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Thread: What's up with Ukes?

  1. #1
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    Default What's up with Ukes?

    I have gone back to music (and picked up the mandolin!) after a long (>10 years) hiatus. Now that I am hanging out in musical instrument stores again, I can't help noticing that they are bursting at the seams with Ukuleles.

    Now, to be clear I have nothing against Ukuleles, they are fine instruments. But what's going on? Has it always been like this, and I just never noticed? Or is it a new thing?

  2. #2

    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I blame Ryan Gosling and Blue Valentine….and the hipsters. Wasn’t like this before.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Ukes have been steadily increasing popularity over the past 15 or so years. I retired in '12, and recall a uke "meet-up" group (an open, moderated jam session) meeting weekly in NYC's Central Park, starting maybe in '08 or '10. Hey, they're small, light, easy to carry (even easier than a mandolin!), relatively cheap, and far nicer on the fingertips than our 8-string buddies. And thry're readily playable by the millions & millions with at least rudimentary guitar knowledge.
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    Registered User Dave Hicks's Avatar
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Ukulele magazine (yes, there is such a thing) refers to the present as the third wave of uke popularity. They've been publishing for 10 years, and the current popularity probably predates that by a few years.

    I went to Elderly a couple months ago to pick out a new uke and they had a whole wall full - as many as or more than the mandos on display.


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    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    We have a very large ukulele organization here in the Twin Cities. Big enough that it's the main attraction for our bluegrass/old time music association fall weekend gathering.

    My own view is, one can get into playing ukulele cheaper than most other instruments. The basics are fairly easy to learn and gives folks a feeling of quick accomplishment.

    Full confession - I do presently have two Fluke model ukes, one soprano and one concert. Had them a long time and used to use the concert model to back up a fiddle player on a few tunes. Haven't touched them in years.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Ukuleles, they are very small
    Hardly use much room at all
    Packed in tiny boxes
    Thousands at a time
    Modular to shipping container
    Economics sure no brainer

    Laminates in endless choice
    Hello Kitty has a voice
    (Even though she has no mouth)

    Any color you’d desire
    Mass production sure on fire
    Laser patterns, some Hawaiian
    Zapped right on…I ain’t lyin’

    Only four strings, all in nylon
    Pretty nails you can be buyin
    Need no strap to hold them up
    Need no pick to lose or drop
    Tuning mostly electronic
    Dare I say near moronic

    Out the door at fifty bucks
    Right into Amazon’s trucks
    Sound so sweet you have to Tweet
    I’m making music; what a treat!

    -with credit to John Updike ‘Cosmic Gall’

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  8. #7
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I played a lot of uke in the 1980s because I took lessons with Roy Smeck who was a vaudeville star in the 1920s and after. So that era from around 1915 when Hawaiian musicians came over at a big World Exposition I think in San Francisco. Then is fell our of favor probably in the 1930s or so until the 1950s when. Arthur Godfrey was on TV. Then there was Tiny Tim for a small bump. The current “craze” has lasted pretty long and YouTube helped by making lots of people aware of virtuoso uke players plus there were quite a few makers of inexpensive ukes - a lot cheaper than even the cheapest guitars - which came in from the Far East. It’s a fun instrument that you can learn quickly but it is also capable of playing complicated pieces. (This is all from my head, so correct me If I am inaccurate.)

    When I started there were mostly used instruments and most people played sopranos. Now tenors have taken over as the main instrument and there are many excellent high end makers as well as quality imports. Compared to most common mandolins they are generally easier to make and are similar to flattop guitars in construction.
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I'm primarily a uke player, and have even been paid to perform on a few occasions! So I'm quite experienced in the UK ukulele world, and my guess is it's similar elsewhere.

    The biggest grouping is uke players whose main motivation is playing simple songs, and meeting regularly to play together. This is all about the achievement of making music, even at a fairly moderate skill level, and about socialising. The biggest UK uke festival attracts around 400 attendees, and although they come to see the acts, they still spend more time in groups playing with each other.

    Ukes for music teaching in school are another big area - as cheap as recorders, but sound a lot nicer in the hands of beginners! And much easier for kids to make a nice noise, and thus get excited about making music.

    At the performer level, ukes are still quite rare. I play a lot of open mics in UK pubs and there I'm normally the only uke player to 10 guitarists (and no mandolin players). A real performance on the uke is a novelty still, and usually goes down very well. Ukes also appear in band recordings for film and TV, usually for gentle atmospheric fills to the sound. Not many ukes in live bands.

    So the main use seems to be for semi-private playing, just for individual and collective fun. Mandolins don't lend themselves well to this - solo mandolin is tough to pull off without a very high skill level, so most mandolin players I know play in groups of mixed instruments, in sessions or onstage. Guitars aren't so good either - 10 guitarists playing the same song is pretty scary, and often very competitive!

    If it wasn't for the collective and social aspect, I imagine ukes would be nearly as rare as mandolins.

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  12. #9
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    TOTALLY aside; no mandolin content, no financial interest, barely redeeming social value...

    Richard500: Thanks for the reference to Updike's "Cosmic Gall". As I've just finished reading "Project Hail Mary", it was right on point. (IMHO, good recent novel if you're a science geek!)
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    Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
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    I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Uke classes seem to have taken over from recorder classes in UK schools but I’m not sure why; perhaps today’s teachers can manage a few [guitar] chord shapes more easily than whistle fingering?

    At least a couple of dozen recorders start off in tune. I’d have thought that it would take a whole lesson to get all the ukes in tune!

  14. #11

    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    Uke classes seem to have taken over from recorder classes in UK schools but I’m not sure why; perhaps today’s teachers can manage a few [guitar] chord shapes more easily than whistle fingering?

    At least a couple of dozen recorders start off in tune. I’d have thought that it would take a whole lesson to get all the ukes in tune!
    I'd guess it's just because of their popularity - if they teach kids an instrument that is commonly played, they'll be more likely to stick with it.
    Not that you couldn't transfer recorder knowledge to a whistle or a 6-hole flute and play traditional tunes but I'm not sure how popular that is with the kids.

  15. #12

    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Walk into a room full of people with a guitar and people can get a little serious. Do that with a uke and they tend to smile.

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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    it's that, "Over the Rainbow" guy!

    I'd say it all hit the scene around here 10 years ago - 'bout when you dropped out?

    f-ed
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    This is the video that started it all:
    Being right is overrated. Doing right is what matters.

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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Quote Originally Posted by milli857 View Post
    I'd guess it's just because of their popularity - if they teach kids an instrument that is commonly played, they'll be more likely to stick with it.
    Not that you couldn't transfer recorder knowledge to a whistle or a 6-hole flute and play traditional tunes but I'm not sure how popular that is with the kids.
    UK wise, recorder was the usual go-to instrument in schools for years but little seen in the outside world. As for the uke, they didn’t seem that popular until the schools took them up.

    There are some genuinely awful instruments out there! Personally, things that need blowing always make me dizzy and I’ve never got on with ukes.

  20. #16

    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    As someone who was mildly bemused (whatever that means?) by ukes, well, then I first heard Israel Kamakawiwoʻole (what a great player--what an incredible voice)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z26BvHOD_sg

    and then I heard Jake Shimabukuro

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB3RbO7updc

    and that pretty much shut up any sarcasm I ever had! (I wonder what a duet with Jethro would have sounded like....)


    Check out all their stuff on YouTube (there's lots).

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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Thanks for all the answers (and the poetry!). I guess anything that makes more people interested in music is a good thing :-)

    It was quite impressive to hear that schools are switching from recorders to ukuleles. The effort it must take to keep all those ukuleles in tune must be enormous!

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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Quote Originally Posted by kdlrd View Post
    Thanks for all the answers (and the poetry!). I guess anything that makes more people interested in music is a good thing :-)

    It was quite impressive to hear that schools are switching from recorders to ukuleles. The effort it must take to keep all those ukuleles in tune must be enormous!
    I don’t see any issue with people flocking to Ukes. At least it’s not a banjo

  24. #19
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I was a ukulele player before the mandolin and sold my small collection of high quality ukes to have some cash for this ride.
    In contrast to the value of 1920's Gibson and Martin mandolins, I had a rare 1929 Gibson soprano ukulele with an extended fretboard that I sold for $450. If it had been a 1929 Martin Uke, it would have been worth 4x that price!
    Like mandolins, ukuleles are fun to play, portable, and have their own voice and character.
    Left to right: 1929 Gibson, 1980’s Kiwaya pineapple from Japan, 2000’s Martin from their Mexican factory- all great instruments!
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    Registered User Murphy Slaw's Avatar
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    What about the uke bass with the rubber strings?

    I prefer them to an electric full size bass in an acoustic setting, even if they need a little amplification.

    I don't know why?
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I attended a jam session recently that was composed of older professional amplified electric guitar and bass players, myself on a new loud A style mandolin through a microphone, and a couple of ladies and their teacher on Ukuleles through microphones. The ukes had the same voice as the mandolin, but were louder. The teacher played a 12 string uke which sounded phenomenal. The ukes did not play leads; they are rhythm instruments. However, the uke players seemed to have a lot more fun than everyone else. I took a uke bass. A Thundergut string broke right away, rendering it interesting but useless.
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    There were a few pop culture uke tunes and they are a very affordable way to get into playing music on a stringed instrument. Folks prolly said the same about banjos and mandolins in 2000 after Oh Brother Where Art Thou!

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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    The current uke popularity in the UK isn’t the first time. That was down to the popularity of the late George Formby - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Formby - although he generally played the banjo version from the 1930’s onwards.

  30. #24
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    I was in a local shop the other day for some guitar strings. It had been a while since I was in there. I was sort of surprised to see an entire wall of ukes in all sizes, shapes, styles (some were clear plastic - weird), and prices. I figured there must be a bit uke boom happening.
    ...

  31. #25
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    Default Re: What's up with Ukes?

    Don't knock it until you try it. Even Sam Bush is getting in on the uke action. Check this out: https://ukuleletimeinnashville.com

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