Banjolele

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2

I bought a toy ukelele from home bargains about a year ago for the grandkids to play with.

It’s a full sized uke (if you can call a uke full sized), it was really cheap, only about £7.50.

Tighten the heads and it will stay in tune for a while.

 

Anyhow, it lives in my Grandsons toy box, which happens to live next to my usual TV chair.

Whenever SWMBO has had the TV remote, I’ve been picking it up, learning a chord, strumming for a minute and put it back down again.

This has gone on for about 6 months.

 

On saturday evening after a few sherberts, I thought it might have been a good idea to buy a Banjolele.

It arrived to my place of work today, what a great sounding little instrument, I’ve already had £50’s worth of fun out of it.

Myself and a colleague peeing ourselves with laughter.

 

I’m already a window cleaning winker

3

I bought (had it bought as a birthday present) a four string tenor banjo a few years ago. I thought it would be easier to learn than a six string guitar  both my sons and son in law are guitar players but I just couldn’t get a tune out of one. Roll on a few years and I still can’t get anything out of the banjo either! 

Barrie

4

Its easier than guitar, with only 4 strings and them being closer together.

The difficult bit is relearning the half dozen chords I already know.

5

I had what I believe to be a Banjolin for many years, absolutely loved it

6

I learned basic chords on my father’s banjolele before I graduated to guitar, aged about 14 and, yes, the shapes are easier. The potential for it to sound really awful is also greater, I never really got the hang of the right hand.

The goal then would have been to be as good as Peter Sellers on Steeleye Span’s “New York Girls”.

Now, there’s James Hill to marvel at. After guitar I went to bass and still have a Kala acoustic bass ukelele, which has horrible rubber strings and a really nasty neck. Which makes what Bakithi Kumalo’s doing here, with James Hill, all the more amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yRY74cYXcI