Beginner problems, Chords

Ukulammy

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My 73-year-old mom has had her Luna Tribal Tenor uke (1-3/8—-35 mm nut width) for a couple of months now, practicing twice daily. She STILL can’t play the F or G7 chord. In fact, I think she can only play one-finger chords. She’s very discouraged. I’ve tried to help by suggesting she start with Am then just put her index finger down to make the F. Even after I adjusted her thumb position (she was cradling the neck) she could barely do F. I then had her stay in the F position and keep strumming and adjusting her chord fingers until she got a clear sound, which she did but she couldn’t keep holding her fingers in position as they tired so quickly. She says her fingers are too short. Her fingers are short but not freakishly so. I’ve seen tiny little kids playing.

I sent her some Ukulele Mike finger exercises, which she’s going to start.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Anyone had this problem?
 
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First off, awesome job trying to coach your grandmother on playing the uke. Honestly, with her age, it’s understandable that she’ll get finger fatigue, especially if she’s never done anything like this. It’s really about keeping at it until she develops the finger strength to hold down the chords.

A tenor uke will inherently have higher string tension than a soprano or concert, making it more difficult to fret the strings. Maybe give her a soprano or concert to work with until she develops the finger strength.

As always, make sure the uke is properly setup. String height can make all the difference.

You can also try putting concert strings onto her uke to decrease the string tension.
 
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Two thoughts, one that echoes the above:

1) Get her a Makala Dolphin/Shark Concert, set up by Mim or Uke Republic. The tenor scale might be too big for her.

2) If all else fails, get a soprano (again, suggested purchase from the above dealers) and then buy a Uke Chord Changer. www.ukechordchanger.com. I bought some of these for a few special education students that could not play chords and while things were not perfect, these devices made the process more enjoyable for them. Would it be great for your mom to be able to play F and G7 “normally”? Sure. Does it matter if she uses another device to make it happen? Not in my book.
 
Thank you both! I’ll try your suggestions and hopefully she can make some progress. Would the Martin M600 fluorocarbon strings work for this? What strings would be easy on her fingers?
 
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had a similar problem when i had neck pain that caused my left pinky and ring finger to be numb for about 3 months. It took plenty of practice to get back to using 3 and 4 finger chords. As you stated the problem is going from F to G7, is she keeping her index on the F note on the E string when doing the transfer? Is she strumming a simple up down club strum very slowly to allow for that dexterity to develop? gl to you both.
 
Maybe she should use a strap, it will support the uke, one less thing to cope with. :)

Concert fluorocarbon strings will alleviate the pressure necessary to hold down the chords.

A tenor may not be the best size for learning on, I always suggest a concert.
 
So I just want to throw this out there, how bad does your mother want to play the ukulele? Is she doing it because you want her to, or does she really want to learn? I say this because I have found myself in this same type of situation, not with the ukulele.
 
Thank you all for your suggestions! I’ll let her read this thread.

Ohmless, she can’t make those chords let alone transition. What little strumming she does is very slow as she has to pause to position her fingers. Thank you!

Croaky Keith, I’m going to get her some fluorocarbons. I might try some myself. NOW I hear a tenor isn’t best to learn on!! I just bought a cute little soprano and can even do bar chords on it, so I’m going to let her use it for awhile.

Sven, thank you, I’ll see if it’s available here.

Uke Don, good idea, I’ll suggest that.

Rllink, it’s a lifelong dream of hers to play music. She loves the uke. I’m impressed she’s kept at it this long with so little progress. I think I’d have given up by now.
 
I didn't start until a couple of years ago, (I'm getting on for 68), so age doesn't come into it as far as learning is concerned, & it took me quite a while to manage transitions, & I'm still not very good at strum patterns, but it didn't put me off from joining in on the 'Seasons' threads on here. :)
 
If she is able to make a barre across at least three strings then consider an open tuning. There are several options but particularly easy is tuning the g string up to A so that the four open strings form an A minor chord. Other minor chords are barres further up the fretboard whereas the majors are barres with the middle finger fretting either the c string or the e string one fret above the barre. So it’s either barre for minors or barre plus middle finger for majors. Forget everything else as unnecessary.

Even easier with the g string removed completely and everything else the same as above. She only needs to barre three strings then.

What is important is getting her making music not that she does it the same way as everyone else.

HTH
 
I don't know the size of your gram's hands, but it bet the tenor is way too big for her. I agree with everyone who says just get a soprano.

If she's really motivated, you might treat her to a month or so with an instructor who works with older clients. With the population aging the way it is I bet there are some. Some senior centers have classes. If you live in the SF area I know of one in Emeryville.

Does she have pain in her hands or is it a coordination issue? Someone might be able to help with the later.

Tell your gramma good luck and don't give up yet.
 
I don't know the size of your gram's hands, but it bet the tenor is way too big for her. I agree with everyone who says just get a soprano.

If she's really motivated, you might treat her to a month or so with an instructor who works with older clients. With the population aging the way it is I bet there are some. Some senior centers have classes. If you live in the SF area I know of one in Emeryville.

Does she have pain in her hands or is it a coordination issue? Someone might be able to help with the later.

Tell your gramma good luck and don't give up yet.

I’ll look around for lessons. It’s not pain. She says her fingers are too short. When I tried to help her with the F chord she had a very difficult time keeping her index finger in position, but it didn’t look like a finger length issue to me, especially once I reposition her neck hold. So, it’s coordination or she needs to get that finger stretched out.

I’m so much better on my soprano that I too agree the tenor is probably too big.
 
The Flea ukulele by magic fluke company is the absolute easiest to fret and make a chord. I almost gave up until I found out about this ukulele. It’s used in children music therapy. They are able to learn even though they have medical conditions that make it difficult.
 
The Flea ukulele by magic fluke company is the absolute easiest to fret and make a chord. I almost gave up until I found out about this ukulele. It’s used in children music therapy. They are able to learn even though they have medical conditions that make it difficult.


That’s really interesting. I’ve been looking at them just because they’re so cute. What did you find that was easier about it?
 
I’ll look around for lessons. It’s not pain. She says her fingers are too short. When I tried to help her with the F chord she had a very difficult time keeping her index finger in position, but it didn’t look like a finger length issue to me, especially once I reposition her neck hold. So, it’s coordination or she needs to get that finger stretched out.

I’m so much better on my soprano that I too agree the tenor is probably too big.

I'll guess you let her try your soprano. Could she hold it better? Maybe it is a coordination thing, but it's also a very new activity and it takes awhile. Does she use a strap? Would one make the uke more stable as she's playing it?
 
I'll guess you let her try your soprano. Could she hold it better? Maybe it is a coordination thing, but it's also a very new activity and it takes awhile. Does she use a strap? Would one make the uke more stable as she's playing it?


Yes, she tried it just yesterday, and she prefers her tenor, much to my surprise. She’s finally doing a little better and is encouraged. Yes, she uses a strap. I noticed this weekend while sitting she tilts her uke way back so she can see her fingers on the fretboard. I suggested she hold it straight up and down and lean her head forward to see her fingers. This tilting habit might be a lot of her problem.
 
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