Ukulele For Dummies (4 page)

Blending in with other instruments

If playing with other people is what you enjoy, you'll be pleased to hear that the ukulele works excellently as part of an ensemble. Playing with other fretted instruments like guitars increases the range of notes and adds a different tone to the proceedings, but the range of instruments the ukulele works with is much wider than that. In the 1930s, for example, it was common for people like Johnny Marvin and Ukulele Ike to take a ukulele with orchestral backing. More recently, bands have combined and contrasted the tinkling ukulele with the gutsy parping of brass to great effect (take a listen to the indie band Beirut or the jazzy Snake Suspenderz for how effective this combination is).

Getting kids interested

Youngsters really relate to the ukulele, and with the frets being close together and the strings easy on the fingers, it's a great instrument for them. They can get a strong musical base that transfers well to whatever instrument they want to pick up next.

Rock guitar gods who played the ukulele as children include Jimi Hendrix, Brian May (Queen), Pete Townshend (The Who) and surf-rocker Dick Dale.

Sizing Up the Ukulele

Unlike most instruments in the guitar family, ukuleles come in a number of different sizes. The three regular sizes of ukulele are
soprano
,
concert
and
tenor
. All three sizes are tuned exactly the same way, however, and so when you've learned to play one, you can play them all!

In addition to these three types, you can also buy a
baritone
ukulele, which is a very different beast: it's larger and tuned differently, lower than the other types (the same as the top four strings of a guitar). Therefore, you have to use a whole different set of chords and notes, and your skills are not transferable to the other three types.

For these reasons, a baritone is not the best ukulele to start on. If you want to learn baritone ukulele, you need a dedicated baritone book because I don't cover it in this one.

Meeting the family: Daddy uke, mummy uke and baby uke

A ukulele's size is determined by the scale length, which is the length of the part of the string you play (between the nut and the bridge – check out the following section for descriptions of these parts). Here's a rundown:

Soprano:
The soprano is the smallest ukulele, sometimes referred to as standard size. Originally all ukuleles were sopranos and this size is what most people envision when they think about ukuleles. Soprano is a great size to choose for people who want to do a lot of chord strumming and are looking for the traditional ukulele sound.

Concert:
The concert is the Goldilocks ukulele; not too big, not too small. You get the ukulele sound but with a little extra room on the fretboard.

Tenor:
The tenor is the largest of the standard ukuleles, with a longer neck that allows for more intricate playing (or more wild showing off). The larger body can give you a fuller, more guitar-like sound.

Deciding which uke is best for you

Most people find that the soprano is the best place to start. You don't have to stretch to make the chord shapes, sopranos are cheap and easy to find, and they sound great when you strum simple chords on them.

But whether you start on soprano, concert or tenor, you can easily transfer your skills between them with no problem.

Whatever your first instrument, you may well end up with a collection of ukuleles before long. The term for this fascinating ‘addiction' is
ukulele acquisition syndrome
(UAS).

Taking a Tour: The Anatomy of the Ukulele

Ukuleles are usually shaped like small guitars, but other shapes are also common (the pineapple shape is popular). The shape of the ukulele doesn't usually make a great deal of difference to the sound, but some shapes, such as the Flying-V, are harder to play.

Avoid buying one of the more whacky ukulele shapes as your first ukulele. Whatever you do, avoid Flying-V shaped ukuleles. I received one of these instruments as a gift, and had a real trial keeping a smile on my face as it poked me in the thigh and forearm.

Other shapes to tread carefully around are triangular ukuleles and cricket bat-shaped electric ukuleles.

Ukuleles share many of their parts with people: for instance, bodies and necks. And I'm lobbying strenuously to get the
mouth
officially renamed the
soundhole
. But until the full alignment of names, Figure 1-1 provides a guide as I take you on a tour of the various parts of the ukulele.

The two sound-producing parts are as follows:

Body:
The body is the main part and where the sound is produced. The type of wood this section is made of determines how the ukulele sounds. The most popular woods for the body are mahogany and koa (a Hawaiian wood).

The body is divided into three main parts: soundboard or top (the front of the uke), the back and the sides. The soundboard is the most important part (which is why you often see ukuleles with expensive woods used for the top and less expensive wood, or even plastic, on the back and sides).

One off-shot of the ukulele called the
banjolele
(sometimes called a banjo-uke) has a banjo-like body rather than a wood body, though you play them just like a wood ukulele. The difference is in the sound they produce. They are much louder and have the metallic sound of a banjo.

Strings:
Originally, ukulele strings were made from catgut and nylon. Nowadays, however, they're made from synthetic fibres (with ugly names such as fluro-carbon and nylgut) that combine the best features of both catgut and nylon.

Unlike most string instruments, ukulele strings don't go from fattest nearest your head to thinnest nearest the ground. This arrangement confused me when I first got a ukulele: I thought someone must have screwed up and I changed the order of the strings. I was an idiot.