Any other guitar drop outs?

I tried to learn guitar about 11 years ago... I quickly gave it up, even after lessons. Maybe I just didn't like my guitar (electric, starter with a nice buzz on some of the top frets), or maybe (as I claim) six strings for four fingers just didn't click with me.

Ukulele has been a complete opposite experience. I wish I'd waited for my guitar phase until after my Honeymoon (about 10 years ago). We went to Hawai'i. I didn't "discover" uke until last year when I went back there for work.

I'm not a drop out. I just couldn't get the bar cords and had to play around them.. which got old. I'm hoping this will facilitate my guitar bar cord skills. Though the wife has taken over my guitar she bought me for my birthday/christmas four years ago?

yes! I find Barres to be much easier on uke, though steel vs. nylon could make a difference there, too.

Not a dropout, but a convert for sure. I still play the guitar a bit, just not as much.

I consider my self a drop out. I bought a guitar years ago for a boyfriend who turned out to be married. My clue was when he kept leaving the guitar at my house! Lol any way after awhile I began guitar lessons and I was improving. Then I went out of the country for two months and I never picked it up again. I like the Uke better for lots of reasons but the main reason is that uke players just seem to be more fun, at least in my neck of the woods. I'm pretty rough but they still let me tag along and encourage all the way!!

I can play guitar but if I were to pick between the two, it would be ukulele all the way

I used to play guitar.
Played for 5 years. I was in a band for 2 years. But once I picked up a uke for the first time... was love at first strum.
Ever since, my guitar has only been gathering more dust. I'm selling my Gibson Les Paul to pay for the Kanile'a I recently bought

UncleMoon said:

Not a dropout, but a convert for sure. I still play the guitar a bit, just not as much.

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Ditto. I like anything with strings and frets, but 99% of the time I pick up a uke.

Guitar drop out here. I'm having enough trouble remembering my way around 4 strings thanks to old age

I played guitar for 53 years and picked up a uke a couple of years ago. There's '63 Gibson ES330 and the very fiirst Breedlove CM gathering dust in my room. I know I either have to start playing them or sell them; it's not right instruments of that caliber not being played.

I am just about to buy my first proper Uke after playing one the other day. I have played guitar for around 10 years but I think I will be playing my Uke more once I have decided what to get.

Please help me decide!

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/forum/showthread.php?83215-Hi-please-help!

I don't know that I'd call myself a dropout - I still own some guitars and can play them if need be - but I do definitely prefer my ukes.

John

Another convert here. Grew up with woodwinds. Switched to guitar about 13 years ago and have played them on and off for that time. Got serious about uke last August, and now the serious has become the obsession. I am quite certain if I had met the ukulele prior to the guitar, there probably wouldn't have been guitars in my life. I do love all stringed instruments, but I have made more progress on the uke; and been more satisfied with it in the scant months I have played, than all the years I have worked with guitar.

Although guitar is fab, I have struggled with it so; and have to work so hard to achieve what I consider--mediocrity. I have accepted I seem to be on a perpetual guitar plateau. I have no natural musical gifts. All my progress is hard won through practice and straight up work and I still feel like such a beginner. I so envy/admire those who can pick up an instrument and play by ear, and play well quickly--but that will never be me!! However, the uke has revived my hope that maybe, just maybe if I keep at it that...SOMEDAY I can be really good. The tickle is there in the back of my brain. I never really got that with the guitar.

In the meantime, I usually do not go a single day without playing both instruments; but the uke gets most of the love. Plus, holding a guitar is now like cuddling a baby water buffalo in comparison to the uke. The uke is also so much easier on my left wrist tendonitis that keeps rearing its ugly head. And, so important, the uke is beautiful because it is such a constant companion, the size guarantees it!!

Nikita said:

Although guitar is fab, I have struggled with it so; and have to work so hard to achieve what I consider--mediocrity. I have accepted I seem to be on a perpetual guitar plateau. I have no natural musical gifts. All my progress is hard won through practice and straight up work and I still feel like such a beginner. I so envy/admire those who can pick up an instrument and play by ear, and play well quickly--but that will never be me!! However, the uke has revived my hope that maybe, just maybe if I keep at it that...SOMEDAY I can be really good. The tickle is there in the back of my brain. I never really got that with the guitar.

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This - you just described my musical life perfectly! I can still pick up a guitar and bang out accompaniment for vocals if needed but I don't feel like I'll ever progress from there in spite of playing for a couple of decades. I'm no virtuoso on the uke but I am already a far more versatile uke player and I am still improving.

John

I love music so much! Isn't it sad that sometimes loving something AND being great at it doesn't always go hand in hand!? How unfair!! Versatile is a great word. That is how I feel. Like there is so much possibility with the uke, and I might actually be able to get my hands around some of it.

The beautiful thing about music though IMHO, instruments really; is that the journey never ends. There is no destination. We can always learn something new, we can always get better, and the learning curve is infinite. We can also play til we basically keel over. What other things in life can offer that sort of consistency and pleasure and demand so little in return? Once you get a serviceable instrument all it requires is a new set of strings every so often, the commitment, and the time, time, time to practice. So much (happiness) return on so little invested! However, being super type A, it IS nice to get some feedback that progress is being made, and that is what I seem to be getting from the uke. I can actually feel myself growing everytime I pick up the instrument, even if I only gather one miniscule morsel of new information from hours of playing time.

I always encourage people of all ages to play an instrument. I think people think I am a little nutty because I am just so excited about the uke, but I just want to spread the joy (aka ALOHA) I feel to everyone. Everyone should have a chance to experience something as pure as creating music. That's what makes the uke cooler than most instruments--it doesn't cost a lot, it seems less intimidating, it is beautiful in its simplicity and the return is more immediate than say, as I think I mentioned--guitar hehe...