Ach, today I feel like giving up!

Argh, I'm having one of them days where I just feel like I'm never going to be able to do this... I get the theory, I've got my head around chords and how they're made fine, I understand the whole root/third/fifth thing, I know what a suspended fourth is... I'm even starting to be able to read music a little. I learnt quite a lot of music theory at school and took to it quite easy, but never actually got as far as learning an instrument even though I wanted to after our school dropped its music department. And I also get the physical things like intonation, action etc. I can fit new frets, make new nuts and saddles.

It's the mechanics of translating all that on to this wooden stick with the wood and the frets and the strings to try and make something resembling what you humans call music... my strumming pattern evolves all by itself into a different one, and it still seems to be taking me a week to change chords, and it still sometimes feels like I'm gonna drop the uke.

I think that's why I keep flitting from uke to uke, string set to string set... partly in the hope that each one will be 'the answer' and partly because doing all that's easier than learning to play the damn thing.

Rargh. Sorry, just needed to vent, and maybe some advice. I feel like I need to start all over again, like I know too many random things that don't link up... a good book and a good strap? But is that just buying more stuff, throwing good after bad? Maybe I should pick something else, like the tambourine!

Never give up. As my granny used to say "Wake up, Get up, Show up." Just muscle memory and woodshedding is the secret. nothing has changed in the last thousand years. Well maybe somethings. HaHa!! I'm coming from the era of "No Batteries" background.

1931jim said:

Never give up. As my granny used to say "Wake up, Get up, Show up." Just muscle memory and woodshedding is the secret. nothing has changed in the last thousand years. Well maybe somethings. HaHa!! I'm coming from the era of "No Batteries" background.

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I know... I think I just need more of a system (and stop hoping that the next ukulele will somehow magically be easier to play!). I've stopped trying to play songs recently, and started doing a 1234 down the frets on each string, trying to get my fingers to all be as strong as each other and hit the frets cleanly (and to get my picking hand used to moving across strings)... I'll find a way. It's tough over here, we don't seem to have the local jams and groups and tutors you find over the water!

What's woodshedding by the way?

Maybe this will help :shaka:

Czutney said:

Maybe I should pick something else, like the tambourine!

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Get one of those tambourines on a stick .......with 4 strings and no silly little cymbal thingies then...oh aye ...a Banjolele.......

Ach Seriously though ...we all get days like this.......

One simple and honest answer might I suggest ?

Just sit and play the damned thing.....at your own pace at your own level at your own musical taste .......there is not any advantage to flitting between different sets of strings and different ukes .....they don't play.....YOU play them .....

I don't know any instrument (and I've tried to get to grips with a few ) that do not fight back ....have reversals beyond the advances ...are just plain stupid stubborn b******s...and then one day there is an epiphany....a break through and then another .....

Always stop on a good one (tune or scale whatever) ......and if it is getting your goat ...put it down ...you will only wind yourself up........

The main thing is not to try and over reach....I nearly bust a gut teaching myself the Piano Accordion in 2011..I was trying pieces far in advance of what I was capable of ...or even liked ...now I can knock out some half decent rock and roll and boogy tunes and the odd (yawn) folk song....(needless to say a lot of Accordionists do not approve ....but then, up theirs)

I am not a classical player however and if you are then this will be of limited scope (although some of it will still be relevant) other than slow it down and expect smaller increments of improvement ....and that is not patronising in anyway.....try to switch between the simpler chords at first ...like C to F to G.....get those down you can work out many many tunes .....G, C , D (D7) and A D(d7) E (whichever way you want to play the Devil's own chord ) the same ....G and A pattern (A particularly for the Blues )....anyhooo...STICK at it ........

I am in no way an expert ...or a decent musician ...I just achieve a level of playing for enjoyment and if others recognise the toooooon .....well that's a bonus..........

Well you already have more academic knowledge than most of us. Sounds like analysis paralysis.

Now pick one uke.

And pick one book to work from.

30 min a day for two weeks. Just play. Go through the Daily Uke or an instruction book, but stop thinking theory and DO application. Nothing to it but to do it.

Sticking to one instrument and one book and a set time frame should get you past this hump. Good luck!

Freeda said:

Well you already have more academic knowledge than most of us. Sounds like analysis paralysis.

Now pick one uke.

And pick one book to work from.

30 min a day for two weeks. Just play. Go through the Daily Uke or an instruction book, but stop thinking theory and DO application. Nothing to it but to do it.

Sticking to one instrument and one book and a set time frame should get you past this hump. Good luck!

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You said mostly what I said in 4 lines ....FOUR lines .....you are my hero of succinct.......


*bollox* and numeracy ...because it was 5.... FIVE...lines ..........me I only counted 4 .......must be a rhythm thing !!

Buy some beer, build a fire in the backyard tonight and play some of your favorite songs. Don't worry what you sound like.

Freeda said:

Well you already have more academic knowledge than most of us. Sounds like analysis paralysis.

Now pick one uke.

And pick one book to work from.

30 min a day for two weeks. Just play. Go through the Daily Uke or an instruction book, but stop thinking theory and DO application. Nothing to it but to do it.

Sticking to one instrument and one book and a set time frame should get you past this hump. Good luck!

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This is what I'm going to do. I always thought I wanted a free and easy life, turns out what I need is structures and deadlines - the ukulele is teaching me about myself, if nowt else!

CeeJay said:

You said mostly what I said in 4 lines ....FOUR lines .....you are my hero of succinct.......

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What you said was very helpful, especially about not worrying what others think... I always overrun my own thoughts with too many words too!

woodshedding is a term derived from the days of the Bluesmen ...they would gather in a woodshed on somebodies property and trade guitar and other blues licks ...it's a common practice among guitar players.....it's great fun too...half jam , half lesson ,half tips ,half pi**ed by the end sometimes as well !!

hoosierhiver said:

Buy some beer, build a fire in the backyard tonight and play some of your favorite songs. Don't worry what you sound like.

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The suggestion is magnificent ..........except Czutney lives in Llanfairfechan....this is in Wales ......and is the Rain God's (all nationality and religions Rain God) country of choice ..........

CeeJay said:

The suggestion is magnificent ..........except Czutney lives in Llanfairfechan....this is in Wales ......and is the Rain God's (all nationality and religions Rain God) country of choice ..........

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You're not wrong... (although there is some sort of bright orb in the sky today, and the sky itself seems a long way away and is... blue?) This is why I need indoor hobbies!

Careful you aren't trying to learn too much at once.....new songs, strums, chords and chord changes, lyrics, timing, etc. etc. Some of us have to master chords, then lyrics, than strums, not necessarily In that order. Some folks need a metronome to keep time for a while. Many online. I have a great weight machine near my computer. I look at it often, but it hasn't made me any stronger. Hmmm, may have to actually use it. I laughed when one of my grandson's gained the insight that scrubbing bubbles cleaner didn't actually do all of the work. Keep hanging in there. If there's a club nearby, try and join and attend meetings. Play for your own enjoyment. If it ain't fun, it's hard to do. Keep on strumming, or picking,etc.

Czutney said:

Argh, I'm having one of them days where I just feel like I'm never going to be able to do this... I get the theory, I've got my head around chords and how they're made fine, I understand the whole root/third/fifth thing, I know what a suspended fourth is... I'm even starting to be able to read music a little. I learnt quite a lot of music theory at school and took to it quite easy, but never actually got as far as learning an instrument even though I wanted to after our school dropped its music department. And I also get the physical things like intonation, action etc. I can fit new frets, make new nuts and saddles.

It's the mechanics of translating all that on to this wooden stick with the wood and the frets and the strings to try and make something resembling what you humans call music... my strumming pattern evolves all by itself into a different one, and it still seems to be taking me a week to change chords, and it still sometimes feels like I'm gonna drop the uke.

I think that's why I keep flitting from uke to uke, string set to string set... partly in the hope that each one will be 'the answer' and partly because doing all that's easier than learning to play the damn thing.

Rargh. Sorry, just needed to vent, and maybe some advice. I feel like I need to start all over again, like I know too many random things that don't link up... a good book and a good strap? But is that just buying more stuff, throwing good after bad? Maybe I should pick something else, like the tambourine!

Click to expand...

Maybe your expectations and time frame for progress are not realistic. I've learned to enjoy playing songs very slowly and deliberately. Made a world of difference for me. There's no hurry cause we're already where we're going.

Czutney said:

You're not wrong... (although there is some sort of bright orb in the sky today, and the sky itself seems a long way away and is... blue?) This is why I need indoor hobbies!

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It's those Blue Tinted spectacles you are wearing again

CeeJay said:

It's those Blue Tinted spectacles you are wearing again

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Everything sounds better after a couple Famous Grouse (or equivalent, I'm in Rum&Coke world). Also, after a couple, the audience is much more forgiving (except the dog!).

CeeJay's advice about if it's winding you up, leave it is spot on.

The amount of times I try to learn or record (especially record) a song and by the 20th take I'm about ready to throw the damn thing out the window...... I just put it down (mainly due to the encouragement of my better half who's frustrated as me and worried I'm gonna bust a bloodvessel) and the next morning I pick up my uke and do it first time more often than not.

RAB11 said:

CeeJay's advice about if it's winding you up, leave it is spot on.

The amount of times I try to learn or record (especially record) a song and by the 20th take I'm about ready to throw the damn thing out the window...... I just put it down (mainly due to the encouragement of my better half who's frustrated as me and worried I'm gonna bust a bloodvessel) and the next morning I pick up my uke and do it first time more often than not.

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...and do you know that there is actually a scientific principle behind this.....it is something to do with the mind storing and assimilating new information ....whilst you are trying to learn AND play the mind is doing more than thing.......let it have a rest and then later the old noggin has absorbed the info......'tis real and true and not madey uppy.

Professor Emeritus of Woefully Inedaquate Ukulele skills UU (Unseen University)

Thank you CeeJay for answering the question for me. I was away doing my husbandly duties. I had to do the laundry and the darning and the pressing of all my wife's blouses and and . 'Tis house-broken I am.

CeeJay said:

woodshedding is a term derived from the days of the Bluesmen ...they would gather in a woodshed on somebodies property and trade guitar and other blues licks ...it's a common practice among guitar players.....it's great fun too...half jam , half lesson ,half tips ,half pi**ed by the end sometimes as well !!

Click to expand...

As others have stated, one uke that you really like, two books ( more on that in a second) and a strap CeeJay will pounce on me for that. For diciplined practice get "Ukulele Aerobics" , great book and there is a big thread on it in the beginners forum. I have it and am really getting a lot out of it. Next book is for easy songs you know and throughly enjoy, songs you can sing. This will give you the fun quota you need to advance. All work and no play makes Czutney a dull boy.