Ukulele For Dummies (67 page)

The pure electric ukuleles do have their advantages. Being so quiet when not plugged in, they're perfect for late-night practice (which is when I get best use of mine). And at great volume, they're less likely than electro-acoustics to produce feedback (the screeching sound you get when the amplified sound feeds-back into the instrument's pick-ups).

Electric ukuleles, however, do lose some of the traditional ukulele sound. So if you're going for that sound, buy an electro-acoustic ukulele.

Another option is to amplify an acoustic ukulele by buying a transducer pick-up which you attach to the body of your standard ukulele and plug it in – a very simple and effective way to amplify your playing. Transducer pickups are easy to install yourself – they attach to your uke using a suction cup or an adhesive surface. If you have one that uses an adhesive surface, try out a few different positions for the pick-up before you attach it because different positions can produce different sounds (below the bridge and to the right is a good place to start).The upside of using a transducer pick-up is that you don't have to shell out for a new uke and they do usually produce a more traditional ukulele sound than pure electric ukes. On the downside, they can leave marks on your ukulele if you're not careful.

Chapter 18

Splashing Out on Essentials and Accessories

In This Chapter

Finding the best strings

Buying optional accessories

Logging on for great websites, apps and programs

I
hope you have a bit of money left after buying your ukulele. If not, have a garage sale, commit tax fraud or push over an old lady and steal her purse, because this chapter introduces you to the must-haves (that is, strings!) plus loads of optional gadgets, gizmos and add-ons that are sure to improve your uke-playing experience.

Picking the Right Strings

The one truly essential accessory is the strings. Indeed, the single quickest and cheapest way to improve the sound of your ukulele is to put on a good set of strings. Unfortunately, most new ukuleles – particularly cheap ones – come with low-quality strings. Switch them for higher-quality ones and you're sure to be amazed at how much the sound improves. A decent set of strings will cost around £7 or £8 (in the UK) or $7 or $8 (in the US) and the strings are worth much more for the amount of tone they add.

Like ukuleles themselves, different strings have different sounds and appeal to different people. So try a few out and see which ones you prefer. Start by trying the string makers with the best reputation: Aquila and Worth.

Unfortunately, with all the different sizes and tunings around, buying ukulele strings isn't a straightforward task. If you find yourself with the wrong set of strings, you certainly aren't going to be the first. I've done it myself.

The first thing you want to check is the size of ukulele the strings are intended for. Soprano size strings work fine on a concert ukulele (and vice versa), but if you have a soprano instrument avoid buying tenor or baritone strings – they won't fit on a soprano ukulele (check out Chapter 1 for more details on the different uke sizes).

Next check that the strings aren't low-G tuning (unless of course you're looking for those specifically). Standard strings are sometimes marked high-G but not always. Sometimes you can see strings labelled aDF
B (rather than gCEA), but in fact very little difference exists between the tunings and so these strings work just as well in gCEA tuning.

I've also seen strings with the names written back to front (AECG or BF
DA): very confusing, but these strings are exactly the same as the standard strings.

Mercifully, not all string issues are so vexing. Black, white, transparent, brown, even pink; uke strings come in plenty of colours and they're all perfectly acceptable.

Don't try to put steel strings on a standard ukulele. Steel strings have a lot more tension in them. Unless your uke is designed to take them, you're going to end up with a broken instrument.

Getting Hold of Optional Accessories

This section takes a look at some of the accessories you can buy for your uke, from very useful (such as a case, strap and stand) to fairly indulgent but fun (expensive recording gear).

Clipping on a tuner

No matter how good you become at tuning by ear, having a clip-on tuner around is always a good idea. You attach these tuners to the headstock and they detect the tuning of the string by vibrations rather than sound. Because they work by picking up the vibrations, they can be used in noisy environments – really useful if you're tuning in a ukulele group or before a gig.

The various brands of tuner are about equal in quality, but do try to get a chromatic tuner (one that can be tuned to any note, not just gCEA). These tuners allow you to try out different tunings.

Bagging a case

Uke carriers come in three varieties:

Gig bags:
These soft bags keep the dust off your ukulele but don't offer much protection.

Soft cases:
These cases have stiffer sides than gig bags and are usually padded. Soft cases give your ukulele a certain amount of protection from knocks.

Hard cases:
These cases allow you (if you so desire) to drop your uke from the top of a building, smash it against a wall, parade a troupe of elephants over it and still have an instrument that survives. Hard cases are perfect for gigging musicians and anyone who, like me, is terminally clumsy and can't walk slowly through a room without knocking over a table and stepping on a dog's tail.