Newbie uke player in love <3

We met online about a year ago and instantly kicked it off, the only problem, i'm from Ontario (CAN) and she's from Pennsylvania (US). So far our long distance relationship has been working out though, she is seriously the sweetest girl I have ever met, and we both love each other dearly. The only thing is that while we know what each other looks like (And yes we did the shoe on head and all that, she's real gents! lol), we've never heard each other's voices before.
So being the hopeless romantic that I am and also being a semi beginner at the uke, I decided that I want to write a song for her... I know, I know, many of you would say for me to set realistic goals for myself and not jump the gun like that and remind me that it takes years of practice to master the uke, but this girl is special to me and I really want to do something that she will remember me for. I'm not looking to master the uke within a month, but she lives so far away and I don't think we'll be meeting for quite some time so i'd say that I have plenty of time to practice. But this dear reader is where you come in, i'm jobless and I don't have any money to pay for lessons and I don't know where to start with my playing. I've been playing on and off for three years and I never seemed to learn anything that increased my skill, I only know the first few licks to Stairway To Heaven (Zepplin), Tiptoe Through The Tulips (Tiny Tom) and Land Down Under (Men At Work) (thank you Aldrine XD)
My fingers are clumsy, my playing is amateur at best, my singing voice is okay and in my heart is the fiery passion to learn so I can create this song for her.
So far i'm still busy with college, but I can spare an hour or two to practice each night. All I need is a teacher to help me learn...
I have Skype, a fairly good microphone and a tenor uke, but again, I have no money to pay someone back, but if someone would actually take the time to teach me, I promise to be a good student and practice/study diligently, not only that but you would also have the unparalleled respect of a guy you've never met! Sweet deal huh?
Yes I know it's not much and seems like a kinda silly request, but what can I say, love makes you do stupid things that can sometimes change your life...
So on the off chance that someone does want to take pity and teach this poor love trodden sod how to play for the love of his life, then send me a pm and we can talk.

There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube. Look up Ukulele Mike, he's great!

If you have Skype, why aren't you talking to each other? I don't get it. I met my husband online too, back before a graphical Internet. We would have killed for something like Skype. You're also not so far away, we were further away. If you love this girl, get off the forum and start actually using these tools we have now to make it work. If you love her, you'd be talking to her.

Making a big splash is romantic, but putting off real communication when it's right there in front of you is to throw away the relationship before it is one.

man, I live in Tasmania and even I know how to use a telephone!!!! Beaut story. Good luck in uke and in love bro.

Buy each other a telephone for Valentines Day

you have skype and a microphone, and you've never combined their powers to actually talk to the girl?

also, what is the shoe on the head thing? I'm just curious.

Good lord I even talk to my ex on Skype for free. I got him into ukulele, he got me into electric guitar. Neither one of us can play the other's um favorite instrument, but we talk about them.

+1 for Ukulele Mike, I was just looking at one of his video's this evening. There are a lot of great teachers out there who post stuff all over YT. Try the channels of Coveywood, Tafkam, Tintindiego, Ukuleletim and Lilrev68 just to start, and get Al Wood's free ukulele book at Uke Hunt, and try his eBook on strums (but don't be talking about the site before you spell it out for her in email or chat, lol). Also dig through the huge amount of resources available on UU, including all the UkeMinutes and free lessons.

So truly there's tons of stuff out there for free! I'm out of work now too but couldn't afford lessons when I was working my rear off. Plus I was too tired. Now I'm diving back in while I can.

For Skype you can get a great headset for $15-$20 off of Amazon and talk for hours and your hands are free to play the uke at the same time. Good luck, and make that call!

First off, thank you guys for the advice, it's really hard to find any good teachers on YouTube. Secondly, she has no webcam and she's not allowed to download skype on her father's home computer which sucks royally, plus she has no cell phone, her father kinda makes her live a sheltered life, and yahoo is our only means of communication right now. Thirdly I know she lives close to me, but to a 21 year old with no job and no drivable car, we might as well be on opposite sides of the continent for now...
As for the question about shoe on head, it's what you do when you send a picture online, it doesn't have to be a shoe, but just what the other person tells you to do in the pic to let them know it's actually you and not some greasy 53 year old perv lol.

Again, thank you guys for the help and support!

Hey! I'm not greasy!

Ha! I've heard it said "know thyself".

Chap said:

Hey! I'm not greasy!

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We were in a similar boat when I met my husband. It sounds like if it's going to work, she'll eventually have to make a stand. It's that right age for making stands and growing up. To the parents, it's the end of the world, but looking back, it's just normal. Do people tell both of you it isn't a real relationship? We had that a lot too. It can work, though! Married 13 years now.

Since we can't help with girlfriends making grand stands to overprotective parents, maybe we can help more with the uke thing. Have you tried Uncle Rod's Ukulele Bootcamp? It's chord exercises that teach your ear and your fingers how chords work together. You can use those progressions as the background of the song, then all you need is the words!

Nickie said:

There are a lot of tutorials on YouTube. Look up Ukulele Mike, he's great!

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Also check out Aldrine's tutorials: http://ukuleleunderground.com/category/ukulele-lessons/

I won't comment on the relationship thing, since I've read too many creepy internet stories to be optimistic, but the Uke front is much safer sailing!

You must find Ukulele Mike on YouTube, under his six or seven channel names (sorry).
In my opinion, there are tons of videos for intermediate uke players to get better, but Mike's a unique teacher. He has ESP. He uses the fiber optic aether of the internet to read the mind of beginners, then breaks it down to what you're probably wondering about.

Ok, I love his style. Your style has energy too. Best of luck!

+1 for YouTube tutors like Ukulele Mike Lynch and the UU folks. I learned a lot just from trying to play along with instructional videos, and Ukulele Mike and the UU gang are among the best. You could also post signs at local music stores or post on your local craigslist that you're looking for others to play ukulele with regularly. When you play with others whose skill levels are more developed than yours, you will inevitably learn things just by watching them and playing along with them.

As for communicating with her, one thought I had is that you could make make videos, upload them to YouTube as private videos, and send her the links. That way she could at least see you and you could talk to her. She could borrow a friend's cellphone or digital camera (all of which have video capabilities), make reply videos, and post them for only you to see. None of this would require using her dad's computer. It's sort of like the video equivalent of writing letters or sending email.

I should know better than to stray into this territory, but it sounds like this woman needs to get out of her dad's house. Unless she's under 18, it seems oppresive to me for a parent not to let his adult daughter have a cell phone or talk to her long distance boyfriend at all, either online or by telephone. Could she borrow a friend's cell phone? Could she get (or borrow) a laptop and Skype with you from a place with free WiFi? As I said, not my business, but it's difficult to believe that the impediments to an actual video or audio conversation are insurmountable.

She's 18, but it's the fact that she doesn't want to stand up to her father that irritates me slightly, but I still understand that it's her father's computer in the first place, and it's basically either stick with chatting on yahoo or we don't get to chat at all.
I hate parents who never take their children seriously. When I first told my parent's that I was cyber dating this girl and that I actually had feelings for her, they basically gave me the 'yeah-the-chances-of-you-seeing-this-girl-are-slim-and-none' look, shook their heads and said "Whatever..."
I'm also quite sure her dad would question the need for a video messaging system between an 18yr old girl and a 21yr old guy -_-"
Most parent's always see things at face value and judge what's inside the box before they open it. I believe a very wise man once said that you should never judge the man based on first appearances, but rather by the quality of his character. Unfortunately you can't change someone's mind if they also have the option of pressing a single button to ignore you...

ukeslice said:

I believe a very wise man once said that you should never judge the man based on first appearances, but rather by the quality of his character.

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Unfortunately, evaluating someone's character is not easily done long distance. If you met her online about a year ago, she would probably have been 17 yrs. old. Some girls can handle themselves well at that age and others are more naive. I expect the parents still know her better than you do. Not all parents are like the bumbling fools often portrayed on TV.

You need to look at this from her father's point of view. I can sympathize with his caution and protectiveness. That's his "baby girl" and you're just some guy on the internet who contacted his daughter when she was still legally underage. You should be bending over backwards to try and prove your character rather than expecting the parents to accommodate you.

This discussion has morphed away from uke instruction, so might better be placed in a different forum.

True, but I made a mistake when I said we'd been dating for a year, we've actually only been dating for 3 months, lol, but it feels like we've known each other for a lot longer, she's also very mature for her age, she's already attending a university to become a nurse.
Anywho, I agree, this subject has strayed quite a bit from it's intended path. I've been checking some of these videos out and so far they've been a bit of help, i'm currently practicing the first couple of exercises and i'm pretty confident that my skills will get better with constant practice. I can't wait to write the song though!

ukeslice said:

True, but I made a mistake when I said we'd been dating for a year, we've actually only been dating for 3 months, lol, but it feels like we've known each other for a lot longer, she's also very mature for her age, she's already attending a university to become a nurse.
Anywho, I agree, this subject has strayed quite a bit from it's intended path. I've been checking some of these videos out and so far they've been a bit of help, i'm currently practicing the first couple of exercises and i'm pretty confident that my skills will get better with constant practice. I can't wait to write the song though!

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After 60 years, I've learned not to judge or comment on a person's relationship unless I know her personally, and she asks me for advice. But..... maybe you can impress her and her Dad with your ukulele skills one day!

ukeslice said:

True, but I made a mistake when I said we'd been dating for a year, we've actually only been dating for 3 months, lol, but it feels like we've known each other for a lot longer, she's also very mature for her age, she's already attending a university to become a nurse.
Anywho, I agree, this subject has strayed quite a bit from it's intended path. I've been checking some of these videos out and so far they've been a bit of help, i'm currently practicing the first couple of exercises and i'm pretty confident that my skills will get better with constant practice. I can't wait to write the song though!

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I can say with some experience that there isn't anything that would keep me from talking to my (future) husband. That includes some situations that I know they'd rather me not speak of. She's the one that's got to make the stand. If she's hit then she's the one who has to hit back. If not, then what she's saying is that she's not ready for the big world yet.

I wonder why we're not recommending Uncle Rod anymore? His worksheets are common chord progressions, a good basis for an original song.

So you wanted some ideas for song-writing. You can put together some I-IV-V chord progressions (you know C, F, G7, Am that sort of thing)

As for lyrics? - You've inspired me.

Shoe on her Head

My internet baby
Put a shoe on her head
It was only for the photo
That's what I said

It was only 3 months
But it felt like a year
She had no webcam
So I couldn't hear

Shoe on her head
Shoe on her head
My internet baby
Put a shoe on her head

Her papa wasn't pleased
I was a curse
She was playing on the net
Instead of being a nurse

Shoe on her head
Shoe on her head
My internet baby
Put a shoe on her head

^ Nice!

ukeslice said:

As for the question about shoe on head, it's what you do when you send a picture online, it doesn't have to be a shoe, but just what the other person tells you to do in the pic to let them know it's actually you and not some greasy 53 year old perv lol.

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I see. Interesting. From this moment I refuse to believe any of you UU peeps are not greasy 53 year old pervs unless you ALL post photos of yourselves with a shoe on your head...


Apart from that, all I have to add to this convo is:

1) Ukulele Mike.

2) Pay phone?

3) Please film your uke love song video with a shoe on your head.