FRAILING ON A BANJO UKE

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Banjo Uke Players Unite

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Banjouke,Banjolele,Ukejo It's the crazy family member that nobody talks about. Let's here from you if you love the Banjo Uke

80 Members, Created 11/21/2011 -

Administrators: cb56 (owner)

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From nohobanjo on 5/31/2012 12:21:29 PM

HI Gang,

For a couple of years now I have been playing a Gold Tone Banjulele Deluxe that I modified by replacing the soprano-scale neck with a Gold Tone tenor-scale uke neck. I find that the wider fret spacing is easier for me to play and the resonator gives me plenty of volume. I keep it tuned in the standard GCEA with a high G. I started out with using a low G, but the higher tone on the 4th string sounds better to me.

We have a local ukulele club and mostly strum along using Jim Beloff's 365 Days of Uke book. What I have found, however, is that, with the banjo uke and the high 4th, I can play a distinctive Pete Seeger "boom-chuck-a" using a clawhammer style--the middle finger hitting a single note, then a four-string strum, and finally a thumb pick on the 4th string. I do this while holding the appropriate chord. This gives a nice banjo-sound among the regular strumming of the rest of the group. As long as you are holding a chord, it doesn't matter what notes you play. They all harmonize with the chord, much like a good jazz accompaniment.

Needless to say, I am still working on this. But I am having fun. Any thoughts will be appreciated!

NohoBanjoof Northampton, Massachusetts

3 Comments
	ukuleletim says: 7/2/2012 9:52:52 PM Hi. I have a Gold Tone banjolele and love to frail on it. I love playing clawhammer on any uke. The high top string makes it a perfect instrument for it. As a matter of fact playing clawhammer uke led me to the banjo. I am, however, wanting to sell my open back banjolele and get one with a tenor size neck. The concert neck seems cramped to me. It does sound good playing the William Tell Overture, though!
	nohobanjo says: 7/3/2012 6:59:08 AM Hi Fellow Frailer, You might want to contact the folks at Gold Tone. That's where I got my tenor banjolele neck. It's a simple mechanical process to pop off one neck and switch to the other. That might be easier--to say nothing of less expensive--than searching for a ready-to-go tenor banjolele. Good luck! NohoBanjo of Northampton, MA
	jefrs says: 10/16/2012 5:27:11 PM Some numbers fyi from Aquila (Nylgut) for ukulele strings - Soprano=13 5/8 scale Concerto= 14 ¾ scale Tenors= 17 scale Baritones= 20 1/8 scale Banjo uke= 17 scale Now a lot of small Banjo-Ukes seem to fall in between soprano and concerto size around 14-in, whereas Aquila seem to think a Banjo-uke is 17-in scale, which is a tenor ukulele scale and getting on for the size of a 4-string tenor banjo, but the Nylgut strings for Banjo-uke are practically the same gauge as for a concerto ukulele. I do the boom-chuka thing too, and then pick individual notes and/or double stops out of it on the fly. If I stop to think how I do that then I can't do it. Currently have it tuned to low G.
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