Ukes - The Ultimate Companions

Hello! I'm new to the boards of course and about 10 months new to playing ukes. I produce steampunk music as Escape the Clouds.

Ukes are the most fun, amazing instrument I've ever played. I've put my hands on a lot of gear over the past 15 years - guitar, bass, percussion, synths, sequencers - but ukes are special things. They deserve so much respect.

In those 10 months I've acquired three ukes:

• Kala Baritone KA-B: This was the first one I bought, and still overall my favorite. It's my sketchbook, my practice uke, and a gateway to inspiration. I take this guy everywhere with me locally - to work, to the beach, etc.
• Eleuke Electric Mahogany Baritone: The most recent addition, I bought it mainly for recording purposes. It's a trip to play and looks very, very cool. I also like the compactness of the solid body and the convenience of the MP3 input and headphone output.
• Mahalo LP Acoustic-Electric Soprano: Yeah... I know, but I didn't want to invest a lot when learning the high G. The intonation is pretty sucky and it doesn't like to hold tune, but I still like it in spite of its flaws. It's gone halfway around the world with me to Hawaii and I've played it at the summit of Mauna Kea (hands... freezing...).

I'm hoping to learn more and more about technique and styles and history here on these boards. Ukes have become an integral part of my songwriting process, but I've got a long way to go. I'm eager to expand my knowledge and share back and forth with all of you.

If you have a minute, check out my music at http://www.EscapeTheClouds.com . About half of the songs on the new CD Until the End were written on my baritone ukes. My music's a weird blend of world, electronic, and industrial, and the ukes fit in like they were meant to be there. Songs with recorded ukes include "Until the End" (Kala), "Cogs and Queens" (Mahalo), "The Sins of the Godly" (Kala), "Warriors Without a War" (Eleuke), and "Little Revolutions" (Eleuke).

Any success I have from that CD, I attribute to the Uke and its unparalleled awesomeness.

Take care everyone,

Mark R.

Wow,great site. Welcome. Look forward to hearing more of your music.

Welcome to UU Mark!

your music is epic! i love it! Was any of the music from your previous releases inspired by the uke? Or did you pick it up after those?
I think we all here agree with you about the ukuleles supreme awesomeness and versitility. who woulda thought?

Ukes are the Golden Retreivers of instruments. Always there for you with unconditional love.

Welcome to UU!

wolfybau said:

your music is epic! i love it! Was any of the music from your previous releases inspired by the uke? Or did you pick it up after those?
I think we all here agree with you about the ukuleles supreme awesomeness and versitility. who woulda thought?

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Thank you! And jeez, sorry it took so long to reply. I went away for a while, this post dropped off, and just now I realized that you can search for your old threads!

I bought my first uke right after my second CD (Circumnavigator) so no ukes on anything before Until the End. However, I've since rearranged a couple of the songs from Circumnavigator ("Captain Morena" and "Mechanical Masquerade") for the baritone uke.

I've got a little rig going on, where I play my baritone Eleuke into a Line 6 Pocket Pod. Into the Pod's CD/MP3 input I've connected my ancient Boss DR-5 drum machine. The drum machine has two foot pedal inputs, so I have one setup as a bass drum pedal (like a stomp box) and the other as a ride cymbal. That way I can accompany myself live.