Cordoba Protege Ukulele Review

 
I bought the Protégé by Cordoba U1 Concert Ukulele on a whim, because I fell in love with it at the guitar store.  It was a fabulous price, and was obviously a quality, well made instrument.  And I loved the sound, even though I didn't know how to play it!  I hadn't planned to play ukulele, so I had no idea of the tuning or chord shapes for this precious little baby instrument, but I was compelled to take it home with me.

I gave it to my husband as a spontaneous surprise gift; I figured I was less likely to be in trouble for such a spur of the moment purchase when it was for him, and I figured we could take turns and see how we liked it.

Well, taking turns didn't work well as it was way too much fun to share! I went back to the store on the very next day, and bought another one so we both could play.  (I knew Cordoba was a good choice, but decided to try another model from this maker, rather than us have two just alike.  I'll review that one here, too).

About the Protege, this ukulele is particularly sweet.  It is solid mahogany, with a satin finish, meaning there is no laminate coating here.  This ukulele is pretty in an understated and natural way.  The abalone rosette is simply elegant.  The simple look is uncluttered by any binding, just the lovely satin brown mahogany and classic shape stand out when looking at this lovely ukulele.

My Mr. says that mellow is the word he would use to describe the charm of this uke.

He loves this ukulele

Sweet is definitely the word that best describes its tone; it sounds bright (yet mellow) and special.  The one we have gets to buzzing a little when it is really played, but it is a nice buzz, like the ukulele is singing along to accompany itself.  I know this is caused by the comfortable, super low action (action is the amount of space between the strings and the fretboard) on this easy to play sweetie.  I think this gentle buzz could be easily eliminated by raising the action a little, but he enjoys the subtle vibration that comes through. 

For the price, I don't think you could beat this uke in quality or appeal and I recommend the Protégé by Cordoba U1 Concert Ukulele as a bargain entry level ukulele that performs with sweet style.

If you don't have your ukulele yet, do yourself a favor and click over to Amazon and buy one of these now!  You will be so glad you did and you will love your ukulele too.

How To Boost Your Ukulele Strumming Skills

 
Strumming is the act of striking all of the strings in rapid succession so that they all ring out together.  This is opposed to picking, in which individual notes are sounded by picking usually one string at a time.

Practice and apply the following strumming basics and tricks to boost your strumming repertoire and skills in no time!

The Sweet Spot

The first thing to know is that you do not strum the ukulele in front of the sound hole, as you would on an acoustic guitar.  Your ukulele has a sweet spot where strumming sounds best.  On most ukuleles, this sweet spot is at the juncture where the neck joins the body, although this may be found further down the neck, perhaps around the twelfth fret.  Try strumming your uke where the neck joins the body,at the twelfth fret, then further down the neck around the tenth fret, then closer to the sound hole, especially if your uke is a tenor, and listen to the differences in the quality of sound produced by your strumming. See if you can find your ukulele's sweet spot yourself.  She'll love you when you do!

Strumming Patterns

Your strumming pattern is your rhythm in strumming songs, provided by the order of and variation in your up strums and down strums.  Strumming patterns range from ultra simple quarter note down strums and down-up-down-up-down-up-down-up eighth note patterns repeated throughout entire songs all the way to highly complex patterns, sometimes with different simple or complex patterns used in different song sections.

You should be able to strum consistently and at an even tempo, using both up and down strums, and experiment with the different sounds achieved by different strumming patterns.

The "Swiss Army Strum"

To start, you could use this strum.  Alistair Wood recommends it in his book, Ukulele For Dummies , as being as universally useful as a swiss army knife.  He says it is the tool of a thousand uses, strum of a thousand songs.  I bet it could be useful in many thousands of songs.

You count and strum it like this:

one     two   and  three  and  four
down down up              up   down

The "Universal Strum"

This strum is the previously mentioned simplest strum of all, quarter note down strums: one-two-three-four

Both these strums are useful tools to have in your pocket when you set out on your ukulele journey.

You can learn lots more strumming patterns when you read Ukulele For Dummies and Ukulele Exercises For Dummies or other resources, and also by listening to songs and by experimenting and playing, which I say you should do as much as you can.

Use Your Fingers, Please!

Alistair Wood also says that a fairy dies every time someone strums a uke with a pick, and he strongly recommends not to use one. I wholeheartedly agree and suggest you use your fingers to strum.  Not only does it sound better, it also offers you the more authentic experience of feeling the strings beneath your fingers.

Your strumming hand has five fingers, and so you have a lot of options for strumming the uke:

• Your thumb- the simplest way to strum.  Be careful not to get in the habit of clutching the bottom of the uke with your other fingers if you rely on this strum.
• Your index finger- probably your most used strum.
• Your index finger and thumb- there are a few ways to combine these digits for strumming.  My favorite is the triple strum, taught to me by Jake Shimabukuro himself (via YouTube). For this strum, you down strum with your index finger, followed by a quick upstroke with your thumb, and then another up strum with your index finger.  This is a mighty handy strum, especially for songs in 3/4 time.
• Four fingers- "Rolls"  I find myself using these most often to accentuate a chorus or line in many songs.
• Five, Eight, Ten fingers- Rolls can be played like this, too!

If you insist, like one child player I know that you'd rather use a pick than your delicate fingers, be sure to use a felt ukulele pick, as this will sound far more pleasing than the plastic pluck of a guitar pick.

Fancier Strumming is Easy, Too

Try some of these moves for variety and panache.

• Figure 8- instead of strumming up and down across the sweet spot of your ukulele, for this showy strum you begin with a down strum around fret four, then continue moving your finger in an arc to up strum across the sweet spot, then arc around and down strum above the sound hole, near the bridge, then around and back up strum across the sweet spot, arc around to down strum again around the fourth or fifth fret.  So your finger traces the pattern of a figure eight straddling the fret board.
• Vibrato- quickly roll your index finger back and forth across all strings.
• Rolls- previously mentioned,but these deserve your attention.  There are many ways to rapidly roll your fingers over the strings, and these range from simple rolls you can pick up immediately with practice, to delicate and dramatic rolls that you might have to work up to having skill with.
•  Split Strum- the easiest way to do this is to strike the G and C strings on your down strum and play just the A and E strings on the up strum.

The most important thing is that you play, so experiment with all of these strums.  For more info on how to, including some awesome books and websites that can further help, check our post on useful ukulele resources.

Useful Ukulele Resources

After (or as soon as) you get your ukulele, it will be useful to have a few good resources to help you learn what you need to know to play and advance your playing.

To Jump In and Get Playing without having to read much:

If you just want to play the ukulele and don't want to read a comprehensive book, I recommend Hal Leonard Ukulele Method Book 1 and Book 2 .  Book 1 is so ridiculously easy that immediately or quite soon you will be able to run through the few song selections and skills here and will be hungry for more songs and info, so I strongly recommend getting both of these short books.

  

The Best How-To Guide:

  <----book photos are clickable links

The very first resource I recommend is Ukulele For Dummies .  Again I say here, do not be put off by being called a Dummy; this book is an excellent resource and tells you everything you need to know, in an in depth and understandable way.  From chord charts and all the explanation you need to start reading and using tab and notation, to strumming and syncopation, scales and single note picking techniques, to anatomy and history of the instrument, to styles and players to know and songs and exercises to play, it is all covered here in this entertaining volume. The knowledge you will gain from this book is an excellent value.

For Sharpening Skills:

A helpful and exhaustive companion to the Ukulele for Dummies book is Ukulele Exercises For Dummies .



This book is incredibly comprehensive and gives many exercises and tons of great info for expanding your skill set on this delightful little instrument that is such great fun to play.

Despite the Dummy names, I think Ukulele For Dummies and Ukulele Exercises For Dummies together constitute a complete course, taking you from complete dummy or beginner to accomplished ukeist as quickly as you'd like to get there.

Recommended on the Web:

• Ukulele Tricks - from Brett McQueen, Author of Ukulele Tricks for Dummies.  A great site.
• Got A Ukulele- Barry Maz.  His video reviews are especially helpful, and he has many.  I'll like to read his books, but I haven't yet.
• Ukulele Hunt- Alistair Wood, author of Ukulele for Dummies. Lots of info here.
• Uke School- easy beginner info that's super helpful for a quick start.
• Mike Warren's Ukulele Barn- Mike has info, a forum, and videos
• UkeBuddy- I hadn't seen this resource before now, but it's a handy dandy chord finder tool, with lots more info there too.  
• Jim's Ukulele Songbook- a fabulous and generous reference, thanks, Jim!

Let me know if there are more resources you'd like to see included here.

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Playing Ukulele is Fun and Easy!

If you ever thought you might like to- or even if you didn't, because you didn't know you could- you should play the ukulele!  I can't think of anything else to do that's more fun and it is an easy little instrument to play.

You gotta get one to play one, if you don't have one yet.  And, if you have one, chances are you'd love another! Ukuleles come in several sizes, and you may find yourself wanting one of each!

Just one will do ya, though, especially if you start with a nice one.  Ukuleles don't have to be expensive to be nice, and you can get started with your new little love for under $100.  The two of you will be very happy together for a lot of years!

If you don't have your ukulele yet (or you do but you need another), don't delay and buy yours today!



Do you need to know more?  I'll help you, here:

What size ukuleles are there?

What are the differences between the different sizes?

And which might be best for you?

Ukuleles come in the smallest, soprano size; middle sized concert size; and larger tenors. These three basic sizes of ukulele are each tuned in the same way, "re-entrant" tuning, gCEA, or with a low G string, GCEA (more on this later).  This means you play all three in the same way.  Strings come in the three different sizes, for the differently sized necks.


 .

There are also baritone and bass models.  Baritone are the largest sized ukuleles and are different from the others in that a baritone ukulele's 4 strings are tuned the same as the highest 4 strings on a guitar, tuned to DGBE (in standard tuning).  Therefore a baritone ukulele shares many chord shapes with guitar and both can be played using these same shapes.  The newer bass ukuleles have standard bass tuning, EADG, equivalent to a lower octave of the low 4 strings on a guitar.

. .

Banjoleles are ukuleles in that they use standard ukulele tunings of gCEA or low G (or others), and these come in the soprano, concert, and tenor sizes as well.  Banjoleles are acoustically louder than ukuleles, particularly those with a resonator, or closed back.  Open back banjoleles are available at a much lower price point than closed back resonator banjoleles, due to more complicated workmanship.

. .

For most people, I would recommend starting your ukulele journey with a concert sized ukulele.  These are small enough to have affordable quality models and this middle size is most popular and possibly the easiest to play.

.

If your funds are severely limited, however, jump on in and buy a quality soprano ukulele and get started playing the fun, easy ukulele ASAP!  A soprano's smaller size can make for a smaller expenditure and you will love the sweet way it sings.


Or, on the other hand, if you've been playing awhile already, or you just know you are going to rock the ukulele so hard and your hands are strong or large and you'd like blazing lead lines and soloing on your uke- well, you might want to make a nicer initial investment and go straight into buying a tenor- with a pickup and amp if you plan to take it on stage!


I started with a great deal on a Cordoba.  We actually bought two different models of Cordoba ukuleles, the Protege and the 15-CM and we have been very happy with both of them.  Lanakai is another highly recommended brand, their LU-21 line is extremely popular as a great value for a first ukulele.  Kala is a newer company; these are the folks who introduced the innovative U-Bass, or bass ukulele.  Their instruments are quality and play well. Check out the customer reviews on these models at Amazon.  But most importantly, just buy one and start your ukulele journey already!  You will be so glad you did!

And don't forget strings. Your ukulele will come already strung, but you will want to have a spare set!  There is a tremendous difference between strings made by different manufacturers.  The general consensus between uke players I know is that Aquila strings are the best, and I personally prefer Aquila strings by a long shot.

  

Here is a link to a great video by Cordoba which clearly explains how to change your strings in just two and a half minutes.

Here are my recommended resources for more information on how to play. I promise, playing ukulele is both Fun and Easy!  You will be strumming (and picking) songs in no time.

Thank you for reading my blogs and thank you for buying products from Amazon through my links!