele-sized and tuned GCEA? Or is it something completely different?
They seem really cool, but I'm pretty clueless.
Thanks so much!

Ukulele Bass - like the recent Kala U-bass and the previous RoadToad are modern inventions. They are just ukulele sized bass guitars. They use special rubber strings to achieve the standard bass tuning of EADG on a VERY small scale neck. They are not tuned like ukes.

They are based loosely on an older electric only design, the "Ashbory Bass" - which was very close in scale and used silicone strings.

I think they both sound great - and make killer conversation pieces and perfect travel basses. But I would not recommend them for learning the bass. The short scale and odd configuration coupled with the super stretchy and "roll-y" strings mean you'll be learning tons of bad habits to compensate.

For moderately experienced bass players though - they are inexpensive and very playable. They sound great even through a small amp and the tone is surprisingly close to an upright.

nscafe · May 18, 2010

I've never heard of these, but there are a couple of sound clips here: http://www.roadtoadmusic.com/Soundclips.html

Pretty interesting stuff.

penster · May 18, 2010

GrumpyCoyote said:
I think they both sound great - and make killer conversation pieces and perfect travel basses. But I would not recommend them for learning the bass.

Agreed. I tried out the fretless U Bass and it was excellent. It did sound very like an acoustic bass. A surprisingly full sound. I suppose you could learn to play it from scratch but it is an easy conversion for a bass player.
Penster

JT_Ukes · May 18, 2010

Vindelanda said:
Sorry for the probably dumb question, but what exactly is a ukulele bass?
Is it a bass, but ukulele-sized and tuned GCEA? Or is it something completely different?
They seem really cool, but I'm pretty clueless.
Thanks so much!

It's a fish that plays a ukulele duh.

What exactly is ukulele bass?

Vindelanda

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GrumpyCoyote

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nscafe

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penster

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JT_Ukes

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