Banjo Ukulele buying tips

The "unofficial" banjo ukulele week continues here with some more buying tips for ya.  Earlier this week, John Bianchi listed off some very informative vintage banjo uke buying tips.  Today, a little more modern take on it with some very helpful advice from Steve Roberts of The Banjo Ukulele Forum.

Thanks Steve for passing this info along!

Banjo Ukulele Buying Tips

by Steve Roberts

Here are some things to watch for:

How to change your ukulele strings

A couple of weeks ago I put new strings on a couple of my ukuleles.  I thought to myself, "why haven't I blogged about this?".  Changing your uke strings for the first time can be sort of intimidating, but it is in fact a very simple process.  Here is a fantastic "Uke Minutes" video from the nice folks at Ukulele Underground that shows you how to re-string your uke with both kind of bridges.  They do a much better showing you how to do than I ever could, so why try to re-invent the wheel, right?

The Uke Minute videos are a really fantastic source of all kinds of information, so I encourage you to browse through them a bit.

Hope this link helps and happy uke'n!

Oasis Ukulele Strings - full review

The Oasis company has been known for quite some time for their awesome humidifiers.  They've recently started experimenting in the area of fluorocarbon ukulele strings, and after testing these strings out, I must say...these guys are onto something good.

These uke strings should be available soon and you can check out www.oasisstrings.com to find out when you can pick some up.

Here's my review, complete with a couple of sound samples/comparisons at the bottom.

New Ukulele - the importance of warranty registration

A lot of ukuleles being made these days are coming with lifetime limited warranties.  While the "limited" part won't protect your new uke from wear and tear from normal use, damage from abuse, modifications that you make to the instrument, unauthorized repairs, and a whole barrage of other things, it's still important to get your new ukulele officially registered with the company.

Sure, it's a hassle, but it could pay off in the long run.  Your limited warranty should cover any defects in your ukulele that might pop up unexpectedly down the road.  The company should have record via the serial number and model number of every uke made, which leads to the following question....why is it so important to fill out and send in the little card?

The Plastic Ukulele on Kickstarter

Maybe you saw this on Kickstarter in 2012 (check that link on the Kickstarter site for a sweet video with this uke).  The Plastic Ukulele!  Here's the scoop according the developer, Scott Seelye...

"The Plastic Ukulele will be 6 parts injection molded from polycarbonate, often referred to as bullet proof plastic and not affected by humidity or temperature changes. These parts are then assembled to create a very strong hollow structure with the internal volume and tone of a much larger instrument"

New Kala Pocket Uke - even smaller?

NAMM 2013 is officially in the books.  Among the ukulele highlights this year was a very curious and even tinier Kala Pocket Uke.  I thought that bigger was supposed to be better.  Tim from www.ukeeku.com was in attendance and provided some sweet coverage of some of the ukes being showcased.  Check out his final summary here. 

Back to the Kala Pocket Uke - why am I so intrigued?  I guess it's because I just wonder what the point is.  I do want a pocket uke, so don't get me wrong.  It's a cute little novelty uke to have in your collection.  Maybe that's what's bothering me...it's already a novelty ukulele...and this one is smaller....so this one is now a novelty-novelty

Just A Closer Walk With Thee - ukulele chords

One of my favorite gospel songs!  I still remember the first time I heard it when I was about 8 years old.  It was right around the time that White Men Can't Jump came out....if you're at all familiar with the movie, you know that the opening scene features an awesome performance of this song by the Venice Beach Boys.  Do yourself a favor and check it out here on YouTube.  You may also be asking yourself what I was doing watching such a vulgar movie at a very young age.  Well, I have an older sister and brother.  In their defense, it was the edited TV version that we had on a VHS tape.  From the moment that I first heard this tune, I knew it was awesome.  Hope this chord arrangement will be a good guide for you to start jammin' on this one.  As always, if you need to reference a chord, check out the Ukulele Chord Finder (just be sure to switch it to "soprano C" for all of you GCEA players.  Here's a little video of me playing around with it if you need a little guidance.  Enjoy!

Snazzy little intro: A, F#min, A, Cdim, D6, A, F#min, A, E7

A.........A#dim..................E7
Just a closer walk with thee
......................................A
Grant me Jesus is my plea
..............A7..............D......Cdim
Daily walkin' with thee
..........D6...A............E7.............A
Let it.....be.  Dear Lord, let it be




.....just rinse and repeat.  Oh yeah, don't forget to have fun with it!