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339 posts
Four Strings, Five Years
Tamás GállDear Ukulele Players! Please allow me a little nostalgia in this year's final blog post, because exactly five years ago, on 30 December 2010, the Hungaria Ukulele Blog was launched. Happy fifth birthday! :) :) Five years may not be long enough for truly monumental nostalgia, but it is still a milest…
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Christmas + Downloads — Reloaded
Tamás GállChristmas is slowly approaching, which is good news for us ukulele players in several ways. For me, the most joyful moment is when I get to perform Mennyből az angyal, Kiskarácsony, nagykarácsony or Silent Night for the family for the fifty-seventh time (because naturally they occasionally need prac…
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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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Tamás GállEver since ukulele.hu launched, I have had one outstanding item on my to-do list: the DOWNLOADSmenu item. By now this subpage is complete both technically and in terms of content. Naturally the content will not remain static: from time to time we will add new songs and chords. Existing lyrics and ch…
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Kala KA-KG-T8
Tamás GállI will decode the title immediately: this long model designation identifies Kala's eight-string, koa, tenor-size ukulele. It was an interesting sensation to strum eight strings for the first time, especially when one of them is metal — or more precisely, metal-wound. Its sound is completely differen…
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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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Baton Rouge V1-S Royal
Tamás GállFor some time I have been putting a Moulin Baton Rouge V1-S Royal soprano ukulele through its paces. The brand is relatively new in Hungary — at least I had not encountered it here before. Although I generally prefer Lanikai and Kala, I have also grown fond of the Baton Rouge I tested. I will not pr…
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The Metronome
Tamás GállI know, the title is not exactly exciting — no “naked woman” or six-pack gentleman anywhere — but despite that we really do need to talk about the metronome because it is extremely important. I remember that during piano lessons as a child this square-based pyramid with a little metal rod would ofte…
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Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure — Movin' Cruisin'
Tamás GállIn the second half of the 1980s, one of my first big cinema experiences was a Bud Spencer–Terence Hill film that I watched with my parents. I remember walking down the street afterwards, bouncing around in front of them and insisting on having a fight, while they laughed and dodged my right jabs and…
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Transposing — for Beginners Too!
Tamás GállWith another music-theory post that is also highly practical, we would like to help you find your way around keys a little more confidently. You may already have heard the word “transposition” — perhaps in music class or elsewhere, maybe even as a swear word — and found it more frightening than usef…
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A Question of Fingernails
Tamás GállIf there can be a thorny question, perhaps there can be a nail-related one too :). And no, this is not about nail salons :D. Over the past few years I have received several emails about “fingernail policy”, so I thought the topic deserved a short post. Interestingly, questions have come from both di…
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Thoughts of a Ukulele Player
Tamás Gáll“So I bought the ukulele. I wonder whether it will sound good. I hope the strings are all right too. Hopefully they will settle quickly and tuning will not be a problem. Will the factory setup work, or will something need filing after a few weeks?” ...a few months pass... “An electro-acoustic one wo…
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