How many Guitar Players play Ukulele?

VaGoddess

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
82
Reaction score
0
Location
North Carolina
Hey Everyone!

I had always wanted to learn the guitar, so I purchased one and devoted a lot of time learning, for about 6 months. I ran across a ukulele video and was interested, so I purchased a concert. I was hooked! Lately, I've been missing the acoustic sound. So, my question is, do you play guitar and ukulele? If I went back to learning guitar, would it be to confusing to try and play the uke, also?
 
Well, I played guitar for over 30 years, then discovered the ukulele.....now it has been months since I picked up the guitar. When I pick up my guitar now, it seems like an elephant to me... I would recommend just sticking with one instrument until you are very comfortable with it, before trying a second, as trying to learn guitar and ukulele at the same time might be too confusing, not to mention muscle memory, etc.... However some people are very fast learners or "natural" musicians and maybe they can do both at the same time....but not me.
 
Well, I played guitar for over 30 years, then discovered the ukulele....

That's my story, too! Although over the years I have picked up other stringed instruments as well, such as banjo and mandolin. For me, the uke was such a natural fit because I was able to adapt a lot of guitar technique-- heck, even the tuning intervals are the same. I continue to play both, and yes, I screw up sometimes (like playing a guitar D-chord on a uke thinking I'll get D, but instead getting G). But really, I don't find it difficult to switch back and forth, and having both instruments gives me a lot of flexibility at jams.
 
I also play the guitar and just started playing the ukulele in June. Like others, I rarely pick up my guitar now. However, I also have a baritone ukulele along with my tenor so that I can play guitar as well as ukulele chords.
 
I had a cheapie guitar for a long time that I never learned to play because the spacing of the frets near the headstock was too big for my hands and there were more strings than I had fingers on my fretting hand. The ukulele is much better for my hands (smaller fretboard, four strings). However, I also missed the acoustic sound of a guitar, so after getting comfortable with baritone ukuleles, I bought a tenor guitar, a Blueridge BR-40. Tenor guitars are more typically tuned like tenor banjos (CGDA), the instrument from which they were developed, but they can be tuned DGBE, aka Chicago tuning (like the top four strings of a guitar and typical baritone ukuleles). Mine has Chicago tuning (I didn't want to have to learn new chord shapes), and I'm loving the heck out of it. Here's a video of what they sound like, featuring Jamie of Hot Strings Guitar Shop in Connecticut, where I bought my tenor guitar. He explains the history of the instrument and demonstrates how the tenor guitar sounds on a guitar with typical tenor guitar tuning.
 
Last edited:
Me too !!
Flamenco guitar player for 15 yrs plus.... all my guitars have been untouched for the last 2 years.
The uku feels so comfortable.
 
Guitar player for 53 years. uke for one. Since I play sitting down now, I find the uke much easier and really haven't played my guitars much since then.
 
Played guitar for several years and picked up the ukulele about a year and a half ago..... I probably play a little more guitar than ukulele on average, but I play both a good bit every day..... I find they compliment each other well, especially once I started visualizing the ukulele as part of the guitar fretboard (top four strings, starting at the fifth fret). This really opened up my guitar playing higher up the fretboard, thinking in terms of the ukulele. By the same token, a lot of the harmonic ideas that are more easily explored on the simpler fretboard of the ukulele are starting to find their way into my guitar playing lower down the fretboard - a lot of things that come out very naturally in a given key on the ukulele are easily transposed to the guitar if you think of the intervalic relationships in terms of patterns and shapes - like going from G on the ukulele to D on the guitar.....

As far as learning them both at the same time - give it a shot. I would think they would reinforce each other if you bear in mind the harmonic relationship between the two. If it doesn't work out, you can always stop.....
 
39 years of guitar....started uke this year and love it. Both help with the other. Guitar is still my baby, though.
 
You might get more responses with "How many former guitar players play ukulele..."

I used my guitar to lead worship while our Worship pastor was on vacation this past Sunday, prior to that I don't think I've touched any of my guitars since picking up the uke a couple of years ago - this after playing guitar quite regularly for about ten years.

I still play bass a lot though because it's my "main gig." If I wasn't playing bass in a band though I probably wouldn't touch those very often anymore, either. THere's just something very relaxing about ukulele and that's mostly why I play - stress relief.

John
 
Almost forty years a guitar player,could play either
with no problems,but since finding the ukulele, in the
last couple of years I have got rid of all my guitars!
 
I've been playing Guitar for about 25 years (gigging for about 16 ). I've been playing Uke for around 5 years. It's nice to switch it up sometimes, I'll play my uke for a while then I'll bust out the acoustic guitar to get my fingers a workout. It's good to play both !!!
 
I pretty much quit playing once I had discovered the uke.
 
Timebug, me too! I played guitar for over 40 years and since I picked up the ukulele last December I have sold off all my guitars and now striclty play the uke! Wow! I thought it was only me!
 
I'm a piano player, who always played a little guitar on the side. Since rediscovering the ukulele about one-and-a-half year ago (I used to play it when I was a kid), the guitar feels like a huge monster to me. I'll stick with the baritone ukulele from now on - a beautiful instrument that I can take everywhere. The piano is still my main thing, but the ukulele is what I play late at night...so soothing.
 
I have played guitar for 20 years, alto saxophone for 32years, and now picked up the uke. Only been playing Uke since June though, but lots of fun.
 
I'm from Hawaii and started with the acoustic steel string guitar because I wanted to learn how to play Ki Ho'alu ... also known as Hawaiian Slack Key Fingerstyle. Here's a sample of some Ki Ho'alu, courtesy of Uncle Ledward Kaapana:



I focused on learning and playing Ki Ho'alu for 2 years, then picked up a tenor uke. Lost interest in the uke right away because I was so focused on learning Ki Ho'alu. Then acquired another tenor uke a year later ... and the rest is history!!! I'm hooked on playing the uke because it's so fun and much more portable. I still play the guitar ... but not too much.
 
Top Bottom