Talk me out of (or into) a ukulele

I think what I meant to say was something about counterpoint—being able to play parallel thirds, fourths, fifths sixths, etc. and then switch between those and eventually have contrary motion, to be able to produce two lines of melody at once, which would be a little hard to do in a flute solo. But yes, intervals exist all throughout music!

r ransom wrote:I hope this will pass, but a sleepless night bread an increasingly strong desire to buy and learn to play a ukulele, or other similar string instrument.  That's all I can think about, playing music for my goose who loves song time.

I would play music like this

Only...i am not musical. Music is something I enjoy listening to,  i can tell my George formby from my queen (fun fact, it's the same ukulele).  But that's nearly my limit.

On a good day I can count to four.  In elementary school band, they put me as 3rd triangle (the one that doesn't play) and suggested I avoid music in my future.

And yet, there is a drive in me to identify the skills I am worst at in this world and test myself against them.

Ukulele are supposedly affordable, make a variety of music, and easy to learn.  Now, could I do this for under $50CAD?  Or hopefully, someone will talk me out of it?

My dad played it all the time when I was growing up, taught himself. Then played a guitar. He bought my mom an organ and then a piano 9or the other way around I forget) and taught himself to play that. For years he played by ear and then taught himself to read music.

I say go for it and relax and have fun.

A not-windstorm knocked the power out the other day.  I sort of knew it was going to be a long outage, but also, hoped it might not.  I was also feeling a bit under the weather and didn't want to get off the couch.  I had within reach my ukulele and my notebook.  I set to work on this version of the hobbits theme.  It's pretty simple, but has a few finger changes where I stumble.



The sun went down and it became too dark to read, so I tried to remember the song.  It was more difficult than I expected.

Memorizing a song engages a different part of my brain I haven't used in music learning much yet.  Actively memorizing is a lot harder.  

The thing is, I don't know how much got stuck in the long term memory.   I'm trying to make it a little diddy I can play to fill an awkward silence.   Anyway, I play it a few times a day and hope it can find a place in the long-term memory room.

I put away the Renaissance music as I cannot grasp multiple voices yet.

The graded Sor studies are lovely, but need a low G, so I've been using the guitar with a capo.  I think it's time to restring with low g....but I want to use up my current string before replacing it.  Sigh.  I'm too frugal.

Exciting progress, I can almost keep up with thos guy



And even when I falter, I can usually join back in after a few bars.

I think I've been neglecting the listening part of learning too much.  I just don't like having my gadget at my practice space for the same reason I don't buy fudge...if it's not there, I won't eat it and will opt for a healthy snack instead.

The Progressive Studies by fernando sor for classical ukulele, for low g ukulele, sound good enough in high g.  Odd at times, but not evil like I expected.

....so far.

I finally got my strings to the place where they stay in tune despite weather and time and I am not emotionally strong enough break in new strings right now.  Besides, nylon strings feel like a limited resource, I don't want to discard good ones just to learn a new song.

I just skimmed this long string and am so happy to see you not only got a uke but are also progressing quite well, it seems.

And you're also noticing things like the "feel" or the "soul" of a piece--how one person playing can seem so blah, but another can make it come alive.

Music is a language, a means of self-expression.  And like a language, you can read, write, speak/play, and listen.  You're gradually incorporating all of those facets in.

And I love imagining your geese mesmerized, listening to you.  Glad they liked it!

I've discovered it helps to start on a lower quality or "student" instrument at first, because of cost.  Once you've stuck with one for a while and can afford it, you can upgrade to a professional quality instrument.

Have you considered asking at your local music store if they have any referrals to other players in your area?  That might be a way to get some questions answered, but it might also be an avenue for you to try and maybe buy another instrument.

Musicians tend to have multiple instruments, and we often have something we no longer want and may be willing to part with it to someone serious, who will respect the instrument, rather than sell it blindly, since someone might just treat it disrespectfully.

Instruments have souls, after all...  

When we do African dancing, we must pay respects to each of the drummers and their drums when we are finished.  As a musician, I truly feel that respect, knowing firsthand how much time, money, energy, and hard work goes into playing an instrument before one gets to the point where it sounds good enough to be played in public, or as a performer or professional.

But in your case, where you're doing this for enjoyment and expression, you are listening more than you realize, because you're already changing things to what seems to sound better in your heart and ears. This is part of the progression.

And isn't it amazing?  Like a sort of magic.

For inspiration, here is Jake Shimabukuro.  One reason I enjoy his playing is he so thoroughly enjoys it.  He's been playing since he was 3, by the way.



Keep up the fantastic work!  If you get brave enough, I'd encourage you to video yourself playing a song from start to finish...or as much as you can, at various points along the way.  It will give you an outside look that can often point things out for you to improve, correct, or continue.  AND it's a fabulous way to document your progress.

Consider this me officially talking you INTO it! The ukulele is probably one of the most forgiving and joyful instruments you can pick up. You don't need a huge budget for a decent beginner one, and the nylon strings are much easier on the fingers than a guitar. It's incredibly portable, too—perfect for taking out to the porch. Get one, you won't regret it!

I finally put a low G string on my ukulele.   I've been having trouble with eighth and shorter notes, and the Sor study book, and accompanying YouTube videos are the biggest help so far.  But study 3 onwards sound too weird with high g ukulele tunings.

It's going to take some getting used to with this wound string.  Four smooth strings told my fingers it was playing ukulele.  

But I spent some time on study 3 and feel pretty confident up to the first repeat.   It's the first song that uses 4th frets for me, so my pinky is complaining about being included in the fretting.   Sometimes i can cheat and use the ring finger, but sometimes it's needed at the next note and I really should just train my pinky to play music.

Any pinky tips?

Here is the one I am starting now.  After the song there is extra instructions which are really helpful

The uke is a great instrument - keep going with it!  
I am a beginner also, and my vibe is uke blues - learning with a few books and youtube. And the geese and chickens don't seem to care that I am a beginner - it gives joy!  And apparently prevents dementia (https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/alz.049684)

There are some other uke players who are also passionate about the medieval era - http://ancientmusic4ukulele.com/arrangements/

I have also played harp and guitar... and though nobody mentions this, to my mind the uke (and any stringed instrument) has a big advantage in that you never have to shake the spit out of it like you would with a brass instrument!!  Just sayin'...

I wonder if Amazon and YouTube are in cahoots?  Both suggested it's time for me to learn these songs.  

I want to, but I'm  so slow and working through the Sor classical studies is slow.  These Christmas songs are so beautiful, but sound well beyond my skillset this year.


 

That said, ukulele does seem to help with learning rhythm and the skill transfers nicely to guitar.

r ransom wrote:

Pure entertainment,  possibly.  It helps me decide that maybe I need more than $50 to start.

Loving the Wednesday Addams vibes

Okay, just watched, that was good. Classic deadpan humour.

She's brilliant.  Cracks me up every time.

Noooooo!

This is too good!



How many years before someone can play this?

I wants this skill!!! (Three exclamation points)

There is a difference between playing it and playing it as well as he does.

As for both, it varies.

Graded Classical Repertoire for Ukulele: For low G Ukulele by Jeff Peterson has several of the songs from the SOR book in it, but with the right hand fingering recommendations.  I wish I had started with this book as it's amazing.  

I can play (with various levels of success) everything in grade 1 already.   It's going to take some focus and practice to get my speed up, especially on the mountain king song.  I like every single song so far as they are nice to play and listen to.  

It's upped my confidence quite a bit and I'm trying some of the renaissance book ukulele songs again.  These are harder, but not as much as they were before.  

learned to play Polly Wolly Doodle on the baritone uke, tuned to a plectrum tuning to give it an old banjo sound - C,G,B,D... so, if you don't hear from me for a while it is because I'll be polly wolly doodling all day... now, I just have to re-learn the time step!

It sounds like you're well on your way now! Glad you got a ukulele and have been making progress.

Since I am coming in a little late to this thread, I'll just put some notes about how I learned guitar...

I learned guitar while working as a camp counselor so I could play at our campfire worship sessions. I found that having a reason to play an instrument was much more effective at getting me to pick it up than just telling myself I wanted to learn something. I know people who just love the sound of the guitar and they will sit and play with it and figure it out for hours and I appreciate the beauty in what they can create because of it. But for me personally the guitar is a means to an end and that end is in bringing people together so we can sing together. After I left summer camp I did not touch my guitar at all until I started volunteering at my church's youth group and offered to lead songs, which got me into it again. I call myself a "campfire guitarist" because the way I play is just chords and strumming with nothing too fancy. It is just enough to have fun with others. Even though I am a classically trained musician and I can read music, I haven't had the desire to learn guitar in that way. So if anyone else is struggling with getting themselves motivated to learn an instrument, I would suggest evaluating what your motivation is before starting and see if you can get some reason to play or perform or someone to hold you accountable to practicing.

In terms of whether the skills of learning one instrument translate to another, I would say absolutely. I found a ukulele at an antique store for about $20 (USD) and learned maybe three or four chords and was able to get a song together pretty quick. It was just like learning some extra chords for the guitar - the skill that made the transition easier was being able to strum. When I first picked up the guitar I had my friend Johnny teach me and he just showed me some basic chords (I would say some of the most common for the songs we were doing were G, C, D, Dm, A, Am, E, and Em) and then I would just follow along with him and try to hit the chord at the right time to get the fingering down. After I got that worked out and built up some callouses (it will hurt your fingers to hold the strings down if you have never done it before), I started strumming. The strumming hurt my brain at first but he gave me one or two basic patterns to follow and then I was able to actually play with him. After a while I was able to sing while I played. And now I am able to establish my own strumming patterns. I have all sorts of books on learning different instruments and I have found that they can be helpful at the very beginning of learning something, but at a certain point I always abandon the books and just go for it and figure things out myself.

Another secondary hobby that can come from playing a stringed instrument is crafting with the used strings after you replace them. I had a friend that made some pretty neat rings out of old guitar strings. It's also fun to get a guitar pick hole punch so you can make picks out of old credit cards (if you use a pick) so the old card doesn't go to waste.