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339 posts
Koki'o transparent ukulele
Tamás GállI am generally wary of plastic instruments. In my mind I always imagine beautifully crafted instruments made from wood and metal, so I was curious what it would feel like to hold one of these. Thinking about it, even when visiting music shops I had never really tried plastic ukuleles before. The tra…
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Koki'o tenor electro-acoustic
Tamás GállI normally put the exact model name of the ukulele in the title, but this time I spared you because this instrument has been given the longest, most meaningless and least imaginative model code I have encountered: U-SSPLFM-CE-T. I understand the final three letters: CE probably indicates cutaway and…
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Koki'o Mini
Tamás GállI too have been caught by “mini mania”. More precisely, I have always wondered how tiny a ukulele can become while still producing a genuinely usable sound. We can dispose of the opposite end of the scale fairly quickly, because the baritone is really closer to being a small four-string guitar. But…
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Knockin' On Heaven's Door — our community performance
Tamás GállTwo weeks ago I posted a call asking you to play 16 lines — 64 bars — of Bob Dylan's well-known song and, if you felt like it, sing along as well. I wanted to put together another big community play-along video. I was eagerly waiting for your recordings, but a few days before the deadline I started…
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Knockin' on Heaven's Door — Let's Play Together!
Tamás GállI am delighted that we have already been able to make music together in two shared productions, even if only virtually. Last December we played the song beginning "Ó, Gyönyörű Szép" , and for this year's World Ukulele Day we prepared a Brahms arrangement. Many of you asked when the next project woul…
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Kiskarácsony, nagykarácsony - Hungarian Christmas Song
Tamás GállAlthough it is only early October, I thought I would post this video in good time so that anyone who feels like it has plenty of opportunity to learn and practise this very sweet and popular Hungarian Christmas song. In December 2011, my arrangement of Silent Night was posted on the blog - perhaps a…
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Kala vs Kala
Tamás GállI am going to squeeze one last post out of these two wonderful Kala tenor ukuleles. In the previous entries I tried to describe and explain the most important features of Kala's two masterpieces, and naturally I played them a little in the videos as well. The best way to compare their sounds is to p…
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Kala U-BASS
Tamás GállNot long ago I published a post called "Bass! That's Heavy!" about Kala's bass ukulele. Now I have had this interesting instrument for a few days so that I could try it myself. The U-BASS is essentially a bass guitar transplanted into a baritone-size ukulele body. It arrives in a very sturdy hard ca…
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KALA, the Colourful Little One
Tamás GállFor a few weeks I tested a fun soprano ukulele made by Kala with an unusual colour scheme. It comes from the series that recently appeared in a few photographs on the blog's Facebook page. Obviously, whether you like a uke painted this way is a matter of taste. I personally prefer the traditional na…
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Kala Soprano Banjolele
Tamás GállIn this blog post we take a look at Kala's banjolele, officially designated the Kala KA-BNJ-BK-S. I did not dare put that full model name in the title of the post in case it frightened anyone away . Not long after the blog started, I already wrote a post about the banjolele, but at the time I could…
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Kala RES-BRS Resonator Ukulele
Tamás GállI had always wanted a resonator ukulele because it simply looks bloody good and I like its sound as well. It is fairly difficult to obtain one here, so I had a little help from abroad (thanks, Mike and Neil!). As soon as the instrument arrived after its long journey, I could hardly wait to open the…
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Kala KA-SMH-TG-CE
Tamás GállIt has been quite a while since I wrote an instrument-review blog post, so it was time for one. A beautiful Kala ukulele has been staying with me—and will stay . I will explain why in the near future. I am still memorizing the model designation because the manufacturer gave it quite a long string of…
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