Ukulele Purists

sweetdemise

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 13, 2011
Messages
101
Reaction score
0
Location
Minnesota
It seems like there is a lot of purism around the ukulele. Some people may not consider anything bigger than a soprano to be an uke. Or others may bet set that the uke must have a high g, or standard tuning. I'm sure a lot of these comments are jokes but as a musician it baffles me. A baritone uke is just as much of an uke as a soprano. They may sound different but they both are ukuleles. Just as a singer that sings high is just as much of a singer as one that sings low. Don't get me wrong, I love the bright warm sounds of sopranos, but I also love the rich, deep sound you get from a baritone. I don't know if I feel this way because I play multiple instruments, such as guitar, piano, drums ect... but heres my question. What defines an ukulele? Is it tuning, is it size, what makes an ukulele an ukulele to you?
 
Serious (dictionary.reference.com)

u·ku·le·le
noun
a small, guitarlike musical instrument associated chiefly with Hawaiian music.




Not so serious (urbandictionary)

ukulele
a child-sized guitar that obese Hawaiian's and secretly gay men play when they are tempted to eat cheeseburgers or think of man love.
 
but heres my question. What defines an ukulele? Is it tuning, is it size, what makes an ukulele an ukulele to you?

Four strings and a good time.

Oh, and also that whole thing about fat guys with tiny instruments or secret gay man stuff. That, too.
 
It seems like there is a lot of purism around the ukulele. Some people may not consider anything bigger than a soprano to be an uke. Or others may bet set that the uke must have a high g, or standard tuning.

I'd say there are a lot of people with particular preferences (re-entrant vs linear tuning, soprano vs tenor, matte finish vs gloss, koa vs mahogany vs exotic wood combinations) and they like to tease each other about their preferences. They are all "real" ukuleles, even baritones. :)
 
I'd say there are a lot of people with particular preferences (re-entrant vs linear tuning, soprano vs tenor, matte finish vs gloss, koa vs mahogany vs exotic wood combinations) and they like to tease each other about their preferences. They are all "real" ukuleles, even baritones. :)

This. I tease baritone players incessantly, but the one time I've played one for myself I LOVED it. It's all preference, and the teasing follows :p
 
What with the plethora of variations on the theme of "ukulele", it will be difficult for me to offer a 'definition/description' suffice it to say, if I can tune it to GCEA and have fun playing it, then
it's a ukulele (or uke-like) to me.

My preference is for Soprano and Concert scales, but I also want a more mellow tone, without
having to use a low G - although I'm not strictly opposed to doing so.

keep uke'in',
 
I always find uke purists to be hilarious and not in a good way. If it is x y and z, only then is it a uke. Otherwise it's a small guitar.. Guitar said as a swear word. The uke itself is derivative, so being a purist about something derivative is a bit insane IMO. Also, without fail, a self-defined uke purist always looks in need of something removed from the posterior orifice. I've met plenty, and they're all the same. They act like baroque music theorists on the issue. No wait, theorists have more sense of humor.

Sure we might have preferences, but if you don the tweed coat and glasses at the end of your nose while discussing passionately what a proper uke is, it's time to check yourself, and learn to relax with a good uke... That has ears.
 
When does a violin become a viola?
When does a tenor guitar become a uke lol.
or is a parlor guitar a guitar and a tenor a big uke?
and on and on someone sometime set parameters on it all im sure but forgot to write it all down or did they lol.
I'm sure scale length counts and strings. 4 with 2 or 4 extra are still 4's same as a 12 string guitar is still a guitar .
hmmm can a real uke have steel strings ?
seems like real guitars have nylon lol.
And on n on adfinum. geeze is that spelled right ? lol
 
Luckily, we all agree on how to pronounce it.

:eek:

JJ
 
Ukulele is not so much an instrument as a state of mind. :cool:
 
I always find uke purists to be hilarious and not in a good way. If it is x y and z, only then is it a uke. Otherwise it's a small guitar.. Guitar said as a swear word.

I love guitars, but they're just too complicated for me, I tried and I failed. I gave my guitar away to a friend, bur before I did I removed the two outer string and tuned the remaining strings from ADGB to GCEA. The perfect hybrid with a fascinating sound.
 
Actually, I feel just the opposite - that there is very little elitism in the uke community. My word, you wanna talk about "purists" of any stripe just join almost any guitar forum!

I think it's normal to have one's preferences - in my case the longneck soprano tuned reentrant - and to jokingly describe other choices as somehow not measuring up. But, in the uke community that is just good natured fun while in other groups - especially guitar where there seem to be an awful lot of adolescent egos involved - I've seen flame wars over the brand of strings someone chooses!

But, just to make sure we understand each other...the longneck soprano is what God intended the ukulele to be. LOL

JOhn
 
Ever seen a uke club invite a luthier from another country... only for the members to get some booze in them and sneer and say "small guitars"? Yeah I guess other fretted instruments have this clique of people too, who consider themselves greater than, but you just don't see it in that often otherwise.

I thought that critics and those that think they are critics in the opera world were snooty (while the actual musicians are not). They have nothing on your garden variety purist. It's gotten to the point now that if someone labels themselves as such, I kind of distance myself. Maybe they don't stick to the stereotype, but they probably do.

But no matter what the instruments, the real musicians are too busy making music to care about all this other stuff.
 
Top Bottom