Just Bought My First Uke!

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums and just wanted to share some of my excitement with you guys! It seems like none of my friends or family understand it, saying stuff like "what a waste" and whatnot so I really was looking for an accepting place and this looks like just that. I've wanted to buy a ukulele for about 2 years, and I finally got the money for one. I purchased a Luna concert size for about $90 with the gig bag and tuner. I haven't gotten it yet, but it should be here in the next couple days. I know a lot of people say not to buy a uke unless you've tried it, so I'm really going out on a limb here, but I'm willing to take a chance. I've read quite a few reviews on the ukulele I bought and it looks pretty promising, but what do you guys think about them? Anyways, just wanted to share this with you guys. Thanks!

kvehe · Jan 7, 2013

That's great, Kyle! Welcome to the best uke site! I don't have a Luna myself, but lots of people do and they're quite happy. Let us know how you like it when it arrives, and have fun learning!

bazmaz · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome!

Yep - hear good things about Lunas. A friend who sometimes comes to our jam sessions has one and loves his.

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

Really appreciate it guys. Hopefully it comes today, really looking forward to diving into this.

teruterubouzu · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome, and congratulations! I got my first one just a week and a half ago and I'm already hooked on ukulele and this site. Post a photo when it arrives!

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

teruterubouzu said:
Welcome, and congratulations! I got my first one just a week and a half ago and I'm already hooked on ukulele and this site. Post a photo when it arrives!

Thanks, and I will for sure. If you don't mind me asking, how well are you playing in just a week and a half?

bodhran · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome to the forum and have fun with your new ukulele. You are at the start of a very long but very rewarding journey.

teruterubouzu · Jan 7, 2013

Kyle23 said:
Thanks, and I will for sure. If you don't mind me asking, how well are you playing in just a week and a half?

I've got a handful of chords down. Now I'm trying to improve how quickly and naturally I move between them. I divide my practice time between working on chords/strumming and mangling, err, creatively interpreting songs that include the chords I know.

Ukulele is fun for us beginners because you can learn two chords and find songs that you can play and sing along to right away. It's good to mix it up. I'm using the Hal Leonard Play Ukulele Today book and I also signed up for UU+ and plan to make my way through that over the next few months. @Bazmaz, who posted earlier, authored a great book you should get -- The Complete What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know. It will basically get you up to speed as newcomer to the world of ukulele. I downloaded it on kindle and read it to get my uke fix when I can't play. It's really helpful.

And I've already ordered a new ukulele. I have a good excuse though - my first one was a piece of junk.

PhilUSAFRet · Jan 7, 2013

Greetings and welcome! Don't worry about the nay sayers. I usually send them a YouTube video or two of Jake, James Hill, or whoever else I think might impress them. Keep on practicing and playing for your own enjoyment. Lunas I've seen are nice little instruments.

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

bodhran said:
Welcome to the forum and have fun with your new ukulele. You are at the start of a very long but very rewarding journey.

Thank you, can't wait to start this journey.

teruterubouzu said:
I've got a handful of chords down. Now I'm trying to improve how quickly and naturally I move between them. I divide my practice time between working on chords/strumming and mangling, err, creatively interpreting songs that include the chords I know.

Ukulele is fun for us beginners because you can learn two chords and find songs that you can play and sing along to right away. It's good to mix it up. I'm using the Hal Leonard Play Ukulele Today book and I also signed up for UU+ and plan to make my way through that over the next few months. @Bazmaz, who posted earlier, authored a great book you should get -- The Complete What Ukulele Players Really Want To Know. It will basically get you up to speed as newcomer to the world of ukulele. I downloaded it on kindle and read it to get my uke fix when I can't play. It's really helpful.

And I've already ordered a new ukulele. I have a good excuse though - my first one was a piece of junk.

Appreciate it. My dad was a musician, so hopefully he passed some of his skill down to me haha. And I'm already looking at more ukuleles to get later in the year. I want a soprano, but I'm 6'4" and have pretty big hands so I hope it works out.

Uncle Leroy · Jan 7, 2013

Kyle, welcome and congrats. You will be happy you took the plunge.

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

PhilUSAFRet said:
Greetings and welcome! Don't worry about the nay sayers. I usually send them a YouTube video or two of Jake, James Hill, or whoever else I think might impress them. Keep on practicing and playing for your own enjoyment. Lunas I've seen are nice little instruments.

I'll keep this in mind for sure. Thank you.

Uncle Leroy said:
Kyle, welcome and congrats. You will be happy you took the plunge.

I'm happy already and I haven't even started. It's just a happy instrument for me, and I'd imagine everyone else feels the same.

teruterubouzu · Jan 7, 2013

One more n00b tip! Record yourself on your smart phone, webcam or whatever. I recorded myself playing This Land is Your Land a couple of hours after I started practicing. The video was originally meant to tease my nay-saying brother, but it ended up being a nice confidence boost when I watched it afterward and realized I actually played something resembling a song.

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

teruterubouzu said:
One more n00b tip! Record yourself on your smart phone, webcam or whatever. I recorded myself playing This Land is Your Land a couple of hours after I started practicing. The video was originally meant to tease my nay-saying brother, but it ended up being a nice confidence boost when I watched it afterward and realized I actually played something resembling a song.

Ayyy not a bad idea. I'll try this for sure. It's either going to boost my confidence or just crush me if I'm terrible haha, lets hope it's the 1st.

kvehe · Jan 7, 2013

Even if you're terrible, which you won't be, you'll be able to look back on it in a week, or a month, or a year, and see how much you've learned/accomplished.

Kyle23 · Jan 7, 2013

kvehe said:
Even if you're terrible, which you won't be, you'll be able to look back on it in a week, or a month, or a year, and see how much you've learned/accomplished.

I hope so. Usually I'm a quick learner so lets hope that translates into the ukulele

remy26 · Jan 7, 2013

Congrats on the new uke! I've played a few Lunas and they've been pretty nice instruments. Have fun! I think that you'll be surprised at how quickly you can get something down that sounds pretty good.

fitncrafty · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome to UU and enjoy your luna, I love mine a lot...

Newportlocal · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome to UU. Enjoy your new ukulele. Changing strings can make a huge difference in sound quality for little investment.

ukemunga · Jan 7, 2013

Welcome! Your friends and family will come around and YOU will be the trend setter!

Just Bought My First Uke!

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