Why did you switch over to ukes?

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pakhan

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Okay, I come from the world of high end guitars and even though I still produce a magazine focused on that, I play more ukes and I prefer hanging out with you guys here on UU.

It's friendlier, less competitive and folks don't have that many posturing I see on some of the forums/ FB....

How about you guys?

Did you play another instrument when switch to ukes?

Terence
 
I played pipe and tabor and also bodhran until health issues struck. I started playing the ukulele after hearing one played at a folk festival and just loved the sound.
 
I too am a guitar convert, mainly because my fingers just don't work the way they used to and the smaller neck, softer strings, LESS strings (easier chords), all made playing more fun again.

Plus, it doesn't cost thousands to get a good instrument. I could never afford the money or space to have five full size guitars around the house. On the other hand, I can have 2-3 ukes in the rooms that I spend time in, never more than a few feet away.

Plus they don't roll away from me the way my bodhrans do.
 
I could never stick with guitar, it'd sit in the case in the corner of the room and I'd be like "I don't feel like dragging that big thing out, I'll practice tomorrow". With uke, I couldn't put it down, even had one on my dashboard for awhile.
Once I met other ukulele players, it became a whole new thing.
 
My dad taught me to play uke when I was a kid, but my main instrument over the years has been the piano. I picked up the uke again when I went on a backpacking trip a few years ago, and my brother-in-law said he was going to bring his daughter's toy guitar. I brought my Kamaka that had been collecting dust, and we had some great jams.
 
I came to the uke last February from flute and classical guitar. I tried to keep up with all three for a while, but abandoned the guitar at the end of July, and abandoned the flute at the beginning of October. Now it's all uke, all the time. My father always had a uke around the house when I was a child, although I don't ever remember hearing him play it much, and nobody else in my immediate family was musical at all.

I wasn't very good at either the flute or the classical guitar, and both had become a chore. While searching for some alto flute music I came across a uke/alto flute duet, and that, plus a "recommended for you" Amazon promo make me decide to give the uke a try.
 
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I played a little guitar as a kid, but hadn't played anything for many years until I bought a cheap uke for one of my ladyfriend's granddaughters. I learned to play a few simple tunes on the uke and got hooked on it, then got a bad case of UAS. :)
 
I played guitar sporadically for over 10 years. When I say sporadically, I might play it regularly for several weeks and then weeks or months could go by without me ever touching it. There were even times that a year or more might go by without playing it so I didn't really develop much of a proficiency on it. I was in that kind of mode when I started to see the ukulele popping up on TV and in songs on the radio. I really liked the "happy" sound and wanted to give it a try. I got a starter uke and haven't looked back since. I really like the unique sound a uke will give a song most people would only be accustomed to hearing on a guitar. I found the ukulele to be much more fun to play and I've pretty much lost all interest in playing the guitar. I haven't played guitar once since getting the uke about 10 months ago.
 
I played fiddle and banjo for years...but stopped several years ago when a string band I was in broke up. I needed a break...and playing by myself wasn't really the fun that I wished it had been. (I used to say that playing alone is to playing in a band as frozen pizza is to real pizza.)

For very complicated -- and not very interesting -- reasons, it came time again for me to play a little music. And I wanted to add some singing...and especially some of the old tin pan alley songs that are so cool, I think. Ukulele seemed a natural. So I began. Having a ball with it. And it's a great decompression at the end of a day -- or the beginning of a day, for that matter!

N
 
I needed an alternative to turning on my computer, powering up 20 hardware synthesizers and various hardware processors while waiting for Cubase to load dozens and dozens of VST synths and FX, then when everything is up and running, barring any software or hardware glitches, sitting in front of four computer screens all afternoon, occasionally stealing a longing glance at the world outside the window located behind me whilst rendering or freezing tracks to ease the load on my CPU.
 
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I've played guitar for 15 or 20 years and took up the ukulele about a year ago.

I have no intention of giving up either. There's plenty of music to be made with both!



Scooter
 
It's a "family" thing. I'm sure if I played a Saxophone I would have the whole gamut from Soprano down to Bass. I have played other stringed instruments for years, but I love the appeal of the Ukulele "family". They share the same genetic material, but are different enough to keep the whole family interesting. And then there are all those cousins to explore (the Banjo Ukes, the 6 & 8 strings.... ). Ha! And I had thought I had my M.I.A.S cured until I fell for the Uke family ;)
 
I like a lot of others come from a guitar background, but due to illness leaving me wheelchair bound, I found it too difficult to hold guitars. After buying a cheap Uke to stop my grandchildren from touching my guitars, I was hooked, and I've never looked back.
 
I've played guitar for almost 33 years, bass for 27. I was at a friends house over Labor Day weekend when she popped in a bootleg video of a She & Him (Zooey Deschanel's band) show. She (Zooey) played a tele shaped uke and I was intrigued. Started looking at ukes and thinking about getting. At the end of October I bought my Fender Koa Nohea on a whim and haven't looked back. I've barely touched either my bass or guitar since mid November.
 
I can't afford all the wind instruments I'd have to have if I stuck with that route. If I kept just clarinet, I'd be bored and depressed that I couldn't have an alto or bass as well. I'd also want a flugelhorn. Otherwise for JUST clarinet, my heart isn't in it. So I tried guitar but my fingers suddenly no longer work. Uke solved the problem of the guitar feeling needlessly huge, and I also dug the sound.
 
I played guitar for past three years. Middle of last year I decided to get an ukulele. I can't explain why but it just fits me. I still play the guitar from time to time but I tend to just grab one of my ukuleles now.
I can't explain why but things just seem to sink in with the ukulele, if I come across a song with a new chord it just seems to come far easier than guitar. As someone said maybe its because its two less strings to learn or maybe at 54 I find it less to remember lol. Whatever it is the bug has hit, I know have two concerts and a tenor with a new tenor being built for me in June. I guess my wife sums it up when she said to me when I had my first ukulele, she said,"It just looks like it fits you".

ETF :cool:
 
Because for the most part it's no fun playing a set of drums all alone!
 
Ukulele ladies are better looking than guitar ladies :drool:
 
I never played the guitar, I do play the piano and a million years ago played the french horn. I was buying piano sheet music and there it was hanging there. A tenor Fender Koa Nohea, it was just so cool looking I had to buy it, I thought if I could learn to play it it would be perfect to fool around with when I am out camping, fishing or hunting or on the boat. It doesn't take up much room etc etc.

Then I started to learn and I haven't put it down. I have a beautiful Yamaha baby grand in a newly renovated music room that I haven't hardly touched. I just can't out the Uke down.
 
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