Tag: ukulele

New Ukulele Day

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Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 4.2mm, f/1.6, 1/120 sec, ISO50
 “Two Ukuleles” Wailuku, 2022

Today was new uke day for me! This morning, Mariko’s friend picked her up for brunch out in Wailea, so I went ukulele shopping. First I stopped by Bounty Music in Lahaina. They had a large selection of ukuleles, and I got to try out a Kamaka and and KoAloha. The prices were good, but I wasn’t so happy with the service. All the salespeople were helping the tourists who (I think) came off of the cruise ship, and I was pretty much ignored. When I did find someone who could help me, he didn’t know much about ukuleles, but acted like he did. It was embarrassing, but I can’t blame the store for trying to make some money and the cruise ship tourists are probably a good source of income.

My next stop was Mele Ukulele, which is a local shop that has been around for about 30 years. I think the quality is comparable the Ks (Kamaka, KoAloha, and Kanile’a), but the combination of materials, price, and the fact that they are Maui-based is important to me. Plus the service I have received from everyone I talked to there was great and friendly. Today Annie helped me browse the model line and helped me decide on the one I wanted. However, I wanted to check out the other Mele Ukulele branch in Wailea and see if they had any other ukuleles that “spoke to me”. 🙂

So, that afternoon after Mariko returned from Wailea, I asked her if she wanted to go back to Wailea with me and look at ukuleles. She said okay, so it was off to the Shops at Wailea! The service at the Mele Ukulele here was excellent as well, and Austin helped me pick out the perfect all-koa wood concert ukulele. We sampled four of them, and I finally chose one that sounded best to me (there were two that sounded equal), but also felt best and had a unique look. I am in love with my new Mele Ukulele!

Photo info: Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max, 5.7mm, f/1.5, 1/60 sec, ISO500
 “New Ukulele Day” Wailea, 2022

After my purchase, we stopped by the Waikiki Brewing Company (another brewery?!) and had a couple of beers and split a sandwich, Then on the way home, we had a craving for some Thai food so we stopped by the Thai Mee Up food truck by Costco and got some curry to go.

Photo info: Apple iPhone 12 mini, 1.55mm, f/2.4, 1/30 sec, ISO1000
 “Food Trucks” Kahului, 2022

Curry, beer, poké, and mac salad: another nice meal. 🙂

Oyasumi!

Preferred Strings

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
 “New Strings” Cedar Park, 2022

Today I put a new pair of strings on my beloved Kala pineapple ukulele. I replaced the fluorocarbon strings with Aquila Super-Nylgut strings. When I put the fluorocarbon strings on last year, I really liked them. They sounded brighter, crisper, and had longer sustain than the Nylgut strings, and I thought it was like night and day. I thought these are definitely the way to go. So I also put fluorocarbons on my concert ukulele.

But then I bought my second concert ukulele, which came with Super-Nylgut strings, and the sound has grown on me. It’s a more traditional ukulele sound vs. the fluorocarbons which sound more guitar-like to me. So I decided to put some on the pineapple so I could enjoy the traditional soprano ukulele sound with the old-school-sounding strings. I love them!

I still enjoy my fluorocarbon strings on the concert ukulele (with low-G), which produces a much fuller sound.

I guess you really need multiple ukuleles, right? 😀

Sunday Evening Ukulele

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
 “Ukulele & Vino” Cedar Park, 2022

What a wonderful way to spend Sunday evening: sipping a glass of wine and practicing ukulele. ☺️

I’ve started in on a new song today. It’s a very simplified version of “海の見える街 / A Town with an Ocean View”. I figured I should learn something from one of my favorite movies!

My New Ukulele

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 27mm, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO320
 “Kala Surf Swell” Cedar Park, 2022

While looking at ukuleles online, as I often do, I came across a really cool design. It’s a concert-sized ukulele from Kala, called the “Surf Swell” (Model: KA-SURF-SWELL) and it was basically a love-at-first-sight situation. 🥹❤️

I have another Kala concert ukulele, and they are both exactly the same shape. However, the Surf Swell is made of different material, and has different tuners and tuning knobs. It’s got a really retro vibe to it.

Another difference between my two concert ukuleles is that the old one has fluorocarbon strings for a more “modern” sound, but the new ukulele has the nylon strings for a classic ukulele sound. I love both!

But why do I need another ukulele? (I already have 3) Well, I have come to love the concert-size as my ukulele of choice, and the one I had was strung with a low-G. Therefore, I couldn’t play a couple of songs that require the standard G and access to the higher frets that a soprano-size cannot provide. So instead of having two soprano-sized ukuleles (one low-G and one high-G), I am going to go with two concert-sized ukuleles, and probably sell my soprano with the low-G, and keep the pineapple ukulele.

I hope you had a nice day! またね〜

Practicing Ukulele

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Photo info: FUJIFILM X-E4, 18mm, f/5, 1/70 sec, ISO3200
 “Practicing Ukulele” Cedar Park, 2022

I’m enjoying practicing a couple of new songs from my Studio Ghibli ukulele book: Princess Mononoke Theme and The Legend of Ashitaka. I figured the themes of the two stars of Mononoke Hime would be fun to learn. Plus I think they are really cool songs!

With my morning Twitch livestreams, I often will practice ukulele on my 10-minute breaks, and just this small bit of consistency has made a noticeable difference in my playing. It’s like a little bit of magic! Who knew practice would improve my ukulele playing? 😜