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Haha, thank you, Andrew! Well, that’s good to know. So, basically I wrote so much that the site said, “nah, a normal / actual / okay person wouldn’t write that much.” Shoot. LOL. That’s fair. 🙂
Im glad I’m now not the only one on the site who writes long replies 😂😂😂
Freer and smoother are definitely things that come with time. I’ve actually learnt that for me it’s also about learning to relax and accept it won’t be perfect. That’s literally why I just do one take when I record and all of the bum notes and screaming in the background is just my style haha
This site is by far the best real learning resource. I to always feel like I’m plugging them but like you said the truth is it’s a great place to hang out and improve.
Scales/Tuning. One of the most friendly keys on the Uke is C Major as we know. What I found is that due to this if you play two songs back to back in the same key… they can sound pretty much the same and not so interesting to the ear. So the standard tuning of the Uke is in C (GCEA). What’s more important is that the chords/scales im playing are in C Major in this video.
Now if I want to play it in D Major ie Canon in D not C I would need to transpose the chords and then shift all the scales up two frets to play in D Major. It’s not a problem to do but C is more friendly than D so all I do is tune the Uke up a note (whole step). So the tuning of my Uke would become A D F# B
Now when I play a C Major chord it becomes a D Major chord with this tuning.
Depression/Anxiety probably lost about 10 years of my life to both of those before I understood what it was. Music is a good way to keep those in check.
I grew up in London and at 19 discovered surfing. I basically got the bug and spent my twenties travelling all over surfing. After travelling I was looking for somewhere warm by the beach with some waves to live and by chance visited a friend in Israel which ticked all the boxes and I never left. That was in 2009 😎
Where are you from?
Oh golly… You know it’s a problem when the replies are so long the owner of the site has to intervene to fix it. That’s a big yikes. 😅😂😅😂 Actually I’m pretty confident that’s happened to me multiple times to me already. ☺️😅
Sigh yes, that is my issue as well, wanting to be perfect. Also, having an idea of how I want something to sound and being unable to execute it. But yes that comes with time. But another issue I have is anxiety when playing for other people or while recording so I’m working on that too.
I think I know what you mean. Do you physically just tune one of the strings up and then use a capo to get D Major? That’s one of my favorite keys to play in oddly. I’m so clever that it never dawned on me until you said so that the uke is already in C major… 😳
Oh nice! So you’re from London originally but have been living in Israel? Just so I understand. That’s neat if so. Israel is an interesting place. I’m from the US. From a state known as Wisconsin. We are known for our cows and cheese. 😂😅😂
Uhhh well that’s all I guess! Let’s see if this posts. 😅
Tuning.. If you have a clip on tuner it should have a Chromatic setting. So choose this setting and play the G string. Now tighten the tuning peg until ur says ‘A’. Then goto the C string and tighten the tuning peg until it’s D. This is the tuning for all strings.
G > A
C > D
E > F#
A > BSo now when you play a C it’s actually D. Any song in C Major is now in D Major 🙂
No Capo required, just tune as above and play as normal.
Recording is hard. I think most people have experienced being able to play the song and then press record and it’s as if you’ve been given someone else’s hands and can no longer play.
A good way to avoid this I found was that if I’m going to play for 30 minutes I’ll just hit record at the start of the 30 minutes and then stop it once I’ve finished the session. This bypassed the entire press record oops I made a mistake, press stop, press record which just adds to the pressure. After a while you can even forget it’s recording. You can then edit the video and cut anything out that’s decent.
Also getting a looper (I know I’m repeating myself) you are constantly recording yourself so I really feel that desensitises you.., also playing through an amp at first was odd as you can hear everything but again after a while it becomes normal.
Yup, I live in Israel the land of Milk & Honey… so we have plenty of cows also and bees 😂😂😂
Oh nice!! Thank you for explaining that! So the advantage to doing that instead of using a capo is that you don’t have to worry about the capo being in the way? Could you theoretically tune just the E string up one half step then use a capo on the first fret? I may not be saying that quite right. I’m just guessing. 😅😂
YES! That isn’t to say that I don’t make mistakes when I’m not recording. I definitely do. But I think it’s a combination of being way more aware of your mistakes and the pressure to be perfect.
That is a really good strategy, recording for a longer period, then just sampling from that. I need to find a better way to record though because my cheapo phone can barely handle a minute long video. 😂😳
I just switched jobs to one that pays twice as much. So maybe after I see the results of that I can finally get some things I want, like that looper and maybe even something better to record with–instead of struggling just to pay for food and bills, lol. I can’t wait to try that when the moment comes.
Oh the other part of recording is being on camera. Don’t care for that. Maybe if I find a better way to just record sound I’ll be less anxious.
Ah yes, I think I’ve heard of the land of milk and honey! I may have read about that somewhere. 😉😅😂 Well, not sure if you have the same kind of cows though? We have the black and white dairy cows that produce the world’s best cheese ……… 😅😂😅😂
You can only tune up and down a certain amount without the strings snapping or being to loose. Where as with a Capo you can put it on the 5th fret which is way beyond what you can tune upto (I think).
If you tune one string only it will sound off as your Uke won’t be in tune (with or without a capo).
I’ve started off with very modest equipment. I think it’s actually better that way as when you do upgrade you can feel the difference. For example I love my Cordoba (in the video) but after upgrading it I realise the pickup is awful, the setup on it is non existent and the string tension is really hard.
With my new Uke my playing level was elevated as it’s smoother to play and the sound from the pickup is crystal clear. Important to pay good and bills before buying a new pickup I waited a year and a half to buy the new Uke.
Our cows are pretty standard. Not the best looking tbh. But pretty heat resistant.
Israel is a beautiful country. Very small (it’s 7km wide in its narrowest point) and 2/3 of it is desert 😎 People always talk about Israel as if it’s this huge super power but the entire country fits into New Jersey! Great place to visit lots of history, beautiful beaches 🙂
Oh yes……… I… I have snapped a few strings in my day, but not on ukulele. At one point I was trying to learn violin. Snapped dat string. Then I bought a guitar at Good Will (a thrift store in the US) and not only did I snap a string on that, but it also turned out to be a child’s guitar. I’m not “good at things” or “informed.” 😅😂🥺
Hmmm, I think I see what you mean. Are you sure that wouldn’t work though? If you tuned the E string up one half step only, then put on the capo on the first fret, wouldn’t the strings be A, D, F#, B? If that would work, then you’d only have to retune one string. I may be wrong though. Odds are, I am. 😂
That’s so true. Honestly I also prefer to start very modestly when experimenting with different instruments and equipment and things, partly to not spend too much and partly because… Well, reasons that may take too long for the forum’s limits to explain. 😂 Well, part of it is if an instrument is too beautiful I feel bad playing it. That may make no sense, but on my cheap little uke I feel perfectly fine smacking it around more and don’t hold back as much in playing more freely and trying different things. Also I’ve had it the longest and will always love it the most. It also is physically easier to play because I don’t have to press down as hard as on my other ukes. And it’s smaller, being a soprano uke and all. I can’t play some songs on it though because it only has twelve frets.
What is a pickup? And setup?
Hahaha!!!!!!!!! Heat resistant cows. That’s my new favorite thing. As it happens, Wisconsin cows are incredibly cold resistant. We have harsh winters in the Midwest. One winter the temps reached -70F (-56 degrees celsius if I did that right). But then they also have heated barns so I may be exaggerating…
I don’t think this post is going to make the cut due to its lengthiness….. 😅
Israel does seem really beautiful from what I’ve seen of it. It seems like an interesting place indeed. I feel like all of the religious connections there and indeed the history are why it gets so heated politically there, of course. Don’t want to get too into that but it is really interesting. It’s a small place but they sure are spicy over there, like fiesty. That’s what I mean by spicy…
The End! Sorry your thread got so derailed by this tangent. 😅
Hi @potato_lady.
I won’t get into the question of re-tuning strings and capos because I think you and Jay misunderstand each other (or perhaps I misunderstand you both), and I would only add to the confusion.
A pickup is a piece of equipment that detects the sound in the ukulele and outputs it as an electrical signal, which allows you to plug into an amplifier. Most ukuleles don’t have them, but they are useful for looping, for example.
Setup is the process of levelling and rounding frets, and adjusting nut slots and the bridge of the ukulele to make it more playable. You can do a pretty basic setup yourself, but if you want a more extensive setup done, it is worth taking it to a professional. Not all ukuleles need to be set up, but it can help.
Possibly I don’t even understand myself in regards to the tuning haha
I think where I got confused in the beginning of my Uke journey. Is that the tuning of the Uke is in C.. which confused me as I could then not work out how you played songs in another key without changing the tuning but to summarise..
1. The tuning of the Uke standard tuning is C. However this really only means that if you play what we know to be a C chord it’s a C. It does not mean every song is in C because we can play different chords to change the key of the song regardless of the tuning.
2. Putting a Capo in the first fret is the same as tuning up half a step. Placing a Capo on the second fret is the same as tuning up a whole step i.e Tuning from G to A.
You can do one or the other or both 🙂 athe only thing I notice is the tension gets really hard when tuning UP to much which I don’t like for finger picking but have a mess around and see what you like.
Most importantly take any advice from me with a pinch of salt as I’m making it all up as I go along haha
Politics 😳 “In a world where you can be anything,be kind 😍” There is the solution.
@robinboyd, you are correct! It was a many-layered confusion sandwich. 😅 I’ll get back to that topic…
Thank you for explaining so clearly pickups and setups! They seem like they go together but they don’t exactly, lol. I have a hundred more questions from that explanation though. Things like, can you have a pickup added to your uke, built-in or an attachment? I did know what that was I think, but didn’t know that’s what it was called. 😅🥺 Thank you!
And why is it necessary to setup a uke? Is it only necessary if they were made poorly to begin with?
I may have to look into both those things for sure. That’s why I like to emphasize that I don’t know anything yet. 😅 But thank you so much for that explanation!
@surferjay, I know exactly what you’re saying about the uke being in “C,” sigh. 😅 Again, the piano brain I have increased that confusion (as the lowest notes on a high G uke are on the C string (which is string 3 🥺)). It all seems random and out of order compared to a piano.
1. Ha, yes. I found this video one day that is pretty helpful in starting to see how the uke is laid out. Because I also struggled to know where the notes are. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p3c5Gjb-URs
2. Ah okay. So I think we were on the same page there with the capo / tuning of the strings.
Now I’m thinking if you tuned just the E string up one half step and used a capo on the first string to make a D major tuning that may just make things more confusing? I’m probably just going to have to try this now. 😂
Ha, same. I always like to emphasize that I know literally nothing…
Sigh yes, very true. Kindness is what the world needs. And it’s much nicer to talk about ukes and cows than politics. 😅😳
And why is it necessary to setup a uke? Is it only necessary if they were made poorly to begin with?
That is the $1,000,000 question! Different people have different answers and it’s all a matter of degree and context. For example, one of my ukes was custom-made, and it didn’t require any setup at all because the “setup” was part of the building process. I also have a few factory-made ukes that had a slightly higher action than I like, so I sanded down the saddle a bit to lower the action, but they haven’t been professionally set up. If you are happy with how your uke feels, then it is probably fine, but it’s probably a good idea to play a uke that has been professionally set up for the sake of comparison.
BTW, this is what the saddle looks like on my custom-made uke. It’s very rare to have this level of setup on the saddle, though.
@robinboyd, that’s quite interesting indeed! I’m not sure that I have played on any uke that has been professionally set up. I’m guessing not. Next question: What is an action? 😅🥺
I mean, what you have there on your custom uke looks pretty nice! Some of setup is just smoothing the rough edges and such?
The action is the height of the strings off the fretboard. A high action makes it more difficult to fret and is more likely to go out of tune when fretting. A low action is easier to fret and more in tune, but it can cause buzzing if your fretboard isn’t level or you strum too hard.
And yes, part of the setup is just smoothing rough edges, but there is more to it than that.
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