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Live Stream: Tuesday, May 9th at 3:00pm ET (check your local time zone)
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Hey guys, we are back with Live Lesson EP054! This month’s topic is: What Makes a Ukulele Player Great?
In this session, Matt explores what it means to be a great ukulelist by analyzing three of his favorite players.
This month’s topic should stir up some great questions! So please post all you have below and I hope you guys join us for the live stream. 🙂
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LIVE LESSONS FAQ:
Q: What happens in a live lesson, how long is it, and when does it occur?
A: Live lessons are usually 30-45 minutes in length, but can extend until all questions are answered. The first 20 minutes will comprise of the lesson, while the next 10-25 minutes will be a Q&A session for premium members.
Live lessons take place every second Tuesday of the month at 3:00pm ET (check your local time zone).
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A: Absolutely! Basic and premium members are welcome to post questions that are related to the topic in THIS thread.
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To me, what makes a ukulele player great is not only skill, but spirit. It’s soul, man. That’s where the magic lies. It’s that transcendent feeling of watching someone play–where you’re swept away in listening to them. That’s true of great players–but the greatest players of all glue googly eyes onto their ukes, richochet root beer inside them, then drop them behind shelves and off coat racks. Ideally, all to the same uke, on the same day.
This is also why certain players should not own Kanile’as. 😅
Lol @TBB 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 That was so funny.
I don’t think you can be considered great without knowing how to improvise.@gi_gi_ hahaha!! You and I are like the kids in class who get in trouble for laughing during the lesson and have to be seated separately. 😂😅😂😅😂😅
Yes……… Improvising takes so much skill. You have to know so much to do that, pretty much everything, every note on the fretboard and every chord, and how to connect those things astutely and freely. So, it’s equal parts intuition and knowledge.
But I also think that people can be great in different ways–have huge strengths in one area while not being as great in other areas. To me, being great can take as many forms as there are people and possibilities with the instrument.
In my opinion, what makes a Ukulele player great is the same thing that makes any other instrumentalist great: their own unique sound. The fact that you instantly recognize them after the first few notes, and the first thing that comes to mind is not the instrument, but the player. Like when you turn on the radio in the middle of a song and know right away – ah that’s Miles Davis, not – that’s a jazz trumpet. Or yeah that’s J.J. Cale, not – ok that’s some rock guitar. And I picked those two examples because they’re both not particularly known for their super-virtuosic crazy out-of-this world playing, but for their instantly recognizable sound.
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