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@ldarrow: don’t worry about the action at the first fret, if it’s very high at the 12th fret, the luthier will definitely be able to lower it to make it easier to play. Different strings might improve the sound and even the intonation, but they will hardly affect playability. Actually, the string action was the one thing I didn’t like about my moon bird out of the box, it was too high for my taste, so I took it to the luthier, and he told me that it’s at 3mm over the 12th fret, which is still acceptable, but lowering it to 2.5mm made it significantly more playable, even though the difference is hardly noticeable visually. But usually those places that retail high value ukes such as the Anuenue bird series, will also set up the action according to your preference for free before shipping it to you. Just ask for it. Most ukes out of the factory tend to be set up with a string action on the higher side, as some players who strum real hard prefer that in order to avoid buzzing, and as it’s always much easier for the retailer to lower the action than to raise it.
@ldarrow: It’s a moon bird, so unfortunately I’m not able to tell you anything about the cedar bird, other than that the build quality and playability of the moon bird are spectacular, and as the birds are all identical except for the wood, the same should apply to the cedar bird. I also love the sound of my moon bird, and yes, as @gi_gi_ pointed out, it is loud, but that’s exactly what I was after. At the time I decided to upgrade and get my first serious uke, I was just working my way through the arrangements from James Hills Duets for One book (and I still love them and play them a lot). All of those arrangements are played with the thumb only, which takes on double duty playing the accompanyment and the solo part at the same time. That works particularly well if you have a wide range of dynamics, i.e. a big difference between the loudest and the softest you can play. And with a little practice, you can always play a loud uke softer, but you can never play a quiet uke louder than it naturally gets. So that’s why I was particularly looking for a loud uke, and why I’m very happy with my moon bird. But probably not the greatest choice if you want to use it as a strumming machine. So as @gi_gi_ said, really a matter of personal preference.
But the birds always seemm to be on backorder anyway, demand exceeds supply constanly. When I got mine two and a half years ago, it retailed at 1.249, it went up 200 bucks shortly after, and is pobably only going to go up more in the near future. So if you’re lucky enough to find one in stock, and have the funds available, I’d say go for it. In the unlikely event you don’t like it and it doesn’t grow on you, and you can’t return it, you can always flip it at little loss or even for profit.Much later than usual, but kind of busy month for me, so just got around to finally learning and recording my contribution for the September 2023 challenge. How convenient the theme was mini lessons this month. My very first participation was in October 2020, and I haven’t missed one entry since, so this completes a three year streak, definitely didn’t want to miss this one. While anything with the word “syncopation” in it usually makes me nervous, this one felt almost like cheating, as the guitar plays the exact same thing, and it felt quite easy to just follow that lead. Plus the riff is super-catchy, which helps as well. As Andrew always points out – if you can sing it, you can play it. Definitely the case here.
(Please no giveaway entry for me this month – thanks!)Thanks @annemarie. I agree, the clawhammer style is addictive, so anyone who hasn’t taken the course yet, give it a shot, you might get hooked just as I did. Yes, it is a little tricky initially, but just be patient, it will eventually click, and then you can sit there and get lost doing the bum ditty for hours, it’s an almost meditative experience.
Ok, so when I went through the options for this month’s challenge a few weeks ago, the idea of learning a brand new technique sounded appealing, so I decided to try Bury me beneath the willow, and started with the clawhammer course as recommended. And what can I say, I was instantly hooked and addicted, so much so that I just had to get a banjolele for the full experience. And I thought I was immune to the UAS, but there you go. So here’s my take on Bury me beneath the willow. Learning the clawhammer style and then applying it by learning this song was incredibly fun and rewarding, I’d say it was the most fun I’ve had with a RC101 challenge so far, even though it doesn’t show on the video (I have no idea why I always look like a dork when I record myself, trust me I’m happier than it looks). Next I’ll go through my repertory to check out what else sounds good on this new toy of mine.
Now I’m definitely out of room for ukes, so please no prize drawing participation for me this month. Thanks.I went with Under the Boardwalk this month, classy arrangement of a great song, lots of fun to learn and play. Enjoy the summer!
(Please no prize drawing entry for me this month)I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
What a lucky coincidence this month’s theme is mini lessons. As I will be out on vacation travelling for pretty much the rest of the month, I would not have had time to tackle another one from the Ascent category, but the Rhythmic Blues mini lesson was just right for me this month. Here you go:
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
Here’s my take on Cissy Strut. Kind of faked my way through the last two bars of the solo. Not sure I’ll ever be able to play those cleanly.
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.
I’ve never had an issue like this, but if it happened to me, I’d check the saddle and nut, particularly the nut slot of the A string, for any rough or sharp spots. That’s the only places I could imagine where a new string might possibly take damage and snap while being fastened. If you still have the three snapped strings, can you check where exactly they snapped? Was it always the same spot, and if yes by any chance in the vicinity of the nut or saddle? Or did they snap at some random places in between? If the latter is the case, I’d guess something was wrong with that particular batch of strings. The tuning peg shouldn’t matter, nor the order in which you change the strings. Also there’s not really anythig you could do wrong other than overtightening the strings, which you ovioulsy didn’t if they snapped while still an octave below target.
Also, did you make sure the strings you used were actually tenor sized strings? Maybe they were also mislabeled, maybe the manufacturer ended up putting soprano or concert strings into tenor labelled packages. That might also explain why all A strings snapped when put on a tenor uke, and why the Aquila didn’t snap.
I AM A PREMIUM MEMBER
I decided to take on The Ascent, even though my practice time was kind of limited this month. I have some serious trouble keeping a steady and consistent timing and groove. I tend to rush through some of the passages and play them too fast, and when I consciously try to slow down, the timing starts falling apart. So as I’m out of time, I guess I’ll just have to post what I have so far, but I will definitely keep working on this one.
Here’s my take on Adelita. Not completely there yet, but getting closer. I played the A melody a litter slower and the B melody a little faster, kind of liked the contrast that’s added by the change of the tempo in addition to the major/minor change.
(Please no prize drawing entry for me this month.)@katazumiri kindly listened to my entry and suggested a chord progression that actually works and sounds like real music, as opposed to the simplistic one I put together in a hurry.
So if anyone is interested in the details, I played the riff over A/A/A/D/D/D/A/A.
Katazumiri suggested A/E7/A/D/A/G/A/A. This works much better, particularly the G chord in bar 6 over the out-of-key note. If I had to take a guess I’d call it the secondary subdominant.Anyway, here’s the katazumiri version. Fear not, this time it’s only one style, not a dozen.
Here’s my take on the country riff, or shall I say my 12 takes. I had some fun with iReal Pro, created a backing track and played around with some of the many styles they offer. Of course I played the exact same thing in the same tempo over and over again and let the AI do all the variations. I had a lot of fun doing this, hope you have some fun listening to some of it. I won’t blame anyone for not listening to the whole thing though.
Once again, please exclude me from the prize drawing this month. If anyone wonders why I ask for being excluded so frequently, I live in Germany and already have enough ukes, so there’s really no point in shipping one overseas to me in case I’m the lucky winner. I particpiate in these challenges mostly because they’re fun and help me improve my playing.I went with fingerpicking etude no. 6 this month. After recording my take I listened back to the original for comparison and realized I misread the ending lick and memorized it icnorrectly, I skipped a few notes. Anyway, I’ll leave it like that since it doesn’t sound entirely wrong, just different.
(Please no prize drawing entry for me this month.)
