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Tinkling the nylon strings
22 March 2008
[indent]Maybe it's time we retired the hundred-plus Elvis Tribute Artists we see here every year, and brought in a week-long show featuring George Formby Tribute Artists. Imagine a week full of people strumming ukuleles, singing Leaning on a Lamppost and Lancashire Toreador, dressed in bowtie and wide-lapel suit...
I'm kidding, of course. I like the annual Elvis festival (although I may not enjoy it this year at all if they move the venues so there's no place to enjoy a pleasant supper on a patio while listening to the performers... ). The Elvis Festival will probably last another century, and no one will ever do George Formby tributes except a handful of shy ukulele players who post their efforts on YouTube. Not quite enough for an internationally-recognized festival like Elvis, methinks.
I started to think about George Formby recently when I purchased a ukulele from a Hawaiian eBay seller. I was brought up on George and other pre-war English performers like Stanley Holloway and Vera Lynn. But it was George's tinkling ukulele that seems to have stuck with me. I remember Herman's Hermits doing cover versions of George's popular tunes, which of course everyone in Liverpool recognized, but the international scene was often unaware of the origin of their tunes.
Not that the ukulele interested me as an instrument, particularly, in those days. It was a bit kitschy, a hangover from another era, something my parents might have played. I heard the Beatles and wanted to play electric guitar, something with power and volume. I started learning guitar at 14 or 15 and completely forgot about the ukulele for another four decades.
But the ukulele was hiding in there, waiting for its turn.
The uke is a lot like a charango, and Andean music has always fascinated me. For the last couple of years, when we've gone to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, for our vacation, we've listened to buskers playing South American music - Peruvian, Bolivian, Ecuadorian - Andean sounds. These musicians play the pan flutes, quena (a flute similar to the shakuhachi), guitar and the charango. The charango is actually part of a family of instruments that includes the smaller hualaycho and larger ronroco. The charango has 10 strings in five sets tune GCEAE. The ukulele has four strings, but sometimes eight, tuned GCEA. Note the similarity? The charango is a uke with an extra pair of E-tuned strings.
After talking to one of the buskers this year, and playing with his charango, I thought it would be cool to own one and learn on it. While this isn't an easy prospect in Canada, it is made even more challenging by living in a small town (where the local music store responded with "A what?" when I asked if they could get one... good thing I didn't ask for a saz, an oud or a cumbus...). Thanks, however, to eBay, I was able to order one directly from Bolivia. Sometime within the Age of Mammals, it should arrive - hopefully in one piece...
But in the meantime, I thought I could practice on a ukulele. After all, they're close enough in tuning that I could learn the basics. A uke was something the local music store knew about and even had some in stock. But they were mostly inexpensive soprano models, toy-like instruments made in China, better suited for pacifying children than an adult who was serious about learning a musical instrument. The one tenor they had (since sold) wasn't even tuned, so I couldn't try it out. So again I had to go onto eBay and search for something.
And in my first search I found a Hawaiian seller with a good selection of amateur and professional instruments (ranging from about $100 to $25,000...) in all four sizes. A soprano uke is simply too small for my thick adult fingers. Chords get ugly and cramped. Definitely think the tenor or even baritone models are better suited for my style.
Yes, that's right: a $25,000 ukulele. There are pro models running at $1,000-$5,000, but the majority for people like me who want a reasonably competent but not financially crippling instrument range from $100 to $500.
Online forum posters all stress that, like guitars, inexpensive instruments sound like - well, crap. Most of the cheaper ukes are Asian knock-offs, often made in bulk in big Chinese factories where the quality control is pretty much non-existent. You want good sound, good neck action, good intonation (meaning the uke stays in tune no matter where on the neck you play), buy from a smaller factory where quality is important to their reputation. Tone is important, as are woods and other materials. Solid wood is better than laminates.
What surprised me is that ukuleles - not long ago considered a toy or non-serious instrument - are undergoing a Renaissance these days, thanks in part to some damned good musicians like Jake Shimabukoro who have turned the uke into a respectable instrument. Jazz, folk, bluegrass, blues - all heard today ion the ukulele. The uke is making a serious comeback.
When I heard Jake play George Harrison's song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, on a YouTube video, I was hooked. This guy is incredible. I started listening to and watching Jake and some of his fellow performers on YouTube, wondering how they managed to turn George Formby's little sound box into a virtuoso instrument. Well, in part it has to do with the new wave of ukuleles available.
Instrument manufacturers have responded to the new wave and growing demand. Existing companies like Gibson and Martin have revived old or previously dropped lines of ukes (in some cases going to China for their models). Others like Oscar Schmidt/Washburn have brought on new models. And others like Bushman Kalaare new companies that have developed new lines and products. I particularly like Kala's approach to the design, creating new looks, cutaway bodies and using unconventional woods like mango. Many are made in the USA, like the better quality guitars, and a few in Japan - also good. Me, I'm leery of anything musical made in massive Chinese factories... something tells me that they simply can't be quality instruments.
So I bought a Kala uke from this Hawaiian seller; a nice solid-spruce top tenor instrument, with hardshell case and a chord book thrown in. All weekend I've been practicing,; learning and unlearning some guitar habits, trying to make my fingers fit into the little neck space and turn my feeble attempts into something that sounds like music, driving Susan crazy. But I'm having fun and getting to have a lot more respect for George Formby. Maybe that tribute festival isn;t such a crazy idea... but maybe we should make it an open ukulele festival instead...
[/indent]
I'm kidding, of course. I like the annual Elvis festival (although I may not enjoy it this year at all if they move the venues so there's no place to enjoy a pleasant supper on a patio while listening to the performers... ). The Elvis Festival will probably last another century, and no one will ever do George Formby tributes except a handful of shy ukulele players who post their efforts on YouTube. Not quite enough for an internationally-recognized festival like Elvis, methinks.
I started to think about George Formby recently when I purchased a ukulele from a Hawaiian eBay seller. I was brought up on George and other pre-war English performers like Stanley Holloway and Vera Lynn. But it was George's tinkling ukulele that seems to have stuck with me. I remember Herman's Hermits doing cover versions of George's popular tunes, which of course everyone in Liverpool recognized, but the international scene was often unaware of the origin of their tunes.
Not that the ukulele interested me as an instrument, particularly, in those days. It was a bit kitschy, a hangover from another era, something my parents might have played. I heard the Beatles and wanted to play electric guitar, something with power and volume. I started learning guitar at 14 or 15 and completely forgot about the ukulele for another four decades.
But the ukulele was hiding in there, waiting for its turn.
The uke is a lot like a charango, and Andean music has always fascinated me. For the last couple of years, when we've gone to Zihuatanejo, Mexico, for our vacation, we've listened to buskers playing South American music - Peruvian, Bolivian, Ecuadorian - Andean sounds. These musicians play the pan flutes, quena (a flute similar to the shakuhachi), guitar and the charango. The charango is actually part of a family of instruments that includes the smaller hualaycho and larger ronroco. The charango has 10 strings in five sets tune GCEAE. The ukulele has four strings, but sometimes eight, tuned GCEA. Note the similarity? The charango is a uke with an extra pair of E-tuned strings.
After talking to one of the buskers this year, and playing with his charango, I thought it would be cool to own one and learn on it. While this isn't an easy prospect in Canada, it is made even more challenging by living in a small town (where the local music store responded with "A what?" when I asked if they could get one... good thing I didn't ask for a saz, an oud or a cumbus...). Thanks, however, to eBay, I was able to order one directly from Bolivia. Sometime within the Age of Mammals, it should arrive - hopefully in one piece...
But in the meantime, I thought I could practice on a ukulele. After all, they're close enough in tuning that I could learn the basics. A uke was something the local music store knew about and even had some in stock. But they were mostly inexpensive soprano models, toy-like instruments made in China, better suited for pacifying children than an adult who was serious about learning a musical instrument. The one tenor they had (since sold) wasn't even tuned, so I couldn't try it out. So again I had to go onto eBay and search for something.
And in my first search I found a Hawaiian seller with a good selection of amateur and professional instruments (ranging from about $100 to $25,000...) in all four sizes. A soprano uke is simply too small for my thick adult fingers. Chords get ugly and cramped. Definitely think the tenor or even baritone models are better suited for my style.
Yes, that's right: a $25,000 ukulele. There are pro models running at $1,000-$5,000, but the majority for people like me who want a reasonably competent but not financially crippling instrument range from $100 to $500.
Online forum posters all stress that, like guitars, inexpensive instruments sound like - well, crap. Most of the cheaper ukes are Asian knock-offs, often made in bulk in big Chinese factories where the quality control is pretty much non-existent. You want good sound, good neck action, good intonation (meaning the uke stays in tune no matter where on the neck you play), buy from a smaller factory where quality is important to their reputation. Tone is important, as are woods and other materials. Solid wood is better than laminates.
What surprised me is that ukuleles - not long ago considered a toy or non-serious instrument - are undergoing a Renaissance these days, thanks in part to some damned good musicians like Jake Shimabukoro who have turned the uke into a respectable instrument. Jazz, folk, bluegrass, blues - all heard today ion the ukulele. The uke is making a serious comeback.
When I heard Jake play George Harrison's song, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, on a YouTube video, I was hooked. This guy is incredible. I started listening to and watching Jake and some of his fellow performers on YouTube, wondering how they managed to turn George Formby's little sound box into a virtuoso instrument. Well, in part it has to do with the new wave of ukuleles available.
Instrument manufacturers have responded to the new wave and growing demand. Existing companies like Gibson and Martin have revived old or previously dropped lines of ukes (in some cases going to China for their models). Others like Oscar Schmidt/Washburn have brought on new models. And others like Bushman Kalaare new companies that have developed new lines and products. I particularly like Kala's approach to the design, creating new looks, cutaway bodies and using unconventional woods like mango. Many are made in the USA, like the better quality guitars, and a few in Japan - also good. Me, I'm leery of anything musical made in massive Chinese factories... something tells me that they simply can't be quality instruments.
So I bought a Kala uke from this Hawaiian seller; a nice solid-spruce top tenor instrument, with hardshell case and a chord book thrown in. All weekend I've been practicing,; learning and unlearning some guitar habits, trying to make my fingers fit into the little neck space and turn my feeble attempts into something that sounds like music, driving Susan crazy. But I'm having fun and getting to have a lot more respect for George Formby. Maybe that tribute festival isn;t such a crazy idea... but maybe we should make it an open ukulele festival instead...
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