All About The Ukelin
What is a Ukelin?
If like me, you love a bit of history, this fascinating instrument is worth finding out more about. It’s a ukelin (a ukulele-violin hybrid) which means that in theory, you can play ukulele and violin at the same time!
The ukelin is a bowed psaltery with zither strings made popular in the 1920s. It is meant to be a combination of the violin and the ukulele. Unfortunately, the ukelin lost popularity in the 1970s because the instrument was difficult to play and was often returned to the manufacturer before it had been completely paid for.
How Many Strings Does a Ukelin Have?
The ukelin has sixteen melody strings and sixteen bass strings, divided into groups of four for playing accompanying chords. There is one large bass string in each group and three smaller chord strings. The ukelin is placed on the table in front of the player. The melody strings are played with a bow in the right hand, and the bass strings are plucked or strummed with the fingernails of the left hand or a pick.
The ukelin is tuned to a C major scale, and unless tuned to include them, is unable to play chromatic notes; therefore, it is limited in what it can play. For ease of playing for amateurs, the strings are given numbers, and the booklets that were sold with the ukelin would give these numbers, a tablature notation, instead of notes on a staff, for playing simple songs.
This is how Amazing Grace sounds on a ukelin:
‘Amazing Grace’ played on a ukelin
The (bowed) melody strings are at the sides, going up in thirds (so if you want to play a scale, you go back and forth). The bass strings are grouped in four groups of four. Those are plucked or strummed with your left hand.
This is how to adapt piano music for the ukelin in an instruction book from the late 1920’s. As you can see, not exactly a quick or easy thing to do!
The ukelin was sold as a very desirable instrument, but the reality is that it is very hard to play and keep in tune.
Listen to Harold Vaclev expertly playing a selection of songs on the ukelin.
Discover our amazing and easy to play ukulele songs, all in one place!