Re: Ukulele Loop Dreams was looping on npr

[Daniel Thomas <danielthomas4@mac.com>]

Nice clip!  inspiring.


> Our own Daniel Thomas (a very accomplished 
>guitarist/multi-instrumentalist)
> once told me that he thinks he learned more about harmony from playing a 
>ukulele than by all of
> his guitar playing because of the fact that you have the ability to fret 
>all four strings simultaneously.


The thing that was most enlightening for me about the Ukelele is that, 
with only four strings, you strip harmony right down to its most 
fundamental elements.  Allowing only four notes, the uke forces guitarists 
to master four note chord voicings ..one finger to a note.  These voicings 
seldom involve a barre and as such, they allow for super controlled note 
envelopes on each string (Hard to do with Barre).  Mastering four note 
voicing on the UKE really made me much more savvy with respect to note 
choice (why have three Fundamentals ringing?) and note duration.  I am 
cleaner and more potent harmonic player for it. 

d

On Apr 18, 2011, at 1:02 PM, Rick Walker wrote:

> On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, RP Collier wrote:
>> Tuneyards on Sunday All Things Considered 4/16:
>> 
>> 
>http://www.npr.org/2011/04/17/135443035/tune-yards-expanding-and-grabbing-attention
> I also think it's very cool that she's recontextualizing the Ukulele.
> 
> It resonates a lot with what I"ve been trying to do.
> 
> I've been writing for the last 6 months on several four string 
>instruments, including playing a lot of
> baritone Ukulele.      Our own Daniel Thomas (a very accomplished 
>guitarist/multi-instrumentalist)
> once told me that he thinks he learned more about harmony from playing a 
>ukulele than by all of
> his guitar playing because of the fact that you have the ability to fret 
>all four strings simultaneously.
> 
> Interestingly enough,   Joni Mitchell started her whole career by 
>writing songs on a Baritone Ukulele that she bought
> for $36 because she didn't have enough money for a guitar.
> 
> It's interesting that when you play one and really thing about modern 
>songwriting,
> that the natural progression is to begin to retune it.     I'm on this 
>kick lately of tuning to a random open tuning
> and playing it as I go to eat my daily bagel before teaching.    I give 
>myself 10 minutes to learn how to play
> the new tuning (or at least find something interesting in it) and then 
>another 10 minutes to write at least the
> bare bones of a song on the way home.    In this way,   I'm attempting 
>to try to free myself of specific tuning
> concepts and be able to find whatever the instrument gives me to play 
>simply.
> 
> With it's range,  you can get a couple of different sounding octaves 
>from the instrument as a looping source
> and, of course, with 1/2 speed and 1/4 speed manipulations you can eek 
>even more out of it.
> 
> To add to all of that,  I recently purchased a four string Ukulele bass 
>instrument which has the body of a Baritone Uke, but
> has black silicon strings on it that make it sound somewhat close to an 
>upright.   A fantastic instrument.  I'm saving to
> buy one that is fretless now.
> 
> rick walker
>