Hot on the heels of the last one, another essential and really simple playing technique to add to your repertoire. Chucking / Chunking / Muting the ukulele. Enjoy!
© Barry Maz
29 Apr 2015
29 Apr 2015T13:48
© Barry Maz
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Chucking, Chunking or Palm Muting on the Ukulele - BEGINNERS TIPS
© Barry Maz
28 Apr 2015
28 Apr 2015T09:15
Hammering On - Ukulele Beginners Tips
One for absolute beginners wanting to move on from basic up down strumming by adding some simple flourishes to their playing. One of the oldest tricks in the book.
© Barry Maz
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© Barry Maz
27 Apr 2015
27 Apr 2015T09:16
Lani sounds suitably Hawaiian, and tries to look that way too with their logo of a lady with an exotic flower in her hair, but these are actually made in China and the range is developed by a company from Cleckheaton in West Yorkshire. Quite a mix! But that Chinese origin means the price can be very low and this is available for about £105.
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Lani LC-55MOCEQ Electro Concert Ukulele - REVIEW
Here is a ukulele name that I have heard of over the last year, but not actually played until now. They have a pretty massive range of instruments, but this one comes from their lower end. The Lani LC-55MOCEQ Electro Concert Uke
Lani sounds suitably Hawaiian, and tries to look that way too with their logo of a lady with an exotic flower in her hair, but these are actually made in China and the range is developed by a company from Cleckheaton in West Yorkshire. Quite a mix! But that Chinese origin means the price can be very low and this is available for about £105.
22 Apr 2015
22 Apr 2015T10:13
I have talked before about amplification options so I won't repeat all of that here. In short though you have a couple of main choices - either to use a microphone in front of the instrument (and that will give you hands down the most authentic tone reproduction) or using a pickup inside the instrument. The pickup option has its downsides, particularly if they are cheap, but with a good quality one and the right amplifier you can get a very pleasing tone from them. In fact the lions share of professionals you will see on festival stages perform with pickups this way. There are people who perform with microphones too of course and they sound great, but for many the versatility of a pickup system is the ability to move around and not be tied to the microphone coupled with a big reduction in feedback on stage. I suppose your type of act will come into play here as to what suits you better.
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Going Electro Ukulele Should Cost You MORE Not The Same
There seems to be an awful lot of discussion at the moment in social media circles about people wanting to amplify their ukuleles. I see this generally as a positive thing as I suspect it means they are wanting to perform live. I say 'generally' because amplifying just for the sake of volume is probably not a great reason, but there you go.
 |
18 Apr 2015
18 Apr 2015T19:54
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Top Ten Tips for Ukulele Beginners
The Got A Ukulele top 10 tips for ukulele beginners.
My best ideas for new musical instrument players! (remember - you will find many more ukulele beginners tips here!)
15 Apr 2015
15 Apr 2015T08:55
Now, this is not a political blog post - my political choices are between me and the ballot box, but I will say this. Political protest against our elected Members of Parliament is a right I think we should preserve absolutely in the country. These people work for and serve us as citizens and we have a right to mock them if we wish. For the record, I would support Robins ability to do what he did regardless of the political party in question.
But that is missing the real point of why I have chosen to blog about it. You see as well as Robin hitting the headlines, he has unwittingly stirred up a quite a few rather choice views about the ukulele that worry me greatly. These are not 'one off' views, but some quite common themes I have seen over the last couple of days. Many people, including me, saw the funny side of this and, as I say, his right to protest against the PM however he likes. But it's odd how such an act can bring out what I think is the worst in the so called 'happy ukulele world'.
One of the worst suggestions was along the lines that this sort of thing is not suitable for the ukulele. Now, forgive me if I am wrong, but I personally must have missed the rule book that stated that only certain things could be played on the ukulele.... This is HIS instrument and he can play what HE likes on it. On a couple of discussions I read on this point there was a suggestion that he had 'let down the ukulele community', that the ukulele should be about 'love and happiness' and other such nonsense. Sure, people have a right to express their own feelings about it, but please stop short of telling people what they should and shouldn't play on their instrument. It's none of your business.
Lets break down some of the objections a little further. First of all we have the language he used. I have seen people claiming it was 'offensive' and 'aggressive'. Offensive to some maybe, but aggressive? In reality his performance is clearly in a satirical jokey manner - he is not making any physical threats to David Cameron - he is singing a jokey tune on a ukulele delivered in a kind of dead pan humorous way. I personally don't see a lot of aggression here. Besides that, if he hadn't used a swear word, the video would never have become popular and as political protest was his aim, would have been pointless. The swearing IS the point of it. But please don't suggest that the whole country is going to hell because he used the F word. And really, PLEASE don't suggest that it is against the rules to swear whilst holding a ukulele (or any musical instrument for that matter). Again - none of your business.
Another interesting argument put forward was that he is not a very good player / singer. I think that kind of misses the point of why he did what he did. Besides the fact that whether he can play or sing is a completely subjective viewpoint anyway, he was not there to show off his 'Jake like skills' , he was there to protest to the Prime Minister and happened to be a ukulele player. The fact that he was playing a ukulele is almost kind of irrelevant, but it did help to make the story. It also led to so many ukulele players getting upset too though..
Why am I going on about this then? Well, it comes across to me as something of a continuing and growing theme in the ukulele world. People who are quick to publicly tell people what they should and should not do with the ukulele. Note, I am not talking about views on taste here. I accept that many people won't like what Robin did, and that is their right. But I am really more concerned with anyone who says that this should not be 'allowed', is not right for the ukulele, or has brought some form of shame on the community. It's in the same league as those who will berate anyone who plays ukulele in a different style to something traditional, mocks those who use straps or picks or just generally thinks that they control the rule book. There is no rule book.
It's growing and regular readers of this blog will have seen my various rants on the subject before. Telling people how they should hold or play the instrument is one thing, but this episode launched a whole new raft of opinions that I personally should have been kept to themselves.
In short - people can play what they want how they want on THEIR instrument. You might not like it, but please don't suggest they are wrong for doing so.
And this from the same people tho claim that their ukulele world is so happy and loving. Yeah right....
© Barry Maz
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The Ukulele Busker, David Cameron and The Occasional Madness of the Ukulele Community
So I toyed with doing a piece about this story in the press. Thought against it, but then started to notice some craziness in the ukulele community and felt that a prominent uke blog should say something about it all. If you don't know what I am talking about, see this short video clip of ukulele player Robin Grey and his protest in front of the Prime Minister David Cameron (NSFW)
Now, this is not a political blog post - my political choices are between me and the ballot box, but I will say this. Political protest against our elected Members of Parliament is a right I think we should preserve absolutely in the country. These people work for and serve us as citizens and we have a right to mock them if we wish. For the record, I would support Robins ability to do what he did regardless of the political party in question.
But that is missing the real point of why I have chosen to blog about it. You see as well as Robin hitting the headlines, he has unwittingly stirred up a quite a few rather choice views about the ukulele that worry me greatly. These are not 'one off' views, but some quite common themes I have seen over the last couple of days. Many people, including me, saw the funny side of this and, as I say, his right to protest against the PM however he likes. But it's odd how such an act can bring out what I think is the worst in the so called 'happy ukulele world'.
One of the worst suggestions was along the lines that this sort of thing is not suitable for the ukulele. Now, forgive me if I am wrong, but I personally must have missed the rule book that stated that only certain things could be played on the ukulele.... This is HIS instrument and he can play what HE likes on it. On a couple of discussions I read on this point there was a suggestion that he had 'let down the ukulele community', that the ukulele should be about 'love and happiness' and other such nonsense. Sure, people have a right to express their own feelings about it, but please stop short of telling people what they should and shouldn't play on their instrument. It's none of your business.
Lets break down some of the objections a little further. First of all we have the language he used. I have seen people claiming it was 'offensive' and 'aggressive'. Offensive to some maybe, but aggressive? In reality his performance is clearly in a satirical jokey manner - he is not making any physical threats to David Cameron - he is singing a jokey tune on a ukulele delivered in a kind of dead pan humorous way. I personally don't see a lot of aggression here. Besides that, if he hadn't used a swear word, the video would never have become popular and as political protest was his aim, would have been pointless. The swearing IS the point of it. But please don't suggest that the whole country is going to hell because he used the F word. And really, PLEASE don't suggest that it is against the rules to swear whilst holding a ukulele (or any musical instrument for that matter). Again - none of your business.
Another interesting argument put forward was that he is not a very good player / singer. I think that kind of misses the point of why he did what he did. Besides the fact that whether he can play or sing is a completely subjective viewpoint anyway, he was not there to show off his 'Jake like skills' , he was there to protest to the Prime Minister and happened to be a ukulele player. The fact that he was playing a ukulele is almost kind of irrelevant, but it did help to make the story. It also led to so many ukulele players getting upset too though..
Why am I going on about this then? Well, it comes across to me as something of a continuing and growing theme in the ukulele world. People who are quick to publicly tell people what they should and should not do with the ukulele. Note, I am not talking about views on taste here. I accept that many people won't like what Robin did, and that is their right. But I am really more concerned with anyone who says that this should not be 'allowed', is not right for the ukulele, or has brought some form of shame on the community. It's in the same league as those who will berate anyone who plays ukulele in a different style to something traditional, mocks those who use straps or picks or just generally thinks that they control the rule book. There is no rule book.
It's growing and regular readers of this blog will have seen my various rants on the subject before. Telling people how they should hold or play the instrument is one thing, but this episode launched a whole new raft of opinions that I personally should have been kept to themselves.
In short - people can play what they want how they want on THEIR instrument. You might not like it, but please don't suggest they are wrong for doing so.
And this from the same people tho claim that their ukulele world is so happy and loving. Yeah right....
© Barry Maz
13 Apr 2015
13 Apr 2015T06:21
Well with a search for the term 'UKULELE', in the number one spot with a whopping 64 million views, we have the most over played song on the ukulele ever, played by a cute kid.
Hot on his heels with over 19 million views we have.... Another cute kid and another massively over played ukulele song..
In at number three. With 15 million views, it's..... a kid on a ukulele. Sensing a pattern here?
At number four we have an adult at last, and who else? Jake Shimabukuro. Strangely, he does look kind of baby faced too I always find. He clearly can't match the cute kids on the vocals though as he keeps his mouth shut... Nearly 14 million views
And in fifth place, thankfully another adult. Sadly another cover of that damn 'I'm Yours' song. Admittedly a nice enough one though.
Incidentally, in the 6th to 10th place slots we have a touch more variety (including the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain) but two MORE children and one more cover of I'm Yours.
Read in to all that what you will. For me, if aliens from another world visited planet Earth and looked at this posting as a means to understand our culture, I think they would reach a few of conclusions
1. That ukulele masters are actually children and we are somehow born with innate ability to play which diminishes as we get older
2. That there are a small number of adults who retain that gift, but they lose the power to sing...
3. That Jason Mraz is a cultural GOD worshipped on four strings the world over.
And, now, I'm depressed...
© Barry Maz
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The Most Viewed Ukulele Videos On YouTube
So, just because it sounded kind of fun, I thought I would look up the most watched ukulele videos on YouTube. There certainly is something about the ukulele, perhaps more so than other instruments these days, that makes people keen to point a camera on themselves to perform. But what is getting all the hits?
Well with a search for the term 'UKULELE', in the number one spot with a whopping 64 million views, we have the most over played song on the ukulele ever, played by a cute kid.
Hot on his heels with over 19 million views we have.... Another cute kid and another massively over played ukulele song..
In at number three. With 15 million views, it's..... a kid on a ukulele. Sensing a pattern here?
At number four we have an adult at last, and who else? Jake Shimabukuro. Strangely, he does look kind of baby faced too I always find. He clearly can't match the cute kids on the vocals though as he keeps his mouth shut... Nearly 14 million views
And in fifth place, thankfully another adult. Sadly another cover of that damn 'I'm Yours' song. Admittedly a nice enough one though.
Incidentally, in the 6th to 10th place slots we have a touch more variety (including the Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain) but two MORE children and one more cover of I'm Yours.
Read in to all that what you will. For me, if aliens from another world visited planet Earth and looked at this posting as a means to understand our culture, I think they would reach a few of conclusions
1. That ukulele masters are actually children and we are somehow born with innate ability to play which diminishes as we get older
2. That there are a small number of adults who retain that gift, but they lose the power to sing...
3. That Jason Mraz is a cultural GOD worshipped on four strings the world over.
And, now, I'm depressed...
© Barry Maz
6 Apr 2015
6 Apr 2015T13:04
Snail brand ukuleles are fairly new to me. In fact I have been aware of them for a couple of years, but don't think they were being widely distributed in the UK. That now seems to have changed, and this is available from Omega Music where this one is on loan to me from.
The UKS-220 is a pretty standard shaped and sized soprano ukulele built from laminate wood with a rosewood outer veneer. It comes in at about £99 and includes a gig bag (more on that later).
First things first - this one has, in my opinion, looks to die for. Sure it's a laminate so not solid Rosewood, but the darkness of the outer veneer is not only something slightly unusual in the world of ukuleles, but it contrasts so perfectly with the lighter coloured edge binding that I think it just looks extremely classy.
The body is finished in a satin coating which allows some of the grain pores in the outer veneer to show through the finish. This is a good thing in my view as I am not a fan of laminates that are finished so thoroughly that they almost look fake. This looks like wood. And the finish is pretty flawless too. There isn't a mark or rough spot on it anywhere that I can see.
But let's look at that binding first of all. I must say, it comes as something of a surprise at this price point to see that it is not plastic. It's actually made of individual pieces of contrasting lighter woods set in place. It appears on both the top and back edges and I think looks really, really smart and reminiscent of something from a much higher end instrument.
Around the sound hole too, we have wooden inlay, and not a transfer. It's interesting to see a normal round sound hole here as on some other Snail instruments I have seen, the sound hole has been Snail shaped. I must say, I think this is better for the normal sound hole. I think the snail shaped ones were overly quirky and also looked a little fragile to me.
Otherwise on the top, we have a rosewood tie bar style bridge mount which is very neat and tidy and fitted with a plastic saddle piece. I'd expect plastic at this price, but to be honest I never think they make all that much difference.
The back is very slightly arched, and the sides are made from two pieces.
The quality of construction can also be seen when looking inside the instrument. The bracing and kerfing is neat and thin and a look at the edge of the soundboard shows that this is NOT an over built instrument. That should mean for a light body, better resonance and projection. I particularly liked the makers label inside which is not printed on a paper sticker, but rather is a piece of wood that has the details burned into it in pyrographics.
The neck is made from hardwood and I suppose a little bit of a let down on the looks department when compared to the body. It's made from three pieces, with a joint at the heel and the headstock, but thankfully it is topped with a very nice uniform piece of rosewood for the fingerboard. It's not a bound fingerboard, but fitted very neatly, as are the 14 nickel silver frets which have no rough edges at all.
We have pearloid finger position markers set into the 5th, 7th and 10th spaces, but sadly there are no side markers for the player. Why do they continue to miss those off?
The nut is neat and looks easily removable for adjustment. That's a bonus that I don't think you see enough of on ukuleles and I despise nuts that are layered with loads of gloss and finish as removing them is likely to mess up the finish on the headstock. Not here.
I adore the headstock for a couple of reasons. First, it's faced in that same dark rosewood, but also because it eschews the 'easy' choice of a Martin headstock copy and goes with a shape of it's own. I also like the logo as they didn't go for a transfer, but rather an engraved Snail logo. Flip the headstock over and you have another logo and the serial number, also engraved. Nice.
Tuners seem decent quality and smooth. They are silver sealed but unbranded tuners, but the buttons are small enough and finished in a black rubberised coating which feels nice on the fingers.
Finishing the deal are a set of Aquila New Nylgut strings and a padded gig bag with shoulder straps and a Snail logo. As gig bags go, this is a nice one and a far cry from some of the nylon things you see with cheaper instruments (and better than no bag at all).
So there we have a it. A great price, striking looks, really nice looking construction. How does it sound though?
Well first of all, that light construction makes for a nice balanced light weight instrument. This bodes well.
The first thing that strikes you is an impressive volume for a small laminate instrument. It really does have a good bite to it (a good thing with a soprano) and some reasonable sustain too.
In fact it has a voice that is what you would expect a typical soprano to sound like. Bright, punchy, jumpy and really rather impressive. The setup on this helps, as do the Aquila strings no doubt, but I do think the light construction and thin laminate is coming in to play here. It's resonant, responsive and a lot of fun to play.
Sure, it's not going to win in a contest against a high end solid Hawaiian soprano, but it's not trying to be that sort of instrument. It doesn't have the complex harmonics that those instruments will provide, but it's not a bad tone at all. In fact I've heard worse on more expensive solid wood sopranos which sounded dead. What it is, is a very well made, nice sounding and looking instrument at a great price.
I am finding it hard to fault for the price. Yes, for £100 -£125 ish you can just about get into solid wood ukuleles, but it won't look as nice as this and really, there is nothing wrong with the tone of this. Another fine example of what really can be done with laminates if a company puts the effort and quality control in.
In fact I'll be bolder. Whilst I know that money is tight for many people, I think the days of me recommending £30 ukes are really gone. I mean, £99 for an instrument that plays as well as this does, looks this nice, comes with a gig bag - well really - it's not a huge amount of money for a musical instrument is it?
Highly recommended. Good choice Omega!
Be sure to check out my other ukulele reviews here!
PROS
Looks
Volume
Sustain
Build quality
CONS
No side markers
SCORES
Looks - 9.5
Fit and Finish - 9
Sound - 8
Value For Money - 9
OVERALL - 8.9 Out of 10
VIDEO REVIEW
© Barry Maz
Read More »
Snail UKS-220 Rosewood Soprano Ukulele REVIEW
A new brand for me, and quite a looker. Brought to you by Snail Ukuleles, this is their UKS-220 Rosewood Laminate Soprano. What a nice looking musical instrument!
Snail brand ukuleles are fairly new to me. In fact I have been aware of them for a couple of years, but don't think they were being widely distributed in the UK. That now seems to have changed, and this is available from Omega Music where this one is on loan to me from.
The UKS-220 is a pretty standard shaped and sized soprano ukulele built from laminate wood with a rosewood outer veneer. It comes in at about £99 and includes a gig bag (more on that later).
First things first - this one has, in my opinion, looks to die for. Sure it's a laminate so not solid Rosewood, but the darkness of the outer veneer is not only something slightly unusual in the world of ukuleles, but it contrasts so perfectly with the lighter coloured edge binding that I think it just looks extremely classy.
The body is finished in a satin coating which allows some of the grain pores in the outer veneer to show through the finish. This is a good thing in my view as I am not a fan of laminates that are finished so thoroughly that they almost look fake. This looks like wood. And the finish is pretty flawless too. There isn't a mark or rough spot on it anywhere that I can see.
But let's look at that binding first of all. I must say, it comes as something of a surprise at this price point to see that it is not plastic. It's actually made of individual pieces of contrasting lighter woods set in place. It appears on both the top and back edges and I think looks really, really smart and reminiscent of something from a much higher end instrument.
Around the sound hole too, we have wooden inlay, and not a transfer. It's interesting to see a normal round sound hole here as on some other Snail instruments I have seen, the sound hole has been Snail shaped. I must say, I think this is better for the normal sound hole. I think the snail shaped ones were overly quirky and also looked a little fragile to me.
Otherwise on the top, we have a rosewood tie bar style bridge mount which is very neat and tidy and fitted with a plastic saddle piece. I'd expect plastic at this price, but to be honest I never think they make all that much difference.
The back is very slightly arched, and the sides are made from two pieces.
The quality of construction can also be seen when looking inside the instrument. The bracing and kerfing is neat and thin and a look at the edge of the soundboard shows that this is NOT an over built instrument. That should mean for a light body, better resonance and projection. I particularly liked the makers label inside which is not printed on a paper sticker, but rather is a piece of wood that has the details burned into it in pyrographics.
The neck is made from hardwood and I suppose a little bit of a let down on the looks department when compared to the body. It's made from three pieces, with a joint at the heel and the headstock, but thankfully it is topped with a very nice uniform piece of rosewood for the fingerboard. It's not a bound fingerboard, but fitted very neatly, as are the 14 nickel silver frets which have no rough edges at all.
We have pearloid finger position markers set into the 5th, 7th and 10th spaces, but sadly there are no side markers for the player. Why do they continue to miss those off?
The nut is neat and looks easily removable for adjustment. That's a bonus that I don't think you see enough of on ukuleles and I despise nuts that are layered with loads of gloss and finish as removing them is likely to mess up the finish on the headstock. Not here.
I adore the headstock for a couple of reasons. First, it's faced in that same dark rosewood, but also because it eschews the 'easy' choice of a Martin headstock copy and goes with a shape of it's own. I also like the logo as they didn't go for a transfer, but rather an engraved Snail logo. Flip the headstock over and you have another logo and the serial number, also engraved. Nice.
Tuners seem decent quality and smooth. They are silver sealed but unbranded tuners, but the buttons are small enough and finished in a black rubberised coating which feels nice on the fingers.
Finishing the deal are a set of Aquila New Nylgut strings and a padded gig bag with shoulder straps and a Snail logo. As gig bags go, this is a nice one and a far cry from some of the nylon things you see with cheaper instruments (and better than no bag at all).
So there we have a it. A great price, striking looks, really nice looking construction. How does it sound though?
Well first of all, that light construction makes for a nice balanced light weight instrument. This bodes well.
The first thing that strikes you is an impressive volume for a small laminate instrument. It really does have a good bite to it (a good thing with a soprano) and some reasonable sustain too.
In fact it has a voice that is what you would expect a typical soprano to sound like. Bright, punchy, jumpy and really rather impressive. The setup on this helps, as do the Aquila strings no doubt, but I do think the light construction and thin laminate is coming in to play here. It's resonant, responsive and a lot of fun to play.
Sure, it's not going to win in a contest against a high end solid Hawaiian soprano, but it's not trying to be that sort of instrument. It doesn't have the complex harmonics that those instruments will provide, but it's not a bad tone at all. In fact I've heard worse on more expensive solid wood sopranos which sounded dead. What it is, is a very well made, nice sounding and looking instrument at a great price.
I am finding it hard to fault for the price. Yes, for £100 -£125 ish you can just about get into solid wood ukuleles, but it won't look as nice as this and really, there is nothing wrong with the tone of this. Another fine example of what really can be done with laminates if a company puts the effort and quality control in.
In fact I'll be bolder. Whilst I know that money is tight for many people, I think the days of me recommending £30 ukes are really gone. I mean, £99 for an instrument that plays as well as this does, looks this nice, comes with a gig bag - well really - it's not a huge amount of money for a musical instrument is it?
Highly recommended. Good choice Omega!
Be sure to check out my other ukulele reviews here!
PROS
Looks
Volume
Sustain
Build quality
CONS
No side markers
SCORES
Looks - 9.5
Fit and Finish - 9
Sound - 8
Value For Money - 9
OVERALL - 8.9 Out of 10
To understand my review scoring and see this result in context - visit my review page at
VIDEO REVIEW
© Barry Maz
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