moddy from Berlin

moddy

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Hello,

I'm a Uke ... more or less... beginner.
I got a cheap Concert uke online last december and since then, I had phases in which I've been lazy, but mostly, I've had to take it out of the bag and practice at least a tiny bit on most days. I really really enjoy it!

I will add a bit more about me later, I'll have to hurr now unfortunately. I just wanted to say at least hello here, since I posted a question in the forum.

All the best to you, see you soon,
Dominique from Berlin, Germany
 
Hi and welcome to the forum! Glad to see more people from Germany enjoying the ukulele (I'm in Switzerland myself).
 
Hi and welcome, Dominique. Berlin's a good place to be for a ukulele -- there seems to be a sizable community of other players there.

I'm relatively far in the south-west from you, close to the French border. Like you, I also have those phases where I play very little, sometimes not at all, and then periods where I play quite a bit and every day. Trying to practice more regularly again, myself. :)
 
Thank you for the warm welcome!
I'll now add what I couldn't yesterday, because I suddenly was in a hurry...

Chronologically...
I started to practice the guitar years ago, but somehow I concentrated on things that weren't fun in the long run!

Then last autumn I thought about how and when to give my 4 year old son the opportunity to learn an instrument and which one and how to motivate him and so on.
So in some forum I found advices on starting with three string guitars and I checked the smaller guitar sizes and suddenly stumbled upon the advice
"instead of letting your son learn the guitar, why not start with the Ukulele" "It's just 4 strings and is smaller in size anyway"

So my plan was to restart learning myself, this time the Uke, and concentrate on things that are fun for me. And getting a Uke not too expensive that would not keep me from letting son try it out too whenever he would like to.
My first 45 EUro Concert Uke was so good, that I got the same model a bit later (as either a backup in case my son demolished mine or to give it to him in case he would like to learn it some day)

But the second copy was BAD. The chords I tried were not in tune, so I read lots about guitar setup.
In the next time I got a few more and sent most of them back. I learned that cheap chinese Ukes are sometimes great, often are nicely manufactured for the price, but much too often the bridge or the frets are placed not precisely enough. And stated Aquila strings sometimes are visibly and audibly different from the Originals (even if some had a badge!)
Sometimes, I could fix the problems, sometimes, I had to send them back.

So I am enjoying to fix cheap Ukes, and at the moment I'm quite happy with a Kmise Thinbody Zebrawood Tenor.
What I am learning is mostly songs I like, often Beatles songs or other popular stuff, easy playing techniques to slowly advance. I find it quite easy nowadays to find lessons on youtube with some song or technique that keep ne motivated, but I'm still struggling with singing and playing at the same time. :D

Sorry for the babble :)
Cheers,
Dominique

PS. @Rakelele: Where in Switherland are you if I may ask? I LOVE Switzerland and have some family there, mostly around lake Zurich.

one more PS. @Mivo: are you possibly near an old ex-volcano and wineyards or more to the north? :)
 
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@Mivo: are you possibly near an old ex-volcano and wineyards or more to the north? :)

I'm surrounded by vineyards, in every direction, but there are no volcanoes near by, luckily! (Südliche Weinstraße)

Being able to fix cheap ukuleles is a skill I'd like to learn some day, too. I often see affordable ukes that look pretty, like the Alvarez spruce/laminated rosewood baritone, but I hesitate to buy them because I expect them to need setup work. On the other hand, this also means I don't impulsively buy inexpensive ukes, which IS an advantage. :p
 
@Rakelele: Where in Switzerland are you if I may ask? I LOVE Switzerland and have some family there, mostly around lake Zurich.

I'm in Zürich as well. My wife and I own some very nice ukes that we are happy to show to other ukulele enthusiasts, should you ever happen to be in town (we've had visitors from Switzerland, Germany, the U.S. and Canada). And just by the way, we have a very nice all solid Pono Mango Pineapple Tenor Ukulele in perfect condition that we intend to sell locally in order to avoid shipping cost and taxes. This is the perfect instrument to upgrade, should you ever feel the need to - and many of us do, because a well-built, perfectly set-up instrument will make playing easier and thus help your learning curve.
 
Aloha, Mod!
 
... On the other hand, this also means I don't impulsively buy inexpensive ukes, which IS an advantage. :p

ha ha, you're right! :D
Oh, and what a nice region you're living in!
 
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I'm in Zürich as well. My wife and I own some very nice ukes that we are happy to show to other ukulele enthusiasts, should you ever happen to be in town (we've had visitors from Switzerland, Germany, the U.S. and Canada). And just by the way, we have a very nice all solid Pono Mango Pineapple Tenor Ukulele in perfect condition that we intend to sell locally in order to avoid shipping cost and taxes. This is the perfect instrument to upgrade, should you ever feel the need to - and many of us do, because a well-built, perfectly set-up instrument will make playing easier and thus help your learning curve.

Thank you for the nice proposition! I hope I'll make it to Switzerland to see my dear family some day not too far in the future! You've got some really really beautiful Ukes in your signature! I trust you that the Pono Mango Pineapple Tenor is a nice instrument and one day, should my playing become signifcantly better and my financial situation too, I'll definitely buy some more precious instrument than the cheap Ukes I own now. But at the moment, after having set them up, I think they're a good fit for my momentary situation.
In case you'd visit Berlin, of course, you could try my cheap Ukes too, but I guess it isn't too tempting :) Or better I'll invite you for a beer...
 
Gruss dich Moody (excuse the lack of proper German use of umlauts etc. - I can't find them) ... anyway Ich habe gewont in Trier fur 3 jahre in 1987. I loved it ... near the Moselle weinstrasse. Went to Berlin but only on the west side at that time; then the wall came down and i revisited the area ... I'd return in a minute if it was easy for US citizens to get a job.

Welcome to the forum

auf wieder by by
miller
 
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