UAS cure deppression...

For the first time after 2 years of being diagnosed with UAS I felt slightly depressed grabbing my tenor uke to play. Like 3 months ago I came across kind of cheap but nice recording king OOO body guitar (RO-06) - since then when I grab an ukulele it just does not feel right. I still love ukes and I think it's the most beautiful instrument but I am somehow keen on the lower registers that guitar provides. I have spent quite a lot money (or at least to my current financial situation) on Pono MTDX which is great. But it was three time more expensive than the guitar that I just can't stop playing (if I can call it so). In two years I've put money into 6 ukes. I sold some and build one, so I am now with 3 solid wood ukes of each size. When I play with my gf I usually grab soprano cuz it's so small, handy and fun but I tend to play guitar with her concert uke now and I feel like it will be my main instrument to the future of my playing.
I'd love to get new git but UAS cost me so much that I have to wait a few months before I can afford something nicer. Ukulele as my first string instrument gave me basic skill foundations and now I feel it's even easier for me as a almost beginner to play guitar than to play ukuleles (or at least in terms of blues music that I am keen on). Feels more free and the lower notes just fit my ears. Most of music I listen to is played on guitars, that might be the other factor of my depression.

The problem is I just feel so anxious when I see my lovely Pono MTDX (which is not an easy purchase where I live) being locked in it's Ko'olau case. I will probably put it on marketplace for sale in EU countries. Messege me if interested.

I somehow seem to be cured from extreme UAS symptoms by a guitar. Did anyone experience something similar?

It's both a progression and a carousel that I too have been through. At one time I had a guitar collection that exceeded the value of my new car, but I eventually came to my my senses and went back to my first musical instrument love, the ukulele. The sell off of my many Gibsons, Martins, PRS and Fender Custom Shop electric and acoustics gave way to a collection buildup of both plain and bling Martin ukuleles both of vintage and new. Then something happened one day that took me by surprise. I was at my local music store and picked up a Kala Acacia Tenor ukulele and was taken by storm of how great it felt in my hands, how nice it played and the sound it projected. It was that moment that changed my ukulele world and have since methodically analyzed the frugal side of ukulele ownership that provides me a greater satisfaction than ukuleles from the other end of the spectrum provided.

The only real thing that I have had to reign in that earlier this year I have enacted, is to keep my overall amount of ukuleles that I at any given time to a lower number. But I may may lose that battle eventually as I find myself not parting with my current ukuleles, but am tempted to add a few more that have caught my attention. The solution so far to buying another, is simply playing the ones I Already own and enjoy. But the occasional attack of UAS is sometimes overbearing...

Jerwin said:

I somehow seem to be cured of extreme symptoms of UAS by a guitar. Did anyone experience something similar?

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Not really, although I am currently more mandolin- than 'ukulele-oriented. Both UAS and MAS remain strong. I am fairly satisfied with the guitars I have. I do see the possibility of selling some electrics because I no longer feel a great need to plug in and blast the neighborhood. More guitars? Well, maybe a couple

But I am very reluctant to sell an underplayed instrument because I could swing around in the future and want to play it again. I might not touch certain axes for months at a time -- but when I want them, I *WANT* them! Most of my 'ukes are lower-grade anyway; selling them would not pay well. The only real reason to sell is to make room for upgrades. Soon...

I played guitar from my teens till my now mid 30's. I started ukulele 4 or so years ago with a one year break only back around 11 months.

I hardly play guitar now. I have one electric and one acoustic. The electric is cheap but good. The acoustic is as good as it gets but...

Everyone plays guitar, I hit a brick wall with my playing and sought something different. My first was a bad intonation Lanikai concert but it was enough to start the ball rolling.

I have went through a lot of ukuleles but I seem easier to please with just one, yes one ukulele. I have 4 just now but they are all going bar one solid mahogany concert. The other 3 are laminate, good but lack the '3D' sound that solid wood has. Before my break I went through Kalas and Ohanas solid stuff and laminates. Once I get one I like its all I need. Plus I favour concerts.

Long story short the ukulele puts me in a good mood, I can't be bothered pulling out the guitar plus the little (concert) ukulele can be placed nearby at all times even with my 2 young daughters around. A dreadnought acoustic is HUGE in comparison and has to be placed out of harms way. When I do have alone guitar time I just don't have the enthusiasm I had before. Simple lines on the ukulele gives me joy. Simple stuff on the guitar frustrates me. No idea why.

In your position i'd play the snot out of the Pono and leave the RK aside. Nice guitars tho. Wishing you all the best whatever your decision.

Have you tried a guilele/kiku?
Gives you some extra bass, more range, but still can be uke'ish if you stay on 1-4.

I think your response is normal. There has to come a point where you realize no amount of ukulele buying is going to change your life or how well you play.

I blame the internet for UAS or any other acquistion syndrome. It's seem like a new disease. There have always been collectors and people who bought many instruments. But I would venture to say that now it is much more prevalent with internet forums.

Even in this forum, UAS is celebrated. It's the local pub where the guy should be getting sober but instead his buddies invite him for more drinks.

I recently started playing guitar. It was the ukulele that brought me to guitar. I still love the ukulele but find myself devoting more and more time to the guitar. I'm playing both a classical guitar and a jazz archtop guitar. I think since I'm playing two different styles it cuts into my ukulele time.

There is something raw and personal with the ukulele. It's a great instrument and I love playing it and will continue studying and improving on it.

I think someone prone to UAS stands a good chance to end up with GAS if they switch to guitars. I believe it has more to do with one's personality, doused or fueled solely by one's available disposable income, than with any extrinsic aspects.

Sure, the internet increases consumerism simply by exposure to a very wide selection of goods, and extreme ease of buying (from one's armchair, across continents, with a couple mouse clicks), but I don't know that these are necessarily bad things.

Without this forum, and the internet in general, I'd most likely have fewer ukuleles (but not more money, because I'd have spent it on something else).

But there's also a good chance I would not be playing this instrument at all because I would not have had opportunity to learn about it. Similarly, I would not have the quality instruments I have, and in turn I would probably have stopped learning in the early stages because the ukuleles available locally were neither set up nor love affair material.

That aside, there are far more pointless things to waste one's money on than quality musical instruments. If you buy a top-end gaming computer for $2500-3000 today, or a ukulele for the same money, in ten years time the value of the former will probably hover around $50, if it's working still at all. The ukulele, on the other hand, will still yield substantially more than half of what it cost. Probably two thirds or even more.

It's nothing to stress about, really. Just enjoy the journey, wherever it leads.

If you like your Pono and can afford to keep it, keep it. In a couple years you will get the ukulele bug back and will be happy you have a nice one on hand and don't have to start looking for another.

I play a few different instruments and have tried to learn a few others. The ones I actually learned how to play, I always come back to sooner or later. I don't think I'm unique with this. I think everyone needs a break from what they are doing now and again and switching instruments for a while is a good way to keep interested in playing music. Plus, I also think it's healthy musically. I've learned different things on different instruments and each time a get back to a certain instrument, I feel I have more musical knowledge than before and it only gets easier to translate that between the instruments as time goes.

My personal opinion on the instruments I play (not that anyone asked for this, but I feel like writing it anyway):

Guitars are very versatile and there's tons of resources for learning every kind of music out there. So a great tool, but everyone plays them and it's difficult to contribute with something unique if you are going to an open jam. And if you aren't professional with eight plus hours a day to spend on playing, it's almost impossible to try to figure out something new or develop you own unique style of guitar playing (only a negative if that's something you feel like doing of course).

Banjos are my favourite jamming instrument. Not to many people around here play them and it's easy to contribute to the sound in many jams. But they don't always sound very fun when playing solo though, they really shine when there is at least a guitar to smooth it out (when playing finger style) or a fiddle to hold the melody (when playing clawhammer or old-time styles).

Fiddles, there is nothing in my opinion that is more fun then playing together with a great fiddler! Playing with a not so great fiddler is however pretty much the opposite. I'm not a great fiddler, so I tend to spare others with my scratching. They are really fun, just very time consuming to get somewhere with and I tend to loose patience and drift towards another instrument before I ever get "there". Maybe one day...

Bass, always nice when a basest shows up. I don't have much interest in playing them myself, I get a bit bored, so I'll leave that for others.

Ukulele is right now my favourite solo instrument. Easy to learn and tons of fun playing by yourself. I'm not into electric instruments and I think acoustic ukuleles can get drowned out by other acoustic instruments quite easy. For duos they are probably fine, but I haven't really played together with anyone else on the ukulele yet. I guess that's also why you often see ukuleles playing together with each other - no one to drown them out! Lol. Maybe when my Banjolele gets here, I will use that when playing with others.

I have never been sad when picking up my ukulele. I have a guitar and it was never as fun to play as the ukulele was, is, and will be. Sounds like you have a natural connection to the guitar that I do not have. I hope you are able to keep a favorite ukulele, and save enough money to get a nicer guitar. Then, you will have the best of both.

Looking forward to a new uke is a lot of fun, playing it is even more fun, if it turns out that you like it. Having UAS when you're broke sucks. THAT'S depressing. I deal with UAS by getting little improvements done to my present favorite uke, and working on my Song Acquisition Syndrome.

Nickie said:

Having UAS when you're broke sucks. THAT'S depressing.

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Like, really! I'm not *broke* but the budget can't take any hits right now. Next week will be a little different, heh heh, but I still don't know where to get a charango and balalaika and new mandola and, oh yes, a better baritone 'uke and a sweeter concert and some three-stringer and a resonator and something with side ports and...

Actually I'm set on the bari. But a Venezuelan cuatro still eludes me. And all the rest. Guess I'll have to build some. That's one cure for UAS. Go to Indestructables.Com and find an easy DIY project. One-piece or pocket or cardboard or mutant 'ukes, all there for the making.

By UAS/GAS I also mean the emotional connection to the intrument rather than wasting money on lots of intruments...

Jerwin said:

By UAS/GAS I also mean the emotional connection to the intrument rather than wasting money on lots of intruments...

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I understand what you mean, having such a nice ukulele but not really having the desire to play it can be depressing. I think a lot of people go through different musical tastes or preferences along their journey of sonic discovery. I am in a Low G mode and my Mya Moe which is re-entrant just sits in it's case as well. But music feeds the soul and if a guitar is doing that for you right now don't fight it.

You have a lifetime instrument in your Pono. Keep it and it will be there for you when you feel the need for something different.

DownUpDave said:

I understand what you mean, having such a nice ukulele but not really having the desire to play it can be depressing.

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I feel there's some value in this. For example, I initially thought that tenors would be, or become, my thing, so I invested in the Barron River. Recently, though, I can't quite deny to myself that I'm more drawn to the smaller sizes, and that's really all I play. I like the sound, the feel, the less-like-a-guitar-ness of the soprano and the concert sizes. I'm not sure which of those two I actually prefer (it's obfuscated by the longneck soprano), but I don't plan on buying anything else (like that Kamaka soprano I have been looking at!) until my preference is more clearly defined.

I also don't intend to sell my two tenors until I have a clear and consistent preference. For all I know, I may get interested in tenors again. Selling prematurely is probably as remorse-prone as buying too soon. Maybe more so. At least buying something and then learning from the experience that it's not (at least presently) what you enjoy, satisfies the itch and the wondering.

I'd probably hold onto the Pono for a few more months. This won't lower the resell value noticeably, if at all, and it provides a safety blanket in case the guitar preference is just temporary. At least that's my plan with my tenors. (I'm just glad there are no other stringed instruments that call out to me. Mandolins briefly did, but metal strings and prices for quality instruments doused that interest.)

Mivo said:

Mandolins briefly did, but metal strings and prices for quality instruments doused that interest.)

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Ditto that - for the cost of an OK mandolin you can be looking at K brand ukuleles. I understand why - hand carving a top is going to take more time, etc., than the flat tops of most ukes but the cost difference is still staggering.

Recently stumbled onto a new AS - tin whistle acquisition syndrome! They're small, super cheap compared to ukes and diatonic so you actually need different ones to play in different keys. They don't look quite as good mounted on the wall though!

I think everyone has given you really good advice that you should keep your Pono if you can. There should be no anxiety when you look at it because the Pono brought you to the guitar and also the joy of playing the ukulele. If you are anxious (regret) about spending the money on it, that is different.

I have had a ton of hobbies and activities throughout my life and I have never regretted moving from one to another. And you never know when an activity you left may come full circle and then some. When the urge to play that Pono comes around again, and most likely it will, it will be sitting there waiting for you. And maybe what you learn on the guitar will give you a different perspective on the ukulele.

I surfed a lot in the 70's and early 80's and then the boards went on the rafters for over 15 years. When our twin boys were around 10 or so they saw the boards and wanted to try them. That set off an 8 year span of constantly hitting the beach and surfing with our boys and their friends year round. Had an absolute blast watching them go from utter kooks to helping their old man get a few waves. And then they grew up, moved to Arizona, and now the boards just sit there. Do I have anxiety the boards aren't getting used? Nope, I have a lot of great memories. And after I retire, I just may...

John

Jerwin said:

By UAS/GAS I also mean the emotional connection to the intrument rather than wasting money on lots of intruments...

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Sometimes that emotional involvement is zero or even negative, right. I'm about zero on two of my cheap sopranos but they can go to the grandkids. I'm negative on a cheap baritone 'uke and F2 mando so those will hit the auction block. I'm sort of zero on certain guitars, too, and while two are worth selling, one isn't, even though it's handmade of solid wood. But all my other axes invoke feelings of time, place, situation, memory. I can't part with them!

Pirate Jim said:

Ditto that - for the cost of an OK mandolin you can be looking at K brand ukuleles. I understand why - hand carving a top is going to take more time, etc., than the flat tops of most ukes but the cost difference is still staggering.

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Handmade flat-top mandos exist too, costing less than carved-tops. And some quality builders do not charge arm+leg prices, even for instruments that IMHO sound better than the name brands. But yes, mandos generally are rather more expensive than similar-quality 'ukes and guitars -- because they are much more complicated machines to build.

Recently stumbled onto a new AS - tin whistle acquisition syndrome! They're small, super cheap compared to ukes and diatonic so you actually need different ones to play in different keys. They don't look quite as good mounted on the wall though!

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My wife and her sister leave tomorrow for three weeks in the west of Ireland. I have great hopes of receiving a complete set of Clare Whistles upon their return. As for wall-mounting, the oversized Native American flute the sister gave me is ornamental enough for that. It hangs next to the peace pipe and the decorative tomahawk.

ObTopic: Yes, keep the Pono. Like I said before, ya never know when the urge will return. I almost dumped many instruments a few years back. I'm glad now that I didn't.

k0k0peli said:

My wife and her sister leave tomorrow for three weeks in the west of Ireland. I have great hopes of receiving a complete set of Clare Whistles upon their return.

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Oh, that would be fantastic. I've got a C and a D to start off, both Clarkes as they're made over here. I had surgery on my fretting hand in August that will keep me from my ukes until 2016 and learning the whistle is really helping to scratch my music itch! I love the sound of the low D whistle as well, but I doubt I have the breath control for that just yet.

k0k0peli said:

As for wall-mounting, the oversized Native American flute the sister gave me is ornamental enough for that. It hangs next to the peace pipe and the decorative tomahawk.

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I have a didj that looks pretty good on my wall! Not so good for playing melodies though...

Pirate Jim said:

Recently stumbled onto a new AS - tin whistle acquisition syndrome! They're small, super cheap compared to ukes and diatonic so you actually need different ones to play in different keys. They don't look quite as good mounted on the wall though!

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Oh, I went through that too, a year or so before I ended up with ukuleles! The dealbreaker, for me, was simply the loudness of whistles. It would definitely bug the neighbors and, really, the entire street. I then bought a low-D whistle (pretty big), and while I loved the sound, you still have to overblow for a lot of notes, which can't be done quietly.

I do have another instrument I play, and that's the kalimba. I have eight of those, and one mbria that I got from Zimbabwe. Those are relatively collectible (different tunings and layouts), but I didn't feel the pull to get more when I had the bunch I have. Ukulele is also more versatile.

I would also suggest keeping the Pono.

Playing guitar is the best thing I've done for my ukulele playing. The classical guitar has taught me left hand finger independence, not to mention finger picking better. Also another benefit is that my fingers have become more limber. I can stretch further on the uke.

On Jazz guitar, all the chord playing is paying huge dividends on my ability to make chords on the uke.

I've only been at the guitar for a little over a month but I've noticed a big difference in my ukulele playing. It's a good exercise in stretching yourself.


I noticed the other day when I picked up my uke that I was making my uke chords much better. I was leaving some fingers planted better and transitioning much better between the chords and passages.

I think both instruments can be played at the same time. They are different enough that it keeps it interesting. There something nice about kicking back with the uke and playing, not to mention the smaller size.