LorenFL
Well-known member
Subtitle: or Postponing UAS
I've been at this ukulele thing off and on for 9+ years. I'm still very much a beginner, but I've been taking it slightly more seriously this year. I like to practice when I can, and I don't like to bother people while I'm doing it. Fortunately, I own my own home, and the only person I can bother is my wife... but, I'm a night-owl, and she's not. So, I have ample time to practice from like 11pm-3am.
Soooo... I've gotten into the bad habit of only thumb-strumming. Very lightly. Keeping it quiet. And that's great for learning chords and getting some rythm and learning songs and such. But, now I really want to learn to do a proper index finger strum, make use of my fingernail for more volume, and get better at "chucking" and those kinds of things.
How do I accomplish this in a manly manner?
Well, I've been shopping and searching (y'all know the drill) for a quieter ukulele. Unplugged solid body electrics are a popular recommendation, and bodyless travel ukes. And I've even considered trying to build some kind of crappy non-resonant contraption just to practice on. (and I'll probably do that just for kicks at some point)
But, today... rather than spend money...
I stuffed a couple of old t-shirts down the sound hole of my uke. Pretty snug fit. And I happened to have some 1/4" thick dense closed-cell foam, so I cut a piece about 3/4" larger than the hole diameter and wedged it in there (so the bulk of the shirts are holding it against the sound hole).
For my usual thumb-strumming, this reduced the sound level to probably 20-30% of what it was. But, because the strings aren't muted, the body still resonates. There's still a little bit of sustain, and it doesn't sound too terrible. For full-on jamming fingernail strums and chucking, it's probably still about as quiet as thumb-strumming was before. Nowhere near silent, but SIGNIFICANTLY quieter.
The frequency response is off, of course. It doesn't sound "right", but it should be good for allowing me to experiment with a lot of different styles of strumming that I had deemed "too loud" before.
The only other downside is that... who would have ever thought that two t-shirts were so heavy? It's made the body of my uke feel heavy and solid rather than light and airy. The balance is off.
But... mission accomplished. I have successfully put the hush on my ukulele! And it didn't cost me a dime, and it's completely reversible.
I've been at this ukulele thing off and on for 9+ years. I'm still very much a beginner, but I've been taking it slightly more seriously this year. I like to practice when I can, and I don't like to bother people while I'm doing it. Fortunately, I own my own home, and the only person I can bother is my wife... but, I'm a night-owl, and she's not. So, I have ample time to practice from like 11pm-3am.
Soooo... I've gotten into the bad habit of only thumb-strumming. Very lightly. Keeping it quiet. And that's great for learning chords and getting some rythm and learning songs and such. But, now I really want to learn to do a proper index finger strum, make use of my fingernail for more volume, and get better at "chucking" and those kinds of things.
How do I accomplish this in a manly manner?
Well, I've been shopping and searching (y'all know the drill) for a quieter ukulele. Unplugged solid body electrics are a popular recommendation, and bodyless travel ukes. And I've even considered trying to build some kind of crappy non-resonant contraption just to practice on. (and I'll probably do that just for kicks at some point)
But, today... rather than spend money...
I stuffed a couple of old t-shirts down the sound hole of my uke. Pretty snug fit. And I happened to have some 1/4" thick dense closed-cell foam, so I cut a piece about 3/4" larger than the hole diameter and wedged it in there (so the bulk of the shirts are holding it against the sound hole).
For my usual thumb-strumming, this reduced the sound level to probably 20-30% of what it was. But, because the strings aren't muted, the body still resonates. There's still a little bit of sustain, and it doesn't sound too terrible. For full-on jamming fingernail strums and chucking, it's probably still about as quiet as thumb-strumming was before. Nowhere near silent, but SIGNIFICANTLY quieter.
The frequency response is off, of course. It doesn't sound "right", but it should be good for allowing me to experiment with a lot of different styles of strumming that I had deemed "too loud" before.
The only other downside is that... who would have ever thought that two t-shirts were so heavy? It's made the body of my uke feel heavy and solid rather than light and airy. The balance is off.
But... mission accomplished. I have successfully put the hush on my ukulele! And it didn't cost me a dime, and it's completely reversible.