Mandolins have ruined my ears

[Dave Fultz]

My lovely acoustic guitars ...
My happy little ukuleles...

After just a couple months of playing mandolin, the gits and ukes all now sound dead and dim. As if you turned the tone knob all the way down. As if you cut the volume by half. They don’t bark, spark or project like my mandolins.

I did play a little electric tonight. That still sounds ok. But it’s amazing how I’ve gotten used to the mandolins sound to the detriment of the other acoustics.

I’m going to a ukulele camp out this weekend and I need to attune myself to them again.

[dhergert]

... I’m going to a ukulele camp out this weekend and I need to attune myself to them again.

Mmmm, good luck. Practice that 200-strong unison strum of a C chord for 5 hours before you go.

[Bertram Henze]

Forever will it dominate your destiny. Consume you it will.

[Roger Moss]

...I did play a little electric tonight. That still sounds ok...

Something like this...?



https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Star.../dp/B004UID8XE

[MikeZito]

Mmmm, good luck. Practice that 200-strong unison strum of a C chord for 5 hours before you go.

Now, THAT'S funny . . . .

In all seriousness, I didn't know that they had Uke camps - but I suppose it shouldn't surprise me. My son works for Guitar Center and he says that ukuleles are WILDLY popular right now - they simply can't keep them in stock. Inspired by (of all people) Tiny Tim - I took a crack at one earlier this year. Spent a couple of weeks REALLY trying to get into it, but just couldn't seem to make it work for me.

Enjoy the camp Scootch!

[Br1ck]

Ukulele. The perfect instrument for the casual musician. Great for seniors who have never played an instrument, kids with small hands and short attention spans, and young adults wishing to be hip.

And stunning in the hands of a gifted player. Plus, some of those top dollar ukes are really beautiful.

Probably the instrument I'll start my rehab with after carpal surgery. I've hardly touched my two since picking up the mandolin.

[Mark Gunter]

Ukes are cool.

[slimt]

Ukes are cool.

Agree...

[kurth83]

The thing I like about ukes is they start at $20 and a few hundred bucks buys a pretty decent one.

[Br1ck]

My Pono was around $400. Solid mahogany. I played a lot up to $1000. What a grand gets you is Koa.

I was at a friend's house jamming and the thought came to me than on a song we were playing, I wish I had my uke. Friend said his wife had one given to her by a friend. It was a Kamaka soprano. Just a lovely little uke.

[Dave Fultz]

The Uke community is great.
You play something on a guitar and someone else will try to show you up;
play something on a uke and someone else will join in and have fun.

This is a campout not an educational camp. We have a few open mics, I’m hosting a drum circle, we have communal eating, tacos bars, omelette bars, pizza bars, drinking, and just a big party. There will be about 75 Uke players there. It’s called the OUC or Ohio Ukulele Campout. We have people from all over. Mostly Ohio and Michigan but some from down south, New Joisy, we even had a guy from the Philippines a couple years ago.

There is in early June a huge one in Indiana called the Ukulele World Congress. It’s wild. A Ukulele Woodstock.

[dhergert]

Please know, my little effort at humor earlier in this thread was by no means an effort to denigrate ukes. They are beautiful instruments with wonderful tone and in fact I own and use the newcomer in this instrument group regularly myself -- a ubass.

It was more a commentary on my inability to fit musically into the local uke community, which is a very happy large group of primarily retired seniors (and yes, I'm now a retired senior) who meet regularly to play the uke music that they know and love, and to play it the way they know how to play it.

After living in the bluegrass and jazz musical world for 50 years, this large UPG (Uke-Playing-Group) experience was just a musical form that I'm afraid I couldn't fit into. I kept wanting to vamp on the downbeat.

But those that do fit into this musical community obviously love it, and I'm very glad they do.

[MaryE]

Scootch, if you are going to practice one instrument right after another, try doing the guitar and/or uke first, followed by the mandolin. That way you can get into the lovely sound of those first two instruments without them having to compete with the brightness of the mandolin. For me, it is the difference in size that throws me off. So I practice the guitar first, and then go to mandolin or ukulele. If I start with the smaller instruments and then want to go to guitar, it makes my guitar feel really big and fat and awkward!

Good luck, and have fun at the ukulele camp!

[Eric Platt]

A few years ago got rid of most of my ukes to concentrate on guitar and mandolin. There is a huge uke community around here. Love the instrument, just never could get any good at it.

Thankfully, by playing a lot of OM, I don't get too ruined playing mandolin. Can still switch over to guitar when needed.

[Dagger Gordon]

Hey this is Mandolin Cafe! Of course we like mandolins more than anything else!

Actually I find it quite difficult to tune a uke. Don't know why.

[David L]

My son works for Guitar Center and he says that ukuleles are WILDLY popular right now - they simply can't keep them in stock. Inspired by (of all people) Tiny Tim - I took a crack at one earlier this year. Spent a couple of weeks REALLY trying to get into it, but just couldn't seem to make it work for me.

Enjoy the camp Scootch!

While there is definitely a resurgence of uke popularity, I think it is a little late to give Tiny Tim much credit. He had a big influence in the 70's and 80's, but that was a long time ago.

This is not meant to belittle Tiny Tim! One of the most wonderful gigs I have ever played was playing drums with Tiny Tim. He knew more songs than almost any other performer, and was a warm personality off stage.

[Dave Fultz]

The uke has a history in the US going to the worlds fair about 1900. There’s been several resurgences. 1900s Hawaiian Music , 1920s Jazz, 1950s Arthur Godfrey stuff, then that of the last ten years or so. About 7 or 8 years ago it was fad with kids, everyone had to have one. Now it’s a variety of people enjoying it. A lot of adults, senior style but young people too.

It probably played a big part in the dethroning the mandolin as the people’s instrument in the first few decades of the 20th century.

In mandolins defense I will say have been having more fun playing it than anything else I’ve ever played. I’m just a chord guy so far, but single notes are forthcoming and I get a lot of compliments on it. Last week our little group was playing at a nursing home, I heard one elderly lady say I like these guys” while the lady next to her said back “I like the mandolin!” Now that made it all worth it.

[ChesterJones]

This kid might the Hendrix of uke players.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BB0CbCOUi3w

[LadysSolo]

My mom played Ukelele when my brother and I were playing guitar in the 1960s. I tried the uke a bit then, but never got into it. I liked Tiny Tim in the 1970s though, first heard of him on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (Yes, I'm dating myself! But I found that show very funny!)

[ChesterJones]

My mom played Ukelele when my brother and I were playing guitar in the 1960s. I tried the uke a bit then, but never got into it. I liked Tiny Tim in the 1970s though, first heard of him on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (Yes, I'm dating myself! But I found that show very funny!)

I remember watching Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicki on the tonight show, so we must be from a similar era. Once you have heard Tiptoe Thru the Tulips, it can never be forgotten!

[Roger Moss]

I remember watching Tiny Tim marry Miss Vicki on the tonight show, so we must be from a similar era. Once you have heard Tiptoe Thru the Tulips, it can never be forgotten!

Wasn't he in "Night Of The Living Dead"?

[Billy Packard]

The mandolin is a spoiler for sure.

Once done you can never go back...

[Doug Brock]

I recently resumed playing mandolin after a few years of making next to no music, and after a month of working up my calluses on the mando (and relearning the chords), I tried one of my acoustic guitars and it sounded positively muted and like it had the high frequencies rolled off! I was startled by the difference.

[Dave Fultz]

They’ve also ruined my fingers. I find myself have a hard time getting hand/fingers in position on the uke. Not that I forgot the notes but neck shape and the way I have to hold it is different. And the guitar, it’s so wide. ��

shame me is I was heckuva jazz chord guy on uke. I played a lot of American Songbook stuff and cute little 1920s songs. I need to revisit them. I’m a big guy and loved playing the soprano uke, but it’s a problem now. I suppose it’s just a matter of practice.

really, I’m thinking about disposing of a number of other instruments and using the funds to get a much higher quality mandolin.

[Matt DeBlass]

This is why I can't settle on just one instrument. Mandolin is my go-to for a lot of stuff and probably the one I'm most proficient on, but I also used mostly guitar on my last album, because that's what the songs needed, and then I have fun taking a uke with me on bike trips spring summer and fall, it just sound perfect around a campfire and its easy to carry.

Then, of course, I also play the Celtic harp, and that's a whole other beast.