Back in the days of yore, Im sure we had a guitar players thread that wandered off topic on to playing ukes....?
In recent times I've taught myself the uke (in 2 different tunings, not as difficult as it sounds!) as I wanted a little fun instrument to carry around to festivals, friends houses, etc, without having to take my guitar everywhere.
Now I want to buy an electro-acoustic ukelele (mid-price) to plug in at Jam sessions in my local pub.
I've looked at a couple of reviews on the net, of course - but any ideas/recommendations from anyone on here who plays a uke.?
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You don't say if you want Soprano, Tenor or Baritone?
Lanikai are very well thought of, and well made. Ashbury do some good ones, too. As with a guitar you are looking for a "solid" top for a good tone that will improve with age(and body too if you can get it for a decent price - but these tend to be a bit dear).
Have a look at this - if as I suspect you live in cornwall this is the only place you are going to get a halfway decent instrument.
http://www.hobgoblin.com/wadebridge/
my uke playing experience is EXTREMELY limited but I don't think you need to spend a fortune.
"when I'm cleaning windows"
Are you a regular uke player, WMT?
I've been learning on a battered old soprano uke that I picked up for a couple of quid at the annual Mount Edgcumbe mammoth car boot sale.
It's great having such a tiny instrument, but I might want to go up a size to a tenor, with deeper tone, etc.
The Baritone is usually in a standard guitar tuning more or less, allowing for only the 4 strings, of course - handy for those who would like to play a smaller instrument than a guitar. But it's much bigger than a Soprano size ukelele and part of the attraction is that you can take the soprano uke anywhere because of it's size.
I'm in Marseille at the moment with GF, and round the corner from her flat is a music shop with a Yamaha "Guitalele", a 6 string hybrid of a uke and guitar.
Same size as the Tenor ukelele.
Apparently you can tune it to a standard guitar E tuning, but you lose some tension in the strings. So it's recommended that you tune it ADGCEA, which is the same as a guitar with capo on the 5th fret - and also includes the standard Soprano uke tuning of GCEA, so you can play it as a 4 string uke, adding more bass notes or as a 6 string guitar.
There,s some good Youtube footage of the Guitalele being put through it's paces.
I'm getting carried away here - but looking forward to hearing if any Lifer,s are playing any of the ukes regularly - and if so, what do they have?
Snap it up- anything by yamaha is good!
i loaned one from the local guitar shop over Christmas, a lot of fun.......