What kind of Ukulele Player are you?
So, I have some pretty strong opinions on this subject, so please forgive me if I offend. I'm definitely getting grouchier as I age. Anyway, for those who don't know I'm a fairly recent ukulele convert (last 5-6 years or so). I've been playing bass and guitar since I was in the 7th grade, but I'm self-taught. So, my style is weird and I wouldn't say that I'm technically great, by any means.
However, I am a pretty decent bass player and I enjoy playing bass. I also play my bass with my fingers and I have pretty strong opinions on that subject. For example, I don't think slapping is ever okay and if you play with a pick then your tone better be super tough. Well, I guess Flea gets a pass, but that's about it. And, by tough, on the picking style, I mean like Kim Gordon, Brian Ritchie or Kim Deal tough. Not Nu Metal tough.
So, being a bass player first, I actually play guitar like a bass. That is to say, I don't use a pick. I strum with my fingers and I play single notes by plucking with my fingers. It's weird, but I've been doing it for too long to go back. Anyway, I'm just giving you some information so you can put the rest of my crazy rant into context.
BEGIN CRAZY RANTS:
1) I distrust attractive musicians. To me, music is what you get into if you are sort of weird and goofy looking, yet you still want to meet girls (or boys, or whathaveya). Attractive people don't need the extra help. This is our thing! Go back to writing bad poetry and modeling. For example, when I first heard The Apples in Stereo, I envisioned them as a bunch of really pretty boys and I hated them. Then I saw a picture of the band (cause they are pretty goofy looking) and I fell head-over-heels in love.
2) I value honesty and enthusiasm over competency and technique any day. So, while I appreciate someone who is incredibly skilled, like Jake Shimabukuro. I would much rather see an awkward teenage kid play an original song on Youtube. Two examples: The Robot Song by The Scribbles and Kazookeylele Version 2. I'm not saying I want music to be played poorly, I'm just saying I appreciate original thought more. Also, it's probably a sour grapes deal because, while I can write some goofy fun songs, I'll never be able to play like Jake Shimabukuro.
I thought I had another rant here, but I got distracted by a squirrel and lost my train of thought. I guess what I'm saying is that I sort of believe that music should be fun. Both for the listener and the performer. Especially, if you are playing a ukulele. I sort of frown on ukulele "shredding". That's what guitars are for. Again.. sour grapes, I guess. What do y'all think?
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I think if you want to shred on an ukulele, then shred on an ukulele. I agree with most of your post, but for the thing about looks meaning something when it comes to music.
My husband is the bass player in the family and I come from an opera background. He doesn’t use a pick on a bass either.
The thing that turns me off to really taking part in the online uke community is the traditionalists. A uke isn’t a real uke if it has “ears”, is any other scale but soprano, and any other tonewood but koa or mahogany. Anything else must be little more than a “small guitar.” Then there’s the “playing ukulele like a ukulele” or “playing ukulele like a guitar.” – To me, playing uke like a guitar would mean using a pick, but to many of these guys, they just sling that insult the minute someone isn’t playing a tune written before 1930, or Hawaiian.
My local uke club invited some luthiers to a uke fest, then members of the club insulted said luthiers by saying “small guitars.” – Yeah, that’s some Aloha Spirit right there!
My way of thinking is, the ukulele is an instrument, and you can change your style around to get the sound you want. That’s not wrong to do. In fact uke players are the only musicians I’ve ever met who ever had traditionalists in their ranks. I cringe to think what an orchestra would sound like, if those ukulele players applied the same thinking, because the instruments would never have evolved to what they are today.
I think anything goes, if it sounds good, it is good. I basically think that the real musicians are too busy making music to worry about any of those silly rules or playing any of those silly mind games. A real musician sees an instrument as a tool for creating music, and there isn’t enough time to worry about what rules are being broken.
That’s my own ukulele related rant. I wish the community was more genuinely open, and not just pretend open. What I mean is, really ultra-friendly until someone dares put forward (as long as they’re nice about it) a dissenting opinion. I’ve seen it happen in reality, and on a few forums, everyone’s nice until someone disagrees, and then the witch hunt begins! I think that’s how these weird traditionalist opinions evolved, and not from any actual real beliefs.
Holy smokes! Thanks for the in-depth comment! I hope that this website, at least, can always be a genuinely open place to talk about ukes. At least you don’t have to worry about elitism here, because I’m barely competent as a player or uke historian.
I’m from Australia, so we have zero traditions – there are a few groups in Sydney (Balmain is one, Ukes n Beer is another) that get together to play ukuleles and I can say – they are ALL about fun and odd looking people.
I’ve only been playing a uke for three, maybe four months. I’ve barely mastered two songs and a couple of string exercises but can keep up with a group song if the chords are written out.
I’ve found the online community to be fantastic & certainly not limited to soprano or nothing else, even with Hawaiian based sites like ukuleleunderground.com. I don’t know where Cyberg00 lives, but fear not: that attitude isn’t worldwide.
The only real hatred I’ve seen expressed online is the whole pronunciation of yook-a-lay-lee versus ook-a-lay-lee seems to bring out the extremists as does Julia Nunes (both those who love her and those who hate her & bushman ukuleles).
But I digress. My pet hate is people who, even while playing ukulele, look down on the instrument. I admit, it isn’t a mainstream rocker, but it’s an instrument that is fun, sounds great and really social. If anyone ever refers to it WHILE PLAYING ONE as ‘twee’ or as not being a real instrument (i.e. we should all be playing guitar) it really,really shits me. I’ll cop a ribbing from non-ukulele players, just those who should be on the inner and feel the same joy I feel from strumming the four strings…