Who is your favorite ukulele artist and why?

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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 45 total)
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  • #32569
    prestrock
    Participant

    Bill Tapia is my favorite ukulele player. He makes every song his own and I feel like every note he hits is deliberate and necessary.

    Another great is Lyle Ritz. He was a professional bass player earlier in his career, but later was known for his ukulele work.

    Both these Legends have since passed on, but their music holds a place in my heart.

    #34455
    jinajupiter
    Participant

    Just found Vinícius Vivas from Brasil And wanted to share:

    #34636
    recdog
    Participant

    Just watched the Vinicius video. I find it interesting how some of the pros do so much picking with just the thumb. It is reminiscent of flamenco guitar players that sometimes play long passages thumb only. Taimane and Jake play some long lyrical passages thumb only. I feel like I would need to grow my thumb nail out quite a bit to get the lyrical picking sound. Instead I use a two or even three finger “picado”, with rest strokes to emphasize particular melody notes, carried over from classical guitar studies. Talking w/ Taimane following one of her recent spectacular concerts, I was able to purchase and have her send me a copy she still had of the “Taimane Songbook”, and am having a blast with it. There are pieces that she plays mostly thumb only, but I’m able to get a similar sound using i-m or i-m-a picado. Got to say that Taimane is still my favorite, but still looking forward to seeing a solo Jake concert.

    #34794
    samash07
    Participant

    I haven’t really given any thought on this, but currently my favourite players are @Andrew, Evan and Matt. I hope to be as good as them one day.

    #34809
    ramiro
    Participant

    I wouldn’t pick a single favorite player, but I just came home from the Taimane show in Berlin and am blown away. She is brilliant and so were the other two musicians Jonathan playing cajon and my namesake Ramiro on the guitar. If you have the chance to go to one of her shows, do it. I first got introduced to her in a Rock Class 101 video on YouTube, thanks for spreading the word!

    #40727
    cinichol
    Participant

    I think maybe Daniel Ho, because I like jazz (Miles Davis, Weather Report, Hiromi,
    Coltrain, Holly Cole, lots more). Haven’t yet heard a really dedicated jazz uke player. Anyone know one? Also Feng because he always looks so fully inside of it.

    #40960
    amilylaw
    Participant

    My favourite artist is Sungha Jung. I think he’s very talented. His arrangement has great details and he has great skills in finger style. Watching his youtube videos… got me into learning ukulele.

    #41493
    henri0
    Participant

    Wanted to flag Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain here, especially their lockdown series – they are hugely entertaining and able to make me laugh and cry with their performances – think that’s a rare skill

    #41497
    lakeside339
    Participant

    Jazz cinichol? Sarah Maisel, Abe Lagrimas jr, Gerald Ross, Benny Chong, Paul Hemmings, Glen Rose, Lyle Ritz, Casey McGill (more swing) and of course many good players include jazz along with other genres. James Hill, Ohta-San, Kimo, Daniel Ho.

    As far as my own favorite – I almost never have favorites neither music nor musicians, movies, books.. So many good things and people to choose from. (except colors – purple is best). All of the above are great. Add:
    Taimane, Evan da Silva, Feng E, Jake Shimabukuru, all the guys at Hawaii Music Supply, Samantha Muir (classical uke), Aldrine Guerrero, Brittni Paiva……. too many!

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by lakeside339.
    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by lakeside339.
    #41499
    lakeside339
    Participant

    Jinajupitar – the carpeted venue you asked about in in Hawaii.
    “HI*Sessions is a project started in 2011 by Dave Kusumoto and Jon Yamasato. The idea was to provide intimate, quality live music performances to the world. By utilizing Dave’s video production experience and Jon’s rolodex of Hawaii’s top talent, HI*Sessions was born. The crew consists of: Dave Kusumoto (director), Shayna Kusumoto (video/video editing), Nick Kawakami (video), Vance Morimoto (live sound), Lance Lopes (video), Darin Leong (studio mixing), Dayton Watanabe (video), Kawika Lopez (video/video editing), Skyler Kamaka (Host). The idea is to have a laid back, fun product that anyone from Honolulu to Hong Kong can enjoy. Hope you like the show!”
    Sadly, they have shut down, I think due to coronavirus lockdown.
    But check out other performances they recorded

    https://www.youtube.com/c/HISessions/featured

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by lakeside339.
    #41533
    cinichol
    Participant

    lakeside339 Boy I stand corrected! Better look up these jazz uke guys!!

    #41677
    ukandrea
    Participant

    My favorite ukulele artists (among many others) are Evan J. De Silva and
    Ariel McCleary.

    Why?
    This young humble man is gifted with outstanding talent PLUS is working hard. His arrangements and performances are awesome! While I know this level is totally out of reach for us normal people watching him keeps me going to practice and practice to get the best out of myself and trying to be a role model for my kids starting to play Ukulele as well.
    Before seeing him I did not know what great sound can come out of an Ukulele.

    Ariel McCleary for her complete package. She IS just music able to light up my day. She is a singer with such a warm voice, a songwriter and is strumming her Ukulele so naturally. Besides she is funny and lovely. My favorite videos are “Time after Time” (Frank Sinatra) and her not so much know Original “Meant to be alone” where you see what great things comes out when this girl has a broken heart. She recently cancelled her Youtube career to go into marketing – what would I give to change my marketing career against her talent.

    My favorite teachers are: Cynthia Lin, Andrew Hardel, Matt Dahlberg

    Andrea

    #43040
    justchris
    Participant

    My humble beginnings are George Harrison and his version of Devil in the Deep Blue Sea and Queen’s Good Company. Then I found this site, now all bets are off. I learned the Harrison song at Michael DaSilva’s studio years ago. I looked him up to see if it was ongoing, then I saw the custom James Hill tenor he makes, looked up James Hill and realized there was a lot to learn. Now I’m on this crazy Fibonacci spiral and all I see is growth! And now, you all have introduced me to a ton of homework.

    #43078
    cinichol
    Participant

    Ok. What the. Just discovered James Hill. 😍🤪

    #45285
    dangar
    Member

    Andrew, of course I love your playing and ability to create fantastic arrangements of the songs I desire to play. Evan is a monster. I want to break his fingers. (just kidding)

    I don’t know that many ukulele artists, but of those I have heard, my favorites are:
    1. James Hill (someone has already posted a video of his “Billie Jean” performance)
    2. Overdriver Duo (Brazil)
    3. Stu Fuchs (into Zen)

    I appreciate that you arrange ukulele pieces for all levels and many different genres. I love playing classical, rock, folk, movie/tv themes and blues.

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by dangar.
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