The Happy Ukulele

      Down with Tiny Tim. Not the Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol, the Tiny Tim with long greasy hair and ukulele and a favorite of TV during the 70's. Although he was entertaining his performances overshadow the wonderful sounds that a ukulele is capable of. A ukulele is fun and easy to play, is making a comeback from the 1920's when it was very popular, is for serious musicians and can be frankly amazing to listen to.

      A ukulele – pronounced “oo koo le le” not “you ka le le” – is a bright and happy instrument. The traditional tuning is called re-entrant tuning. Basically this means the top string is higher in pitch than the second from the top string. The third from the top and bottom string then ascend in pitch. This is what gives us the familiar refrain “my dog has fleas” . Even tuning a ukulele is fun to do. Since the ukulele only has four strings and twelve frets the range is about one and a half octaves, which is about the same range as the human voice. Since it is light and small it is easy to pack it along to the beach or lake for some musical fun.

I have noticed the ukulele is making a comeback. I have been playing it at the beach and several people have mentioned what a great instrument it is. Also I have had people come and play along because they are learning to play also. The ukulele is a soft instrument and plays well with a recorder, flute, harmonica or human voice. Hey Soul Sister by Train is a huge hit and has been used in advertising as well.

      Serious musicians play ukulele. One of the most famous is George Harrison. Here Comes The Sun and My Sweet Lord sound very good on ukulele and I think everybody would agree these are happy songs. For some more serious ukulele players look up Israel Kamakawiwoʻole or Iz as he is know. His version of Over The Rainbow is a modern standard for ukulele. If you want to be totally amazed look up Jake Shimabukuro and his song While my Ukulele Gently Weeps. He is truly a master of the ukulele just as Eric Clapton is a guitar master. Even Tiny Tim was entertaining although he is not anywhere near the technical ability of Jake or the singing voice of Iz.

      Look up these performers on Youtube and listen to their performances. I think you will agree that the ukulele is a fun instrument and may even be tempted to try your hand at playing yourself.