Day 3 - Not my ukulele, Not-so-ordinary ordinary challenge
For those who play string instruments, you can tell immediately that I don't know how to play. Well, not totally true. I can finger pick, I just haven't learnt the chords.
This ukulele belongs to my kiddo nephew. He plays the guitar and ukulele, and when he came to stay with me last summer I borrowed his uku. He taught me to play some simple songs. I can play Amazing Grace (unbelievably easy and lovely song!!), Old MacDonald Had a Farm (very easy as well), God save the Queen (now called God save the King), and Away in a manager (my favorite Christmas carol, need to start practice that now Christmas is coming). I can also play a few of my favorite Chinese songs. The one that I play most is the unofficial Hong Kong national anthem which is banned in Hong Kong. The authorities gets very snowflake when this is played and they are trying to get Google to change their algorithm so it doesn't come up in searches like below 🤣
Any way, I digress. I have never played any instrument in my life and I always envy those who do. How lovely is it to pick up an instrument to play your favourite piece of music to yourself or someone you love. Sadly I don't have the patience to learn to play an instrument properly. I tried to learn the uku chords, but it's so difficult to remember the finger positions and move switfly from chord to chord. After practicing for a little while, my left wrist really hurts as do my fingers, so I lose patience and give up. In the end, I figured I'd make more progress just fingerpicking.
Now I can play those few songs I mentioned above and I'm very pleased with myself. I know the melody sounds awful, and the tempo is wrong but it is so satisfying to listen to melodies I played myself. Sometimes when I'm determined, I try to practice every day, and normally each session lasts for about 10 to 15 minutes. That's enough time for me to play all the songs I know and feel very chuffed before my wrist starts to hurt.
Earlier this year. I was really aggressive and started to learn Canon in D as I just love that. I found a YouTube video and the guy played it so beautifully. I practiced religiously for a week with his video and even started to develop calluses on my fingertips. Because I didn't know the chords it took me extra long time to remember things. Like he would say we play a G, now a C, and a B minor etc. I would have to look up what a G is and where to place my fingers. I was memorising positions but not the name of the chord. Big mistake. I was running before I learnt to walk. In the end, I managed to play a couple of sections terribly and was awfully proud ofmyself. Then other things took over my life and I stopped learning the uke.
I'm very determined to nail Canon in D one day. It's not easy but I don't think it's beyond me if I put in the time and effort. The fact I like it so much is a big incentive for me to learn it. But this time I think I should learn the basic chords first before I rush into things. It's a long road ahead, but I'll get there..... one day.
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It is so cool that you decided to pick up an instrument like this. As I'm sure you know, practicing every day and having a love for the craft is all you need to get far. As a fellow creative, I could never get into string instruments. I can do the piano and flute, but there's something about strings that just jumbles my brain. It's the only creative field that stomps me, which is annoying but I've made peace with it. 😅
At any rate, I found this post hella inspirational. Thanks for sharing and I wish you luck on your making-beautiful-music journey. 😁
The piano and flute seems very difficult as well ( every instrument seems so for me 😅) but so elegant when played, especially the piano.
Thanks for the encouraging. Sometimes exposing things on Hive gives me more pressure to do things, maybe I will succeed soon! Thanks 🙏
Just do what you love and you'll get there. 💪
If I might risk overreaching for a second. For myself, whenever I feel anxious about something - that means that that something is precisely what I should be doing. It's like your body's defense mechanism preparing you for the challenge ahead. This advise has helped me tremendously in my life.
Good luck and I'm sure you'll get there. 🍻
wow sis you know how to play the uke? I love the uke as well~ that's nice. always something new to know everytime from ya. Nice uke post we need more!!!
I wouldn't go as far as saying I know how to play the uke, that's a massive over statement！！
I can manage one or two sections from my favourite songs including 月亮代表我的心 and 童話 to entertain myself and that makes me very happy. Not a difficult thing to do tbh 😄
If you can play and sing at the same time~ your already in the top. :) and if you can post it here then your light years ahead of me. I am shy~ :)
Definitely can't sing! You'd need double ear muffs if you were in karaoke with me
I'm in~ lets go sis~ Karaoke here we come. Double ear muffs? No problem~ Used to go raving with ear muffs back in the days~ :) People who can sing say those powerful words.
By the way i am trying canon in D now but its not as deep as when played on guitar. On the other hand while my guitar gently weeps on uke is nice.
I have been learning from this guy and "almost" nailed it.... almost. :)
That version is surprisingly fantastic! It's not a song I actually like but have you seen the version played at the George Harrison tribute with a solo by Prince? Absolutely incredible.
Let's get you playing on 3spk please :-)
By the legendary Prince???? I didnt know. youtubing it now. :)
Enjoy. The smile on his face was just precious as he was obviously chilled and just genuinely enjoying the moment, as was Dannhi Harrison who was totally in awe!
Just watched the vid, what a wicked performance! And did he just throw his guitar away at the end?!!
I'm glad you enjoyed that. Its an amazing solo and he was so cool. Yes, just flicked his guitar into the audience and strutted off stage. What a showman :-)
You learning Canon from this guy as well? I don't think I can l learn the guitar, I struggle with 4 strings!
Canon I remember printing it out from a guitar app. Let me see... ok got it.
https://ukuleleunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Canon-in-D-Chords-Tab-Ukulele-Underground.pdf
Thanks for this!!! Let me see if I can learn from this!
it looks difficult... oh...😁
I remember when I started learning how to play the guitar many years ago and how challenging it was. I developed calluses on all my left fingers, except the thumb.
I was pretty young then and had a lot of time on my hands, so I quickly adapted and still continued learning to play. I was motivated to learn my favorite songs and they kept me going.
I guess all my efforts to learn then paid off as I now play the guitar well.
I have been looking into learning the ukulele too, but time won't allow me much to learn it.
You keep rocking and learning that Canon in D, and in no time, you'd see significant improvement with your uku playing.
I always think it's a lot easier to learn an instrument when you're young, my fingers are quite stiff and not very nimble now, and I've always been rubbish with coordination that's why I don't play games either.
Being able to play your favourite songs is definitely a big motivation to learn and it's great its paid off for you. Hopefully it will for me one day as well. Need to find persistence in my dictionary first 😂
If you play the guitar well, I'm sure you'll pick up the uke with no problem at all. Good luck with that!
I'm pretty sure there's "persistence" in that big dictionary of yours. 😂 I know it's now easy, though.
I guess the ukulele shouldn't be a problem, considering that I play the guitar and I am pretty young.
Wow but come on, you could have dropped us a video you scaredy cat!
I'm like you, never had the patience to learn anything properly despite coming from a house full of musicians.
Even so, I can happily spend an hour or two picking tunes out of a guitar or piano. You may be surprised to know that Ukes are very popular here, almost every house has one tucked away and they're on sale all over!
You are so full of surprises :-)
Me post a music video on Hive? Do you know how many talented guitarist there are here!! 😅
Actually I am surprised to learn that, I never that of Thais as being very musical. Filipino yes, but not Thais.
Life is certainly full of surprises!!
They're not musical. At all. Lol...
But you're right about PH, go there and everyone can sing and play, it's incredible.
Stop changing the subject though...VIDEO lol
If I can nail Canon I will be sure to show off my new talent 😉
Ok..that's a deal. My wife loves that and collects musical boxes that play it! Get practising :-)
Wonderful to hear you’ve been learning some new tricks. That’s the beauty nowadays and I wish such things as the internet existed when I was a kid. I would have learnt a lot more about music then. School was pretty naff for music. So since then I’ve taught myself chords and scales for the piano as something that purely fascinates me.
Keep on learning!
It takes a lot of dedication to learn things by yourself as you need to do a lot of repetitive boring practice and I just hate that. So well done you for sticking with it!!
I’ll admit that I’ve not learnt many songs. I’m more into composing and coming up with smaller ideas that sometimes evolve into whole tracks. It takes a lot of time. Fun though!
I'm with you. I have been trying to learn to play the guitar off and on for a while now, but I get easily distracted and then I just can't focus like I need to. I wish I had the attention span to stick with it. I am thinking if it were that important to me I would probably make more of an effort. That's just me though. What a cool instrument. The fact that you can play four or so songs, you are already miles ahead of me and my guitar skills!
Glad to know I'm not the only one!
Well, those are really short songs that last barely 30 seconds, so my nephew did well to choose some super easy ones for me otherwise I would have given up ages ago.
I'm always trying out new things but never stick to the them, wasted so much money buying bits for new hobby in the past. Now I just amuse myself by reusing or repurposing whatever is available instead
That's why I decided to make Hive my hobby! This way it pays me not the other way around! :)
I saw your comments about playing the piano and the flute being difficult to play.
Since I play(ed) the flute, I didn't think it that difficult (not that it is easy for me), I thought the piano was difficult and I think stringed instruments are, too.
I have a friend who plays the piano wonderfully. She played the accompaniment for me when I played a solo on the flute (a looooong time ago). She said, "I could never play the flute, it's too difficult." I replied back to her, "The flute is hard? Here you are playing 'a million' notes at the same time. I'm only playing one note at a time!"
My daughter plays the piano beautifully, but she can't get a sound out of the flute at all. Another daughter sings beautifully, but struggles with instruments.
We each have our own strengths (and weaknesses), and that goes for music as well. Some can learn any instrument, some can learn one or two, some can sing, and some of us, well, maybe are good at listening!
You have such a talented musical family, you can form your own band, flute, piano and singing!
We never had any music talent in our family and in my parents days, we were never encouraged to learn any. The exception was probably the recorder, we all had to learn it at some stage at school but that didn't last long for me. Wind instruments put me off a bit has I'm quite OCD in that respect even though I know you don't share your instrument with others ( you don't, right?).
I guess I fall in love the good listener category 😉
No, I don't share my instrument with anyone! However, it can be disinfected if necessary.
I have to work at my musical ability. It's not natural. Two of my daughters, though, have great natural ability. My other two children, well...
I'm sure the other two have other talents, like you say everyone have their strength and weaknesses.
Yes, they do, just not in music.
With me and my siblings, I have a brother who is great in music (anything music!). Neither of us can draw anything.
My other three siblings are not musical at all, but can draw, paint, sculpt, etc.
I've always wanted to learn the guitar but string instruments are so hard to learn for me. Maybe I should start with a ukulele because there are fewer strings. Sounds like it's pretty challenging as well though
They do say the ukulele is easier than a guitar coz it's smaller and has less strings, but I still struggle. Don't know how others manage coz I have difficulty not touching other strings even when I press with my finger tips, and if I don't press hard enough the note isn't right. Then I have fingers nails which don't help, but some times my finger nails break on my right hand and I can't strum.
So many excuses all the time. Maybe I am the issue, and not the learning...
I have experienced those issues when trying to learn as well do you're not alone in that. Not the finger nail part but the others, along with being too impatient and giving up too quickly lol
Excellent photos! 😉
Folk music techniques play well into learning this instrument. I was hoping you would have added an audio sample! Cheers
I could not possibly be so cruel to torture my fellow Hivers 😅
I think you should definitely serenade us with your musical endeavors! You can blog the process along the way and see the growth as you look back over time!
Some of us are gluttons for punishment and like to see people succeed!
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I like your determination Pauline. I hope that you will show us one of your songs on Youdtube. Canon in D...someday. Away in a Manger, sometime very soon. :)
One day Sara.... One day 🙂
I have always liked the sound of this instrument, it has always relaxed me and I have heard beautiful performances with it. I really liked your post
Thanks for dropping by @bethyjade
Stringed instruments dont come natural to the vast majority of people, so its not a quick learning process. I know from playing guitar. When you first start you just have to put in regular practice (daily) and soon you'll get used to the chord changes and the strumming. So practice is the key. Best of luck, although it sounds like you are doing well already !
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whoa, I love reading about how your little advances make you happy and feel satisfied, that's great! :)
I hope you can achieve your goal, Canon in d is a beautiful melody and I would love to hear you play it soon, best of luck!<3
We're pretty much the same! I really envy those who can play instruments. I tried practicing some few chords on a guitar back then but and the only song that I was able to play is Perfect Two by Auburn, 'cause the chords are pretty easy and just repeating. Canon in D is my favorite, too. I'm always listening to that song and I kinda make that song as my stress reliever. It's relaxing. 😆
If you have patience and perseverance, one day you will master the instrument.
I loved the photos in your post.
After graduating high school, I used to be a street musician with my brother. We had long hair and earrings in our ears. We started playing with the guitar sound "I Can't Take My Words Back", which is a beautiful part of the longing for Cloudlessness. Since you love it so much, it means there is no escape. Maybe you'll even be able to play us your own song.
@tipu curate
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Not sure if you'd be willing to actually learn to play the uke but I found an amazing online teacher ( not for free but very affordable ) and am enjoying getting better.
It was quite the switch, from 6 string acoustic guitar classes of half a life time ago, sure took some re-wiring, but I am slowly improving.
In case you're interested, this is where I learn: https://www.uketropolis.com/
Onward and upward. I feel expressing ourselves ( creativaly and definitely also musically ) is now more important than ever before.
Uke is fun. You can play a lot of songs with just a few chords. I just have to switch my brain when I play it after guitar as the chord shapes are different.
Enjoy!
You should start learning how to play it. Even if is not this particular musical instrument. But you definitely should. I play guitar but I would love to learn how to play the Uke. Cheers, friend @livinguktaiwan