webby
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2011
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First of all, before you all start heading for the reply button in an air clawing rage, I think the Ukulele is a great little instrument, is heaps of fun to play, great way to introduce kids to music, an I am glad picked one up and took it a bit seriously there for a while.
But.... I am a guitar player, I have spent 38 of my 44 years on this planet learning to be a good guitarist, it's my main instrument, even though I can play a few other instruments semi well (sax, piano, percussion etc..), the guitar has always and will always be my instrument of choice and my greatest musical love.
So where does the Ukulele fit in to this picture, I'm speaking purely from a personal point of view but the uke is nothing more really than a cool extra thing to be able to play a few tunes on, it's fun, it's got its place in a band (a limited place but on the occasional song it really works well).
As for mastering it, I don't really want to, I just wanted to be able to play one reasonable confidently, Ukes had always baffled me, Firstly for decades one very rarely came across one, and when you did it was either an unstrung antique wreck in some pawn shop or a 15,000 dollar piece of 1920's art that someone had dragged along to the antiques roadshow or a 20 dollar bright pink toy that was unplayable.
So when a friend of mine started raving about ukes a year ago, I barely lifted an eyebrow for the first couple of weeks, then he kept on raving about them, he got himself a few and started playing them on skype at me, and eventually drove 200 miles to place one in my hands and say "have that for a while, its the only way you will understand".
Well, I got hooked, as soon as I worked out that all my guitar chords worked out and pretty much you could just ignore the high G at first then I really got into it. I went searching on the web and found this community and of course all the standard youtube acts that are the top of the tree, jake and iz and such like.
So now, after 6 months of practice, and my wallet a few hundred dollars lighter after buying a few different cheapies, an eleuke, a nice concert for the wife and a bunch of dolphins for kids and teaching, where am I left as musician ?
Where is my uke playing going ?
well its jumped the shark with me I'm afraid, I played my guitar again this week after abandoning it pretty much totally for ages, and I really see and feel the difference as a player in the level of satisfaction each instrument gives me, the uke makes me happy and up, in a real fun mood, but nailing a piece like drifting on the guitar with no mistakes is 100 times more exhilarating and satisfying musically than anything I've done on the uke.
So the uke will always get thrown in with all the other gear whenever I go to play, just because Its kinda cool to be able to pull it out at the appropriate moment and bang out a good swing tune or a uke classic or two, but if I want to play the Beatles, I'll fingerpick it on six strings thanks, and If I want to accompany a vocalist or sit in as a part of the jazz rhythm section or skank along with reggae, I'll take the guitar thanks.
It's been great learning the basics on the uke, but I don't wanna waste/spend any more time dicking around with what is never in reality going to be more than a novelty thing for me, its like having a tambourine or maracas in the kit bag.
So for that reason, i don't want to spend any more money on them, I have a perfectly good uke that I spent 300 bucks on, and even that is a bit over the top, a dolphin would have done, wish i'd bought one of them first actually.
Like I'm not going to go out and buy a 1000 dollar tambourine, any more than I'm going to buy a 1000 dollar uke, its total overkill imo unless you ARE up to Jakes standard or aspire to be.
So thanks everyone for all the info and help and support I have gotten in this group over the last few months as I was learning, and I will be continuing to push for every school kid under 10 to have access to a uke, but as for me personally, I'm a guitar player again, sorry guys.
best regards to all
webby
But.... I am a guitar player, I have spent 38 of my 44 years on this planet learning to be a good guitarist, it's my main instrument, even though I can play a few other instruments semi well (sax, piano, percussion etc..), the guitar has always and will always be my instrument of choice and my greatest musical love.
So where does the Ukulele fit in to this picture, I'm speaking purely from a personal point of view but the uke is nothing more really than a cool extra thing to be able to play a few tunes on, it's fun, it's got its place in a band (a limited place but on the occasional song it really works well).
As for mastering it, I don't really want to, I just wanted to be able to play one reasonable confidently, Ukes had always baffled me, Firstly for decades one very rarely came across one, and when you did it was either an unstrung antique wreck in some pawn shop or a 15,000 dollar piece of 1920's art that someone had dragged along to the antiques roadshow or a 20 dollar bright pink toy that was unplayable.
So when a friend of mine started raving about ukes a year ago, I barely lifted an eyebrow for the first couple of weeks, then he kept on raving about them, he got himself a few and started playing them on skype at me, and eventually drove 200 miles to place one in my hands and say "have that for a while, its the only way you will understand".
Well, I got hooked, as soon as I worked out that all my guitar chords worked out and pretty much you could just ignore the high G at first then I really got into it. I went searching on the web and found this community and of course all the standard youtube acts that are the top of the tree, jake and iz and such like.
So now, after 6 months of practice, and my wallet a few hundred dollars lighter after buying a few different cheapies, an eleuke, a nice concert for the wife and a bunch of dolphins for kids and teaching, where am I left as musician ?
Where is my uke playing going ?
well its jumped the shark with me I'm afraid, I played my guitar again this week after abandoning it pretty much totally for ages, and I really see and feel the difference as a player in the level of satisfaction each instrument gives me, the uke makes me happy and up, in a real fun mood, but nailing a piece like drifting on the guitar with no mistakes is 100 times more exhilarating and satisfying musically than anything I've done on the uke.
So the uke will always get thrown in with all the other gear whenever I go to play, just because Its kinda cool to be able to pull it out at the appropriate moment and bang out a good swing tune or a uke classic or two, but if I want to play the Beatles, I'll fingerpick it on six strings thanks, and If I want to accompany a vocalist or sit in as a part of the jazz rhythm section or skank along with reggae, I'll take the guitar thanks.
It's been great learning the basics on the uke, but I don't wanna waste/spend any more time dicking around with what is never in reality going to be more than a novelty thing for me, its like having a tambourine or maracas in the kit bag.
So for that reason, i don't want to spend any more money on them, I have a perfectly good uke that I spent 300 bucks on, and even that is a bit over the top, a dolphin would have done, wish i'd bought one of them first actually.
Like I'm not going to go out and buy a 1000 dollar tambourine, any more than I'm going to buy a 1000 dollar uke, its total overkill imo unless you ARE up to Jakes standard or aspire to be.
So thanks everyone for all the info and help and support I have gotten in this group over the last few months as I was learning, and I will be continuing to push for every school kid under 10 to have access to a uke, but as for me personally, I'm a guitar player again, sorry guys.
best regards to all
webby
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