The Ukulele: 4 Strings of Pure Awesome

Well if you don't already know, I have kind of adopted the Ukulele as my weapon of choice over the past few years. Although unfortunately Canada seems to have something against Ukuleles so finding good equipment and cases can sometimes be hard, but I digress. The reason I have decided to take a break from the Punk Series that I've been so diligently working my way through is because today marks the day that The Bushman World Ukulele Video Contest of 09 has officially begun to accept entries. So I figured I'd spend the next few weeks on one of my favorite instruments and detail exactly why it is that I think Ukulele's are so awesome.


1 - To start off it only has four strings, so no matter how small your hand is you should be able to stretch your hand enough to make virtually ever chord you could potentially need (The only problem would be if your hands are too big (which mine are bordering on being) in which case you may have to man up, buy a classical guitar and just pretend it's a really big 6 string ukulele).


2 - You can get a cheap one for around 20$, next to the harmonica that is probably the cheapest instrument you could possibly pick up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the 20$ ukulele's are top of the line, but if you had a choice between a bargain bin guitar running around 115$ or a bargain bin ukulele running you around 20$ which of the two sounds more appealing considering they're likely around the same quality of build? That being said if you're willing to take the time and test them out you can get a fairly good bargain bin uke. I've brought mine from a heated inside out into -40 weather without any sort of protection and i did not get a single crack or nothing, it sounded just as good in the building i was leaving as it did in the building I was entering (and it's also pretty cool listening to those thing go horrible out of tune as you enter to cold and then listen to them become more or less back in tune when you re-enter the heat of indoors... but I don't recommend you do that with a quality ukulele that you actually care about cause it can wreck them).


3 - You can just shove it in your backpack and go. Like honestly I've chucked my bargain uke in my bag on the way to school just because there may be a potential to jam, even if it is not set in stone. They are just incredibly portable and sound great for the price. But if you're camping be careful where you leave it (I placed my favorite bargain uke under my chair and forgot about it until the chair collapsed and my uke was no more. But it was a good excuse to upgrade to my top o' the line Uke so I'm not complaining too much)


4 - They are slowly making their way to being a staple of indie music, well over ten of the indie bands I regularly listen to have it almost as a regular instrument in most of their songs.

Bishop Allen - Click Click Click

Beirut - Postcards from Italy


Dent May and his Magnifcent Ukulele - Oh Paris


Elliott Brood - The Valley Town


Animal Ukulele Orchestra - Plastic Bubble



5 - If you can play the ukulele well, It actually sounds pretty frickin' awesome. To be brutally honest, someone who has mastered the ukulele gets far more respect from me than someone who has mastered the classical guitar (even though I know full well that it takes more skill to master the classical guitar than it does to master the Ukulele. I just think that those who master the Ukulele sound better than those who have mastered the guitar). But I guess that's all personal preference so you can judge for yourself.

Kalei Gamiao - Mach 4


Jake Shimabukuro & Tommy Emmanuel - While My Guitar Gently Weeps