 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Not logged in - | |
| Moderated by: Richard Hefner |
|
||||||||||||||
| Help - Carolina Ukulele Strummers - CUKES - Ukulele - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
| Author | Post | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||
|
TomGenerous Approved
|
Dear Chris, I've pondered this for a few days, so what follows is supposed to be thoughtful. I hope I didn't seem petulant in leaving the meeting last Saturday. In fact, I was even more humbled than I had been after seeing James Shimabukuro play, because I felt that I had been a drag on the other nice people who were there. No doubt I can learn what I don't know about the names of the chords, so that's not a big problem. What was more disconcerting was that you all seem to strum differently from me. From the start I was throwing Luke (I think that's his name) off. I asked about strumming couple of times, but what came back was that it was all intuitive. Oh-oh. It's intuitive to me, too, but it's not the same. I'm self-taught, as you can probably tell. I don't even know what kind of ukulele I'm playing, although the story of how I acquired it is pretty cute. I now have a repertoire of about forty songs—say, a dozen Hawaiian things, and the others pop classics —, and I strum them rhythmically enough, I think. But after Saturday I worry that all I'm doing is strumming the same time I sing in, while you for sure and the others it seems do something else that is, let's say, complimentary to the singing. Having overcome my embarrassment, I plan to come back next time, April 8, I'm guessing. If you, Luke, David, Billie, Nate and Kurt (again, I hope I have the names right) would like, and will send me your email addresses, I'll reply with six or ten of my songs with lyrics and chord notations, so that you can have them when we meet again. But in return, would someone please be willing to show me about the method and rhythm of strumming? I'd be very grateful. Sincerely, Tom Generous <tomgenerous@earthlink.net>
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
Richard Hefner Administrator 
|
Hi Tom, I'm a Cukes member but I missed the meeting last week. I should be at the next one though and I look forward to meeting you. Chris and some of the other Cukes people might respond later but since none are around right now I'll throw in my 2 cents. I've got a strumming tutorial that might be helpful for you. It includes 13 different strums and each has a simple video. You can find it at... http://www.ezfolk.com/uke/Tutorials/Strumming/strumming.html If it's any consolation, I had terrible timing for at least a couple of years after I began playing. I thought there was no hope but something clicked one day and there it was. I had that tendency to strum once for every syllable I sang, but what you want to do is start by playing an even strum for every beat of the song, then you can fancy it up a little from there. It does take a lot of practice but, hey, you've got plenty of time. Let me know if you have any questions regarding the strumming tutorials or anything else. Hang in there! 
____________________ Richard Hefner Webmaster, ezFolk.com MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
kurtk Approved 
|
Tom, You have absolutly no reason to feel emberassed. Your playing and singing were great. I think you have a great singing voice. The problem with the chord names arose because you were looking at the chord forms for a baritone while playing a soprano/concert. That messes us all up! It is very hard to look at a chord diagram that is wrong for the instrument you are playing and not play it. I don't think it is possible to throw Lou off. He is just natrually a bit off (a little friendly jab there  )Just RELAX, sing, play whatever rythm feels right to you and most of all have FUN! We are not a judgemental group and are not critical of other people's playing styles. We just like to get together, have some fun, make some noise, and every now and then, something comes out sounding pretty good  I really like your Kamaka and that is one killer case you have to go with it! Great stuff. Please don't feel the least bit intimidated by us or the chaos you experienced in the time you were there. Once you get the know the CUKES, they will seem like family. I eagerly await each meeting just to see some good friends, play a little ukulele, and have a good time. Oh, and WRT strum patterns, Richard's tutorials are GREAT! He taught me to play clawhammer banjo and ukulele before he ever met me. I just went through the information on this site. Richard is a great teacher and the resources available on this site are excellent! Kurt Last edited on Tue Feb 14th, 2006 03:29 pm by kurtk |
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
TomGenerous Approved
|
Thank you, Richard. The tutorial may be exactly what I was hoping to get. I'll let you know. Best, Tom Generous
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
TomGenerous Approved
|
Thank you, Kurt. Two reasons: 1) for telling me the man's name is Lou, not Luke, as I misunderstood. 2) for the encouragement. I promise I'll be better next time, as a strummer and as a person. Best, Tom Generous
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
UkeForever Approved 
|
I have no idea what I'm doing responding to yet another CUKES post. I suppose I'm responding first because a colleague of mine is moving to NC when she retires, and being the jealous type, I had the "we've gotta move" conversation with my wife. I suggested the Carolinas so I could be a part of "CUKES" and my wife just said, "Isn't that General Lee territory?" I guess we won't be moving there any time soon, but a good ukulele club/folk music club/brewing club will definitely be in the picture if we ever do move somewhere... Maybe a visit is in line. Secondly, I haven't brewed or consumed mass quantities of beer in the longest time because of my damn music keeping me so busy, but I met the guy who is now my best friend in the local homebrewing club. (He's the guy who introduced me to "folk" music, and got me interested in music again. Once he knew me, he also encouraged me to become a teacher and give up insurance...he's had a lot of influence.) Terry used to do their newsletter, and when I began brewing at the tail end of my college days, I would read the club newsletter to keep abreast of what was happening. That was 1994/1995. I didn't join until 1996, nearly a year after I graduated. It was the biggest mistake I ever made, because I made a lot of friends, and they all could have donated beer to my wedding. I thought that in order to join, I'd need to be at least as good a brewer as everyone else. Little did I know there were some pretty average brewers...some great, yes, but, I just didn't get it. A club is a place where the critiques of others and the styles of others with a similar interest helps you get better at what you love to do. You might have to re-learn some things, try new things (read: change!), but in the end, you'll be a stronger hobbyist. So that's my approach with clubs or groups. I figure I know what I know, which might not be enough. But the nice thing about a hobby is that interest and the drive to practice is always enough to be able to learn something. The club setting helps me address the question: What do I need to do to make my music--hobby--anything--work in conjunction with other people? I'm trying to put a combo together so we can play at some local outdoor malls for pay. When I bring my songs to the group, I find that I need to be very open about how they're played, and what works for other instrumentalists. Many times these revisions of works so "dear" to me turn out to be a good thing--someone comes up with a riff or a "sound" for the song that I never thought of. It's nice, but I have to take the ego piece out. If something I'm doing isn't "right" I have to approach it differently than when I'm alone, practicing in solitude, where every performance is perfect! (Excepting those which I record, of course!) As for strumming, I used a pick for the longest time. Yes, a pick on a uke. Heresy. Once I felt confident, I learned to hand strum. I like that better, but I took my time. http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/ukeforever Last edited on Mon Feb 20th, 2006 04:03 pm by UkeForever ____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs 
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
kurtk Approved
|
General Lee territory would be Kentucky, not NC.  Not trying to insult KY here. I have family there and I really love the area. Beautiful horse farms, rolling hills, caves, natural arches, etc. The one thing I didn't like about KY was that there is no driving test to get a license, only a written. Some folks around there are scary on the roads. I rode a motorcycle which made it all the worse for me. The scary part is that they are allowed to drive in other states with their KY license  So may people from all over the place are relocating to the Research Triangle Park area of central NC (escecially Cary, NC) that the area is a real melting pot of cultures, dialects, etc and no longer resembles the rural NC setting it once was. I think you would be surprised at the non-hick cultural events around here. We have lots of jazz, blues, symphony, etc. Not just tractor pulls and hog calling contests. Being a farmer at heart, I have mixed feeleings about the influx of people and the destruction of all the rural family farms in order to build more strip malls, etc... I realize that the day of the family farm has passed, but I am a little sentimental. It is a trade off. We have a booming economy as a result of all the growth. Of course, we also have big problems because schools can not be built fast enough to accomodate all the new students, roads are deteriorating, etc because of the strain on the infrastructure. Sorry for the little rant/ramble... Just a peek into life around here I guess. Kurt
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
Cukes Approved 
|
This is sure a good little discussion you guys have going here! Tom, I so appreciate your honesty! We wondered what happened and if we offended you. Thank you for sharing your experience. And Uke4ever said it so well. A club/group is a place where hopefully noone is in charge, and as you probably saw by the chaos, Tom, noone wants to be!  Like U4ever said tho, it's a great opportunity to learn. I really appreciated how you just jumped in and let yourself be part of the group and even take the lead sometimes when we were slip sliding around with the timing of a song. Having one baritone player in the group (and Billie I don't know how you manage to keep it straight) seems to be more of a challenge for us than her!As far as the discussion of NC, Kurt thanks for tellin' it like it is. As one of those many transplants I've really felt for the locals in how the landscape has changed, not only literally, but culturally. I was up in my hometown over the weekend, Chicago, where it was -26 with the wind chill as I was waiting in line for one last meal at a favorite restaurant that's closing after over 100 years (The Berghoff) and then walked to Marshall Field's (another 100+ plus establishment that's been bought out by Macy's) and looked forward to returning back to NC's more temporate climate. So definitely consider NC if you want to move - there's such a blend of cultures here! I'll look forward to seeing you at the next gathering Tom - and you too, Richard. You've got to see Kurt's new bass!  Chris
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
TomGenerous Approved
|
Dear CUKES, Thanks, everybody, for chiming in. Not to worry about me, though: I'm doing just fine. Richard's tutorial was helpful, ironically in the sense that I think I'm already doing what the tutorial says to do. I can't get the video application that I downloaded to work, so I haven't heard how Richard plays. At our April meeting, I'll pay close attention to what everyone else does and try to mimic the best I can. I'm also a flute player, so I'm totally into playing music every day. The uke has added to the time I spend, but has also added to the fun I have. See you soon, ok? TomGenerous
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
|
that_pete_guy Approved 
|
Cuke member here...also a "Yankee" transplant. I lived 30 years in the frozen wasteland of Upstate NY...and sought freedom from snowbound winters where I had to carry a lighter to heat up my car key to unfreeze my car locks. I'm also somewhat of a Civil War buff who moved to NC expecting to find a civilization stuck in the Antebellum South...and I must say that I love my adopted homeland. It took some time for me to adjust to the friendliness of Southerners, as I was expecting them to be trying to pick my pockets but they are all for the most part wonderful people. I'm just a paranoid Northerner! LOL I've come to love the South and North Carolina in particular (the fact that we have professional Hockey here has certainly helped!). I had no idea what to expect when I relocated to NC but can certainly recommend it to anyone considering the move. Great people, great climate, great food (just try Eastern NC barbeque...you'll never leave) and a great place to live...and NO...I do not work for the Chamber of Commerce Pete
|
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
|
UkeForever Approved
|
So my mother-in-law is talking about moving out that way, and what do you know? My wife finally perked up to the idea. Maybe there will be a move in my future. That would be nice. I want to live somewhere that fits us. I just don't know where that is, yet.
____________________ Don't let the door hit 'ya where the good Lord split 'ya. John Rockwell's Crazy Songs
|
||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Current time is 11:37 pm | |
| ezFolk Forums > Ukulele > Carolina Ukulele Strummers - CUKES > Help | |
