Gypsy Ukes ??

bellamira

Just wondering if there are any gypsy uke players out there?
I have been playing for about a year and getting interested in playing Django style.
I am also getting into building, and intend to be putting out my own version of the Selmer Maccaferri in tenor or baritone size.
Appreciate any info from players.

Mark in Portland

Ando

Hi Mark

I don't know any uke players personally. David Hodson, the UK luthier, makes mandolins in the Selmac style. He might be a good person to talk to...

Cheers,
Ando

angorawol

I play ukulele AND guitar. The main link is that a lot of the old jazz and swing-tunes are also available for ukulele and already transcribed for ukes.
(in the twenties most of the people could afford a banjo or a uke, in those days a guitar was rather small and cheap)
But I've never heard from a gypsy-ukeplayer, since ukulele's never reached Europe in those days.
A gypsy on a mandolin is possibile , because a mandoline was very populair in Europe in the twenties.

stubla

angorawol wrote:

I play ukulele AND guitar. The main link is that a lot of the old jazz and swing-tunes are also available for ukulele and already transcribed for ukes.
(in the twenties most of the people could afford a banjo or a uke, in those days a guitar was rather small and cheap)
But I've never heard from a gypsy-ukeplayer, since ukulele's never reached Europe in those days.
A gypsy on a mandolin is possibile , because a mandoline was very populair in Europe in the twenties.

Personally,i don't think Gypsy Jazz works at all on high treble string instruments:eg Mandolin or Uke
Maybe you can just about get away with lead stuff(actually even then i think it all sounds far too high) but for rhythm stuff these instruments are completely wrong!---the rhythm sound of this Music requires a strong bass-Django adored the 'bass' of a chord--thats why he liked Bach so much!
The real masters of rhythm gtr in this style, including my best friend Ducato,play mostly on the bottom 4 strings--thats where the 'sound' ,the 'heart' of this Music comes from.
Listen to Baro Ferret on "I'll see you in my dreams" or more recently Holzmano or Hono Winterstein---its the 'bass' they like.
Trebley sounds don't really come into it--certainly not for rhythm.
Maybe you Uke players can 'surf' on the top of the 'workhorse' rhythm guitarists--but you simply CAN'T play good bass driven rhythm on these instruments(one reason i've never used my brasilian 'uke' the cavaquinho on my GJ recordings btw)
My two cents
Stu

Tom Conway

There's a guy on the Big Island of Hawaii who makes Selmer / Mac style ukes. His name is Dennis Lake and they look pretty cool! The company is called Po Mahina. Check out this link and scroll down:

http://www.konaweb.com/mahina/

From Oahu there's a young player named Abe Lagrimas, Jr. who's playing gypsy jazz style uke. He's studying at Berklee and is a very good musician. If you do a search on him I think he has a website.

Tom

jero

Ukaferris are also being made by Roy Eneas in England and, at the behest of Francois Charle, D. Chevalier in France.

I think that Eneas has information more uke information on his website:
www.royaljazzguitars.co.uk

J

angorawol

there are several types of ukuleles, soprano, concert, tenor and bariton-ukulele.

Mac Hack

Howdy,

Uke can do it!

I'm really enjoying this forum. As a relative newbie to playing this style of music I've been flirting with Gypsy Swing guitar for about four years now, initially starting with le pompe on a National Reso-Phonic Style 1 roundneck Tricone guitar (In October I bought a new Gitane D500 that I'm in love with). But I also play ukulele and feel that the le pompe translates very well to uke, especially resonator ukulele. I have a "Beltona Blue" soprano resonator uke that really holds its own in open jams.

I also think its a great exercise to try to arrange some of the Gypsy repertoire for ukulele as you ultimately end up learning some usefull chord inversions that can be applied to the first four strings of the guitar. For example if you use CGEA uke tuning then you can apply these same chords on the guitar by moving them up a fourth as if the guitar has a capo on the fifth fret.

Here's my own arrangement of "Nagasaki" for GCEA uke tuning:

The first set of numbers refer to fret position on strings four, three, two, and one respectively. The second set of numbers in parentheses refer to suggested fingerings. For suggested fingerings I recommend that you use the ones provided by "The Wizard of Strings" himself in Mel Bay's "Ukulele Method For Chord and Melody Playing" by Roy Smeck. This book is still in print and can be found at most music stores for under $10.00. (Note: The Smeck book is for ADF#B tuning but this is the same interval relationship as GCEA. Welcome to the wonderful world of ukulele.)

F = 2010 (2010)
F#0 = 2323 (1324)
Gm7 = 0211 (0211)
C7 = 0001 (0001)
Dm7 = 2213 (2214)
Bb6 = 0211 (0211)
F0 = 1212 (1324)
C = 0003 (0003)
Bb = 3211 (3211)
Bbm = 3111 (3111)
F7 = 2313 (2314)
E7 = 4445 (2224)

A¹A²BA¹ Format

1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]

2nd A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F F]

B section:
[Bb ][Bbm ][F ][F7 ]
[Bb ][Bbm ][F E7][Gm7 C7]

Repeat 1st A section:
[F F#0][Gm7 C7][F F#0][Gm7 C7]
[F Dm7][Bb6 F0][C C7][F C7]


Once you become comfortable with the chord grips at the nut then try moving it up two frets. This will require some slight alterations in fingerings. But once you've got the hang of it you'll have some great alternative movable first four string chord inversions for "rhythm changes" on the guitar. The Smeck fingerings are really elegant and allow the chords to fall beautifully under the fingers for playing this tune up to Hot Club tempo

caseyspaos

[/quote]
Personally,i don't think Gypsy Jazz works at all on high treble string instruments:eg Mandolin or Uke
Maybe you can just about get away with lead stuff(actually even then i think it all sounds far too high)
[/quote]

Violin :?: (same pitch as mandolin)

Steveareno

I think ukes sound great, especially on the swing stuff. Kamakas and some of the Martins are very cool, especially the koa models. I've got an Aria guitarlele, G-uke (tuned to A...same intervals as a guitar).
Swang on,

Bones

Hey Casey,

I think Stu is referring to RHYTHM playing (not violins) in his comment and I definitely agree with him.

It's not to say that I can't be done but that is really not the sound that most people are going for in their rhythm.

If you are going to comp on a uke in la pompe (i.e. strumming on every beat) you absolutely have to pretty much damp out all ringing tones or you will be stepping all over the lead player.

That is to say, it really has to be pretty much all percussion and not much of any ringing. That is fine since there is probably another rhythm guitar and bass holding down the harmonic structure anyway.

Conversly, if the player is sensitive to this issue, it can be a nice percussive addition to the rhythm especially on the 2 and 4 but HEAVILY DAMP all ringing.

Note that this style is much different than say a modern jazz combo where the guitar is comping on the top 4 strings. They are not strumming every beat like la pompe, they are just doing short intermittent staccato splashes to complement the soloist (or like the lead player might do in GJ when comping during a violin solo).

You wouldn't just sit there and pump away on the top four strings in the high register of a guitar every beat with lots of ringing tones or you would get thrown out of the jam really quick. Same thing for a uke or mando.