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Lisa- Hey that’s my picking speed. love it. And she’s playing it on MY Gracie! I’m having to adjust. I’m missing the fret a lot when I’m not looking. I have to look at my left fingers constantly at this point.
Strange how things work out. It was the very last one that I played. Stranger still was even though I try to avoid signature stuff like NIKE or Polo apparel, my two favorites were the Alvarez Grateful Dead and GRACIE. But I was not about to go back to the other store and play the Alvarez again. Just whipped out the CC and got out of there. Like shopping for a new Auto….Blah. haha
Thanks.
Her first performance will be at the end of the month. I still haven’t registered for the Jan. Challenge. I’m looking through songs and lessons as we speak.Becky, It’s the Fender Concert Signature. So, I had to call her Grace. ha.
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?
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.
Progress day 5 : Called C & M Music and they said they have a selection of ukes to play. Will be stopping by tomorrow or Friday. I also went to Uke Republic web site and started looking for a concert. here’s what I’ve found that interests me:
Ohana CK -260G
Kala KA-ASAC-C
Ohana CK-105BNJ—-this one is a banjo style. I don’t know why but this style piques my interest
Tried two more stores today. No luck with finding Anything to play. I hate to go back to Guitar Center without a musician with me. Ha, I know no musicians. Now I have another question. If I choose one that is pre-amped (if that’s the correct term), will it interfere with the quality of sound when I play it without the amp ie- Do you have to choose one or the other (amp vs. no amp)?
thanks, Miz. I’ll make some phone calls tomorrow. Atlanta is an 8hr drive for me. Wouldn’t be able to make it by the 19th but does sound like fun. Believe it or not, I’ve never been on a train.
Thanks for the added input, guys. My next step is to start searching for those smaller stores and call first to see if ukes are available to try. I live in New Orleans so there’s got to be some good shops here. Somewhere! I’ll keep you posted…… P.S. I wouldn’t mind the help if you want to do a web search for shops in and around NOLA. You might be able to ferret out the good ones better than me.
Hey Classmates and Professor,
I may be starting a blog after yesterday’s experience at The Guitar Center. When I got there, the “greeter” asked to see my uke, and he wrote down the serial # before giving it back to me. I was directed to the Acoustic Room where I was told to go play anything that I wanted that was on the wall. I started looking at the concerts and the first one that caught my eye, when I started to play, was missing the A string. So I brought it to the counter man but he didn’t bother to string it in the hour that I was there.
The second concert that I picked up which was around $250 (wow) had, I guess, a switch and plug in hole which I assumed was for an amplifier. Didn’t know if this type of Uke was able to be played without amplification so I tried that one. Of course I had to tune it with my snark. Didn’t like the sound on it. Then I went to one concert after another. All had to be tuned first. I took my time and played 3 memorized songs on each one. The concerts must have a little bit wider space between strings as my muscle memory kept plucking the wrong string. I think the frets are a bit wider apart also.
Just wasn’t impressed with the sounds. Maybe because I’m used to my soprano. Or maybe the strings on these floor models are cheapies. After being there for almost an hour (no one to offer any assistance), in frustration, I picked up a uke that I had been avoiding because it had a skeleton on the uke face. It was an Alvarez GDU26C Grateful Dead Concert. Amazingly, that one sounded fairly good but I’m not going around with picture of skeleton on my uke. ha.
So the dilemma begins. Did I really give these a fair shot without knowing the quality of strings or any professional guidance while I was there. This is a huge store, but busy and I think the “associates” are there to make sales.
Guess I need to start looking at smaller stores with experienced musicians. I don’t know.
Thanks all for the advice. Hope I get more opinions and I will weigh them all. Yes, I do need to get to a music shop and play. That’s the only way I’ll even know what other uke’s sound like. Hopefully the shop people know what a log G is. I know nothin’ ’bout ‘nothin.
Andrew and Curly – I long for the day when I don’t have to go to the dictionary to look up words that Andrew uses. Like Arpeggio. I do this a lot and I know when I do it because that’s part of my challenge practice to make the chord ring as one note. I think it’s do to a heavy thumb and/or uncertainty of what I’m playing next resulting in just the slightest hesitation that breaks the chord or should I say arpeggiates the chord. A short future lesson on smooth strumming may help many of us.
And now I have an extended phrase to use other than “DARN IT”. Now I can say: “Darn, I arpeggiated the chord”. And I can use this when playing for friends. That will really impress them. HA.
