Learning uke and guitar simultaneously?

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Erwitt

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Hi! As I write in a previous post, I was looking for an online teacher, and finally found it! We have talked by phone about method, goals, previous experience... and we have scheduled our first class for next week.

But, to the point, he has offered to teach me guitar and ukulele simultaneously, something I had never considered before. I'm not so sure because I don't want to mess between the two instuments and don't have much time to practice one of them, let alone two! He says it doesn't have to be a mess, but what do you think? Any similar experience?

If helps, I consider myself an advance beginner with the uke, at most, while with the guitar I would start totally from scratch .

Thank you!
 
Are you learning baritone ukulele alongside guitar? If so, there is no problem as the 4 strings on a baritone ukulele are exactly the same (DGBE) as the first 4 strings on a guitar. A baritone ukulele is essentially a small guitar without the 2 bass (EA) strings.

If you are also learning guitar after knowing standard ukulele, tuned GCEA then you will have to learn 2 names for each note (fingering) position and chord (shape), one for guitar DGBE and the other for ukulele GCEA. That can become confusing and you will have to figure out a way to keep them separate. Knowing that, you will probably be fine.

On the plus side, they both have the same string intervals and chord shapes, just different names.
 
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Thank you for your quick reply!

Wiggy said:
Are you learning baritone ukulele alongside guitar? If so, there is no problem as the 4 strings on a baritone ukulele are exactly the same (DGBE) as the first 4 strings on a guitar. A baritone ukulele is essentially a small guitar without the 2 bass (EA) strings.

If you are also learning standard ukulele, tuned GCEA then you will have to learn 2 names for each note (fingering) position and chord (shape), one for guitar DGBE and the other for ukulele GCEA. That can become very confusing and you will have to figure out a way to keep them separate. Some have no problem doing that. I do.

On the plus side, they both have the same string intervals and chord shapes, just different names.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that... I'm learning standard ukulele (I have a concert and a tenor), not baritone. It makes sense that it would be more difficult in that case.
 
We all get excited with the baddest looking acoustic guitar lol Yamaha is a great starter guitar for practicing chord shapes and stuff. You can pick one up under $200.
Easy on the wallet, easy on the fingers, and you won’t feel as bad when you bang it against something. Because you will and it will happen a few times 😄
 
I learned guitar and baritone ukulele (and singing) side by side a few years ago.

In Spain it will give you a head start with wonderful local guitar music.

After a couple years I tried standard ukulele tuning and picked it up no problem.

My advice is to learn *chord family* groupings (examples: C, F, G; G, C, D; etc), and there is *never* time to attempt to map between baritone and standard tunings on the fly.

Cheers.
 
Can't hurt to try it out for a week or two, in my opinion. And remember you're in charge of the lessons, so if it feels like it isn't working out, you can drop the guitar.
 
I have a tough enough time with looking at ukuleles to purchase and which scale size to get. Adding a guitar (GAS) strikes fear in my heart.

The question is "Why?", which only you can answer. Are you okay with slowing down your ukulele progress in order to pick up learning guitar? What is your end point? Is it to pick up either so that you can back up someone on stage, switching between instruments? Do you want disinterested friends to know you are doing both? How about learning piano instead of guitar?

Only you can figure out if this is a good use of your lesson time. When I look at ukulele lessons in person, most teach a few, almost always including guitar. It can be an advantage or disadvantage to do both. (And guitars are huge!, lol)
 
I played guitar for decades before I picked up a ukulele and, apart from having less fretboard real estate, playing a ukulele is so much easier. Since taking up the ukulele 15 years ago, my guitars just sit in their cases. I imagine it is possible to learn both as the chord "shapes" are the same, less the guitar bass strings.

As for bass strings, unlike a ukulele where you can cover all 4 stings, you can't always accomplish that on a guitar. This means you sometimes need to mute or avoid a bass string or two strumming on a guitar. You can also do chord shapes on a ukulele that are not physically possible on a guitar.

If it were me, I'd learn guitar, and then apply what I learned to the ukulele after I had to good grasp of playing.

John
 
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I’ll probably get shot down for this BUT it’s the same instrument.

The biggest difference (if you have a low G) is you don’t have two octaves vertically when playing scales.

However, if you learn Major/Minor Scales, Harmonic/Melodic Minor, Phrygian/Dorian, Blues Scales and on and in the same patterns apply on both instruments.

CAGED system, 3 chords per string yup all the same.

I’ve never learnt a scale on a guitar and can solo over any backing track with a guitar purely from what I’ve learnt on my Uke.

I would choose which ever one you like.
 
I agree. Do both. The skills cross-over...because it is the same skill. However I would say the same thing if the pairing was the uke and the trombone. I find that dexterity is a skill that is able to be learnt and refined. Learning to be dexterous on one instrument will make it easier to be dexterous with the next one. For example a good way to master barre chords is to master 4 finger chords because being excellent snowballs. If you become excellent at one thing it makes it less arduous to become excellent on the next thing.
 
I think this is a fantastic idea, especially since you already have experience with the uke. One of the hardest things about learning guitar, and knowing what you're doing up the neck, has been solved for you. You will be very familiar with all the notes from the fifth fret up.
Don't worry that it will hinder you at all, it won't. Jump on in and have fun learning two instruments that are very similar.
 
It depends on whether you want to learn guitar or not. If you have a desire to learn guitar, then I don't see any problems with learning both at the same time. If it's an acoustic or electric guitar, then most of the right hand flat pick techniques will not transfer directly to the uke. However, if it's a classical guitar, then almost everything will transfer to the uke directly.
 
Thank you for all your comments!

To be honest, I'm surprised. I thought more of you would say it's better to just focus on ukulele, at least until I reach a higher level.

The truth is that learning guitar is one of my long-standing desires, but as soon as I started with the ukulele that idea went out of my head...

The main drawback I see right now is the lack of time both in classes and to practice. We have set an hour a week (my budget doesn't allow for more) and I'm afraid it's too little time to cram in so much content. And the same for practicing, usually I can dedicate only about 30 minutes to play, and many days not even that. And if I have to divide that time between ukulele and guitar, I don't know...

Well, I will tell him about my doubts in the first class, which is on Tuesday, to see what he recommends.
 
Well, two other options are on the table... One is to stay with ukulele and pick up guitar in the future... with the same or a different instructor.

The other is to try a lesson or two with both and see if it works for you or not. You can try the huge guitar that made my fingers hurt forever and see if doing both is feasible and desirable.

One option that would be ethically and morally wrong is to try both and give up the ukulele.
 
I think these are valid considerations. I think it's also good to give something an honest try, too - I'm very guilty of catastrophic thinking, of "what if"-ing myself out of a thing, so I'd like to offer you space and permission to let go of that cycle of thought, and learn the thing(s) that you want to learn. And it's not a race. If it takes you twice as long to learn to play two instruments, while that feels frustrating as far as progress goes (believe me, I can absolutely empathize about progress frustration), there's no timeline or budget of time on learning. It takes as long as it takes, and you'll discover that stuff that you make leaps in progress over in one instrument very likely convey into the other (and into other aspects of your life, if you let it). I look forward to hearing how your first lessons go! Enjoy this wonderful journey you're embarking on, and remember that it's worth playing not just practicing (whatever level of play that means - find joy in exploring and experimenting).
 
Break that 30 minutes to 6 five minute practice sessions. 5 minutes of nonstop chord changes , practicing chord families is more than enough. Most songs are under 5 minutes.
You have time you just don’t know it yet 🤙🏽
 
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