Everyone's a wise guy.

[kvehe]

This must be Insult-the-Ukulele Week.

On Wednesday, my uke instructor (the uke instructor!) told me that you don't have to ever change strings on a uke because no matter what you do, they always sound dead. (Note to self: forget the private lessons and stick with Internet instruction and give him a Pono/Mainland/Boat Paddle/KoAloha/take-your-pick as a parting gift.)

Also on Wednesday, my guitar instructor told me that if I brought in a uke, he'd teach me some chords and how to strum. "It's really easy," he said. I told him that what I wanted to do, rather than strum, was play classical music on the uke. He told me (implying by his tone that I'm an idiot) that you can't do that because of the limited range. (Note to self: show him what I can already do.)

Thursday morning, a colleague's iPhone was playing "You Can't Always Get What You Want". I told her that we had worked on that song in my uke lesson the evening before, and that next week we're moving on to "Gimme Shelter". She said, "Are you *still* taking lessons? How could you not know how to play the uke after all this time? It only has four strings, right?" (Note to self: consider the source.)

Thank you for listening to me whine, and have a wonderful uke-filled weekend.

 

[sukie]

Hahahaha......idiots.


And I don't even like that word.

 

[janeray1940]

I've just got... no words about the first two points*, but after almost 6 years, I get the "still taking lessons" comment quite a lot. And I never quite know how to answer it other than a comment along the lines of "it's fairly easy to learn to play and fairly hard to learn to play well, and - I'm only interested in the latter."

*Idiots. Yeah, that.

 

[KohanMike]

Just to post an opposite experience I had recently, my nephew, who is a very accomplished guitarist and film composer, said to me the other day after I played "Sway" on my uke while just sitting around "You're getting much better, sounds really good."

 

[Rllink]

I've just got... no words about the first two points*, but after almost 6 years, I get the "still taking lessons" comment quite a lot. And I never quite know how to answer it other than a comment along the lines of "it's fairly easy to learn to play and fairly hard to learn to play well, and - I'm only interested in the latter."

*Idiots. Yeah, that.

I do find those first two responses strange, considering where they are coming from, but for a lot of people who do not have any experience with ukuleles, or music for that matter, when the topic comes up in conversation they just have to respond in some way, so they do. You can either educate them, and most of them couldn't care less, or you can take it for what it is, and move on. But, I get similar comments once in a while. I just try not to talk much about ukuleles to people, just because they don't care, and their responses to the subject are usually ignorant. And that really isn't their fault.

 

[janeray1940]

I just try not to talk much about ukuleles to people, just because they don't care, and their responses to the subject are usually ignorant. And that really isn't their fault.

Very true, and I do the same - I talk ukulele with other ukulele people but few others, even fellow musicians who play instruments other than uke.

I have a friend who I call the "ukulele ambassador" because within moments of meeting someone, she more often than not will somehow fit ukulele into the conversation - which I think is great, but I think I just lack the patience she has to educate people. I mean, most of the time when I do bring up the uke topic with non-uke people, they immediately come to the Tiny Tim/Train/Iz/maaaaaybe Zooey Deschanel (or other "cute girl with glasses who is more of a vocalist than a player") conclusion, none of which is remotely close to what I do - and I get a bit weary of explaining myself. So I don't, which I suppose makes me part of the problem rather than the solution...

 

[Rllink]

Very true, and I do the same - I talk ukulele with other ukulele people but few others, even fellow musicians who play instruments other than uke.

I have a friend who I call the "ukulele ambassador" because within moments of meeting someone, she more often than not will somehow fit ukulele into the conversation - which I think is great, but I think I just lack the patience she has to educate people. I mean, most of the time when I do bring up the uke topic with non-uke people, they immediately come to the Tiny Tim/Train/Iz/maaaaaybe Zooey Deschanel (or other "cute girl with glasses who is more of a vocalist than a player") conclusion, none of which is remotely close to what I do - and I get a bit weary of explaining myself. So I don't, which I suppose makes me part of the problem rather than the solution...

I have a friend who is passionate about duck hunting. It comes up in almost every conversation with him. He invites me to go duck hunting with him in the fall, almost every time we talk. I have no interest in duck hunting, and the last thing I want to do is go out and sit in a boat with him and his wet dog, waiting for a duck to come by, so that I can shoot it. But he lives for it, and that is OK. When I start going on about ukuleles, I try to think about how I react to my friend's never ending chatter about duck hunting, and try to adjust my display of enthusiasm accordingly. But he describes himself as the "ambassador of duck hunting". He thinks the whole world would be better, if we all just went duck hunting. You know, that is just human nature I guess.

 

[MickeyD]

That's great about the duck hunting. It is important to not discount people's interests when they don't match yours. Important, but not always easy.

When I was bragging to an old coworker that I was about to purchase a Breedlove Masterclass Ukulele (!!), my bass playing coworker snorted and said something along the lines of "they make ukuleles more than $100? They're toys!". It kinda blew my mind that even another instrumentalist would just kinda dismiss it so easily. Eh, I just laugh to myself and move on with my day.

 

[CeeJay]

That's great about the duck hunting. It is important to not discount people's interests when they don't match yours. Important, but not always easy.

When I was bragging to an old coworker that I was about to purchase a Breedlove Masterclass Ukulele (!!), my bass playing coworker snorted and said something along the lines of "they make ukuleles more than $100? They're toys!". It kinda blew my mind that even another instrumentalist would just kinda dismiss it so easily. Eh, I just laugh to myself and move on with my day.

Anyone who plays a fish is going to be a bit odd.....


But we have to remember that not everybody shares each others passions and interests . So I think that those who go to the popular/well known examples of uke players aren't being rude.

That's just all they know and are desperately trying to fulfil the role of the listener in the conversation.

I can clearly understand the dudgeon coming from the first posters comment , especially the moron who is allegedly a Ukulele tutor.

Dingbats like the guitar tutor giving it large my immediate answer would be...especially if they are armed with a guitar...just point to the four strings, the DGBE at the Fifth fret and say " Well from there up the ukulele is all that , so how is that a limited range then ? More Challenging, arguably."

If you want, you could get his name wrong and call him Dick , unless of course that is his name. In which case his parents had great foresight.
If it's a female tutor,all the above but just add a tut....


:biglaugh:

 

[peanuts56]

When someone starts ragging on me about the ukulele I show them a youtube video of Jake or James Hill or any of the other masters and that usually shuts them up. One other video I show to my disbelievers is not Uke related but involves the Balalaika. The individuals name is Alexi Arkhipovsky (not sure on the spelling) and he's absolutely amazing.He does more with three strings than is believable. One of the youtube videos is called Balalaika Amok. If you have a few minutes check him out. There's also a great video of him doing Mozart's Turkish March with Tommy Emmanuel.

 

[philpot]

I was contracted to teach lessons at a local music store, but they never got around to assigning me students because in their view, their existing guitar instructors are just as good at teaching ukulele as I would be, and the uke is just "intro to guitar" anyways. It's amazing how accomplished musicians can perpetuate the stereotypes. I tried to convey that the way I teach ukulele is uke-specific, and while there are lots of things that transfer over, there are things about uke that are unique to the instrument. But I can't change the fact that they view the uke as cutesy and non-serious. The best I can do is keep going to local open mic nights and proving that I can hang with the local guitar players and hope that I can turn some people on to the uke that way.

 

[CeeJay]

When someone starts ragging on me about the ukulele I show them a youtube video of Jake or James Hill or any of the other masters and that usually shuts them up. One other video I show to my disbelievers is not Uke related but involves the Balalaika. The individuals name is Alexi Arkhipovsky (not sure on the spelling) and he's absolutely amazing.He does more with three strings than is believable. One of the youtube videos is called Balalaika Amok. If you have a few minutes check him out. There's also a great video of him doing Mozart's Turkish March with Tommy Emmanuel.

PS If you want to astonish people even more with the balalaika only having three strings explain that two of them are tuned the same....
EEA .....it is essentialy half a Ukulele.

 

[Uke Republic]

There always seems to be the dismayed.
At our store we have lots of folks that walk in and are shocked how much variety there is in ukuleles and how nice they sound. Most are very nice and interested but on occasion you get the individual thats almost angry that these are not toys and no we don't really carry any other instruments. They sometimes leave telling us smug like " Good luck" and I retort gracefully that we have been in the business of ukuleles for over eight years. Who knows, someday they might come back in and become ukulele converts

 

[k0k0peli]

Nobody insults my 'ukes or mandos. BUt I'm 6'4" / 190cm tall and otherwise rather imposing. I don't get mugged, either. Sometimes I carry my 1994 Martin Backpacker guitar in its gig bag -- which looks rather like a shotgun case. Again, I get no snide comments, just casual sliding away. Maybe it's the machete at my belt...

 

[kvehe]

Dingbats like the guitar tutor giving it large my immediate answer would be...especially if they are armed with a guitar...just point to the four strings, the DGBE at the Fifth fret and say " Well from there up the ukulele is all that , so how is that a limited range then ? More Challenging, arguably."

That is, pretty much, what I did tell him - more challenging.

 

[Rllink]

When someone starts ragging on me about the ukulele I show them a youtube video of Jake or James Hill or any of the other masters and that usually shuts them up. One other video I show to my disbelievers is not Uke related but involves the Balalaika. The individuals name is Alexi Arkhipovsky (not sure on the spelling) and he's absolutely amazing.He does more with three strings than is believable. One of the youtube videos is called Balalaika Amok. If you have a few minutes check him out. There's also a great video of him doing Mozart's Turkish March with Tommy Emmanuel.

Question, what prompts people to rag on you about your ukulele so much so, and to the extent, that you are compelled to take them somewhere that they can see videos of famous ukulele players? Not trying to be a smart aleck, I'm just curious.

 

[Dan Uke]

doesn't bother me. Stay calm and uke on.

 

[MickeyD]

Anyone who plays a fish is going to be a bit odd.....




:biglaugh:

When I saw that comment I thought about these pictures, even though they aren't fish.

 

[Jeffelele]

Oh the humanity! (I've always wanted to say that. Thanks for giving me the shot.)

Jeff

 

[coolkayaker1]

Typical reaction of a guitarist when first seeing Jake Shim.