Chris Tarman
Well-known member
We had a block party this evening in our yard. We have some neighbors down the street who are very good Bluegrass musicians (and so are their now-adult kids... one just released a CD of all-original tunes... her name is Ashleigh Caudill and the CD is called "Fruit of the Vine" and you should definitely check it out.. shameless plug).... anyway, the parents play guitar and mandolin. After we ate and visited for a while, they came in to see my ukes. The husband had to get back home, but the wife stayed and used my guitar. We sat out on the front steps and played bluegrass tunes (her on my old Yamaha acoustic, me on my Martin Style 2). It was dark, so we couldn't see the other people out in the yard really, but I think there were still 10 or so. We played a lot of things I didn't know (sorry, but most Bluegrass sounds the same to me), but did do a few things I had heard, like "I'll Fly Away" and some Allison Kraus songs. It was fun, and it was really the first time I have a) sat in on uke with a guitarist and b) played uke in front of an audience (other than one song with one of my bands where I play uke at the beginning and switch mid-song to bass... see my photos on my profile page!). It was cool to see that I am now thinking in "uke" terms more than bass terms. I am used to picking up chords by watching guitarists' hands when I play bass, but I didn't have too much trouble mentally "transposing" the guitar chords into uke chords. I am really at the stage where I'd progress faster if I played with other people. I need to try to do that more. I think I need a better amplifiable uke, since most of the people I know to play with play pretty loud at open mic night things!
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