Difficulty based on experience

timaub

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Hello,

Just picked up my first uke the other day after a referral from a friend on how much fun it can be. I've never been very musically gifted my whole life and was never able to effectively learn other instruments when I tried. I've felt around the uke and it feels great, but is nothing like the guitar I'm used to. Should this transition be easy? I was never good to begin with, but I figured even my little experience would help me.

Thanks in advance for any tips and feedback.
 
Hello, and welcome to the forum! :cool: I dabbled with electric guitar years ago and recently switched to uke. Of all the things that are different, I found that overcoming the mindset of frustration, thinking it would be difficult, etc...which made the most difference in my ability to transition and make playing uke fun. Go easy on yourself. Find a great instructor even. But mostly just go for it and have fun!
 
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Welcome to the wonderful world of the ukulele. I will pretty much echo what Peace Train said. I tried to learn to play acoustic guitar a number of years ago with out much success. But when I picked up the uke almost 2 years ago it was instantly comfortable. All the time spent in the past learning how to form chords paid off, so yes the transistion was easy. It is also alot of fun, I don't get mad and frustrated when I make mistakes. The uke makes you smile.

If you can find a local uke jam join it ASAP. That is what I did and it made all the difference in the world. Playing every week with others gets you learning real quick. You also form friendships with those that DO know a lot about music and that helps as well.
 
please feel free to use the Ukulele Boot Camp materials
(link in my signature) and...

keep uke'in',
 
please feel free to use the Ukulele Boot Camp materials
(link in my signature) and...

keep uke'in',

Uncle Rod's Boot Camp was quite helpful to me in learning the basic chord shapes. I played guitar, banjo, and mandolin over the years, and find the ukulele to be the most "user friendly" of the lot. Relax, have fun, practice for relatively short intervals until your fingers and hands get used to the movements and "stretch" a bit. Choose a few fun songs you know and have at it. In a couple of weeks you will strumming away happily.
 
Do a google search: ukulele for guitar players for lots of insight in moving from guitar to uke.
 
Welcome aboard. :)

I bought my first uke last November, it took a couple of weeks to harden up my finger tips, now I don't mute other strings so often as I used to.

I'm having more fun than I had trying to learn guitar, & the people are friendly, even with my inexperience. :music:
 
Having played the guitar, even a little helps a lot. You already know more than you realize. I am amazed at how difficult it can be for some beginners, who have no musical background, to simply strum their thumb or fingers across the strings. When you think about it, you have to put motion and pressure in just the right combination to succeed. It is the same on the fretting hand, with subtle application of pressure at just the right angle. It will take a few weeks to get calluses, so practice in small sessions to begin with, so your fingers can recover.

–Lori
 
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