Ukulele Players

[miksel]

Are there any members who primarily play ukulele?

[Earl49]

I used to be big into ukulele and founded the Boise Ukulele Group sixteen years ago this past week. But I have stepped away from it now, and only play occasionally. I sometimes take my uke to bluegrass jams. When I look around the circle and there are six guitars and one (or zero) mandolins, I switch to ukulele and chop it on two and four like a mando. They both occupy the same tonal range.

[Dave Hicks]

Originally Posted by Earl49

I used to be big into ukulele and founded the Boise Ukulele Group sixteen years ago this past week. But I have stepped away from it now, and only play occasionally. I sometimes take my uke to bluegrass jams. When I look around the circle and there are six guitars and one (or zero) mandolins, I switch to ukulele and chop it on two and four like a mando. They both occupy the same tonal range.

I use mine the same way.

I do play uke exclusively for one day a month when the uke club meeting comes around.

D.H.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by Earl49

...When I look around the circle and there are six guitars and one (or zero) mandolins, I switch to ukulele and chop it on two and four like a mando. They both occupy the same tonal range.

FYI that's an old studio players' trick arguably originating with the late Tommy Tedesco, who tuned all his instruments in some variation of guitar tuning to facilitate quick transitions in a high-pressure/we-need-that-sound-right-now environment. Although I can play just enough legit mandolin to get me thrown out of any self-respecting bluegrass circle (or whacked at a Staten Island "family" wedding ), I've been considering restringing one of mine in drop-G tenor uke tuning for precisely the reasons you cite - variation in instrumentation and comparable tonal range - and FWIW I've kept one of my tenor banjos in this tuning ever since Chuck Romanoff of Schooner Fare turned me on to it 30 years ago...

[rllink]

I can play a ukulele, but I haven't regularly played one for several years. I got into country/bluegrass and drifted away from the ukulele in favor of the guitar. Sometimes when my grand kids are at my house I'll grab up a ukulele and play Down by the Bay, Wheels on the Bus and similar songs that the kids like to sing, but that's about it these days.

[mjh42]

I'm a dedicated ukulele player. I have access to a Martin, a Yamaha, a Strat and I may be buying a Telecaster in the next couple of months--but I play ukulele as my main instrument. Have 4 tenors--all very different and a concert.
Selling or trading off my RISA tenor for the next best thing.....

[MartinD12-20]

Originally Posted by miksel

Are there any members who primarily play ukulele?

I have two ukuleles, a Breedlove tenor and a Lanikai baritone that I'm just starting to play a little. The tenor is a work in progress at this time as I have to learn all new fingerings and then get my old hands to do it. The baritone on the other hand is basically a four string guitar so I know the chords I just have to get used to the fingerboard.

So to answer your question, I am not primarily a ukulele player and really don't think I ever will be. I might play one of my ukes once a week but I play guitar every day.

[d18d28]

I primarily play folk, country, and bluegrass on guitar and dobro, but about ten years ago I picked up a uke after seeing Jake and seeing some touring singer/songwriters pick up a uke for a song or two in their set. I got a good one, the Kanilea, then wound up with another good one, a LoPrinzi to keep tuned with the low G. We have a local group, the Jacksonville Ukulele Society, that we wound up being sort of in charge of, then began teaching uke once a week at a local senior center. What started a year and a half ago as a small handful of folks sort of interested, turned into a room full of 20-25 folks playing and singing every Wednesday afternoon. It seems that the folk/bluegrass folks and the uke folks are two distinct cultures, but there is some overlap.

[maxed]

I was born and raised on Oahu, Hawaii in the late 1950's. All of my guitar playing buddies growing up there also started on the ukulele. In fact, in some elementary schools back then, they taught music using the ukulele instead of Tonettes (remember those?)

During my teen years, it was a revelation when I discovered that barring the fifth fret on a guitar. The top four strings was the same tuning as an ukulele. In non re-entrant tuning, of course. With a Low G sound like on most tenor ukuleles.

I didn't know any music theory or terms at the time (no interwebs), but I figured out how to transpose what I was playing on the ukulele to learning to play chords on a guitar. That lit the fire.

I like to say that I am an "assicly-trained" guitar player, because I just sat on my @ss in my room for a long time learning and transcribing this stuff with no formal instruction. Guitar has since been my main instrument since high school in the mid 70's, but yes, I still own and play several types of ukuleles - including a U-Bass ukulele.

And when alternative sounding "strings" are needed, I have also used them gigging with several different bands over the years.

[TRose]

I primarily play guitar but started playing ukulele this past year. What prompted me to play ukulele was hearing Micheal Watts’ “Ukulele Nocturne”.
I then fell down the rabbit hole of vintage classical/lute music played on ukulele.
I’m having fun.

[slooky]

Started playing ukulele for about a year. I never really liked the sound of a ukulele. Now I can't get enough of it. I bought a used one a year ago and sold it and bought an Alvarez. I have 6 songs I use it on when I play out.

[RJVB]

Originally Posted by TRose

I’m having fun.

And it was already so difficult for me to refrain from asking if anyone was (still) playing [with] model trains

Oh, wait ==>