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Today I got to meet the awesome Kalei Gamaio at NAMM 2019!!!
He is such a beautiful musician and I love the way he just gets absorbed into his ukulele and music when he plays.
Warms my spirit and brings tears to my eyes.January Challenge Week Three, Monday Update “CHOPSTICKS” beginner level.
GOAL:
Arrangement memorised, playing up to 80% speed, but it gets a bit messy at that speed.
Natural speed/rhythm remains interesting, but improving.PLAN:
Practice “Chopsticks” 10-20 times per practice session, repetition of tricky sections as required eg. Bars 16-18 for clear chord changes at speed, 31-32 to get a clean harmonic.
Practice schedule not so good last week: prep for holiday, travelling to Atlanta, jet lag and fluid retention = swollen fingers and fuzzy brain. 3 days practice achieved.
Have taken the “Fruit bowl” traveling.APPLICATION:
Taimane’s triplet technique with basic chords, playing gaffs accepted.
New items added – “Brahm’s Lullaby”, plus “Finger picking Etude #5” – this one is proving to be easier as I have been doing basic (self taught) Travis picking for a year.@becky7777 – the luthier who did my setups told me to change the strings if they are dented underneath at the frets as they no longer ring true, and something complicated about sound/frets/string movement etc (I was looking blank at this point 😁).
Different strings are softer, and wear faster too eg. Aquila nylgut – he didn’t like them at all.
I think 6 month regimen is for when you play 1-2 hours a day, and have the experience and beautiful light touch of a seasoned player – not the clunky, heavy handed technique of those still learning these techniques (me!).
I was told that with the time I currently put in, I should look at changing strings every month!!! ( but going back to work in February, so won’t be putting as many hours in).
Oh, and I clean my strings, neck and body after most practice sessions, and even mid-sessions if it is hot and my hands are sweaty.January Challenge Week Two, Sunday Update “CHOPSTICKS” beginner level.
GOAL:
Arrangement memorised, playing at about 70% plus speed on a good day.
Natural speed/rhythm is consistently inconsistent without metronome. I do have difficulty maintaining the count for Theme 2, I like to think that I am adding dynamics (ha ha).
Now practicing at 80% using synthetic tab viewer & metronome.PLAN:
Practice “Chopsticks” between 1 to 4 hours per day including the ad breaks when watching TV.
Practice schedule was completed 5 out of 7 plus X1 “burnt out” day, and x1 day uke set ups.
Barre Chords are so much easier on a well set up uke (or four well set up ukes).
The “Fruit bowl” set up is even better than my eucalele, and I get awesome reverb playing in the stairway (thanks Evan!).
“Strum for fun” has been completely discarded as it is no fun.APPLICATION:
Taimane’s triplet technique practice continues several times per uke workout. Adding basic chords, eternal practice required.
Minor playing gaffs accepted.
New items added – Three Finger picking Exercise 3, the pinkie finger hammer-on is causing minor issues.
Plus started “Brahm’s Lullaby” yesterday (for my non-existent grandchildren 😀 ), first four bars.The video below does show improvement, this is take 25 or something. If it takes that many “takes”, then this must be what I am playing – pauses, squeaky notes and all. But I did get that harmonic!
I am still attacking the strings too hard. I shall study Andrew’s technique, and see if I can become a little more graceful.
@lisadmh ha ha ha! Thank you, that made me laugh!
@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.@lisadmh – you could just cut the sheet apart, and glue standard notation onto another paper.
(paper crafter here).My eucalele came from Uke Republic with Living Water strings, and I didn’t have anything to compare them with on that uke until today, because it was re-strung with Worths yesterday.
So: the Living Water strings were crisp, bright, bell-like on my eucalele. They sounded really pretty, delicate but still with great volume.
The Worths in comparison, are warm, more woody mellow toned.I think I will go back to the Living Water strings for my eucalele when I get some more.
But will stay with the Worths on my low G tenor, other concert uke and my banjolele.I hope that helps. Try them, I like them.
OMG!!!
Today I took 3 of my ukes to THE best luthier in Sydney!!!!
An hour drive each way, and watching an chatting while he did 3 & 1/2 hours work.
He ended up doing set ups on four of them, because I took my beautiful eucalale to show him (because I am so proud of it), and I already needed new strings on it, and there were a couple of things he wasn’t happy with – so now, it is even better!
Beloved Daughter had picked that my banjolele wasn’t tuned correctly – that became an onerous set up job. Deering Goodtime banjoleles are not without some serious flaws (to a luthier of 40 years, at least. I thought it was fine!!!). Now – it is amazing, and even louder, and it resonates, and is in tune throughout the entire neck.
My Kala tenor, set up, new strings, new batteries for the pick up (because I keep forgetting to buy them), set with low G. Fabulous low action!!!!
But the miracle:
HE TURNED THE FRUIT BOWL INTO A BEAUTIFUL INSTRUMENT!!! He fixed my “Expensive Chinese Toy” Aeirsi concert uke. The bridge had been gouged too deep, the saddle was then cut big and sat ACROSS the bridge seating so there was no contact at all between bridge and saddle (argh), and it was crooked and way high. No wonder it was out of tune, and ugly to play up the neck. My Aeirsi now sings, and the action is even lower than my eucalele!
It will be my travel uke, and no more swearing when playing it.I am very, very happy with what he has done to my instruments.
And because I just don’t know which one to play tomorrow – I shall play them all – all day 😀@recdog
OMG I loved the look of the black Kala dog hair- looks like my Lykoi cat!!!
I was very tempted to go for that, but really – tenors are too big for me 😔Hi @wongbrown – I don’t know if you are doing the same as me, but I thought this style would be great on my banjolele.
It has a really lovely rolling motion when going fast, and my thumb always picks and clears the string before using middle and pointer on string 1.
This video shows what I am doing, slowly…
https://youtu.be/5lO-3Zh6rlMWe are there 19 to 26th January.
I think we will be taking drives out of Atlanta to see other things too, there doesn’t appear to be much going on at this time of the year. Mostly big Martin Luther King Day celebrations.Have a look at https://ukerepublic.bigcartel.com/category/concert too. It is a little slow to upload, lots of pictures slow it down.
His ukes all come set up nicely.
Buy the best you can afford, I think you are at the stage of devotion where you deserve a satisfying instrument.I could not find any bad reviews about Ohana instruments, they really put care into their instruments.
Mike does instrument test videos for a lot of them – I studied these repeatedly until I decided which uke looked and sounded best for me (taking into account that I was looking at videos etc).All the best wishes with your search and buy (eventually). I look forward to seeing what instrument you do end up with.
@rickeymike
Aahhh Rickey! New Orleans is only two states away, 6 hour 41 minutes drive.
That is a day trip to an Australian. And if you choose to do it after the 19th, I can say “Hi” because we are taking a trip to Atlanta for a week from Australia, so that I can visit Mike @ Uke Republic!!! And hopefully Andrew too.And as an Australian, I would recommend an overnight trip to Atlanta to visit Mike at Uke Republic.
That would be a fun trip: music on the radio, singing along at the top of your voice, take a friend if you can. The train is 11 hours 35 minutes, $64 one way (I think).Here are some places you can look at, ring them first though:
https://dmnola.com/ (Downtown music)
http://www.bonvillainmusic.com/ukes.html
http://www.toddsmusicexpress.com/ (doubtful for ukes)You will get used to the slight change in fingering with a concert uke.
I definitely find them a better size to use.(And New Orleans is surprisingly pathetic in ukulele supply, but then, so is Sydney!).
