Ukulele For Dummies (68 page)

Get a gig bag or soft case with a generous outside pocket. When you're playing out and about you'll want to take a spare set of strings, a tuner and a chord chart (or book) with you at the very least.

Unfortunately, the harder the case, the less storage space you tend to get. Many hard cases have just a small compartment under the neck (a hangover from the design of guitar cases). In ukulele-size, a hard case is too small to carry much more than enough change to buy the accessories you want with you.

Recording your performance

Even if you don't plan to be a massive rock star, having a way to record your playing is useful, so that you can listen back and hear your mistakes and monitor your progress.

This equipment doesn't have to be anything flashy. A cheap desktop mic to plug into your computer is fine. For the audio tracks that accompany this book I used an sE Electronics USB2200a. Although pricey, it's great for someone who wants a good sound without getting a degree in sonic engineering. For something in between, try an Audio-Technica AT2020 USB or Blue Microphones Yeti USB.

Portable recorders such as the Zoom H2 or Zoom H4 are great for recording jam sessions and band practices. At the lower end of the price scale, a simple portable voice recorder does the job just fine.

Leaving it standing up or hanging down?

Very few specifically ukulele stands are available. Mostly what you find are violin and mandolin stands being sold as ukulele stands. They work for that purpose but fit soprano and concert ukuleles much better than tenor ukes. So you do have to be careful when buying them.

Wall hangers are a popular way of storing ukuleles, but make very sure that your uke fits lest it ends up crashing to the ground and turns from a musical instrument into a pile of firewood. For gigs, you can also buy hangers that attach to a mic stand (or any other small pole that comes to hand).

Strapping on your uke

Although ukuleles are meant to be played without a strap, many people find that they can play much more comfortably with one – particularly standing up.

You have a couple of solutions to this problem. You can use a guitar-style strap: these attach to the ukulele via buttons and go over your shoulder. Most ukes don't come with strap buttons and so you have to be confident enough in your carpentry skills to add them yourself or be able to find someone who is. On the other hand,
ukulele thongs
don't require any changes to the uke. These straps go round your neck, behind the uke, under the bottom (the uke's, not yours) and hook on to the hole.

Capturing the right capo

A
capo
straps round the neck of your ukulele and holds down the strings at a certain fret (like having an extra finger). For example, you can change from C-tuning (gCEA) to D-tuning (aDF
B) simply by putting a capo on the second fret. When you put a capo on the second fret it raises each string by a whole tone, so the C-string is now D, the E-string is now F
and so on.

Capos come in a couple of different types. Most capos are the
elasticated
type that you see in Figure 18-1. These capos are particularly good for ukulele players because they're usually variable enough to handle different sizes of ukulele. The other type is the
lever
capo. I don't know of any of these made specifically for the ukulele, but mandolin and banjo capos work for most ukes. The upside with lever capos is that they can be quickly put on and removed and they tend to create less buzz from the strings. On the downside, they're more expensive and don't fit all ukuleles (so try before you buy).

A capo is a useful piece of kit to have around. And how often do you get a chance to buy an extra finger?

Feeling for a pick – if you really must

In Chapter 3 I talk about doing nasty things to you until you promise not ever to use a pick on your ukulele. But in certain situations they're almost acceptable.

If you're strumming and feel the need to use a pick, go with a felt pick. This type is specifically made for the ukulele and, as the name suggests, they're made of felt. As a result you don't get that nasty clicking sound when you strum.

If you're doing some solo work in a ukulele group, the extra attack of a plastic guitar pick – which sounds harsh by itself – can help your playing cut through. But make sure that you get a really thin pick – one labelled ‘extra thin' or ‘extra light', and try not to go any thicker than 0.5 millimetres. And remember that every time you use a pick on a ukulele, a fairy dies.

Computing Your Way to Better Playing

You won't be surprised that loads of computer programs are available that can help you with your ukulele playing. You may, however, be pleasantly surprised to hear that many of them are completely free. Yes, some do require a little technical knowhow to install and some patience to learn, but the only real downside is that they are only as portable as your computer. That might be a problem if you have a huge desktop but an increasing number of ukulele apps are becoming available for iPod/iPhone/iPad and Android.

Keeping time with a metronome

Surf the Internet and you soon discover that plenty of free metronomes are available. They can all handle the task, and so the choice is really down to the interface you find easiest to use. I use TempoPerfect (
http://www.nch.com.au/metronome/index.html
) on the PC, which you can also get for the iPhone/iPod. A free metronome for the Mac is also available (
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~ronfleckner/metronome/index.html
).These are as accurate as any physical metronome. The only downside is that they don't have the charm of one of the old ticking metronomes.

Recording tunes

Try Audacity (
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
) for recording software on the PC. Although not the prettiest software around, it's free and really simple to use. For the Mac, try Garageband (
http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/
), which is what I used for the audio tracks that accompany this book.

Tuning up

Plenty of websites can give you notes to help you tune your ukulele. You can also download some programs that (with a mic) tell you when your ukulele is in tune. I use the free AP Tuner for Windows (
www.aptuner.com
). These websites and programs, however, aren't as useful as the clip-on tuners I describe earlier in this chapter. They aren't portable, and the use of a microphone means that they aren't effective in noisy places.

Charting a way to uke chords

You can find plenty of Internet lists of ukulele chords. One useful site is the well-laid out
http://www.ukulele.nl/chordfinder.php
. But ensure that you switch to ‘soprano – C' when you start, because the default is D-tuning.