Jai Agnish, Staff Writer, @JaiAgnish|NorthJersey
With its unique plink-plink-plink sound that conjures images of luaus and leis, thediminutive toy-like ukulele and cousin to the guitar, continues to enjoy its moment in the sun.
The ukulele has had a decade-long resurgence and continues to gain popularity. Mostly because it's a fun and easy instrument and the perfect gateway instrument.
With soft nylon strings and simplifiedfretboard, the small Hawaiian lute is something children as young as 4 or 5 can learn.
Since 2009, sales of the small instrument with its originstraced toPortugal and later Hawaii, havecontinued to grow in the United States. According to theNational Association of Music Merchants, there were 501,000 ukuleles sold in the United States in 2009 with a retail value of $33 million. In 2017, the last figures available, NAMM reported 1.8 million ukuleles had been sold for a retail value of $119 million.
"It's real easy to get up and running," said Shawn Reams a music teacher and owner of North Jersey Guitar and Music Center in West Milford. "It doesn't take a lot of coordination or background in music. Most of the chords are like one or two fingers."
The instrument is also affordable with a price-tag of $30 to $50for a quality entry-level model.
Many music teachers across North Jersey are teaching the ukulele more and more, said Reams.He and others say the little instrument began to get popular about 10 years ago. Maybe it was Paul McCartney, maybe it wasEddie Vedder. Some might even remember Tiny Tim,but in recent years there's been in a spike in interest.
There have been three "big ukulele booms," said Brian Majeski, editor of Music Trades magazine, which tracks music trends. The first was in 1916 after it was brought from Hawaii and featured in a San Francisco exhibit. The country was crazy for anything Hawaii, and the ukulele sales took off. The second boom was in the 1950s thanks to TV and ukulele-playing Arthur Godfrey. The third boom is now, Majeski said.
"This boom is really organic. We don't know why it's happening," Majeski said.
It's popular with everyone including seniors in nursing homes, millennials and young children. Some schools are replacing the traditional recorders with ukuleles, Makeski said.
George Roskos, the owner of Architekt Music in Butler, said the ease of theukulele providesinstant gratification to the student.
"If you compare it to like a guitar or bass generally you need more developed finger dexterity to kind of of work on those instruments to fret those instruments,"Roskos said.
Architekt teaches ukulele classes at libraries across North Jersey. They are open to pre-teens, teens, and adults.
"Literally you could be playing it almost instantly," Reams added. "You could be playing songs immediately."
Pretty much any popular song has beenmodified for the ukulele, Reams said.
"They kind of simplify it and rearrange it into a few common keys so with like four chords you can play pretty much any song," he said.
More: Uke Fest features concerts, workshops, all weekend
More: Game time! NJ game stores bring to life '80s favorite board, card games
Tony Ugliarolo, the owner ofRutherford Music Exchange said he sells between 400-500 ukuleles a year. The prices begin at $39 and go up to $800 for special one-of-kind-custom items direct from Hawaii.
"The better ones start at about $50-$60 for the step up ones and then it gets crazy from there," Ugliarolo said.
Reams sells over 100 a year and said he just sold a couple dozen within the past few weeks alone.
Ugliarolo agreed that the ukulele is "very, very, very" popular right now. Rutherford Music Exchange gives lessons six days a week.
"It's a great little instrument," he said of the ukulele. "You can take it anywhere. It's easy to get into. And my littlecatch phrase that I tell everybody that buys one is that you can't play depressing music on a ukulele."
Ugliarolo said theukulele started to get more popular five or six years ago, but three years ago "it really just ramped up totally full speed."
This is around the time GraceVanderWaalof nearby Suffern, N.Y., walked onto the stage of NBC's "America's Got Talent" and blew the country away with an original song she wrote and performed on theukulele. She would go on to win the competition that year at age 12.
"Grace VanderWaalcame in and it was just all bets are off," he said.
Reams said the instrument was gaining in popularity before VanderWaal.
"There's that band Twenty One Pilots. They use the ukulele quite a bit so it's even making its way into rock and pop music which is pretty interesting," he said.
Reams said as popular as the ukulele is, it won't eclipse the guitar.
He's right, guitar sales in the United States have mostly held steady with a slight increase in the last decade, according toMusic Trades magazine. In 2009 there were 2.3 million electric and acoustic guitars sold in the United States for a retail value of $550 million. Last year there were 2.6 million sold at a retail value of $891 million.
Staff writer Albina Sportelli contributed to this report.
Follow Jai Agnish on Twitter: @JaiAgnish.
Email: agnish@northjersey.com.
