Was John King's "Classical Ukulele" arranged with a certain Uke scale in mind?
I am asking, because when I tried to look over one of the songs, I noticed a 2nd to 8th fret stretch at one point. Looking down at the fretboard of my baritone, I saw that this was not to be. Not now, maybe not ever.
Now, I am the happy owner of an Anuenue papa I Long neck. Experimenting with my 9 year old son's Soprano, I could almost make that stretch, and see it as a possibility. Also, many of the other positions were much easier. ( read, at least theoretically possible for me someday.) hence, the purchase of the long neck soprano, since some of the music requires more than 12 fets. I find the strings easier to play on the soprano as opposed to the tenor, and the baritone also when it is tuned gCEA. Might that be because of greater tension on the longer scales? I really noticed it when I took my baritone back up to try the gCEA tuning again. It seemed like the strings felt harder than when I had it dGBE.
Do folks take into account the fretboard dimensions when arranging music? It seems like an obvious question, but I wonder if Mr. King took advantage of the smaller dimensions of the Uke to make music that otherwise would not have been possible. Or, am I just a stubby fingered lazy man? I was somewhat alarmed that I might be hindered by my instrument itself, in my desire to play this music.
I any case, I am more interested in playing music than achieving great feats of finger stretching. Although i am willing to work on that too.
The happy result is that I have a nice new uke, and playing the music from this fine book will likely happen sooner with the long neck than with my baritone.
take care,
Tom
I am asking, because when I tried to look over one of the songs, I noticed a 2nd to 8th fret stretch at one point. Looking down at the fretboard of my baritone, I saw that this was not to be. Not now, maybe not ever.
Now, I am the happy owner of an Anuenue papa I Long neck. Experimenting with my 9 year old son's Soprano, I could almost make that stretch, and see it as a possibility. Also, many of the other positions were much easier. ( read, at least theoretically possible for me someday.) hence, the purchase of the long neck soprano, since some of the music requires more than 12 fets. I find the strings easier to play on the soprano as opposed to the tenor, and the baritone also when it is tuned gCEA. Might that be because of greater tension on the longer scales? I really noticed it when I took my baritone back up to try the gCEA tuning again. It seemed like the strings felt harder than when I had it dGBE.
Do folks take into account the fretboard dimensions when arranging music? It seems like an obvious question, but I wonder if Mr. King took advantage of the smaller dimensions of the Uke to make music that otherwise would not have been possible. Or, am I just a stubby fingered lazy man? I was somewhat alarmed that I might be hindered by my instrument itself, in my desire to play this music.
I any case, I am more interested in playing music than achieving great feats of finger stretching. Although i am willing to work on that too.
The happy result is that I have a nice new uke, and playing the music from this fine book will likely happen sooner with the long neck than with my baritone.
take care,
Tom