What style or kind of music draws you into playing the ukulele?

eternal tinkerer

UU VIP
UU VIP
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Messages
445
Reaction score
527
A question like this probably has been asked times before but I thought I'd start a thread to get a glimpse into what folks like or want to play here.

For me, I've primarily been drawn to ukulele by the awesome sounds made possible in the hands of skilled musicians like Jake Shimabukuro and Kalei Gamiao. I also like pretty much anything traditionally Hawaiian (just makes me feel happy). Lastly, I like listening to/attempting to play songs by "mainstream" artists past and present.
 
A diverse mixture. I finger-pick old-time American songs, blues, classical music, Hawaiian (some in slack-key tuning), and others. For strumming and singing, mostly pop songs from the 50s, 60s & 70s. I began finger-picking trying to play Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," probably inspired by an old Leo Kottke record. I'll never play like Jake--started about 50 years too late.
 
Mostly American children and folk music/songs on the ukulele for me.
 
I was drawn to the ukulele by a lifelong wish to be a Beatle and frustration with guitar. The first songs I learned to play on the ukulele were Beatles songs and other popular music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. But soon after I started playing ukulele I discovered Hawaiian music, and now I play a lot of Hawaiian music.
 
Just about anything. My previous musical life was as a trumpeter. I worked in various styles and played in a few different bands. I spent a year playing in a Portuguese Band and six years playing with a jazz quintet. On ukulele I play whatever suits my fancy. Most recent pieces I'm working on are Blue Skies by Irving Berlin and It Don't Mean A Thing by Duke Ellington. Prior to that it was Moving Out by Billy Joel.
 
Mostly folk. But some rock and blues. Not skilled enough to do the last two justice yet.
 
I was drawn to the ukulele when I discovered one could be used to play claw-hammer arrangements, as per Aaron Keim, then I diversified into transcribed lute music from the likes of Jamie Holding and Rob MacKillop ... I always preferred to be "different" ;)

:music:
 
It's not a specific kind of music that draws me to the ukulele but rather that so many genres sound unique but good while always - ALWAYS - seeming to knock people out. When my parents found out I played ukulele, their only point of reference was Tiptoe Through The Tulips, so they're always impressed when I play pieces more intricate than that. ;-)

The thing I really like, though, is the versatility. When I play guitar, I get really wrapped up in the gear chain. I feel like I need this style of guitar and these pedals and these amps and these mics, etc. On the ukulele, I just play and feel like I get more from it. The confines of four strings makes everything a lot easier to learn when compared to guitar and my progression has been very satisfying to my soul.

So I guess it isn't any one type of music, but rather how satisfied I feel when I play ukulele that keeps drawing me to it.
 
Like Gary52, my interests involve playing and singing old popular favorites of the 30's, 40's,
50's and 60's along with Hawaiian Songs. I also enjoy Seasonal/Holiday Songs (Winter & Christmas).
Please check out some of my YouTube uploads (uncle rod amapola, Crazy G, etc) :)
I would like to expand the number of uploads... but sometimes think I'm being pretentious :(
However, at 72, it may be time to try to 'archive' what I can still do... just for fun!

Keep uke'in', everyone!
 
Like Gary52, my interests involve playing and singing old popular favorites of the 30's, 40's,
50's and 60's along with Hawaiian Songs. I also enjoy Seasonal/Holiday Songs (Winter & Christmas).
Please check out some of my YouTube uploads (uncle rod amapola, Crazy G, etc) :)
I would like to expand the number of uploads... but sometimes think I'm being pretentious :(
However, at 72, it may be time to try to 'archive' what I can still do... just for fun!

Keep uke'in', everyone!
 
One day I was surfing YouTube, and accidentally landed on a video by the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. I wasn't a musician, and wasn't really sure what an ukulele was.
But after seeing how much fun they were having, and how the audience was eating it up, we made a quick trip to a music store.
Now, listening to anyone who can play well, such as Stu Fuchs, Del Ray, Feng E, James Hill, Vinny Mungo, makes me wanna stroke my strings!
 
As a former guitarist, I was already used to playing a wide variety of styles/genres of music; on the ukulele I expanded that by adding some cracking songs from the 1920s/30s/40s/50s and am generally happy playing 'any song/tune that I LIKE'. That's what it's all about for me, enjoying it and finding others who enjoy it too!
 
Absolute beginner here, wasn’t inspired by any music in particular and still don’t feel the need to learn a song, it’s more about chords and progressions at the moment. Not even strumming. Love music, don’t get me wrong. If I had to name a few songs... maybe Absolutely Cuckoo or Reno Dakota by the Magnetic Fields? No tutorials on those on the tube though.
 
So much is or is based on it.

12 Bar Blues
From:
Roll over Beethoven, to
Route 66, to
Flip, Flop and Fly

Same three chord progression- but so powerful

Or
Rock Around the Clock
Folsom Prison Blues
Boogie Wookiee Bugle Boy
Even
Dueling Banjos
 
I love the sound of tunes from the thirties that my mom and dad used to sing. Tunes with some nice changes like If I Had You, Sweet Sue, Sweet Georgia Brown, Hard Hearted Hannah, The Vamp Of Savannah, Ukulele Lady, Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out . . . These are the songs that I started playing and that drew me to the ukulele.
I also like songs like newer songs like John Prine's Let's Talk Dirty In Hawaiian, Loudon Wainwright's Ukulele Song, John Rutherford's My Ukulele Helps Me Beat The Blues
 
My image of myself it that of a folk singer. Or a protest singer, lots of protest songs are folk songs, so combination of the two. I play songs over a broad spectrum music now, but folk songs are what drew me to play the ukulele.
 
I was drawn to the ukulele when I discovered one could be used to play claw-hammer arrangements, as per Aaron Keim, then I diversified into transcribed lute music from the likes of Jamie Holding and Rob MacKillop ... I always preferred to be "different" ;)

:music:

I followed a similar path. I started working on it as a way to share music with my 6-year-old daughter in quarantine. I already play clawhammer banjo so I figured I could clawhammer the uke, too, and learn some chords and simple folk songs with my daughter. My daughter has learned to sing and strum "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" and "Buffalo Gals". I've hardly played any clawhammer uke at all after the first month or so and have dived into fingerstyle lute and baroque music, as well as working a bit from Aaron's fingerstyle book.
 
I was drawn in by Valérie Sauvage, Wilfried Welti and Rob MacKillop. Then I started watching The Ukulele Review podcasts on YouTube...
 
It wasn't so much the music that I wanted to play, as that I wanted to learn to play a musical instrument, & I thought 4 strings must be easier than 6..... :)

In a previous life, before retiring, & the Internet, I had tried to play guitar, clarinet (quite good, but lost my puff), recorders (pretty good, but wanted more oomph), & flute.

(Today, I mainly play harmonicas, whistles, & keyless folk flutes; just occasionally my ukes, but I enjoy it when I do.)
 
Top Bottom