# Ukuleles - can anything good come from them?



## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Ukuleles annoy me - they just go plinky-plinky-plunk without depth and they're so irritatingly jolly, so Noddy-like in their mood. 

But I'm willing to reconsider if anyone has found some creative uke music that surprises and delights. 

If you can't find any, please feel free to post music that surpasses itself in its ukulelitude - something that raises the Art of Irritation to a celestial level.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

_*'Ukuleles - can anything good come from them?'*_

Yes, Ingélou - firewood.

Both George Formby and Tiny Tim set my teeth on edge, but they were two westerners who appropriated the instrument for their act.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I kinda like this:


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

Here we have the much lauded Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. I'm not sure what they bring to the party. My sister's friend's brother is the lead singer and she always gets free tickets. Sis 'treated' me to one of their shows and I can safely say that one novelty rendering of 'Wuthering Heights' will have you begging for less. By the interval I was losing the will to live.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

A lovely cover:


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

this is a gorgeous song and a lovely arrangement






(ok, technically it's a cavaquinho but I think it's pretty much the same)


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## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

I must say what a joy it is to see ukulele spelt correctly. :tiphat:


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

The only good sound to come from a ukulele would either be the sound of one on fire or being jumped on repeatedly until they are in pieces. Horrid instruments often accompanied on TV adverts by breathless, affected, folksy girl singers, often with a nasal tone and a lisp (and invariably doing a terrible, slow, painful cover of a well-known song). The people responsible for perpetuating the myth that these are pleasant musical instruments need to be taken into the street and hung from the nearest lamp-post with the weedy, plinky strings of these wretched instruments of torture. 

PS. I don't like them.

PPS. Edit. I spelled ukulele wrong.....who cares?

PPPS. But I did correct it anyway because it would have annoyed me.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> _*'Ukuleles - can anything good come from them?'*_
> 
> Yes, Ingélou - firewood.
> 
> Both George Formby and Tiny Tim set my teeth on edge, but they were two westerners who appropriated the instrument for their act.


TT used a plastic uke. Formby used a banjolele as did George Harrison and Brian May.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)




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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Taggart said:


> TT used a plastic uke. Formby used a banjolele as did George Harrison and Brian May.


Thanks for the clarification, but it scarcely softens my heart.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Well Tiny Tim made good use of the Ukulele.


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

Merl said:


> The only good sound to come from a ukulele would either be the sound of one on fire or being jumped on repeatedly until they are in pieces. Horrid instruments often accompanied on TV adverts by breathless, affected, folksy girl singers, often with a nasal tone and a lisp (and invariably doing a terrible, slow, painful cover of a well-known song). *The people responsible for perpetuating the myth that these are pleasant musical instruments need to be taken into the street and hung from the nearest lamp-post with the weedy, plinky strings of these wretched instruments of torture. *
> 
> PS. I don't like them.


Don't hold back, Merl, tell us how you really feel... :lol:


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Anybody old enough to remember this guy?


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## Merl (Jul 28, 2016)

Mollie John said:


> Don't hold back, Merl, tell us how you really feel... :lol:


I was trying to be pleasant. That's as complimentary as I can be about the 4-stringed instrument of Satan.


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## RockyIII (Jan 21, 2019)

I had the pleasure of attending a Jake Shimabukuro concert at the 2009 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

RockyIII said:


> I had the pleasure of attending a Jake Shimabukuro concert at the 2009 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.


That *is* rather beautiful, I have to admit.


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## bharbeke (Mar 4, 2013)

RockyIII said:


> I had the pleasure of attending a Jake Shimabukuro concert at the 2009 Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.


He does good Beatles work (A Day in the Life is one standout), and he makes the ukulele sound amazing.

Another recommendation is the song from the short "Lava" that preceded Moana in theaters.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

This bluegrass ukulele by Dan Tyminski sounds pretty good to me:


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## Duncan (Feb 8, 2019)

This video is dedicated to Merl -


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

James Hill showing a completely different way to use a ukulele


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## eyepatchplease (Apr 7, 2019)

Yes.


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