Learning to play as an adult

This is something that has been on my mind alot lately. I played trombone for 3 or 4 years in my youth. I read music at the time and it is a skill I have yet to relearn. I also learned harmonica in my younger days. Teacher taught on trombone, self taught on harmonica. I would also from time to time try and take up guitar but for whatever reason I never connected to that instrument.

I'm firmly entrenched in middle age at this point. Why I picked up uke is irelevent to this discussion. For the first time in a long time I find myself passionate about learning a new skill. I LOVE my uke. I work on playing it almost every day. The days I don't are usualy because some work overtime cost me a nights sleep. I pull it out saying to myself "time to put in my 30 minutes practice" and end up putting it away 60 to 90 minutes later. I've been doing this about 7 months now and at this point I see my self doing this for years. Nothing I read on this or any other forum is going to change that.

Here's the thing.

I read posts on here all the time from people who seem to pick up a uke and 3days later can play 10 songs. At this point in time I would not say that I have mastered 1 song. I should say here that I am really hard on myself about what sounds good. Now don't get me wrong, I can close my eyes and strum lots of the main chords at will. Put a piece of music in front of me that has the chords I have mastered at the right spots and I will not embarass myself. The thing is, I have only recently gotten to this place in my uke playing. I'm getting better every day and looking forward to how I will play in a few years but those threads about picking up uke skills almost immediately still bug me a bit

So here is the point of this long winded thread...and it is largely aimed at those who took up this instrument after the age of twenty....well fifteen at least. Ehh scrub that, lets hear from everyone.

How hard was it for you to pick this instrument up and when did you start saying to yourself *I'm starting to get good at this".

I first touched a uke this past November 4th, my twentieth birthday. I now can play Banana Pancakes fairly comfortably, and can make it through about 2 more songs. I have definitely noticed that learning songs is getting easier and easier with each one.

I only just now feel like I've surpassed the agonizingly frustrating "I can't do this phase" and moved into the mildly enraging "I can kind of do this but only very poorly" stage. It soothes me to know that since I am somewhat capable, it is only a matter of time and practice before I hone myself into something presentable.

I had no musical past, apart from a few weeks of plinking on a keyboard to try to understand basic theory, and about a month's worth of terrible harmonica squawking a few years back.

Better late than never

When I was a kid I had some of the worst music teachers possible, and I hated music instruction so much that I swore never to take a musical instrument in my hands. Years later, when I was in the mid-twenties and I had gone half-way across the globe to go to school, I heard someone play an ukulele in front of the dorm I lived in. Now this person looked like someone you would not want to get into a bar fight with, buzzcut, tank top, tatoos and all...but completely at peace and playing some reggae tune.
Struck by the ease and beauty of the sound created, I obtained an old ukulele a number of years later from a flea market, but had no idea how to play it. Utube has not been invented back then, and people used the first versions of Netscape browsers. I found someone had put a scanned copy of an old 1914 ukulele instruction book online, and soon I found myself practicing the various chords shown...and figuring out its version of Aloha Oe. It took me about a year or so, and I think 10 years later, I have learned a couple more...Akaka Falls, Manuela Boy, El Condor Pasa, ...
But then, I still learn new stuff, and play the way I like...pick/strum melodies and ornamenting it with gusto...hammer-ons, slides, chimes, harmonics. I don't perform for anyone, just for myself ...make my own melodies as I go along.
It is never to late to learn Ukulele...enjoy many more years of ukulele

I have had a very similar experince. I learned to play trumpet when I was younger and could read music pretty well. I cannot do it presently. I also tried guitar but gave it up rather quickly. I picked up the uke about a year ago. I can play some simple songs twinkle twinkle and such picking Rocky Top (I'm a UT Grad had to learn) Besides that I can play alot of chords and make up stum patterns that sound good to me. I have watched all Aldrines lessons and can play them to some extent but have problems singing and playing. I am my hardest critic, although I am not that good I am better than anyone I know (I have not knowingly met another uke player).

I play almost daily and learn new stuff often but I will probably never play at the level I want to play at, who will? I think I have figured I will play for my own enjoyment and if I please anyone around me great, my wife is my biggest fan. At this point I dont know what else to say. I love the ukulele and will play it for life.

Like I read somewhere(paraphrase), the ukulele is an instrument you can learn to play in hours, but it takes a lifetime to master. (or something like that).

Keep on Stumming no matter what.

My weekend has started and Bacardi has been chilling with me!

I got my first real uke when I was 19, and the learning process has been nearly painless. Probably because the thing is so tiny that I can practice it anywhere. My Flea is usually on my lap when I'm on the computer, and my Kamaka is small enough to play laying in bed. It's hard NOT to practice.

And watching Aldrine's lessons religiously doesn't hurt, either!

Where to start?

I'm 39 and I started playing the uke at 39. (not a typo) I played the saxophone as a kid and about 8 eight years ago I took 3 months of guitar lessons and put it down shortly after that. I just recently got back into playing guitar.

...I read posts on here all the time from people who seem to pick up a uke and 3days later can play 10 songs.....

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It's not a race. Some people learn faster than others. As long as you're having fun....

...
How hard was it for you to pick this instrument up and when did you start saying to yourself *I'm starting to get good at this".

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I found it relatively easy to get started and make sounds that resemble songs. I have yet to say "I'm starting to get good at this".

Waterguy said:

I read posts on here all the time from people who seem to pick up a uke and 3days later can play 10 songs.

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these are usually people that have had years of guitar experience before. not starting from scratch.

Comments from people like deach and russ (there are a lot of you out there) are always encouraging, well not always, deach D), but they mean well.

I look at it this way, there's always someone younger that plays better then you. So if, someone learned 10 songs in 3 days, does that make him a better player? Do I care? Who wants to race with me? Bring it on.

I started playing the uke about 3-1/2 years ago, and I'm still learning. I'm never comfortable with where I'm at. Or should I say, never satisfied. And yes, I do tell myself I'm good at this, I love kidding myself, it keeps me going.

russ_buss said:

these are usually people that have had years of guitar experience before. not starting from scratch.

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I can say that this really helps, I played cello for ~10 years, violin for about as long and guitar for a while before I got my first ukulele.

The uke is the only one that I have enjoyed playing/practicing. I enjoyed performing with the others but not so much the other stuff, give me a uke and a new song that I like and I am happy. Before I would just rush through it to make sure that I could play and move on.

Age is less of a issue, the older players that I have helped have a interest in music theory and keeping bad habits at bay. The young guys do seem to jump from song to song.

Picked up the uke 6 years ago, pratice at least 4 days/wk if not 7 days/wk. Had quite a bit of music education, 6 years vocal training in various choirs in High school and college, trumpet for 3 years in middle school, one semester of ukulele and recorder in 4th grade. I find I learn best with a sheet of music in front of me since that is what I am used to. Learned my most complicated songs with tabs arranged by UUers Seeso and Dominator. Still wishing I could pick melodies and improvise better, and I count on my voice carrying my strumming mostly. I Do best when playing with others and can harmonize while playing. Keep practicing and playing the songs you love most, that'll keep you interested.

russ_buss said:

these are usually people that have had years of guitar experience before. not starting from scratch.

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I played over 10 songs the first day I picked up a guitar, Russ. Granted, they weren't chart toppers but my classmates thought I was the king! LOL! The same method I learned in that book can be applied to the uke. I use this method to teach adults to play their first song in less than 5 minutes. To give you the gist of how it lays the foundation, it starts out strumming the top 3 strings using only your index finger to fret one string to play a chord. The book is loaded with traditional songs that many are familiar withlike Camptown Ladies, Red River Valley, Clementine, ETC... and builds on that foundation. This is copied from a reply in the guitar section, in reply to a new member that stated people cannot be self-taught to play guitar:

Some may not learn on their own. Others do. I started playing the guitar in the 1960's. It took me exactly 14 minutes (I timed it. The newstand <that's what we called bookstore's back in the day> owner told me he would refund me the price of the book if I could not play a song in 30 minutes) to play my first song! A week later I was playing guitar and singing in my school and was instantly "cool". I still have that book. It was written by the former guitarist of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. I did play clarinet and sang in school bands and choirs, prior to that, so I understood music and music theory.

I'm not trying to discount the value of a teacher. It will accelerate the learning curve for most. Why can't a teacher be teaching in a YouTube video, for example. You would be amazed at some of the world's best guitarists that are self taught.

Here's the book:

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?q...or=Mottola&browse=1&cm_sp=works*listing*title

Thank god, another middle aged uke player, I'm 47.....I played flute from age 10-18 in school and retained most of my knowledge. I was never a great flute player. Came from a family of 5 multi-instrument players....except for me. Tried guitar several times, it just never clicked. Last January, I went to a beginning uke class, left there bought a $100 uke and never looked back. I now own 11, all four of my kids play, I play 3 days a week with different uke groups and am in a tropical rock band that actually has paying gigs. That amazing little instrument has radically changed my life. My biggest fear is cutting or burning a finger when cooking or having my predestined arthritis set in so I can't finger properly. I play no song perfectly, but I play a thousand okay. I love to play. I will play anywhere and everywhere. I even have ukes in my car for playing at stop lights.

Those few that know 10 songs in three days come from 3 different categories.
1. Guitar players that uke playing comes natural to.
2. Young players whose brains are not full of mundane things like going to work everyday, raising a family, paying bills, and trying to feed kids without going broke.
3. Those talented few that pick something up and naturally play.

The rest of us that can't be categorized here must learn to play for the joy of
playing. I believe my band mates are all much more accomplished musicians, I am blessed they allow me to play with them. I hope my enthusiasm makes up for my mediocre musicianship.

Just play because you love it.

Im also a guitar player who made the transition to ukulele. I've been playing guitar for about 10 years, and as soon as I picked up the ukulele it just felt like I was holding a tiny guitar, and i was playing and fingerpicking instantly since the chord shapes are the same as playing on the last 4 strings of a guitar with a capo at the 5th fret. I always make it known whenever I play for somebody or show videos that I have guitar playing experience. I dont think its right to try and fool people into thinking your a ukulele prodigy and discourage them. Just like when I started on guitar it takes practice and time. The longer you hold the instrument, the more it just becomes second nature.

Another player rapidly approaching middle age. (and I've got the bifocals and cholesterol to prove it)
I've got several decades of guitar behind me. (And first picked up a ukulele around the second week of February.) The fundamentals of guitar carried me over really well to uke, but the ukulele enables me to take a few things I never did well on guitar to a different level. But even so, I think I'll only be as good on uke as I was on guitar, which I always thought of as "above average" and that much I attributed mostly to the hours I put into it. As someone put it in another thread, playing is as much about muscle memory as anything else.

There's also that thing about needing to invest 10K hours into something to attain mastery. Which puts you at about three hours a day for a decade. Give it time.

As with a lot of threads on this forum, the operative word is Practice. It gets easier and if you're experience is going to be anything like mine, you'll find that you'll work and work and work forever and seem to hit a complete dead end until suddenly one day for no apparent reason you find yourself playing at another level.
It'll be a constant cycle of stagnation and frustration and sudden epiphanies. Enjoy the ride and challenge yourself.

ricdoug said:

I played over 10 songs the first day I picked up a guitar, Russ.

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a thousand pardons ric. i will recant my statement and provide this new one:

aside from child prodigies, these are usually people that have had years of guitar experience before.


my point was to the OP. don't be discouraged by others that claim to learn to play ukulele overnight. everybody learns at their own pace. learning to play an instrument should be fun and not frustrating. like deach said, "it's not a race".

50s, played guitar on and off for years, not very good but at least I could finger chords and pick. Access to tabs on the internet is what got me started back playing guitar on a regular basis, then picked up the uke about a year later. Guitar background made playing the uke alot easier. Wife started uking from scratch at the same time. Biggest breakthough was learning the songs and not looking at the music when we play. Started that 18 months ago and now know 50-60 songs by heart. When looking at the music I could only play 1 or 2 by heart. My wife summarized it best, it has to be fun. Definately not a race. As a side I've met alot of really nice people as a result of playing the uke. It's never too late to start, trying the Bass now, hey it's four strings right?

Guitar (or any other stringed instrument) skills definitely help. The first time I played a uke, I miraculously knew a bunch of songs just by playing familiar chord shapes and strum patterns. So in a way, that's cheating. And friction pegs didn't scare me because of 8 years of violin playing. Don't be intimidated by people who can shred on the uke after two days; they're mostly guitarists.

I imagine it's much more difficult when the ukulele is your first instrument, although brass/woodwind/piano/percussion skills don't carry over easily. However, one advantage to this is that you'll be more inclined to think like a uke player than a guitarist who happens to have a uke. I'm trying to get myself into the ukulele mindset now, but every so often I cave in and bust out some guitar riffs.

On a side note, the techniques that Aldrine teaches in lessons and uke minutes translate well to the guitar. Music theory is the same wherever you go, and the 4- and 5-finger rolls will add new dimensions to any strummy instrument.

I'm 51, and when I was in elementary school I had the traditional music education. Fast-forward to my mid-forties; I decided to learn an instrument, and began playing the hammered dulcimer. I don't sight read music, which made it a bit more challenging, but I enjoy playing.

About three weeks ago, I purchased a Kala KA-MT tenor uke from MGM. I love it! An advantages of the uke over the dulcimer is that the uke is much more portable. (The size of my dulcimer is about 4 ft x 2 ft x 4 in.) So, I can carry the uke with me and practice just about anywhere. I'm working on "Over the Rainbow" using Aldrine's video and pdf and still have a way to go. But I'm enjoying myself, so who cares about my learning speed?

Hang in there, and as someone else commented, just have fun!

i totally second on the guitar experience. I found the idea of strumming on ukulele really simple!!!!

since the strumming was all good for me it was easier for me to focus on the notes and finger placements.

I can also comment that I will probably never be an awesome guitar/ukulele picker but strumming is a-OK with me.

Music has no boundaries whether you are 3 or 103 years old!!!!
I really like dom's signature of "Practice makes practice perfect"....

have fun and remember UU is always here to help out!!