Your Unique Style of Playing

Whenever I listen to people playing the uke, I noticed that lots of people like to do certain things when playing their uke. I personally play mine Jimi Hendrix style - I'm a left handed player but I play with a right-handed ukulele. This gives me access to playing certain chords that are harder for regular right-handed players to do, like a Bm (not to be confused with a Bm7).

So I was wondering, does anyone else want to share their own little quirks of style?

I sometimes wish I'd chosen to do that "upside down" style, instead of re-stringing lefty. It does make spme chords easier (although some harder) and it means you can pick up any uke and play it. I don't really have my own style yet, but I'm developing it.

12fret: For a second you made me really confused thinking that Jimi had actually played "backwards" (as you do, apparently, cool!) with the strings turned around (treble on top, bass on bottom) but then I checked out some photos to make sure... and as I thought, he played with the guitar turned around and the strings still "normal" -- just "backwards" for a righty guitar.

This always surprises and pleases me no end. Coming up with your own system is fantastic. I remember reading that although he always plays lefty, Paul McCartney can play bass or guitar strung lefty or righty and actually has since he was a kid.

I was playing for 35 years and regularly using my left hand thumb for making several chords before coming here and seeing a bunch of people say that it was taboo to use your thumb. I've never had trouble getting to the next chord on time.

When strumming chords, I seem to take a more percussive approach to my strumming than lots of people do. Probably from my years of playing Martin sopranos and trying to make that little instrument project. I also have strums on certain songs that I do with the meat of my thumb (gives a warm gentle sound) or the back of my pinky fingernail (helps me emphasize the A string).

mine is the much maligned 'Tasmanian-one-finger-redneck-method', developed in a vacuum and should have been left there!

I've been playing in a style very similar to how I played guitar and banjo for years - I'm told it is a "drop-thumb frailing" technique.

I also do some finger picking, strumming, mixing and matching whatever sounds right at the moment.

Part of this is because I cannot read music (standard notation), nor can I read tab on the fly - it takes a lot of concentration to do so, and forget the rhythm. If I don't know the song, I can't really play it. Playing by ear is what I do best. Especially when I combine that with chord names and I'm familiar with the melody.

That being said, I had no problem fitting in with a bunch of old-time fiddlers a few weeks back, even though I didn't know the tunes that they were playing. I picked up on the progressions that fit my limited experience, and just played along, mixing single string work with chords, and the banjo uke worked just fine.

I do try to read musical notation and tabs- I can pick out individual notes (sometimes), and play monotonously unappealing stuff. Playing by ear works much better (for me).

I don't strum at all but do melodies and arpeggios with alternating string technique. Lets me play recognizable pieces without singing.

@ukulefty

Actually, the reason I developed this style was because of necessity. I was four when I started playing, and my uncle only had two ukes - both right-handed. He said it would be better for me to learn like this so I can pick up anything and play. It was strange because for a few years, I just thought that's how it was - if you were left-handed you played it upside down. Blame naivety for my style.

I usually strum with my ring finger. I don't remember hearing of anyone else doing that (though I guess there's a roughly 20% chance that someone has), and I didn't know that when I started - my ring finger was just naturally drawn to the strings.

Jake Wildwood said:

12fret: For a second you made me really confused thinking that Jimi had actually played "backwards" (as you do, apparently, cool!) with the strings turned around (treble on top, bass on bottom) but then I checked out some photos to make sure... and as I thought, he played with the guitar turned around and the strings still "normal" -- just "backwards" for a righty guitar.

Click to expand...

This is true that Jimi played a righty guitar strung up reverse, but like most lefty guitar players I know, and Jimi was no exception, they play it both ways. I used to play with a lefty in high school who learned it "backwards" because the rest of were all righties, so whenever he'd try his hand it, he'd flip the guitar over and do the backwards thing. He was great at it, but then he decided to string it "normally" so he could watch what we were doing. Eventually we were watching him, he was so good. It was like looking in a mirror. Plus he found the high strings are easier to bend by pushing up, as opposed to pulling down. Not that it seems to bother Doyle Bramhall II at all. Here's Doyle doing his Jimi thing strung up "backwards."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXoW4ZDYx_4&feature=related