New Reading Standard Notation

[lisadmh]

Hahaha, you’re looking at a concert and now piqued by a banjolele, that’s the first symptom of ukulele acquisition syndrome. Good luck tomorrow!

[rickeymike]

Good Day today, day 6. Got to play some concerts at C&M. Here’s my top 3.

KALA KA-EBY-C Nice but the sound was just OK. I rate it as B-

Penguin PGUK 990C. This was sounded good. I rated it a B+

Fender Grace Van concert. Did not have an id#. It also has a Fishman System pick up. I also found it heavier than any other I’ve tried. It also had all the string nuts on the same side of the neck. But I really liked it. i gave it an A.

[lisadmh]

Excellent. Do you know Grace Vanderwaal who the ukes are designed for?

I’d love to hear you play her debut song on an original Grace Fender!

Here’s the song that launched her career.

And here’s Andrew’s version

I Don’t Know My Name

• This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by lisadmh.

[rickeymike]

Wow. I’ve always passed over Andrew’s lesson ’cause I never heard of it or that little girl who is fantastic. I guess she has made it big since then with her own Fender. I could never sing that one because I can’t (at least now) strum and sing at the same time. Actually, I not good at all with keeping up a continuous strum pattern. So do I have your blessing to go buy it?

[lisadmh]

She is pretty awesome. She had lots of songs on YouTube now. Worth exploring.

And absolutely, I endorse this purchase! What color are you gonna get?? I think they come in colors?

[kanae926]

You might also want to check out Katie’s review.

[miztaken]

@rickeymike – you also chose really beautiful instruments from Uke Republic.
FYI only – a banjolele is a fun choice as an EXTRA instrument. It isn’t suitable for a lot of what we learn, which requires delicacy and grace. A banjolele is for plunky hoe-down fun. (Get one too… 😀 )

I would recommend the Ohana CK-260G above the Kala. Both are excellent instruments, but from all that I have read: Ohana makes great quality instruments for a better price, and their workmanship is very, very good. Both are solid wood, so will have a different sound.

The Fender is a laminate, but good laminates are good. It looks lovely, and you will look like a RockStar.
Just make sure you do get it set up.
Can’t wait to see your final choice.

[rickeymike]

Andrew & classmates, I’ve just had my soprano restrung with low G. So, I’ll be using it to work through the reading course. Other then having to constantly tune the new strings, I’m finding that once it’s tuned and I begin playing the first exercise, the further I go up the frets on the A string, the notes start turning sharp. I keep the snark attached to see if I fingered it correctly. For example, plucking the open A the snark registers A. Fingering the 3rd fret, the snark registers as a very slight C#, fingering the 5th fret, the snark registers a full D#. This is a brand new set of Aquila strings with low G. Any insight?

[Andrew]

Sounds like normal ukulele tuning problems, as in it takes forever to settle in.

[rickeymike]

Thanks Andrew. I’m still practicing the A string as we chat. I’m trying to keep looking at the notes to get it memorized at sight instead of what I’m doing now which is FACE, then adding or subtracting letters to find the note. Would flash cards help?

Also from what I’ve learned, if I had a 16 frets, could I in theory do these exercises starting on the 12th fret, then the 13th would be B and 14 would be C and 16 would be D. But all would be in one higher octave?

[Andrew]

You can definitely use flashcards.

To play an octave up, you need to add 12.

Fret 0 = A + 12 = Fret 12 (octave up)

Fret 1 = Bb + 12 = Fret 13 (octave up)

Fret 2 = B + 12 = Fret 14 (octave up)

Fret 3 = C + 12 = Fret 15 (octave up)

Fret 5 = D + 12 = Fret 17 (octave up)

I wouldn’t recommend working on an octave up at this time. Focus on Frets 0-5.

[kanae926]

When I bought my first concert uke last year, it included a bunch of extras in the beginner package it came in that I never thought I’d use. One of which were stickers for your fretboard. I had an extra set, so I initially gave them to a friend’s 8 year old for her Makala Dolphin. I never thought to use the other set for myself because it looks kinda gimmicky, but then it dawned on me that maybe it’ll actually help me memorize the finger and note positions better (especially with the reading course).

In the first five months, I’d acquired six ukuleles, so I don’t mind putting stickers on this learner uke. I definitely wouldn’t do it to my main (good) uke. It makes the neck look messy and super busy.

[rickeymike]

OMG, Kanae. haha Is that what yours looks like now? I’m still on the A string lesson. My mind tends to wander and start asking IF-THEN questions. I’m going to try and get through the lessons up until Ode to Joy without the use of tabs. If there is no #s or bs in Ode then I might sing the notes. ha

[kanae926]

Rickey, the stickers make the fretboard look super busy, so it’s not something I’d recommend using on anything but a cheap learner uke, but it does come in kinda handy as a reference tool. I hardly use that uke anymore so it doesn’t bother me it looks like that now. lol

There’s a cool app you can try called Fret Trainer and it helps you quiz yourself with notes on the fretboard (like flash cards). It’s a free app and can be switched to different instruments including the ukulele. It keeps score of how many you get right/wrong and how long it took you to answer. Check it out! I’m still no good at it.

[rickeymike]

Fret Trainer- ooo, that sounds interesting. I guess I have to download it to my cell phone. Maybe I can download to my ipad. Definitely want to try it. Thanks.

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