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History of Ukuleles

I love this site!
I found a great article on how Ukeleles got their name (I mean, c'mon, you gotta wonder...it is quite an odd word, isn't it?)

One of the popular stories is that when the Hawaiians initial saw Portugese immigrants playing the instrument, they named it 'ukelele,' which translates to 'jumping flea,' because of how fast the players' fingers moved across the strings.


I also found this very cool photo at the site for a store called Littmans, Inc., in Norfolk, VA. They still sell silver and jewelry--but look at this photo from 1923:

Littman, Inc., 1923 photoNotice the ukeleles hanging on the wall! They must have bee pretty popular in Norfolk to warrant all this space in the store.


Latest page update: made by Tamara , May 22 2006, 6:58 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Tamara Edited by Tamara

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Anonymous Tuning Your Uke 0 Jun 29 2006, 12:15 AM EDT by Anonymous
Thread started: Jun 29 2006, 12:15 AM EDT  Watch
I learned to play using the tuning "a d f# b", and although I learned later that most people played g c e a, I just could not get used to it and still play the way the uke was originally tuned. I think that it's a better tuning for riffing, while the g c e a is probably better for singing along.
Is anyone old enought to remember Cliff Edwards (Ukelele Ike) ?...or the Ukelele Lady...May Singh Brown? ( She was married to composer Peter DeRose..."Deep Purple".
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