Playing more than one string instrument

So... I've been playing guitar for about 9 months now and can play level 2 music (level three with much much practice.) And anyways, I picked up the guitar for the first time in three weeks. You see, ever since I got my first uke, my guitar has been thrown to the wayside.

But today I played some guitar and realized a few things:

1. Uke is much less painful to play. What I mean is when I play my guitar my whole arm hurts- my fingers, wrist, and forearm ache. I've circulation issues that make my hands go numb/achey really easily and I had forgotten in the past few weeks that playing the guitar agrivated those symptoms. The uke, however, doesn't bother me at all.

2. The guitar does sound fuller than the uke. I do love the complexity of the sound. I was actually a bit shocked when I played some of the lower notes on my guitar and could feel the vibrations through my arms.

3. I love playing music no matter the instrument. But switching between instruments in hard on my weary mind. It takes way too much thinking to remember where my fingers are suppose to go on each separt instrument. I overreach on the uke and under reach on the guitar.

So here's the thing... How do you guys split your time between string instruments? Did you stop playing other string instruments once you picked up the uke?

I myself am tempted just to stop playing the guitar and stick to the uke (at least for a while.) My arms (and especially my hands) seem to take better to the uke than the wider neck/ bigger scale of the guitar. And not having to worry about my syndrome flaring up while I play is an excellent and unexpected bonus that makes playing the ukulele that much sweeter (and I can learn to live without those sweet low notes... I hope).

I think you give some very good, valid reasons for putting you guitar down, at least for now. Chief amongst those reasons is, of course, the health issues. It's much better to play the ukulele and be stress free while you're learning, than pick up the guitar and have to worry.

For me, I'll never put the guitar down. Yeah, I've been almost exclusively ukulele for almost two years now, but I do love the guitar and will most likely never give it up.

The way I split my time between instruments is by determining which one the song I'm playing calls for. If it's a guitar tune that just can't be done on the ukulele, I'll pick it up. If I love the way the tune sounds on the uke, that's what I'll play it on.

I've just been mostly uke lately. It's a new world for me, and it's all still so exciting. I love learning new stuff.

seeso's right, of course. health first. don't try to play through pain.

it's true the chord shapes are different, Valerie, but the mind is an amazing thing. you can learn what you really want to learn.

I agree with seeso's take on what gets played when, too. some songs just seem to require guitar, while others are beautiful on uke. there's room for both, for sure.

wow, I'm having the same problem haha

My wrist goes cold from lack of blood circulation and then starts to ache because my guitar is too big for me so I strain much more to get those barred chords right. Though I love playing the guitar so I don't put it down despite the pain. I know that's bad, and I think I'm getting carpal tunnel.. but now that I have an alternative to play I'll be playing the uke a lot more than the guitar.

I overreach on guitar haha I recently tried playing the guitar again and I would always mess up on the C chord.

but anywho, I wouldn't know what to really do.. you could trying playing each of them per day or if you like playing the uke more than just make sure to get in a little practice on guitar after playing the uke. Or maybe play one every other day, or week maybe?

Hope you figure something out and be careful with the whole bad circulation thing, you don't want any long lasting affects from playing an instrument.. not good.

Health comes first! If you have any pain or numbness that is a bad thing. If your injuries are from playing the guitar it might be just your hand or arm positioning. I assume you are playing an acoustic guitar? You can try the lightest gauge strings and lowering your action. Really fast technical players don't press very hard they use the lightest most efficient touch possible to get the note to ring clear. Take care if you really mess up your hand or arm you wont be playing anything.

...of course, you could just sell the guitar and buy a KoAloha D-VI
http://koaloha.com/KoAloha_Products/DVI.html

I don't find it too bad, I normally dedicate about an hour or two to my guitar in the week and then spend the rest of the night before I sleep practicing uke (TV in the UK is boring lately). Ofcourse sometimes I spend a little bit more time on guitar when I start to miss it. I dont really find it hard switching between the two.

I play ukulele, cello and bass (upright and electric), and I think that the only way you can get over your pains when you play the guitar is to play it regularly. One mistake that a lot of musicians make is to practice for about 3 hours one day a week, and just forget about it for the rest of the week. You'd honestly be better off playing for just 5 minutes a day - soon you'll find that you feel more acustomed to playing guitar. I know from playing double bass, which has thick strings and a lot more tension than bass guitar, that you need to play regularly or it canes.

Keonikapila said:

...of course, you could just sell the guitar and buy a KoAloha D-VI
http://koaloha.com/KoAloha_Products/DVI.html

Click to expand...

if only i could afford it... haha

edmundwhitehead said:

....I know from playing double bass, which has thick strings and a lot more tension than bass guitar, that you need to play regularly or it canes.

Click to expand...

What does "canes" mean?

deach said:

What does "canes" mean?

Click to expand...

Haha edmund mate you need to choose your words right . Its just a word we use in the UK to basically say it hurts, alot.

wow, i thought it was just me! i never really got very good with the guitar and playing the uke was so much easier so i just stayed with the uke. when i picked up the guitar again, it felt like hugging the refrigerator (... not that i have a lot experience with that... well, ok... my love of food is second only to my love of the uke but i digress). now i just pick up the guitar and play a song or two to justify the money i spent on it.

Yeah, I'm not very good at guitar. But I am better at it currently than the uke. But I think that will be different in a month or two.

My problem switching between the instruments isn't so much a chord thing- I've never had problems with chord shapes (I play with a capo all the time and understand how to know which chord to play)

It's more of a scale thing- where my fingers get use to one scale and when I play the other instrument my fingers just feel lost.

And I never realized how huge a guitar really is till I played the uke for a bit.

The uke just feels so natural to me- whereas the guitar was always a bit of a struggle.


I think I may end up like Seeso- play some things on uke- others on the guitar.

I guess becoming a two instrument person is just going to take a lot more work than just being a one instrument person.

But I will be putting the guitar down for a bit. I have thoracic outlet syndrome (the circulation issue). But I've been doing physio to correct it and I'm hoping that it will be gone soon and not flare up again for a while.

And, wow! My posts tend to ramble...

I need to sleep.

I can play Horse with No Name on guitar.... kind of. Does that count?

I find that all the instruments that I've ever touched have some form of discomfort to them. With the clarinet, the weight of it is on your thumb and that starts to smart after a while. Also with any reed instrument, your lower lip gets a workout... and entire mouth area really. With brass you get the swollen pulsating.. or split.. lips. With guitar and uke, you get the strings digging into your fingers...

But outright pain? No. The guitar is telling you it's not you, it's the guitar. It just doesn't feel right in this relationship. It needs space. The uke is ready to commit though.

With guitar, I couldn't make my hands do what I wanted them to do, and bar chords were impossible. I just never could improve.

With uke, it's not just the four strings thing, it's the smaller neck also that makes this much nicer for my hands. And playing the guitar, for me, is like hugging the fridge.

long time guitar player > uke = won't be that hard
long time uke player < guitar = most likely will have a hard time

Regster said:

long time guitar player > uke = won't be that hard
long time uke player < guitar = most likely will have a hard time

Click to expand...

Awww man! Now I have to learn math in addition (get it? addition!) to learning to switch between the uke and guitar!

Well, I play ukulele, violin (Soon switching to viola), and bass. And I love playing all of them. It's good fun, and I get to play with a large range of people (Orchestras, bands, etc.).

One thing I'm getting recently though, is the hard skin on my index finger and middle finger on my right hand is starting to split, which makes it uncomfortable to play bass and ukulele. But I'm assuming it'll just fix itself and all will be well. So for these few days I've just been gently strumming and playing slap-bass

Violin doesn't really contribute to my uke or bass playing a whole lot, other than I can read music slightly. But I think ukulele and bass have helped me keep time in my head. Which is always good.

JackT said:

Haha edmund mate you need to choose your words right . Its just a word we use in the UK to basically say it hurts, alot.

Click to expand...

Sorry lads, guess I had too much earl grey tea and scones this morning...

TALLY HO!!

I don't have a set regimen, but I basically work it like this: I have about 3 binders of guitar music and 2 binders of ukulele music. I try to work through one binder each day of either guitar or uke. I also try to work on something new every day; lately I've been trying to do my own arrangements. On the guitar I also rotate between classical and steel string. The things I play are all fingerstyle and quite varied--classical, rock, sacred, jazz, and blues. I really carried this approach over from my days as a trumpet player when I would alternate trumpet, cornet, and flugelhorn. Works for me.

Jon