kissing
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2009
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***RANT ALERT***
Straight to the point - I like a variety of ukuleles.
These include ukuleles that deviate a bit from traditional ukuleles.
I like my steel string electric ukuleles with magnetic pickups. I like my baritone ukulele tuned GCEA an octave down.
But it doesn't mean I have anything against traditional ukes either. In my collection of about 15 or so ukes (I'm losing count), I have both "normal" acoustic ukes as well as some non-standard ones.
However, there seem to be some people out there who feel that it is their place to scoff at non-traditional designs and claim they're not ukuleles. That's fine, if that's their opinion, I can respect that. I'm not here to say people aren't free to express their opinions.
However, I can't help but wonder whether such hostility and narrow-mindedness is necessary?
Ok, let's talk about being "traditional".
Analogy 1:
Ukuleles originally used gut strings.
Therefore, a traditional ukulele should use gut strings, as nylon, nylgut and fluorocarbon are modern innovations. Anyone claiming that non-traditional ukes are not ukes should only use gut strings. And they should only tune to D-tuning too, since C-tuning is a later development also.
Analogy 2:
Guitars were originally gut string instruments, then nylon string.
However, their "advancement" did not stop there. Steel strings were introduced, and later on magnetic pickups too, for a different sound to traditional gut-string and nylon string guitars.
Should the ukulele always be frozen in the gut/nylon-string era?
Analogy 3:
Why do some traditionalists feel "threatened" by new innovations?
It's not like electric ukes are going to plague and ruin ukuleles. I mean c'mon, do they "own" the ukulele? Is the ukulele some snobby corporation? The ukulele is about playing music. Electric ukes may not be their cup of tea, but others may feel a need for it to play certain styles of music. Who is anyone to judge?
A common thing some traditionalist nazi's like to say is "Go play an electric guitar instead". Well then I would like to tell those people, "Go play classical guitar instead then". No, an electric uke is not the same as an electric guitar. They are similar... only to the extent that a uke is similar to classical guitar.
Anyway, this is just my view.
I think new kinds of ukuleles should be encouraged. I don't believe in the snobbish resistance for all ukuleles to be traditional-only. Afterall, an instrument is an instrument. If there is a musician out there who feels at home with a particular instrument, why should anyone else judge and condemn?
Straight to the point - I like a variety of ukuleles.
These include ukuleles that deviate a bit from traditional ukuleles.
I like my steel string electric ukuleles with magnetic pickups. I like my baritone ukulele tuned GCEA an octave down.
But it doesn't mean I have anything against traditional ukes either. In my collection of about 15 or so ukes (I'm losing count), I have both "normal" acoustic ukes as well as some non-standard ones.
However, there seem to be some people out there who feel that it is their place to scoff at non-traditional designs and claim they're not ukuleles. That's fine, if that's their opinion, I can respect that. I'm not here to say people aren't free to express their opinions.
However, I can't help but wonder whether such hostility and narrow-mindedness is necessary?
Ok, let's talk about being "traditional".
Analogy 1:
Ukuleles originally used gut strings.
Therefore, a traditional ukulele should use gut strings, as nylon, nylgut and fluorocarbon are modern innovations. Anyone claiming that non-traditional ukes are not ukes should only use gut strings. And they should only tune to D-tuning too, since C-tuning is a later development also.
Analogy 2:
Guitars were originally gut string instruments, then nylon string.
However, their "advancement" did not stop there. Steel strings were introduced, and later on magnetic pickups too, for a different sound to traditional gut-string and nylon string guitars.
Should the ukulele always be frozen in the gut/nylon-string era?
Analogy 3:
Why do some traditionalists feel "threatened" by new innovations?
It's not like electric ukes are going to plague and ruin ukuleles. I mean c'mon, do they "own" the ukulele? Is the ukulele some snobby corporation? The ukulele is about playing music. Electric ukes may not be their cup of tea, but others may feel a need for it to play certain styles of music. Who is anyone to judge?
A common thing some traditionalist nazi's like to say is "Go play an electric guitar instead". Well then I would like to tell those people, "Go play classical guitar instead then". No, an electric uke is not the same as an electric guitar. They are similar... only to the extent that a uke is similar to classical guitar.
Anyway, this is just my view.
I think new kinds of ukuleles should be encouraged. I don't believe in the snobbish resistance for all ukuleles to be traditional-only. Afterall, an instrument is an instrument. If there is a musician out there who feels at home with a particular instrument, why should anyone else judge and condemn?
Last edited:
