Why I love ukulele. You?

etf

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Just wanted to say why I love the ukulele. Been playing roughly a year now after an unforeseen layoff through illness. But now I look forward to playing every chance I get.
To me the reason I love the ukulele is it has opened up a new world of music. Like most people I just used to listen to the music I liked. Now I play the ukulele I love all music. I maybe scrolling through members uploads to one of the Seasons and hear a song I've never heard before or looking at songs posted on YouTube. Next I look up the song and search for the song sheet. Before you know it I am learning a song I like but would have not even known about if it were not for the ukulele. Thanks to the ukulele and its super feel-good factor it has broadened my love of music. This week I've been working on songs by artists I know about but never heard the songs, they are Running down a dream by Tom Petty and Everything is Broken by Bob Dylan (thanks to Pabrizzer) I now love and play both these songs. Finally you can't beat that feeling of being able to sit down and play music yourself.
Would love to hear your reasons why you love the ukulele?

ETF :cool:
 
1. I love underdogs
2. It's fun to compose for
3. It's a very friendly instrument to have in a small house
4. It's possibly the most social instrument there is
5. It teaches you how to do more with less
6. It's a great teaching tool
7. That ukulele vibe/thing/spirit
 
The most portable form of string twanging I have ever found.
It's only rock and roll,and old time music hall,and standards,
and R&B and the blues,and ballads.........
 
Love your question!

I started playing the ukulele because I wanted to take an instrument on vacations. Totaly unaware of the amazing potential I ended up with the ukulele.
When I found out how easy it is to play and learn new songs, and how the high G sting makes every chord sparkle, I totaly fell in love.
What makes ukulele playing even better is the amazing community around it. It can't be a coincidence that ukulele players are friendly, helpful people, right?

Also, my girlfriend loves to hear me play the ukulele, so that is an extra bonus :)
 
Although I am a failed musician of every sort (guitar in college, didn't have the hand strength; flute in fourth grade, it was boring; five years of organ lessons, yes organ lessons, need I say more) I can pick up a uke and learn "blackbird" in one sitting, and obsess over it all night, and it sounds amazing. Who wouldn't love an instrument that both an idiot like me can make sound amazing and so many other people can make sound even more amazing??

Plus, I can take it with me pretty much everywhere.
 
good question, I took up playing the uke when I was waiting for an operation to remove my gall bladder, I looked at learning a couple of different instruments but chose the ukulele, it was a really good decision on my behalf, because in 2 years the ukulele and all the wonderful people that I associate with has really changed my life, I now jointly run a ukulele club in my hometown boasting over 100 members, I have started a 15 piece ukulele band and we are gigging regularly for charity and getting regular paying gigs, but most importantly I have made literally 100's of new friends worldwide who are all so helpful and lovely, I really didn't realise how things would change that day 2 years ago when I first picked up that £20 ukulele, kaizer
 
Gr8 question! It's the only instrument that has allowed me to express the music that I hear in my head. I've tried other instruments and I've never been able to play what I hear.. Now I can.
As such, I love my uke so much that its hard to explain to anyone else.
Keep strummin everyone, it's another form of smilin;)
 
It's so easy to compose instrumentals as compared to guitar or bass!
 
I originally picked it up two years ago because I thought it would be a fun thing to learn and play around the house when my daughter was born (who is now old enough to bang on the strings of her uke). Immediately after I did that, I played in the pit of a musical that actually needed a ukulele for a part, so I played that and string bass. Once the folk group that I play with found out, we had to start arranging songs to allow more uke time. It snowballed since then, to the point of me playing a couple solo gigs with just me and the uke.
 
Some great replies. Seems like to coin a phrase this "Mighty Uke" is one inspirational instrument that has changed many a life.

ETF :cool:
 
It provides me with the opportunity to appreciate music and to entertain myself by strumming and singing. It's very easy to learn. The size is also small enough to bring along almost everywhere.
 
for me, its the simplicity and organic nature this little instrument offers up. coming from an acoustic fingerstyle guitar background-a Uke is so much more portable and actually at times, more satisfying with the simple lines, the lightness of weight, but yet it still puts out so much tone. come to think of it, I haven't touched my guitars in quite a while-or the weissenborn.

Daniel Ho and Brittni Paiva were to blame for my immediate head first dive into this unique music.
this is what started it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBwBlIBfpYY
the same song performed by a friend on guitar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1x1txmfuV8
then I found Aldrine and that pretty much summed it up
d
 
I enjoy the fact that it never feels like I'm practicing, even when I'm learning new things I'm having fun with it.
 
I actually got into ukulele from the technical aspects, as I know that most any instrument can play any type of music.

It's simple, small, and inexpensive. I don't spend half my wallet or half my music time changing dead strings, like I did with guitar. It doesn't wear holes in my callouses, like a guitar or, especially, a tenor banjo (a short-lived experiment). The nylon strings don't destroy the frets, as steel ones do. I've refretted two antique tenor banjos, and I don't care to do that again with any instrument.

With decent care a ukulele should last a lifetime, especially if it shares playtime with 2 or more other ukes.
 
I was a frustrated piano student. I took piano lessons for years and never became more than a clumsy intermediate player. It took me at least a month to learn a song. Although learning the piano taught me so much (I have a good grasp of music theory because of it) it became a chore for me. One day I was in a piano forum I frequented and someone mentioned learning to play the ukulele. I believe they called it ".....the anti-piano". That sounded so good to me that I went out and bought my first uke. The same day I learned my first song and was amazed at how easy it was. I haven't been able to put it down since ;). It has given me so much more confidence and joy in my life. I'm still pretty shy, but I get better all the time.

Thanks for asking this question :D.
 
After playing bass for many years, and then TRYING to pick up a six string guitar for more versatility in making music, the uke popped into my life a year ago on a family trip to Hawaii. Been smitten ever since for many reasons: Portability, the ability (with limited experience) to create pleasing music, affordability, diversity in appearance of different uke makers, plus 1's to reasons previously mentioned.
Mostly, strumming a uke decompresses me from my daily grind and transports me to a more tropical sector in my mind....
 
10 good reasons why I love the uke:

1. I only need to worry about 4 strings
2. The strings don't hurt my fingers
3. It makes sad songs sound happy and moronic songs sound cool
4. It's affordable—which gives me an excuse to buy yet another uke
5. It's very portable—I don't get backaches carrying it
6. It doesn't compete with me for attention by being big and bulky
7. It’s so lightweight I can dance with it like a rock star (when no one’s home)
8. It makes me look cool
9. It’s unpredictable—you never know when some luthier will invent a new shape and size
10. It’s never boring

Now that's what I call 10 good reasons.
 
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