[Kevdo]

Nice one Polli! You do miss the little buggers when they're not around. Haven't played a baritone but it's on my list.

Be sure you let us know how you get on, vids optional of course, but I wanna hear it!

[polliwog]

I intend to record something, but then I've been intending to do that for several years now.

[Wanbli]

nice way to kick off the new year with a new mini-axe!

[Becca]

I've been somewhat irritated with ukes the past maybe year or so, because of the rise of ukelelewave and everyone covering everything on ukes...THEN I started working at a music store where one of our big sellers (at least for the Christmas season) was these little $30 ukes in all different colors. So much so that we sold out before xmas and even sold some of the nicer, more expensive ukes. I think what irritated me about ukes is they're so twee and I kind of hate twee. But seeing these little 5-year-olds play them is so cute. I think it's ok to be twee when you're 5. In fact, I think you're supposed to be twee when you're 5.
Anyway. I dunno. I am seeing them in a different light now, I guess. Like, not only as twee.

Then the other day I saw a video of The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain covering "Wuthering Heights." I groaned, but clicked on the video anyway, thinking, "this is going to be so dumb." A few seconds in, I'm thinking "ok, this is kinda funny, but still dumb." Then they get to the chorus and I LOL'd for real. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF0VaBxb ... re=related

Anyway, my boss was talking about ukelele fest and I don't know if it's something that is actually going to happen. Because my boss will joke with a straight face and I never know when he's serious or not.
And they all keep talking about us all learning uke, I guess so we can really sell the bejesus out of them...but they're all stuck on that Israel Kamakawiwo Ole' song,"Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World", which I think is cliche beyond reason. I'm going to try to talk everyone into learning the above version of "Wuthering Heights" instead.

[ursulabear]

I've decided I am going to buy a banjo, so I can be more country.

[polliwog]

Becca, did you watch the vid where most of the audience brought ukes and played along? I'd like to see an audience full of harps with everyone trying to play along with Peach Plum Pear. BTW, what is twee, and what is wrong with it?

[Becca]

I forgot to mention as well...years ago I was trying to learn banjo and I learned a few chords and then one fingerstyle song and then sort of put it aside when I focused more on guitar. Then over the years when I picked up the banjo, I'd be all confused because I'd autopilot use guitar chord positions.
ANYway...my store also sells banjos, of course, and I actually sold one a couple weeks ago and they asked if I could play it and I was like "ehhhhhhh." Luckily it's tuned in open G, so you can kind of strum/pluck in an open position and it all sounds good (assuming it's tuned).
So I picked it up again last weekend and started trying to relearn it. The chords are not too hard, I guess because of how it is tuned. Seems there are basically 3 positions that you can move up and down the neck to play any chord. Well, for major chords. I guess there are more when you add in minors and crap. BUT ANYWAY. I think it's a little easier than guitar because of the tuning and there are fewer strings and the neck is smaller (good for us with small hands), etc. Now, playing fingerstyle is a totally different story. We have a banjo instructor who is like the olympic champion of banjo. Like, basically, there was some banjo contest she won so much that they had to request her not to enter anymore so that somebody else could win! And she plays that crazy clawhammer style and it's so badass! I'd love to play like that, but those metal fingerpicks they use feel so weird to me! I can't feel the strings! Plus I am figuring if I were to ever use banjo, I'd be switching between that and guitar and it'd just take too much time to take fingerpicks on and off. I don't think Sufjan uses them, and that is all that matters to me.

[ursulabear]

I want to play like this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow7akIhwcGE&feature=related
there is one song in particular I want to learn. I really have no desire to strum anything, fingerpicking is what I want to do. I have a guitar sitting around, but I don't really ever plan on playing it. I have a file filled with chord of songs I want to learn, but I am not sure any metal sounds good on mando.
btdubs, my mando's name is Salome.

[Becca]

According to last.fm:

"In a pop music context, the term “twee” was originally used by British music journalists in the mid- to late 1980s as an abusive term for indie pop. It has since been ‘reclaimed’ by some indie pop fans and used in a neutral sense.

Musically its key characteristics are jangling guitars, a love of sixties pop and often fey, innocent lyrics. It is not at all uncommon to find hand claps, rubber bands or ukuleles in the background of these songs."

In my mind, it's often produced by people who cannot sing, play their instruments, or write very good lyrics. Of course, this isn't always the case, but there's a tonnnn of it out there that's like that. It's kind of my same gripe with the whole chillwave bullshit. Except twee bands don't hide their ineptitude behind excessive effects and synthesizers, but rather with the mantra of "we're not even trying to be good, so it's ok!" I feel like they all sound the same (much like chillwave) and the cutesy-poo aesthetic is super-annoying to me. It's supposed to be kitschy, I guess, but it's just a gimmick that doesn't hold past one song for me.
There's a whole sub-genre of "dirty twee," which I guess is supposed to be really funny because they are singing really dirty lyrics in a cute and perky style, but again, it's sort of a one-song gimmick in my opinion.

[Becca]

I want to play like this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow7akIhwcGE&feature=related
there is one song in particular I want to learn. I really have no desire to strum anything, fingerpicking is what I want to do. I have a guitar sitting around, but I don't really ever plan on playing it. I have a file filled with chord of songs I want to learn, but I am not sure any metal sounds good on mando.
btdubs, my mando's name is Salome.

That's interesting. Looks like he's using a guitar pick to play separate strings, but then strumming at the end. Yeah, I think the "true" way to play banjo is fingerstyle, but strumming chords is just a good way to learn the chords, I guess. I've been playing Joanna songs that way just to get the chords in my memory bank and under my fingers. I do a lot of fingerstyle on guitar, so I imagine I could apply the same techniques...in fact, I feel like my fingerstyle technique on guitar came relatively easily as a result of playing banjo...it's weird. But banjo has a different feel. Different neck size, and the high G being on the bottom (well, I guess it's actually the top, but I think of it as the bottom because it's under the low strings) is kind of weird. But I guess that's kind of like uke. Except that string doesn't go all the way up the neck, so it's just...strange.

[ursulabear]

I;ve nevr played a guitar, only a zither and and a mando. I really like the feel of a mando, being so compact. I tried to play a guitar, but I was overwhelmed with the size. I think this would be first for me to learn ( I could play it on my zither before it died). The girl playing it plays cello, and took on ahuuuuge challenge with the banjo. And munly munly in the first video has been playing banjo for about 25 years, so he's pretty well-versed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeLd_ro1SM0

[Becca]

You could try the banjolin. It's smaller and supposedly has the same fingerings as a mandolin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjolin
I'm just comparing banjo to guitar for my own sake. But I imagine it's the same with any stringed instrument: it's kinda similar, but different enough to feel sort of weird.

[Becca]

Ok, I just watched that video, and I'm wondering if that isn't a banjolin! It's definitely got a much shorter neck and only 4 strings...it's just that the body still looks the same size. Weird.
I like how she's holding it like a cello and plucking it like you would do pizzicato on a cello.
That's another thing about banjo that bothers me! It's weighted so weirdly...when I let the body sit in my lap, it feels like such a long reach for my left hand to chord close to the headstock. I feel like I want to move the body rightwards, but that doesn't work because of the weight/balance of it. I dunno. Maybe a strap would help, even if I'm sitting down. Or maybe I should just hold it like a cello!

[ursulabear]

I really wanted a banjolin for a long time. I have a weird obsession with antiques, so I insisted that Saome be antique, she's from the 30's. I couldn't find a vintage banjolin. This girl I know built a banjo out of a can of ether, but it sounds terrible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4GNIAWbUNg
I built one of these out of a 2x4, guitar string (e) and a jam jar. It sounds really good, but it can only do so much. I built a zither using the same concept, using the a,c, and g strings, but because it was so wide, I couldn't put it on a 2x4, so I had to use a thinner plank. The tension was too much, and the plank snapped! I think I am also going to buy a kalimba.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZKnKMpElvw

[Kevdo]

As for the twee thing, I know what you mean. There's been a lot of it of late especiallly with uke players, the likes of Kate Micucci etc... I'm not into it either and I think it just strengthens a lot of peoples views that uke's are "toys" or "comical" but they can be anything but.

I played guitar for a number of years, I was never great and it never really clicked or inspired me. I thought I'd try something else and it ended up a toss-up between a mandolin and the ukulele, I chose the uke obviously and I think I made the right choice.

You're right about people picking up a uke and playing all the cliched songs/covers (Over the Rainbow, Creep, I'm Yours, Hallelujah, I Will Follow You Into The Dark) not all twee and I do like some (Radiohead, Cohen, Death Cab) but I stay away from them (possibly my vanity kicking in).

There is some awesome stuff out there on the uke though and it's not difficult to find. A lot of people dismiss the uke as a proper musical instrument but that's just their ignorance really.

I'm not great on the uke nor can I sing well but I try to play songs I like and enjoy doing so. I've been looking into jazz progressions lately and they sound great!

[polliwog]

I've played guitar for over 45 years, and I love the ukelele. And guess what. Mine arrived today!!! She's beautiful, her name's Lani (short for Lanikai), and she's mine! If it means that I'm bound to be twee, then I say "Let it be!" Wahoo!

BTW, this attitude about twee sounds an awful lot like the attitudes of people who hate Joanna's music. I'm a bit confused.

[ursulabear]

i like twee, esp. that from sweden. but i have to be in the right mood.
btdubs, polli, my friend has a framed oicture of tiny tim next to her bed.

[Weirdelves]

The reason people who actually listen to Joanna don't describe it as 'twee' is because tweeness also indicates a lightness and sweetness of meaning and lyrics, and Joanna clearly also deals with darker subjects. That's my thoughts anyway. I too hate the abundance of twee music in the world at the moment, for me it can all be traced back to Belle and Sebastian of whom I have an unnatural hatred.

[ell ess two]

The reason people who actually listen to Joanna don't describe it as 'twee' is because tweeness also indicates a lightness and sweetness of meaning and lyrics.

twee is also incredibly vacuous and insipid. craft is secondary or a complete non-factor to aesthetics of being 'twee'.

yeah, I really fucking hate twee.

[polliwog]

Perhaps if someone would direct me to specific examples of 'tweeness', then maybe I could join the Hate Club...although I doubt it. I'd probably just add it to my list of things to avoid. Hate is an emotion I've learned to...Oops! I almost exaggerated. I meant to say, "an emotion I've learned to strongly dislike." I hate it when I do that!