Ukulele

Ukulele
Classification	String instrument (plucked, nylon stringed instrument usually played with the bare thumb and/or fingertips, or a felt pick.)
Related instruments
	Bowed and plucked string instruments, namely the cavaquinho;

The ukulele (Hawaiian: ʻukulele, IPA pronunciation: /ʔukulele/; Anglicised pronunciation usually IPA: /ˌjukəˈleɪli/), sometimes spelled ukelele (particularly in the UK) or uke, is a chordophone classified as a plucked lute; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four strings or four courses of strings.^[1]

History

Hawaii

The ukulele is commonly associated with music from Hawaii, where the name roughly translates as "jumping flea", and was developed there in the 1880s as a combination of the Madeiran braguinha and rajão. A braguinha is an instrument similar to a cavaquinho, built in the city of Braga and named after it; the Portuguese cavaquinho is usually tuned in D-G-B-D, a G-major chord. The Madeira rajão is tuned D-G-C-E-A. The D and G strings are both re-entrant, i.e., tuned an octave higher than expected in the normal low-to-high course of strings. The GCEA strings of the rajão are the source of the re-entrant tuning of the modern ukulele.

Some of the most valuable ukuleles, which may run into the thousands of dollars in price, are made from koa (Acacia koa), a local wood known for its fine tone and attractive color and figure.^photo

U.S. mainland

The ukulele was popularized for a stateside audience^[2] during the Panama Pacific International Exposition, held for most of 1915 in San Francisco, at which the Hawaiian Pavilion featured a guitar and ukulele ensemble, George E. K. Awai and his Royal Hawaiian Quartette, along with ukulele maker and player Jonah Kumalae. The popularity of the ensemble with visitors launched a fad for Hawaiian-themed songs among Tin Pan Alley songwriters. The ensemble also introduced both the lap steel guitar and the ukulele into U.S. mainland popular music, where it was taken up by vaudeville performers such as Roy Smeck and Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards. The ukulele became an icon of the Jazz Age as this highly portable and relatively inexpensive instrument also proved popular with amateur players throughout the 1920s, as is evidenced by the introduction of uke chord tablature into the published sheet music for popular songs of the time (a role that would eventually be supplanted by the guitar). A number of mainland-based instrument manufacturers, among them Regal, Harmony, and Martin, added ukulele, banjolele, and tiple lines to their production to take advantage of the demand.

File:UkuleleZiegfeldGal.jpg

Ukulele in the hands of a Ziegfeld Follies chorus girl, c. 1920

It can range in many different colours from white to blue and material from plastic to wood.

Types of ukulele

The ukulele comes in four sizes, from smallest to largest: soprano, concert, tenor and baritone.

Ukulele musicians

Musicians and entertainers, both past and present, particularly known for playing the ukulele include:

Forrest Kline
Frank Crumit
Gabby La La
George Formby (played banjolele & Hawaiian ukulele)
George Harrison
Gerald Ross
Hayseed Dixie
Imua Garza
Island Ukuleles
Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Jack Johnson
Jake Shimabukuro
James Hill
Jens Lekman
Joe Brown
John Lennon
John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin
Jolie Holland
Julien Doré
Troy Fernandez
Langley Ukulele Ensemble

Trivia

Beatle George Harrison was a lifelong fan of the ukulele. He was reported to have always traveled with two ukuleles so that he could play with someone, including producer and musician Jeff Lynne and fellow former Beatle Paul McCartney. George's close friend and musician Joe Brown performed "I'll See You in my Dreams" on the ukulele at the end of the Concert For George. Paul McCartney also opened up one of George's songs "Something" on a left-handed uke, saying George showed him it while they were playing the ukes after dinner at Paul's house.
Brian Wilson used Lyle Ritz's ukulele skills on his album Pet Sounds, particularly on the song "Caroline, No."
Eric Clapton plays the ukulele on the Bonzo Dog Band's "The Intro and the Outro".
Although not as widely-known, Keith Green was playing the ukulele when he was three years of age.
Violinist Sara Watkins, a member of Nickel Creek, is a ukulele player. She only plays it occasionally; one such example is the song "Anthony".
Multi-instrumentalist and producer Jon Brion sometimes performs a version of Phil Lynott's "The Boys Are Back In Town" live solo on a ukulele.
Brian May of Queen plays a uke in the song "Bring Back Leroy Brown" from Sheer Heart Attack and on "Good Company" from A Night at the Opera.

In the 1920's, the phrase Play that on your ukulele meant the same as Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Zach Condon of Beirut (band) plays the ukulele as his main instrument, having been unable to play guitar due to a wrist injury that prevented his hand from reaching fully around the neck of a guitar.
David Tanner plays 4 ukuleles a soprano, baritone, tenor and the banjolele.
Nathan Sambell plays the soprano ukulele and bass and got into the ukulele because of David Tanner.
Pearl Jam recorded a song called Soon Forget done entirely by Eddie Vedder with only a ukelele and his voice.

Tahitian ukulele

The Tahitian ukulele is significantly different from other ukuleles because it does not have a sound box. The body——including the head and neck——is usually carved from a single piece of wood, with a wide conical hole bored through the middle. A tahitian Ukulele can often be carved out of three pieces of wood with the sides being made out of different woods. This is however just for decoration.

At the back, the bore is about 4 cm in diameter; at the front it is about 10 cm in diameter. The hole at the front is covered with a thin piece of wood, on which the bridge sits, so the instrument works rather like a wooden-skinned banjo. Indeed, some of these instruments are referred to as Tahitian banjos. The strings are usually made from light-gauge fishing line——usually green in colour (usually around 40—50 lb).

The instrument seems to be a relatively recent invention, popular in eastern Polynesia, particularly French Polynesia. It is reported to have been introduced to the Cook Islands in 1990 by the band Te Ava Piti as a newly invented instrument.

Tuning a Tahitian ukulele

These instruments may have just four strings——or some strings may be paired, so that the instrument has six or eight strings.

The strings or pairs ("courses") are tuned to A₆ D₆ F#₆ B₅ or G₅ C₆ E₆ A₅ (See Scientific pitch notation for a description of these codes).

After the Hawaiian ukulele was invented, the Hawaiians referred to a similar, eight-string instrument tuned GCEA as a taro-patch fiddle. Before the invention of the ukulele, taro-patch fiddle referred to the rajão.

Those who are familiar with ukulele chords will find that the same chord shapes will fit these tunings, but that the chords will be transposed and inverted.

Audio samples

Ukulele chords

A chord being played on an ukulele - 47 kB

Problems playing this file? See media help.

Henry Kailimai's hene

A piece being played on an ʻukulele - 327 kB