Not for the faint hearted

Kimosabe

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I want to show you what a little Ubass can do. Warning: It might not be your kind of music. I love classical, jazz, folk, soul, r and b, country, World, but I also grew up with rock and funk, etc.. Anyway, this isn't Hawaiian even though I live in Waikiki.

The Jorgensen, Latini, Leonardi Complex presents:

Situations Africaines
(Jorgensen, Latini, Leonardi)

Jordan Latini: rhythm and lead guitar, hand drum
Kim Jorgensen: Bass
Igor Leonardi: drum percussion program

I live in Waikiki, Jordan in Berkeley and Igor in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
We collaborate via the Internet and send each other tracks. Igor travelled with the Yugoslavian National Orchestra in Africa and Jordan has studied hand drum with an African master. I once sat next to Carlos Santana at a Yousou N'Dour concert in a very small club in San Francisco. Igor took me there. He said the guy filled stadiums in France. I didn't bother Carlos who was wearing a Raiders jacket and a wool cap. We just sat in awe of the music.

For this piece I initially sent Jordan and Igor a bass track I recorded with my Hadean acoustic electro Ubass. Igor add percussion and Jordan later added rhythm and lead guitar and hand drum. I mixed it on Garage Band and sent tentative mixes to Jordan until we felt it was what we wanted.

Necessity is the mother of invention to quote Plato.



https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tpa3ZFlY9Y47VY3pVoZ7_7uay449MSHe/view?usp=sharing
 
Very nice! Are you using a Ubass size Hadean (20" scale)? What strings?
 
Well, thank you. I’m using a Hadean 20” with black strings that I believe are Pahoehoe. I bought the bass from a British studio musician, drummer, here in Honolulu. The guy had had a stroke and was getting rid of instruments. He asked $25 but I gave him $30. Best $30 I’ve ever spent. I would gladly pay full price from Rondo.

I just feed it into Garage Band using an Apogee Irig and I usually just choose the 60 bass combo setting on GB and get this amazing sort of standup tone. I love the strings. I was learning on a halfway decent Yamaha standard bass but those things are so heavy. After having played ukuleles for almost 15 years, standard guitars seem like guittarons to me, those giant Mexican mariachi basses.

Thank you.
 
Nice recording Kim. I use GarageBand to add a bass track to the Zoom audio recording of a new song the leader brings to our twice a week sessions, which I post to my site so all 60 members of my group can practice with. I'm glad you used a Hadean bass uke, I always recommend them (curious to see what you think of the Oscar Schmidt I sold you when you get to your brother's place). I have 10 Hadeans, the solid bodies I've had modifications done:

1 acoustic walnut cutaway 21" with black Pahoehoe strings,
2 solid body 21" with black Pahoehoe
1 solid body 21" with Gold Tone/La Bella all steel MBLS 25" flat wound
3 solid body 24" with Pahoehoe
3 solid body 24" with the Gold Tones
(I also have a Mooso 21" solid body I bought from China with Aquila Thunderguts)


This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly Grove near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 4 acoustic bass ukes, 12 solid body bass ukes, 14 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 39)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers
 
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I’m going to be honest and that is that the bass pattern I’m playing there kind of bores me in that it resembles reggae dub and I’m much more into jazz and funk and believe it or not great old country walking bass. I’ll post something a little more adventurous.

I do work with a wonderful “young” guitarist and he sometimes likes me to play these sort of jam grooves. Anyway, I am impressed with the tone I got out of the Hadean. I’m going to have to post asking Mike Kohan about what he thinks of the tone of the Hadean solid bodies. Does it really depend just on the amp and the effects? When I find myself longing to spend money on a new uke, bass or dulcimer, I tell myself, No, what you need to do really, is learn to play better. Usually that works but not always, just ask my wife.
 
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...I’m going to have to post asking Mike Kohan about what he thinks of the tone of the Hadean solid bodies. Does it really depend just on the amp and the effects?...

I think the amp has a lot to do with the sound, but different strings do contribute to the overall sound. I really don't discern a big difference between solid body and acoustic. I also think that it's completely unnecessary to pay the price for a Kala or Gold Tone when in my opinion, the lower price Hadeans are just as good.
 
That’s important advice. Thank you.

You do find importance, however, in the scale. Once again, will you please explain why?
 
That’s important advice. Thank you. You do find importance, however, in the scale. Once again, will you please explain why?

My sweet spot is 23" scale for a bass uke. I found I had difficulty getting to the upper frets of my 21" scale acoustic bass ukes, even with cutaway, because I have nerve damage in my neck from radiation treatments I had for cancer in 1973. I can't hold up my head very long, which causes me to slouch when I play bass (I sit most of the time), forcing me to tilt the bass towards me enough to make getting to the upper frets difficult.

I don't have the same problem with a solid body 21" because the cutaway is deeper, and longer scale is easier too. I had four 21" acoustic bass ukes, I sold three and kept one since it's light and I don't go to the upper frets because I use it for walking around UCLA/Mattel Children's Hospital playing for the kids and giving them ukuleles.
 
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I think it’s great your playing at the Children’s Hospital. Do I understand you right that you play bass for them?

A friend of mine, Harley Lieber, up in Portland has a program providing ukuleles to ill children.
 
I think it’s great your playing at the Children’s Hospital. Do I understand you right that you play bass for them? A friend of mine, Harley Lieber, up in Portland has a program providing ukuleles to ill children.

Yes, The CC Strummers, and there's actually two of us playing bass uke, works out fine, especially when one of us can't make rehearsals or a gig.

We do the children's hospital in conjunction with The Ukulele Kids Club, a non-profit out of Florida that gathers donations to provide ukuleles for kids in hospital music therapy programs all over the world. Our group has donated over $6000 in the last 4 years.
 
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