Misconceptions when a newbie

When I first was looking into ukulele, I had some misconceptions about it all.

Like many, I thought of Tiny Tim, and wasn't interested. So, misconception #1 was that it was Tiny Tim or nothing.

About a year later, I looked into it again, and somehow kept running into YouTubes of people playing plugged in, and using effects. I didn't want the extra learning curve or expense, (I don't know anything about using effects), and was looking for an acoustic instrument, so I was disappointed that it seemed to be either this or Tiny Tim. Misconception # 2.

Then I saw a video of Jake, and perked up. I'll never play like he does, or anywhere within a million miles of that, but it gave me a path to follow with ukulele, and I joined the ranks of those trying to play ukulele. (Not that he doesn't play plugged in or use effects, but his playing isn't dependent on that.)

Further misconceptions were that it didn't matter what size ukulele you play, (true for some of you, but there is definitely a physical comfort difference for me), and that they were all pretty much the same. Once I discovered the variety of necks and the range of tone, and other construction differences, UAS was born. LOL.

I had no idea about the wide range of music that could be played on a ukulele, (I thought that it was very limited - but hey, a ukulele can be used to play almost any kind of music, it turns out!)

Lots of wrong ideas early on.

What misconceptions did you all have, if any?

That my timing was good.

Hippie Guy said:

That my timing was good.

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LOL. I never had that misconception for myself.
I do seem to have a metronome that doesn't keep time as well as I do, though.

Misconceptions? Yes. When my son, who was in a high school band at the time, expressed an interest in the ukulele as some of his friends had picked up ukuleles on a band trip to Seattle, I looked at him kind of sideways. The ukulele wasn't a serious instrument, was it?

Many years later. Yeah. The ukulele is a serious instrument. I came to discover it's serious qualities after hearing some new popular and folk music which included the ukulele. Oh, and there was Jake. Now I play to the exclusion of the only other real instrument I ever played, the guitar. My son doesn't play yet, but he is again showing interest.

Yeah, Tiny Tim & George Formby were real off putters for me too.

But I'd bought a digital piano to learn in my retirement & wasn't doing well with it, so I got myself a harmonica (or two), but just couldn't get my embouchure or breathing right.

So I looked for something easier to get to grips with.

Enter ukulele, smaller than guitar, cheaper, lighter, only four strings, (one for each finger), why not give it a try...............after all, no one was going to see me with it. :biglaugh:

But having found this forum - I now know better.

One of my misconceptions was that I thought strumming would be trivial and fingerpicking would be the holy uke grail. Now that I returned to the basics to fix holes in the fundamentals, I've come to realize that strumming well (and rhythm) is much harder to do for me, and that it looks easier than it is.

The other misconception was that the ukulele would be easy to play. Maybe it is for some people, but not for me. I still feel that the claim that the ukulele is the easiest instrument to learn is a marketing trick (goes hand in hand with the belief it's a toy, because nothing worth learning is easy, or so people tend to believe).

My only misconceptions had been like Joyful Uke's -- Tiny Tim (or even Arthur Godfrey, who never impressed me musically) or nothing. And the only ukuleles I had been exposed to in person were cheap plastic toys that had no musical value whatsoever. Gradually over the years my opinions changed and I am quite enamored of the ukulele. Playing many different types of instruments I have to say that none of them are intrinsically easy nor intrinsically difficult, as long as a person is willing to start out with the attitude of an enraptured young beginner who delights in making *any* sounds on the instrument and simply keeps on working on gradually more difficult material. None of the is the "easiest" instrument to learn. And none of the is the "hardest" to learn either. That all varies from person to person.

Another instrument which is much maligned due to public misconceptions (like the ukulele) is the recorder. I never played recorder back in 3rd or 4th grade so it wasn't until college that I started to learn about recorders and quickly became enamored of them. But for many people their only exposure to the recorder is either from being in elementary school classes where everybody blows way too hard and squeaks all the time or from being parents of such youngsters. Just this coming Tuesday evening I'm leading a presentation (with two recorder-playing partners) that I've entitled "Recorder: Squeaky Child's Toy or Serious Musical Instrument" where we will present all the 8 different sizes of recorders and will discuss and demonstrate the recorder's place in music history.

I think that for ukuleles I am becoming an equal disciple trying to spread the word about what a great (and relatively inexpensive, even for good ones!) musical instrument it is. And while it may not be the easiest instrument to learn for some people, I find that for many people who strum my ukulele's strings while waiting for their music lessons, the sound of a gently strummed or plucked ukulele is almost as relaxing and enrapturing as plucking or strumming a harp. So it is becoming part of my musical mission in life to try to dispel misconceptions about the ukulele that many in the non-uke-playing population have.

Tiny Tim was my only real exposure to the ukulele and I am not sure that caused any preconceived ideas. He was a comedy act.......I understood that. I guess with such little exposure I thought the uke was just a novelty.

Then one cold and snowy day in March 2014 while randomly flipping channel I stumbled upon the documentary "The Mighty Uke" and my mind was blown. Listening to Jake and James Hill was a Holy Cow moment for me. This ukulele was capable of making such amazing music.

I was exposed to George Formby at an early age. My grandmother, originally from Lancashire, was a big fan and I got to see a fair few of George's movies when they were shown on TV. As a kid I enjoyed them and I have absolutely nothing against the guy I even think this was helpful as it meant that I, raised in the industrial midlands of sunny England, actually knew what a ukulele was.

A couple of years ago, when I was hunting around for a relatively-easy-to-play stringed instrument to fool around with (my first thought had been to buy a stick dulcimer) I started to read some stuff online about ukes. Two things caught my attention - firstly a playable entry-level instrument could be purchased fairly cheaply and secondly the whole 'the ukulele is easy to learn' thing. Playability-at-a reasonable-price was important to me - having had bad experiences with budget guitars at a younger age. I knew enough about stringed instruments to know that things like action height and intonation were important and I was able to navigate my way online to specialist retailers like SUS who were offering free set up on even their lowest-priced ukes. Not having to spend too much on a toe-in-the-water instrument while at the same time knowing that it would play reasonably well was a definite selling point.

As for the whole 'uke is easy' thing - some ukulele players seem to get mortally offended by this, as though it were an insult aimed at their instruments or directly at them. My feeling is that it's true - in the sense that it's relatively easy to learn the basics on a uke. You can have three or four chords and a simple strum pattern down in just a few hours. And I think that is absolutely great for a beginner - it's a massively positive feature of the instrument. What I think is even cooler is that, if you stick with it, you then start to realize what else is possible and the whole wonderful world of ukedom begins to open up before your eyes

Mivo said:

One of my misconceptions was that I thought strumming would be trivial and fingerpicking would be the holy uke grail. Now that I returned to the basics to fix holes in the fundamentals, I've come to realize that strumming well (and rhythm) is much harder to do for me, and that it looks easier than it is.

The other misconception was that the ukulele would be easy to play. Maybe it is for some people, but not for me. I still feel that the claim that the ukulele is the easiest instrument to learn is a marketing trick (goes hand in hand with the belief it's a toy, because nothing worth learning is easy, or so people tend to believe).

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I think that quote is correct but needs a slight qualification. It's quiteam easy to learn the basics of ukulele and start coming out with some perfectly good music,I took to it way easier than guitar, but it's very hard to learn and master the techniques that make the ukulele unique.

RAB11 said:

I think that quote is correct but needs a slight qualification. It's quiteam easy to learn the basics of ukulele and start coming out with some perfectly good music,I took to it way easier than guitar, but it's very hard to learn and master the techniques that make the ukulele unique.

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It might have been "easy" for you or for me (coming from guitar) to establish the basics of playing the ukulele but that doesn't mean it will be "easy" for others who come to the instrument with little or no music experience. Both my wife and my neighbor have not had an "easy" time learning the instrument.
My wife is doing well with practice, hard work, and diligence. My neighbor never really gave himself a chance; he perceived it as too hard from the beginning and I believe he has given up.

I prefer to think of the ukulele as a simple instrument. Simple in its origins, simple in design, and simple in its purpose. But simple isn't the same as easy.

I'll second Bikemech's statement. "Easy" is a concern. In the past year, I have introduced ukulele to over 400 students (it might even be over 500) with plans for a school staff lesson next week, and even inviting parents in for a lesson.

Sure, C, Am, A7, and even F are pretty easy for most people to learn. However, add a third finger and complexity increases exponentially. And for some people, just switching between F and C is an incredible challenge. Then add the complexities of strumming patterns, advancing chordings, barre chords, and eventually individual notes and the instrument is not as "easy" as originally sold to many people. Barry Maz (Got a Ukulele) has a tremendous rant about this.

There is another thread right now about good early songs...and I have been working to provide video content for my students based on these chords. Kids are okay with playing along with Frere Jacques (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq3n5s0KSLk) and London Bridge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhpJw_h-sR8) the first day, but soon want to play with real music that they consider music...they are not that interested in the yellow book (no offense, as I love the yellow book). A number of music educators are using the existence of lyric-based sing-along files on YouTube to create materials that is relevant to students. It is a pretty amazing effort. It is something to see 60 kids engaged in a classroom jamming to Shake It Off (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U83hQHfELNg). Many thanks to Dr. Jill Reese for creating the genre. She (and a few other music educators) are using these with kids AND local ukulele groups. Sure, you eventually move on from the videos, but they are fun to come back to every now and then.

These play-alongs are different than many others (including UU's and Aldrine's work) as it is based on the original songs, versus something played on ukulele and sung by someone else. Are you good in technology? How about helping out and creating other songs? See the video about making files here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2n1Lb9TL9Q. As a hint, the Chordette Font works AWESOME for this, and a new version is imminent (contact the creator for more info)

Of other great assistance to all of us is the work of John Atkins as "The Ukulele Teacher." Most of us on this site have no need for John's approach...but there are MILLIONS of people, particularly young people, learning the ukulele through his efforts (including Grace Vanderwaal).

These modernized efforts will likely translate to the popularity of the ukulele as a permanent aspect, as well as becoming a fixture in US schools.

So...in closing, I wanted to talk about "Easy" and also making sure that the content of what we are playing appeals to the age group we are teaching. Sorry for the long post!

Yeah, I don't know where the idea that a musical instrument is going to be easy to learn came from!

You have to know where the notes are one way or another, be it chords or picking........& that's just the start!

It's the same with harmonicas, how hard can it be, it's such a small instrument, it must be easy.......... :biglaugh:

I never thought it was going to be easy. Nothing is easy for me. I also figured that doing everything a guitar can do with two less strings and re-entrant tuning was going to be a pretty good trick. So that was not a misconception on my part. But I was just getting into guitars when I found the ukulele. In fact, I was not even into them yet. I was hanging around with some guitar players and I had an old guitar that belonged to my wife that she played in high school and I was thinking about playing it. The guitar players that I was hanging around with at the time were all into themselves and their guitars. They were all serious and snooty and condescending, and they made fun of my wife's guitar. I thought that ukulele players were all laid back and easy going. I thought, "it's a ukulele, it's fun." That was my misconception. Not all ukulele players are laid back, easy going fun people. Some of them are wound tighter than my old guitar buddies.

By the way, I liked Tiny Tim. Most people can't get past Tip Toe Through the Tulips. There was much more to Tiny Tim.

Rllink said:

By the way, I liked Tiny Tim. Most people can't get past Tip Toe Through the Tulips. There was much more to Tiny Tim.

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Amen. Tiny Tim was keeping vaudeville alive to a generation that knew nothing about it. That said, I do have to admit that as a child of the 60's, all of my exposure to music (besides school band) was to bands that played guitar and bass, not ukulele. I saw ukulele as an impossibly small instrument associated with the Islands and not serious. I was wrong. But it was a trip to the Big Island and exposure to the vast range of sizes that finally enabled me to take the plunge.Coming from a few years playing and singing with guitar and open chords, that experience and knowledge DO help with getting on with ukulele. That said, I developed a LOT of bad habits trying to learn guitar, and am trying to do better this time around. learning smarter, even if slower. YouTube and videos of people like Jake, Kemo and James Hill have been a source of inspiration and wonder. I'm hooked.

I'm not sure I had any personal misconceptions going into it, but there are a couple of persistent public misconceptions that frustrate me: that it's easy (whatever that means!), and that it's not a "real" instrument and you can only play happy-happy sing-along music on it.

I thought buying a ukulele was going to cost a lot more. That one was soon dispelled.

That it would be easy to strum. My finger kept getting caught in the strings until I got the hang of it.

That playing was extremely complicated. It can be at times but I've learned once you get the basics you can build upon that.

Common misconceptions:

- You have to spend a lot for a great sounding uke
- Ukes are easier to play than other stringed instruments
- Low G sounds as good as High G (lol)
- The only good ukes come out of Hawaii and are made of koa

I thought for the longest time that there was only 1 size. I didn't know until I was trying to buy my first that there were different sizes. I thought it was going to be hard to learn the basics. For some strange reason, I believe I picked it up very rapidly. I think most of the misconception came from my family, because they thought I was buying so stupid toy, but after a bit they really changed their minds.