Welcome to the ukulele group here on the cafe. My name is Ben and I have been playing ukulele for about a year now. I started playing when I was getting frustrated with the mandolin. Still wanting to play something I started on the ukulele and have been working with both ever since.
Hi! I too have and love both these instruments. I have only had my mandolin a couple of months and have acquired 3 ukuleles over the past 2 years.
Welcome Becka. If you are new to the mandolin check out the Newbies group.
Hello and thanks for creating the group, Ben. I now have 2 Ukes and a 1925 CF Martin Tiple (tuned the same as a Uke) that I really like to play when I put down mandolins and fiddles. It's really a fun instrument and a hit at parties and around the campfire. If you're still new to the mandolin, please check out the Song-A-Week Social Group. We vote on a new tune every week and then post a video of ourselves playing that tune. No obligation to actually post, at any one time there are about 20 or so active posters out of over 700 members. At least you get to hear and learn tunes from every genre you can imagine, Irish Trad,, Bluegrass, Old time fiddle, Scottish, Celtic, Cape Brettan, and so on. By far the most supportive and encouraging group in the Web.
I think the Uke Group is a good idea too, Ben--thanks for putting it up. I'm a guitar picker /instructor with 50+ years experience. Got into mando off and on a couple years ago and ukulele this year. I find that my age (just turned 65) and chemo treatments have affected my ability to retain new musical ideas on mando & uke. I'm still okay with developing guitar material though. I've got 4 ukes including a Mainland electric and six string. I fill in with a local jazz trio (90% guitar / 10% uke) and have a lot of fun adding to song color. How about you folks? Do you jam much? Regards, Ed
I am part of a club that meets twice a month. Some of us have performed here in Richmond over Christmas.
Hello, everyone. I just ordered a Kala ubass. It consists of a baritone uke body fitted with thick polyurethane strings tuned to the same pitches as a bass, GDAE. It has piezo pick-ups for each string. I am looking forward to learning to play bass lines with it. It has a 20 inch scale, but on various Youtube videos sounds a lot like an upright string bass. I play classical and traditional music on mandolin, and am slowly improving my skills. My main instruments are harp and accordion, a sort of heaven and not-heaven dichtomy.
Welcome to the group Harper. The ubass is a lot of fun.We have a woman at our uke group that plays one. She has a mini amp she plugs into.
Hi all. I haven't posted anything here yet, so thought I'd chime in. I'm new to uke playing, and will soon join up with a local group of uke players in the Seattle area. I've got a 60s Hamony soprano...with the plastic fretboard; an Oscar Schmidt concert, a Pono tenor; a 60s Favilla baritone, and an Oscar Schmidt baritone strung in CGDA, to learn tenor guitar chords. The Pono tenor uke is my favorite. I have 3 guitars that serve only to take up space in my tiny home. Selling them to finance a tenor guitar. As has often been said of ukuleles...four strings...four fingers. Coincidence? I think not!! :D
Welcome to the group. Glad to see people posting here. I was getting discouraged.
Hi All, 8 or so years of Ukulele, and a little over a year of Mandolin. I got sucked into mandolin by playing fiddle tunes on ukulele, now I think I'll have to try to play jazzy Tin Pan Alley on the Mandolin just to be true to form. I'm a long time poster on the "Seasons of the Ukulele" over at UkuleleUnderground - it's kind of an online open mic "contest" with a different theme each week, and prizes that range from nonexistent to beautiful handmade instruments. Anyway, glad to see I'm not the only uke/mando crossover around this place!
