In Defense Of "Sounds Too Guitar Like"

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Magoosan

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I must admit I get tired of hearing the phrase "sounds too guitar like" as if its a bad thing. I, for one, prefer that sound and I'm not afraid to say it. Being a long time guitar player and using the uke strictly as an accompaniment for my vocals, that is the sound I look for. My primary instrument is a Pono MPT-E (spruce over maple) with Southcoast G-650 strings (flat wound G & C). It has a very full organic sound with great sustain. The uke allows me to do a lot of things with with jazz phrasing and more sophisticated chords that I could never do on guitar. Four strings with good action just makes it physically easier.

While we're at it, I say a uke set up this way sounds almost more piano like to me than guitar like.

What do you think??
 
While I've got to admit the traditional uke sound is growing on me - especially in an old-school jazz context - that is not what I'm looking for out of my tenor, either. I experimented with re-entrant tuning, but I prefer using a low G string. As a guitarist, I also play the uke like a 'little guitar', but, like Magoosan, love what it offers that the guitar doesn't - access to the 'top' 4 strings, without the bass, for interesting melodically voiced chords. I miss the extra strings when I'm trying to get a fuller sound, as with a solo Travis picking sort of thing, but usually end up trying to play the uke more like a mandolin. I usually play bluegrass, country, gospel, rock.... not the traditional uke repertoire... I think it's cool that this great instrument is being picked up and used by different people for whatever they want to play and hopefully it doesn't aggravate the purists too much....
 
I don't have a 6 string uke, but I've played with my Kamaka HF-3 tenor with MI-Si pickup (worth clear strings) plugged into a great sound system at a Music Festival in my city, and in the end of the test I decided to use an external microphone to prevent the sound stay like an acoustic or eletric guitar. I personally do not like the ukulele with any guitar sound. This week I bought a Fishman Aura pedal Spectrum VI, which comes with a new patch of six different sounds of ukulele to emulate. All sounds are based on a Mele tenor 4-string with spruce top and koa back and sides. What changes a sound image to another is the type of microphone that emulates the patch. I will test the Fishman aura sounds later this week (I think it's the first pedal of this type that works specifically with ukulele), then I say if I still think the natural sound of the ukulele is better than the sound guitar style in an amplify system.
 
I know, right? I'm having no luck finding an effects pedal to make it sound like an accordion.
 
An instrument should never be contained in one little genre. If you disagree, tell that to Ukelele Ike or Beirut. :)
 
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I like em all for different reasons. I like the "traditional" sound of a uke, that's why I have a soprano. I like the fuller tones too, that's why I have them all (except a bari) from Mini-sopranino-soprano-concert-tenor-banjole-steel string soid body electric-nylon string acustic/electric-amp and effects.. ;) I got most of it covered, (however yet to get one to sound like an acordian, or a bag pipe for that matter.. hehhe

p.s. Also from the long time roots of a Rickenbacker 4001, and Gibson Les Paul guitarist.. ;)
 
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Magoosan,
You're right, there is nothing "wrong" with "guitar like", especially with those Southcoast G-650 flatwounds, eh? They are a superb low g set.
 
When people come to me for a commission, I get varied responses to what they are looking for in tone. All the way from the traditional Hawaiian sound, or banjo/mandolin like to the latest where they want to play Baroque. There isn't any correct sound as far as I'm concerned. If they all sounded the same it would be a pretty boring instrument to play or build.
 
You all are right. it's all in the tone and sounds you are going for. Music can come from a washtub, 2x4 and a cotton chord if that's the sound you are going for. When I played guitar and bass, I choose what I choose for it's tone. I always loved the rich mellow tone of a Rickenbacker bass, but never liked the Rickenbacker guitars at all. For guitar my choice has always been the Gibson Les Paul, but even that varies depending on gear & setup. I've always loved the rich mellow bluesy growls a specifically set up Les Paul offers, but again, that all depends on how it is rigged and set up. I played with many Fenders, and never ragged on those, because they filled a tonal range that is needed as well that the Les Paul doesn't offer. Music in my opinion is like art, it's all subjective and what is pleasing to an individual. There is no right or wrong answer. (and by the way, I love the old blue grass tones that come from a washtub and 2x4 too ;))
 
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I often hear "it sounds too much like a guitar" from people who play the guitar as well as the ukulele. (Just yesterday, an ukulele player I know who is also a guitar player said he had been interested in getting a baritone ukulele but didn't see the point of doing so if it was going to sound like a guitar.) For many of these people, I believe the thinking is, "If I want an instrument that sounds like a guitar, I'll just play my guitar." For people like me, though, who didn't play the guitar before picking up the ukulele, being able to find an ukulele that sounds like a guitar is something of a blessing, because it permits me to get a guitar sound when I want it without having to learn another instrument.

I also agree with the comments people have made about having instruments with different voices for different purposes. If an instrument gives you the sound you want, you shouldn't care that it's "supposed to" sound like something else. I, for one, think Johann Sebastian Back would be impressed, not offended, by all the non-"traditional" music people have made using harsichords since Bach was writing music for harpsichord.
 
mds725 said:
...For many of these people, I believe the thinking is, "If I want an instrument that sounds like a guitar, I'll just play my guitar." ...
Click to expand...
Yep, for me that pretty much nails it. I don't have anything against others playing "guitar like" ukes - but for me it would be kind of silly when I have a whole stable full of guitars that need to be played more often than they are, anyway!

John
 
My ukuleles are all baritones and none of them sound like a guitar. All three of my baritones sound different from one another.
As Magoosan mentioned, I sing better with my ukuleles than my guitars. wish I knew why. lol
 
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I'm always finding it curious that people can get hung up over how someone else's instrument sounds. If the player likes it, then more power to the player -- an instrument that aids the player no matter what it is... is a heck of a lot more useful than an instrument that doesn't aid the player but is held in high esteem by mysterious temple guardians.
 
OldePhart said:
Yep, for me that pretty much nails it. I don't have anything against others playing "guitar like" ukes - but for me it would be kind of silly when I have a whole stable full of guitars that need to be played more often than they are, anyway!

John
Click to expand...

You play a ukulele and wear a funny hat but that's the thing that would be silly? Oh-kay. :D
 
To me, the ukulele and the guitar are two different animals. People use the term guitarish because it is the well known instrument, the point of reference. The point of reference for a ukulele is the traditional soprano sound. Anything that differs from this will be guitarish for many.
 
mds725 said:
I often hear "it sounds too much like a guitar" from people who play the guitar as well as the ukulele. For many of these people, I believe the thinking is, "If I want an instrument that sounds like a guitar, I'll just play my guitar." For people like me, though, who didn't play the guitar before picking up the ukulele, being able to find an ukulele that sounds like a guitar is something of a blessing, because it permits me to get a guitar sound when I want it without having to learn another instrument.
Click to expand...

I've gotten the "it sounds too much like a guitar" attitude mostly from ukulele players.

I'm another who learned the uke without knowing guitar. When I was 15 and first picked up the uke, my goal was to play songs I liked, not the hits of the 1920s. The plink of my Martin soprano was not the sound I was looking for. I later tried learning guitar, but was too used to the small size of the uke -- I couldn't stretch my hands enough to make the guitar chords. It was like a revelation when I first heard someone play a Kawika tenor that had a guitar-like sound and was strung with classical guitar strings. I couldn't get one fast enough. Now the songs come out sounding to others a lot more like the way I hear them in my head.
 
Allen said:
When people come to me for a commission, I get varied responses to what they are looking for in tone. All the way from the traditional Hawaiian sound, or banjo/mandolin like to the latest where they want to play Baroque. There isn't any correct sound as far as I'm concerned. If they all sounded the same it would be a pretty boring instrument to play or build.
Click to expand...

I've really been getting into play Baroque music lately...
...generally speaking, what size/wood/string combo lends to a more fitting sound for this kind of music?
 
coriandre said:
To me, the ukulele and the guitar are two different animals. People use the term guitarish because it is the well known instrument, the point of reference. The point of reference for a ukulele is the traditional soprano sound. Anything that differs from this will be guitarish for many.
Click to expand...

Very well stated
 
i like the hawaiian typical sound for hawaiian-ish tunes wich are funny to me :)


.... but the ukes i play the most are tuned in low-G and i use them as tiny guitars, cuz i like it that way :D


and i do not believe that playing the ukulele in front as an audience is a "lazy choice" or "easy way" it's just arranging the song for a different instrument,

the ukule isn't trapped into the "hawaiian traditional songs" category to me, and it's not a toy to just entertain yourself at home, it's a music instrument and it plays music, any music you can make it do if you have the talent to, ghettos are bad !
 
Having never played a guitar seriously (the only time I've played is in music class back in school and we never did much) I don't think it "sounds like a guitar" as least to me they don't, they sound like Ukuleles! That's my reference point, I've heard Baritones and don't think they sound like guitars either, they don't sound like my sopranos, but they're not meant to. It's all personal preference, personal choice, what kind of music you want to make etc.

:music:
 
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