What's your go-to riff or song for testing a new uke?

necessaryrooster

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I'll usually just go with a few bars of whatever song I'm currently working on, as the sound of it on one of my tried-and-true ukes will be the freshest in my head since I've been repeating it so much trying to learn it.

I've noticed a lot of the demo-ers or reviewers always have a go-to, so that you can compare sound samples side-by-side easier, which is really nice.

What do you all do?
 
I play “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” It gets me around the neck, the chords are intricate enough to catch any potential snags, and I know how it should sound so a flat uke will identify itself quickly.
 
The Times They Are Changing. No special reason, it's just what I do.
 
26 Miles...C-Am-F-G7...:shaka:
 
The first thing might be like UkerDanno and pick a song to strum that doesn't have too many changes or perhaps the Circle of "Five Foot Two" Next, to move around the neck, I play a little of "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" - then some “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” - and finally a little "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." These last three are for the same reason as LukuleleStrings. When a new uke arrives - it seems I do this for a few days with the new one and some of my other favorite ukuleles.

BTW - if I am looking to buy a new or used ukulele at a store , first I would tune it and then check the intonation at the 12th. Next, strum a few open chords and barre some chords up and down the fret board to see how I like the neck shape. Finally, hit each individual note on every string. It's not just for buzzing, but also for that slightly "dead" sound on a note or two that happens with some, if not most ukes. Although this isn't usually a big problem, I've passed on a couple of ukuleles that were worse than average.
 
“It’s Only a Paper Moon” has been mentioned twice! What arrangement do you play? There is a version of it in Mike Lynch’s Book Two that I know of.

The first tune I play is usually is “Don’t Bring Me Posies”. Best on a soprano or concert, definitely not for a mellow tenor with a low G. For low G I love to play the first verse of an obscure melody chord arrangement of “I Love You California” out of a 1950’s Art King book.
 
This is how I play it:

I got it from a jazz guitar book and just cut off the bottom two strings. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it doesn’t. ;-)
 
I just put on a tuner and check the intonation of certain notes at frets like the 5th, 7th, and 12th...then I hand it to the techs to set up.
 
I don't have a specific riff or song for testing an ukulele. I'll usually check the intonation first, then I'll play every note up to the 15th fret on each string to make sure there's no buzzing or dead spots. Then I'll strum a few chords, and listen for good balance and note separation. Then I might play a little bit of whatever comes to mind. I'll also sight down the neck just to make sure everything looks nice and straight, although if something's off it should've become apparent already.

I like Bill1's process above, as well.
 
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