Like Father, Like Son

[theGOOCH]

We had my son's 2nd birthday party over the weekend and my dad got him a toy ukulele. I call it a toy, but you can really tune it to pitch and play it (although it took some research on my part to figure out how to tune it)

 

The point is, man this is his favorite toy ever. He pretty much ignored all his other stuff and carried around his "guitar" He would even rig up makeshift stands for it on the couch, chair, etc. And he sits down and "plays" it.

 

I goofed around a little and learned some uke chords and strummed a few songs. Then I got to thinking, can you open tune it to make it easier for a small child to really play songs? My knowledge of music theory is lacking in this area. It's a standard soprano uke (G C E A)

[Frets99]

That's soooo cool. I have a pic somewhere one of my sons at 2 n 1/2 playing guitar with me. Priceless.

BTW - I was at a friends last night and they asked me to tune up their kiddie First ACT acoustic guitar. It held and played!!!

I was impressed!

[theGOOCH]

Originally posted by Frets99 That's soooo cool. I have a pic somewhere one of my sons at 2 n 1/2 playing guitar with me. Priceless. BTW - I was at a friends last night and they asked me to tune up their kiddie First ACT acoustic guitar. It held and played!!! I was impressed!

His uke is First Act as well. I thought it was just a toy where all the strings sound the same like they had when I was a kid, but then I noticed the "real" tuners. I was a little afraid it was going to break when I tuned it up, but it was fine. You have to kind of tune it constantly, but I read that "real" ukes are kind of like that to some degree too.

Are regular ukuleles nylon stringed? I wonder if this has real strings, or just play ones. They are stringed just like a classical git, but all the strings appear to be the same gauge.

I need to dig up the pics of me, 2 years old, in my diaper playing my Donnie and Marie "blitar" (It took a lot of therapy for me to be able to talk about that!) My older brother got the cool Buck Owens guitar

[thirdstone]

I have a photo of my son at 5 yrs. old trying to play my telecaster.
He's been a guitar player ever since.
He's also a fantastic drummer.

note: I never pushed him to do either.

[DADGADammit]

don't know much about uke's but i have played them before. it wasn't in GCEA tuning though...

if you tuned the A string down a whole step to G, then it would be an open C tuning though

[Stophe88]

i was just in hawaii and picked up a uke. i'm tuned to GCEA. but there's also AF#DB and another i've seen. idk how well you were able to tune it but i went to the closest guitar shop and picked up some pitch pipes. they work like a charm

[Terry Allan Hall]

Originally posted by theGOOCH His uke is First Act as well. I thought it was just a toy where all the strings sound the same like they had when I was a kid, but then I noticed the "real" tuners. I was a little afraid it was going to break when I tuned it up, but it was fine. You have to kind of tune it constantly, but I read that "real" ukes are kind of like that to some degree too. Are regular ukuleles nylon stringed? I wonder if this has real strings, or just play ones. They are stringed just like a classical git, but all the strings appear to be the same gauge. I need to dig up the pics of me, 2 years old, in my diaper playing my Donnie and Marie "blitar" (It took a lot of therapy for me to be able to talk about that!) My older brother got the cool Buck Owens guitar

Buy a set of real uke strings (maybe $5) and tune it g-c-e-g (open C note the 1st and 4th'll be the same pitch), then teach him to bar 5th fret, 7th fret, and open...90% of all songs ever written will be available to him!

[Bugsgalore]

I bought my son (now 2) one of those $25 first act 1/4 size guitars when he was about 1 yr old. In part to encourage music in part to keep him from banging on my guitars. He and his friends all love it and it has taken a serious beating....plus there is all kinds of crap stuck to the inside where they "stash" food.

The thing is pretty fun to play though and I've actually written a couple of songs on it. It holds tune ok but has lousy intonation. I mostly keep it tuned to open G.

If I had a ukelele I think I would be tempted to tune it like a fiddle or a mandolin (GDAE, low to high), even if this meant shifting strings around.

Those "toy" instruments are pretty great!!

Cheers,

Matt.

[chiro972]

I tune gcea and have a nice uke. They all have nylon strings and yes you can actually play real songs on them.

I am a uke lover, I really enjoy playing and listening to the ukulele.

Congrats and have fun with your son.

[guitarist21]

I use my little brothers quater-size guitar when traveling sometimes. I can't decide whether or not its better than my Martin Backpacker. I'm kind of sad to say its a close race.

Ellen

[mmb]

I bought one of those 1/4 classicals for my son (2 1/2) and he loves the thing.

I love this picture....

[theGOOCH]

Thanks for the info, guys. I think I'll try the open tuning

Originally posted by Stophe88 i was just in hawaii and picked up a uke. i'm tuned to GCEA. but there's also AF#DB and another i've seen. idk how well you were able to tune it but i went to the closest guitar shop and picked up some pitch pipes. they work like a charm

I got it close to the corresponding notes on my guitar, then I used my tuner. Even though they aren't the same G and A the tuner listens for, it still recognizes them(weird, I didn't know it would do that). Then I tuned the 4th fret of the C string to E

[Stackabones]

Ukulele Tuning Page.

 

Uke uses a re-entrant tuning: G C E A, that G is higher than the C and E, and a full step below the high A.

 

You'll still play the chords you know, transposed up a fourth of course, but it'll just sound more uke-like.

 

Uke chords.

[theGOOCH]

[Stackabones]

Originally posted by theGOOCH

Great pic! But one thing's missing. He's on the couch, I'd guess the TV's on--where's the remote?

(At least that's one of my fav things to do, pick on the guitar with the tube on.)

[Michael Martin]

Originally posted by mmb I bought one of those 1/4 classicals for my son (2 1/2) and he loves the thing. I love this picture....

Holds the pick just like me--better get him to change before it's too late!

Great picture!

[theGOOCH]

I'm pretty certain my son's uke is the same model as the one in Queequeg's avatar (only in one piece)

[guitarcapo]

Tune the strings to a pleasant sounding open major chord so that when he strums it it sounds nice. At 2 years old all you probably want to do is get him used to making a nice sound out of it by hitting the strings. Tune it every once in a while and you're done.

[kwakatak]

Heh - my son Justin also has a little collection started as well. Like your son, he has a nylon-string uke only with cheap tuners and a wooden bridge/saddle that had a hunk fly off when I attempted to tune it to pitch sometime last year.

So the grandparents went to Nashville on business (one of their get rich quick schemes - don't ask! ) and I asked them to pick up a 6 string for my son which they did.

This time I didn't attempt to tune it to standard so I tuned it by ear to a major chord (turns out it's a Bb major - I must have a tin ear )

Anyway, he loves the sound of it now. While it's not his favorite toy (he prefers cars and trucks) he still picks it up and walks around the house plucking it. When he sees me play my guitar he seeks it out and plays along or hands his guitar to me to play.

He's 2 and a half now but I've got plans to expose him to a wider variety of playing. I've started by plugging in the old Strat and cranking out some tasy licks but all I end up doing is making him cry. Either it's too loud or I dun gave him da blooz.

[Greymuzzle]

Hey mmb, there is more music in that cute picture tha you might think...

the little guy seems to be wearing a Thomas the Tank Engine top. Before Thomas was exported and'Americanised' the original narrator was a guy who had been a drummer with a pop band...

once described as 'not the best drummer in the world, maybe not even the best drummer in the Beatles' , yup old Ringo Starr hisself

but he was deffo the best narrator wooooooo woooooo

fwiw:)

[mmb]

We've the tapes, DVDs, books, sing along songs and TIVO captures every episode shown on any channel we have. *sigh*

I like George Carlin narating myself, but I keep hearing "And then Thomas learned the 'Unwritten Rules of the Rails'"

Ringo was also "Mr. Conductor" on the PBS show Shining Time Station, and was replaced there by ... you guessed it, George Carlin.

Originally posted by Greymuzzle Hey mmb, there is more music in that cute picture tha you might think... the little guy seems to be wearing a Thomas the Tank Engine top. Before Thomas was exported and'Americanised' the original narrator was a guy who had been a drummer with a pop band... once described as 'not the best drummer in the world, maybe not even the best drummer in the Beatles' , yup old Ringo Starr hisself but he was deffo the best narrator wooooooo woooooo fwiw:)

[t60 fan]

The Fender travel guitar in my sig was bought when my son started playing at eight. He's sixteen now and can play circles around me. I love jamming with him.