SeilerBird's ukulele baptism

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I forgot to post the photo of the group I took this morning. The gentleman on the right is Steve, and he led the group. He had on a t-shirt that said GCEA. After the meeting was over he mentioned to me that he was surprised no one mentioned his t-shirt. I asked him what it stood for and he said that the typical uke tuning is GCEA. I told him that I used to live in the Grand Canyon and I thought it stood for the Grand Canyon Ecological Association. I have no brains therefore I never get headaches. :-[
 

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Tom said:
Doesn't look like many of them turn out for their jam sessions (40 tonight). This happens when groups get too big. It's one reason we've talked repeatedly about capping our membership. We've actually raised the cap several times, and are currently over 60 members; Looks like we'll have 50+ regulars.
Yes, I noticed the 40 members also. If it got much larger then rhythm becomes a problem. Not everyone will be right on the beat and it begins to become chaos.
 
Well it has been an interesting weekend. At the meetup the leader mentioned that the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is performing it's only east coast show in Gainesville on December 2nd so this morning I got a front row ticket. I decided to return the concert uke I have on order so I can get one with a built in tuner and preamp.

I keep the uke right next to me and I pick it up and play it frequently. I am not having any problems learning it. Pretty simple instrument and fun to play. It didn't take too long to figure out that I don't like a lot of the chord diagrams I have seen being used. For example everyone plays a C chord with the ring finger. I found that it is easier for me to use my pinky. It makes changing to either an F or a G7 much faster and smoother for me.

I joined the Space Coast Ukulele group and signed up for their Oct 29th meetup. I would love to sign up with the Tampa group also but their meetups are the same time and day as the Orlando group so I will skip the Tampa group.
 
Haven't seen UOoGB live, but their YouTube performances are quite entertaining.

None of  my chord diagrams show which fingers to use, although I've seen various ones that do. Fortunately, my need to reference chord diagrams for most tunes I play is the exception, but I'll still run across chords I haven't seen, or muscle memory forgot  :( 

Depending on the chord progression, I'll occasionally use my pinky to play C; I play Fm with first, middle and pinky, then just lift two fingers, leaving the pinky on the C. But that and a few other examples are the exception (for me). Different strokes for different folks.
 
Probably because it'seems the easiest to learn, or maybe the easiest to teach.
 
Yes and most people have very weak pinkies. Mine is very strong so it just feels natural to me to use it instead. The first song I learned on guitar was Gloria by Them. Very simple song just E-D-A over and over but very fast. The typical way of fingering the A chord did not work well for me so I came up with a different fingering that works much better. Turns out there is like 11 different ways of fingering an A chord first position. I got used to all of them and I use the one that works the best in any given song.

One thing that I find interesting is all the different opinions on the proper way to strum. It looks like I am just going to not even think about it and stum any way I wish. Some people use the index finger, some use the thumb, some use all fingers, some use their nail, some use the fleshy part.
 
And some folks use a pick (felt or plastic).

I don't think there is a "proper way" to strum; In some cases, I think it's a matter of how folks were taught, while in others it's whatever feels comfortable. I "learned" using thumb and forefinger, but have evolved to other forms, depending on the song, e.g. I use a (fleshy) thumb roll on some ballads I've rearranged. In other cases I'll pluck one string with a thumb or pinky before strumming the chord (e.g. Edelweiss - pluck_D_D); I learned the latter from a fellow band member.

One thing that was not natural for me was to vary the strum pattern from a simple DU_DU_DU_DU, e.g. D_D_DU_DU and lots of others. Some folks do this without thinking about it, but I had to practice a lot to make it happen automatically.

In most cases, I (finally) don't have to think about it, and my right hand is responding to the equivalent of muscle memory.

I'd think you and most guitar players would have a lot less trouble with any of this stuff than those of us who hadn't played a stringed instrument before picking up a uke.
 
I agree that there is no proper way to strum. But every beginners videos start out teaching you what they claim is the proper way to strum. I watched a bunch of them until I realised to just strum the way you want. The different strums are easy for me because  my first instrument was the drums.
 
Tom said:
Several folks have stopped by to add to the comments received on Saturday about my 8-string Kala concert uke; It really "fills out" the music, and is my go-to instrument when not playing my banjouke.
Damn you Tom! I had not heard of an 8 string so I looked it up and then went to YouTube and listened to one. Damn, it sounds sweet. I am going to have to get one. ???
 
Tom said:
LOL Tom, I've mentioned it a number of times, including in this recent message.
Yes you have but I was not shopping for ukuleles at the time so I paid no attention. I decided I want to get a soprano, a concert and a tenor so I have been doing a lot of shopping and reading. I bought a great beginners book today:
The Complete What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know by Barry Maz. He runs a web site called Got A Ukulele that looks to be a great resource, but you probably know all about them.
 
I don't get a lot from some of these books, and gain just a few snippets from some of the web sites and blogs. But we all learn in different ways.
 
I don't expect to get a lot from these resources but I am a knowledge freak and when I get into something I tend to read everything I can find about the subject. When I learned drums and guitar it was almost impossible to find teachers. There was no Internet, no YouTube, no magazines, very few books and very few teachers. Because of this I am going overboard learning. When I was in high school there were only two other guitarists in the whole school. Now a days women swallow small guitars so their baby can come out of the womb strumming a guitar. Besides that I am retired and I have a lot of spare time. ;D
 
I just ordered a book of Beatle songs arranged for uke. I was able to look at the first few songs online and the arrangements are pretty accurate. I can play most of the songs on guitar with my eyes closed but for only $5 it will be a blessing to have all the uke chords spelled out for me.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1423430131/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1LFSE1IE6PRVF&coliid=I2IRTB1GUS18O5
 
I have that book at home.

for only $5

That page says $9.99 Kindle and &19.92 paperback  ???

Edit: Must be a 'used' price.
 
I almost always buy used books, cds and dvds from Amazon. I am always happy with the condition and the price. I have bought a bunch of DVDs for a penny. Shipping is $4 so you can't really go wrong. I don't need to have it brand new.
 
Nowt wrong with that. I prefer to buy books new and keep stuff forever, usually in good condition. OTOH I've occasionally bought used when new wasn't available. I even bought a used baritone uke a few months ago  ;D
 
My problem is I live in a very small motorhome and I buy a lot of stuff. I usually donate my books and dvds to the local library when I am done with them. If I bought new and kept everything I would have to sleep on the roof. I do buy all my instruments new since I plan on keeping them. Speaking of which, my 8 string arrives on Friday. A lot of my electronic stuff is reconditioned.
 
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