Takashi Nakamura

Takashi Nakamura, a professional guitarist and ukulele musician with his own unit “T.T. Cafe,” teaches at universities and is active in mentoring younger players, and has been an early adopter of SH Guitars’ renewed Ukulele Guitar UG in his own activities.

In the summer of 2013, his signature model was completed, and the momentum is further accelerating with the recording of songs performed with an Ukulele guitar at ukulele guitar workshops, and the release of textbooks. We asked Takashi Nakamura about the appeal of ukulele guitars.
“First of all, please tell us about your recently completed signature model “UGB-131CUSTOM””.
-“The body of this model is made of Honduras mahogany. The binding and half-matte paint job give it a luxurious feel.”

“What about sound quality and volume?”
-“The sound quality from the first to fourth strings is exactly that of a ukulele! This may be due to the Honduran mahogany body. The sweet sound of a ukulele is very appealing. This is not the case with a mini guitar. The bass two strings are also well balanced and the volume is optimal. For example, it blends well with a 4-string soprano ukulele when played as a duo.”

“Is it comfortable to play?”
-“The 400R fingerboard is very comfortable to play. The fret width of the UG is well thought out, and I think the first to fourth strings can be used as a ukulele.”

“The signature model is equipped with pickups, what is your impression of these pickups?”
-“I was surprised that the UG has a clear ukulele sound on each string.”

“Do you have any advice for people who are just starting out or thinking about starting to play the UG?”
-“I think it is better not to play the UG like a guitar. The ukulele-like tone is very attractive, so I think you can bring out the characteristics of the UG by starting with the high 4 strings and adding the low 2 strings later on.”

“Please tell us about your CD that was just released in the summer.”
-“The title is “The Artistry of Takashi Nakamura for Guitar and Ukulele. It is a package of a solo ukulele album for guitarists and a solo guitar album for ukulele players. I made this album with the concept of making ukulele players more aware of the ukulele as an acoustic instrument.”

“The 6 string ukulele solo is a standard C jam blues number. I played the melody while playing the jazz bass line. This is an expression that can only be done with a 6-string ukulele. For other songs, I recorded Beatles and Sting songs with dubbed 4-string ukulele and 6-string ukulele.
I will continue to make great use of the 6-string ukulele as a T.T.Cafe duo performance.”

*This is an excerpt from “Ukulele Garden vol.2”, a free paper published by Divisor.