{"id":7521,"date":"2013-02-28T07:25:09","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T15:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/?page_id=7521"},"modified":"2016-06-25T17:22:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T00:22:59","slug":"ukulele-faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/about-nerds-eye-view\/ukulele-faq\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukulele FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So you want to take up the uke, do you? Good choice! I can think of few things I&#8217;ve done in the last decade, longer, that have given me more continuous joy than the ukulele.<\/p>\n<p>First things first: Congratulations. You are doing the lord&#8217;s work. Controversial punk rocker Amanda Palmer wrote the <a title=\"Amanda Palmer, Ukulele Anthem\" href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P1BUbZCTb3w\" target=\"_blank\">Ukulele Anthem<\/a>, an homage to the power of this amazing instrument that includes the following words:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It takes about an hour to teach someone to play the ukulele<br \/>\nAbout the same to teach someone to build a standard pipe bomb<br \/>\nYOU DO THE MATH!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[Go ahead, I&#8217;ll wait while you watch the video&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ni6qaNUcd9E\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I get email from aspiring uke players frequently.\u00a0 This page is long overdue in response to those emails.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oh, hey!<\/strong> These are Amazon Affiliate links which means I get a little kickback if you buy. Doesn&#8217;t cost YOU any extra, so I&#8217;d love it if you&#8217;d click. But also, you should totally support your local music store, and it&#8217;s FUN to go uke shopping.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: I want to get a cheap uke, I think I&#8217;d like to play and\/or I want to get my kid started. What should I buy?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Don&#8217;t totally cheap out. A cheap instrument is a cheap instrument and if you&#8217;re really in it to play, remember this: A ukulele is not a toy. That said, you don&#8217;t need to drop a lot of bank on a starter uke. At about 50 USD, you start to get some quite playable little axes.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the small child sized budding musician, take a peek at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00G2EG4V2\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00G2EG4V2&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=FRPSIGUSOVP6BOKK\">Kala Makala Shark<\/a>. They&#8217;re fun, they come in cute colors, and they&#8217;re great for kids. There&#8217;s a dolphin model too.<\/li>\n<li>They&#8217;re tempting, because they&#8217;re so cute, but stay away from the candy colored <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B001SN7R54\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B001SN7R54&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20\">Mahalos<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rypanyjkmoerizxrxbvh akrpwegpeqfiiwqqeajv\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001SN7R54\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>. They&#8217;re patchy in quality and have a reputation for not staying in tune.<\/li>\n<li>Check out the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B001LU1SFO\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B001LU1SFO&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20\">Kala Mahogany Soprano Ukulele<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rypanyjkmoerizxrxbvh akrpwegpeqfiiwqqeajv\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B001LU1SFO\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>. Not bad for so little dough and not just for kids.<\/li>\n<li>Totally acceptable, the ukes made by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B001EL6I8W\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B001EL6I8W&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20\">Lanikai<\/a>. (I played one for a good while and I&#8217;m still sorry I sold it.)<\/li>\n<li><a title=\"Kamoa Ukulele\" href=\"http:\/\/kamoaukulelecompany.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Kamoa<\/a>&#8216;s lower priced models sound pretty amazing at their price point but you&#8217;re inching into 200 dollars and up territory.<\/li>\n<li>Occasionally, you can score something amazing in a pawn shop or music store that has trade-ins. Don&#8217;t be a snob, it&#8217;s cool to go used.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Q: Anything else I should get? What about for the ukester that has everything?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: The uke is an uncomplicated little thing, but there are a few goodies that are nice to have.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Get a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B0046A04LU\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B0046A04LU&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=3ACJJKDPZKOQOJAZ\">tuner<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0046A04LU\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>. We tune because we care. I also have a tuning app on my phone but the clip on tuner works even when there&#8217;s ambient noise and the app, not so much so.<\/li>\n<li>I like these tweedy <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/search\/ref=as_li_qf_sp_sr_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;index=aps&amp;keywords=hard%20ukulele%20case&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=GSPDJ2VWISYMSOPR\" target=\"_blank\">hard shell ukulele cases<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>.<\/li>\n<li>There are loads of fun books out there, but I especially like this <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0879304545\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0879304545&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=ZZNNDA2GVYYJWBYU\">pictorial history of the ukulele<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0879304545\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Q: I&#8217;m going to Hawaii and I want to get a uke. Where should I shop?<\/strong><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a title=\"Souvenir Ukuleles by Nerd's Eye View, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/nerdseyeview\/2197833772\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2403\/2197833772_103613eecd_o.gif\" alt=\"Souvenir Ukuleles\" width=\"570\" height=\"369\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cute? Right? Admire them &#8212; but keep moving.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A: You can&#8217;t swing a cat without hitting a souvenir shop or ABC store that sells ukes when you&#8217;re in the islands. Do not be fooled. With some exceptions, you&#8217;re looking at souvenir toys, not real instruments. Go to a music store. Do not, I repeat, do not get your uke at Hilo Hatties or Whaler&#8217;s General Store or any of the Hawaiian kitsch places that dot the islands. Don&#8217;t get me wrong, I actually love those places, I mean, where else can you get bento to go and sunscreen and a pint of milk to replace the awful powdered creamer in your hotel? But you wouldn&#8217;t buy a uke at 7-11 on the mainland, why are you doing that in Hawaii? I&#8217;d make a recommendation, but one of my favorite things to do in Hawaii is trawl music stores, and I enjoy them all. Just one tip: If they treat you like a tourist shopping for a souvenir, leave the store and go to the next one. Ditto if they&#8217;re pushy about sales. A musical instrument is personal and you want one that fits you.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, there are a few places I love. Ko&#8217;Aloha on Oahu. Kamoa and Scotty&#8217;s on Kauai. Sam&#8217;s Ukulele Gallery on the Big Island &#8212; though this really is more of a gallery than a music store, Sam sells one of a kind instruments made by Big Island luthiers. This isn&#8217;t a &#8220;my first ukulele&#8221; kind of place. The gist, however? Go to a music store, not a souvenir shop.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How do I know what to buy?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Even if you&#8217;ve decided to shop online, go to a real music store first. Play a bunch of different brands. Talk to the staffer that knows ukuleles. (What? They don&#8217;t know ukuleles? You&#8217;re in the wrong store.) I bought my first uke before I knew how to play because it felt right. It&#8217;s like buying jeans. You know when they fit. Trust me on this. If you find yourself feeling weirdly affectionate and proprietary towards the uke you&#8217;ve got in your hands, that&#8217;s probably the right one. And you know what? That&#8217;s not a price thing. I fell absolutely in love with my first uke and I hardly knew how to play at all. It was a 30 dollar pawn shop uke.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: How will I know when I&#8217;m ready to upgrade to a more professional ukulele?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Oh, honey. You&#8217;ll KNOW.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: I want to buy a ukulele as a gift for my [fill in the blank]. What should I get?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Hmmm. Depends. Do they play already? Are you upgrading their starter uke? What&#8217;s your budget? You might want to take them shopping with you instead as it&#8217;s so personal. Again, I want to warn you off ukes that are for kids or seem like toys. A bad uke just collects dust.<\/p>\n<p>Here are two good choices:<\/p>\n<p>It looks a little weird and it&#8217;s not the typical little uke everyone imagines, but I love my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B004JBG4TM\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B004JBG4TM&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20\">Flea<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rypanyjkmoerizxrxbvh akrpwegpeqfiiwqqeajv\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004JBG4TM\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>. LOVE it. They&#8217;re not the cheapest ukes on the block, but they&#8217;re tough, they sound great, they come in super cute colors and some wacky patterns. They&#8217;re terrific.<\/p>\n<p>Also good? Kala makes a respectable mid-priced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00EY7XWGO\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00EY7XWGO&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=LZSSG7WI62FY37VE\">Spruce topped uke<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00EY7XWGO\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/> &#8212; one of my band mates plays their instruments and really likes them. For just a bit more money, consider going with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00H1ZFKUW\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00H1ZFKUW&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=neseyvi-20&amp;linkId=JPD4SDZMBW3DATIV\">koa wood<\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=neseyvi-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B00H1ZFKUW\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/>&#8212; it&#8217;s got a bigger acoustic sound.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to spend real money &#8212; spendy ukes run up into the 2000 dollar range &#8212; email me, I&#8217;ve got some advice for you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: OMG. I got a ukulele. Now what?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: You&#8217;ll need to bookmark <a title=\"Ukulele Hunt\" href=\"http:\/\/ukulelehunt.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ukulele Hunt<\/a>, it&#8217;s indispensable. And this one,\u00a0<a title=\"Live Ukulele\" href=\"http:\/\/liveukulele.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Live Ukulele<\/a>. I&#8217;ve used this <a title=\"Chord Finder\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ukulele.nl\/chordfinder.php\" target=\"_blank\">ukulele chord finder<\/a> for years. Feeling social? Seek out your<a title=\"Ukulele Club Finder\" href=\"http:\/\/ukulelehunt.com\/2010\/03\/10\/ukulele-clubs-and-groups\/\" target=\"_blank\"> local ukulele club<\/a>. You could do what I did and join a <a title=\"The Castaways\" href=\"http:\/\/thecastawaysband.net\/\" target=\"_blank\">rock band<\/a> because the ukulele will never tell you you are too old to throw down. Please come see us play, it&#8217;s a riot. I promise. The band calendar is on our <a title=\"The Castaways on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thecastawaysseattle\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> page, but if you don&#8217;t do Facebook, you can subscribe to<a title=\"Castaways Newsletter\" href=\"http:\/\/thecastawaysband.net\/mailing-list\" target=\"_blank\"> our newsletter<\/a> and we&#8217;ll email you our monthly show dates.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5xvTwkgM6cQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And hey, do what Amanda Palmer said you should do: PLAY YOUR UKULELE!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Have you seen that video with Jake Shima&#8230; Shimu&#8230;Shama&#8230;. what&#8217;s his name?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Stop making me send you <a title=\"Pam and Jake\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/2005\/10\/01\/metronome\/\">this picture<\/a> of the time I met Jake. Stop it. And yes, I&#8217;ve seen the Metallica ukulele book and the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain video archive and the ukulele shaped like some other object that&#8217;s not a ukulele and&#8230; But I genuinely love that you see a ukulele thing and you think of me. Honest. I love that. And those pictures you send me of uke players and uke shops around the world? I love those, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: What do you play?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: I have a full arsenal, but the uke I play most is a Ko&#8217;Aloha long necked soprano, a gift from my pals at Ko&#8217;Aloha that I still can&#8217;t quite believe they gave me. It&#8217;s a spectacular instrument and it sounds amazing, but it&#8217;s also very expensive and it&#8217;s not a beginner uke, not by a long shot. When you&#8217;re ready to go pro, let&#8217;s talk again.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q: Wait, you didn&#8217;t answer my question!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A: Leave it in the comments. I&#8217;m on it.<\/p>\n<p>[Updated 11\/24\/2014]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you want to take up the uke, do you? Good choice! I can think of few things I&#8217;ve done in the last decade, longer, that have given me more continuous joy than the ukulele. First things first: Congratulations. You are doing the lord&#8217;s work. Controversial punk rocker Amanda Palmer wrote the Ukulele Anthem, an &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Ukulele FAQ\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/about-nerds-eye-view\/ukulele-faq\/#more-7521\" aria-label=\"Read more about Ukulele FAQ\"><br \/>&#8230;read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5744,"parent":186,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7521","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7521"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11384,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7521\/revisions\/11384"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nerdseyeview.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}