Any of you "un-musical" types take up the uke and learned it well?

my, friend, i can feel ya. i began this past sept. i still feel i'm not making any progress, but i'm not being honest with myself, i'm being impatient. my add is gnar gnar; and coupled with a slight ocd the perfectionism is also something i deal with. i am making progress. i try to play and watch and read at least daily. here's what i have been doing.

uncle rod's bootcamp: pick a key, might as well start with C. go through it and make notes on date and how you went through it. do the sheet a few times, and say the chords out loud as you read and finger them. at the end of each week, not progress, and move to next key, but in second week, include previous sheets.

UU: uu has some great great lessons, some free and some for university students, and aldrine is great and an awesome teacher. (i plan to go annual as soon as $ tree bears billbuds)

hms: aaron at the hawaii music supply is also fantastic with his instructionals

some of the vids i wathed 8-10, sometimes 20 times berfore something just clicked. it wasnt but last week, that the CAGFD system clicked. (still familiarizing with scales and their positions).

keep at it. art isn't absorbed through osmosis, and obsetvation alone only goes so far. perfection is the product of the squares of practice and persistance.

Hey Redeye, Who uses the CAFGD system? I found Uncle Rod's CFGAD system worked well and spread it around to people who want to learn to play by ear. When I suggest it to Banjo Players I tell them to ignore the Key of F though.

IamNoMan said:

Hey Redeye, Who uses the CAFGD system? I found Uncle Rod's CFGAD system worked well and spread it around to people who want to learn to play by ear. When I suggest it to Banjo Players I tell them to ignore the Key of F though.

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hey Iam,
http://www.theukulelesite.com/free-resources
scroll down to aaron's vid on uke theory. about 10 vids from the bottom of page.
i found the ubc to be quite helpful. i found that i my fingers knew chords my brain did not with the ubc. i also began to 'see' the way some chords work together; the final chords of each key on the ubc are also common vamps. seeing the way the chords work together is helping me usnderstand the I, II, i,iii, 7th chord stuff that was klingon to me not too long ago.(still hella confused about that ish, but it's slowly making sense.)

i also forgot to mention a channel on the tubes; the fretboard toolbox, may also be a useful resource for as is has been for me.

Redeyejedi said:

hey Iam,
i found that i my fingers knew chords my brain did not with the ubc. i also began to 'see' the way some chords work together; the final chords of each key on the ubc are also common vamps. seeing the way the chords work together is helping me usnderstand the I, II, i,iii, 7th chord stuff that was klingon to me not too long ago.

Click to expand...

Interesting Aaron does a real nice job with the movable chord shapes. Those guys know how to film a video tutorial too. That is a real advantage.

I had the same experience with muscle memory as you did. UBC was a good enough method for me without the vids. What ever floats your boat ehhh? Frankly I am amazed at how much better/ quicker the muscle memory devloped on uke. When I am learning from a cheat book and I see a difficult progression coming up my fingers are there before my brain engages. It usually throws my timing off . I should just turn my brain off. It would sound better. The methods these Hawaiian guys have developed are very very effective. Took my ears about 4 years and my brain 5 years to understand how and when 7th chords worked. - that was on the banjo. Took about 3 weeks for my ears/hands brain to achieve the same level of understanding regarding diminished chords. - on uke. It took ten minutes to grasp suspended chords. I haven't had the time time play with this knowledge to get through to my ear/fingers. I just have to allocate the time.

Redeye find out about how the I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII chords in any key are structured. I don't have a ready link. When you have understood this structure you will make another quantum leap in your playing. Even if you never use all the chords in a given Key.

PREACHER: Aarons vids are about 10 minutes long UBC takes 22 minutes to go through five keys worth of chords. Take the time to do this one way or another and soon your hands will know the chords even if your head doesn't.

CeeJay said:

Settee ? Archaic ? Why ...it's British !!......oh, yes ....right fair point.....Pass the tea pot would you there 's a good chap....
As for the counting thing well here you go ...this is how Trolls count :..One ....er Two...Free..... Many .....Lots.....MuchMoreThanLots...
(attrib: T Pratchett):nana::shaka::music:
PS It would be fair to say that when I left home my village also lost a perfectly good idiot.

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Silly me not checking the over the pond lingo before calling the word archaic but damn swell on you for still finding a way to agree with my misinformed statement. I must admit I'm more a coffee person but when I drink tea is strong and black, even when iced. As long as you understand that a Coke a name brand of cola and a coke is never anything but a cola flavored brown colored soda well do fine. I enjoy your sense of humor. The village idiot spot is never vacant so no worries. I'm certain the next one stepped up. Though my statement means to listen to everything and everyone, to dismiss anyone frivolously is acting the idiot and quite possibly missing something great. I was not implying you were an idiot.

~AL~

Inksplosive AL said:

To summarize, someone who just gets something may never understand the struggle other have doing the same thing.....

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This is so true. I don't know how many times I've read threads where someone like myself is struggling with how to play something or how to form a certain chord or whatever the case may be and then invariably, there will be someone who suggests playing bar chords and moving further down the neck or to do an alternative tuning or they go into some unfathomable speech requiring a working knowledge of music theory. Maybe that kind of stuff comes naturally and easily to them but I'm just doing all I can just to make something sound decent as I strum and work away at stuff on those top 4 frets.

IamNoMan said:

PREACHER: Aarons vids are about 10 minutes long UBC takes 22 minutes to go through five keys worth of chords. Take the time to do this one way or another and soon your hands will know the chords even if your head doesn't.

Click to expand...

This is the approach Ive taken is to just play and noodle. I'll figure out the technical stuff later if I ever need to. I think uncle Rods Boot Camp inspires noodling as every line contains many songs.

---

Health was mentioned and is personal but. Just over a year ago I found out the hard way that I was suffering a reaction to a old tier prescription drug for diabetes. It was either poisoning my body or causing my body to poison itself. My memory was greatly affected as it was before being diagnosed as a diabetic. Get yourself checked for good measure.

~AL~

mikelz777 said:

This is so true. I don't know how many times I've read threads where someone like myself is struggling with how to play something or how to form a certain chord or whatever the case may be and then invariably, there will be someone who suggests playing bar chords and moving further down the neck or to do an alternative tuning or they go into some unfathomable speech requiring a working knowledge of music theory. Maybe that kind of stuff comes naturally and easily to them but I'm just doing all I can just to make something sound decent as I strum and work away at stuff on those top 4 frets.

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I'll try out alternate chords, and I'll try playing further down the neck, but while interesting, it does not solve the problem generally. But sometimes I get an answer from someone and I just hope that they impressed themselves with their response, because it was totally lost on me.

One of the joys of these forums is the availability of different opinions and formats. 23 varieties but you can only eat one or two scoops... at a time! Often I have found that even the rants I can't understand offer insights. sometimes its relevant to the topic under discussion sometimes to an unrelated area of interest. Hawaiian chords were mentioned in some post or another. This opened doors for me.

We are beginners here. Most everything is unfathomable at first. I have found the longwinded music theory explanations are often only helpful after careful study and several readings. When I see such posts on subjects of interest I bookmark them for later study.

When I see something totally over my head I smile and am grateful that someone tried to help me.

Inksplosive AL said:

Silly me not checking the over the pond lingo before calling the word archaic but damn swell on you for still finding a way to agree with my misinformed statement. I must admit I'm more a coffee person but when I drink tea is strong and black, even when iced. As long as you understand that a Coke a name brand of cola and a coke is never anything but a cola flavored brown colored soda well do fine. I enjoy your sense of humor. The village idiot spot is never vacant so no worries. I'm certain the next one stepped up. Though my statement means to listen to everything and everyone, to dismiss anyone frivolously is acting the idiot and quite possibly missing something great. I was not implying you were an idiot.

~AL~

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I'm sorry ...what ? Why should you be any different to anyone else.. I demand that you imply that I am an idiot ...:nana:.


However on a serious note........no can't do it ...hang on uuuuhhghhhhg "Laaaaaaa" Best we are going to get.....I may be one of those guilty of sometimes trying to be helpful and bashing people with knowledge and coming across as a "know -it-all" and that is the last thing that I ever want to do and it may have been this in the past that has upset some people....

Hippie Dribble called me arrogant in a post a few weeks back and has seriously fallen out with me....I am scratching my head non - plussed .:wallbash:.this gives me an idea as to maybe why ...

I have no honest intent other than to help and assist ....if I write something in reply to a post that sounds a bit over teckernickle ,say so ...it is no point offering input if it isn't pitched right......

I also did not realise that a lot of the peeps on here are beginners ...I asssumed that I was the runt of the litter knowledge wise ...I don't play much Hawaiian (none in fact ) but will have a go at anything else from Rock to Old Time and Reggae to Classical....I want to help , share and be useful (first time that 'll be then ....I wouldn't even make a good door stop...I'd sit on the wrong side and watch the door open away from me !!!)....

So feel free to groin me if I babble on ....unless of course I am babbling about babble for the sake of babble....

Preacher, I hope you don't give up.
I too struggle, seemingly with the most simple techniques. I get weary of "guitar folks" trying to explain things, or music theorists saying things WAY over my head. I will never, ever learn likie anyone else.
The thing I think, that propelled me, was taking three ukulele lessons from a very kind friend, who plays way better (yes, he's a guitar player too) than I.
I was holding the damn thing wrong! For three friggin years! It was as though a light went off in my head. You would think that I would have found out something that basic right away....but NOOOOO, not me....I learn the hard way, most of the time.
You never know what will finally spark something. If you are playing alone every day, you're not going to notice your progress. I love to play with better players who are patient and enjoy showing me things. It really helps.
TRy not to be dissapointed, and please, don't compare yourself to anyone else. If I did that, I'd burn my ukes....

I play guitar,piano,piano accordion,4 voice single row accordion,harmonica,balalaika,mandolin,5 string banjo,...I once dabbled with one of the egg slicer thingies....June Carter played one ....ummmm ...dunno...

I 'll rephrase... I attempt to play the foregoing ...all self taught .....all gone through the pain that you are talking about .....but first before any of these was a ukulele ...which eventually I neglected and left alone ...then went back to ...and abandoned once more ...and so on ....they are NOT an easy instrument ....no instrument is....they are relatively easy ...ah yes ...but that does not mean that you don't have to put in the hours....but the hours do not have to be leaden with rules and regulations and theory and other ...here we go ..s** ...it's as fun a box as you want it to be ...and if you want to play it in a serious and sophisticated manner so be it ....I play it like a total twit....or a Jerk .... (as in my understanding of that title which is from that glorious Steve Martin film of the same name .."the Jerk" so to me jerk means amiable harmless buffoon ....I am a Jerk...so I need to be enlightened as to the rules definition The uke is a journey and 40 years later me and my little buddy (ies) are now the bestest of friends again ...my music knowledge ( um black notes and some white notes and um ...no that's it) was founded on the uke ...so there ....I understand the frustrations and angst ...now that I am clear as to where we all stand relatively ...time for me to go.

Hubby and I decided to play the uke after taking a Hawaiian cruise that taught "free" lessons. Really easy, easy lessons that allowed us to play songs that were real songs!! Neither of us are musical and didn't have a clue as to what we were doing. When we got back we took a class at a community college and joined some local Jams so that we could play (quietly sort of strum) with others. We're both a bit older than you and it didn't come easily. We've never, ever played 3 hours a day!! I doubt I've ever done anything for 3 hours. Uncle Rod's Boot Camp was a turning point for us (check it out on this site with a search) If we weren't having fun, we wouldn't be doing this. Don't expect so much from yourself, you'll get where you'll be comfortable. I now know where chords are in different positions and do okay playing. Hubby still has trouble playing more than basic chords but he has fun and can play along with others. He probably sounds better playing the simple chords well than others do playing the more complicated fingerings badly. Not everyone on this board wants to be a musician, some of us just want to play with others and not mess up their playing. i.e We just want to have Fun!

i remember when i taught myself to play guitar - a bit! - just chords, strumming, little bit of fingerpicking, and a microscopic amount of reading music - from a book, starting when i was about 13. i remember then, it was the age of steam i didn't have an electronic tuner, only pitch pipes, i would get one string in tune from the pitch pipes, and tune the other strings relative from that, and from my daily half hour or so practice, i swear a good twenty to twenty-five minutes was spent getting the guitar in tune!

but now there are electronic tuners! yay! so you can get in tune nice and fast and spend the rest of your time playing!

but thinking back, what i did was play every day, and just work my way through that book. well maybe not all the way through it! but most of the way through it! when you are first starting out, it's really hard to get used to making the chord shapes with your fretting hand, and then you have to strum too, and change chords, oh gosh HOW DOES ALL THIS MADNESS WORK?! but you keep at it, every day, and you get there in the end.

i really recommend getting a good starter book and just working your way through it. when i started on uke a couple of years ago, i hadn't played much guitar for ages, and i was never any good anyway! i'd played a bit of bass guitar but again just very very basic stuff. i got "ukulele for dummies" and started working through it, once i had C F and G chords i remember shutting the book and running off and writing little tiny sort-of song type things, that was thrilling, i never did that on guitar. just get those few starter chords and play play play them. get your strumming and chord changes going reliably before you try anything fancy like fingerpicking. look for songs with just two or three chords - you can get books of three chord songs. you can use guitar song books, you only need the chord letter, if it says C just ignore the chord box for guitar and play the C chord how you play it on uke.

you must be patient with yourself. you are teaching your brain and body to do new and skilled stuff, play every day, play simple stuff, just strum C and F alternating and revel in how nice it sounds, the uke is very sweet sounding, it is no great sacrifice to just listen to it ring out some very simple chords.

have fun, keep it simple, and play even just half an hour a day. and get "ukulele for dummies". those would be my top tips

IamNoMan said:

Interesting Aaron does a real nice job with the movable chord shapes. Those guys know how to film a video tutorial too. That is a real advantage.

I had the same experience with muscle memory as you did. UBC was a good enough method for me without the vids. What ever floats your boat ehhh? Frankly I am amazed at how much better/ quicker the muscle memory devloped on uke. When I am learning from a cheat book and I see a difficult progression coming up my fingers are there before my brain engages. It usually throws my timing off . I should just turn my brain off. It would sound better. The methods these Hawaiian guys have developed are very very effective. Took my ears about 4 years and my brain 5 years to understand how and when 7th chords worked. - that was on the banjo. Took about 3 weeks for my ears/hands brain to achieve the same level of understanding regarding diminished chords. - on uke. It took ten minutes to grasp suspended chords. I haven't had the time time play with this knowledge to get through to my ear/fingers. I just have to allocate the time.

Redeye find out about how the I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII chords in any key are structured. I don't have a ready link. When you have understood this structure you will make another quantum leap in your playing. Even if you never use all the chords in a given Key.

PREACHER: Aarons vids are about 10 minutes long UBC takes 22 minutes to go through five keys worth of chords. Take the time to do this one way or another and soon your hands will know the chords even if your head doesn't.

Click to expand...

yes, i am tryin' get that down. and play further up the fret. i'm making a song, and hearing certain chords that go well together and those that lead into other more pleasantly than others is making me see chord groups. i just not seeing the patterns to the structure.

hey, preacher....

folks have been throwing some solid suggestions, and whatever advice jells with your style of learning, don't expect to be a parkour king, a ninja warrior, or spartan course champ......if you're having trouble negotiating walking. we flail our arms before we crawl, and fall and fall while we crawl, proir to standing tall. we fall yet even more when we learn to run, jump, ski, dance, skate......but once there, not a single thought about the function of walking....it's muscle memory. and when you're committing motor skill to muscle memory ie practice...you're cementing/imprinting motions to memory: to a part of the brain that records it almost permanently. the frustrating part for me is the learning module to the brain that makes the process much much faster turns off with age, which is why we(or most animals for that fact) learn much faster in early stages in life, they must in order to survive.

i have to realize that progress always seems to come very slowly if comparing oneself to others; they might be getting better also, so it's a defeating vantage point to assume. better to make benchmarks and goals within one's own repetoire. i am getting better than when i began this past september. i would LOVE to be further along, and perhaps with a teacher i may be a little farther along, but being overly hard on myslef has me playing and enjoying less, which is self-fulfilling....but as is practive and enjoying it....you play and thus practice more.

some practive doing drills, regimented scale step stuff, spider crawls, thissos and thatos, and some just strum, or pick, or.....just have fun man.....

cheers, and happiest off festival season to all, and merry christmas, and happy hanukah, and happy kwanza, and happy shagday, and happy new year!

Aaron

Preacher, I am a music lover who is unmusical. Played a few band instruments in my youth no a little piano and I frankly stunk. I started playing the Uke in my late 50s and am loving it. I have been playing for several years and despite my lack of musical talent I have made what I consider to be good progress. I do play a lot each day, most everyday. Actually, you think I'd be better by now. But in any case, I am enjoying myself tremendously. Even if I got no better, I can strum and sing along to many, many songs and what a kick that is for me. I'm not saying that I am no longer trying to improve, I am. As the spirit moves me, I work on chord/melody arrangements, strumming pattern, new tunes. Just by continuing to play regularly, I am getting a bit better, but frankly, even if I didn't get any better, I am certainly enjoying myself. So, by no means should you get discouraged. Making music is such a soul-satisfying experience in and of itself.

Whoa ....just hang on here ......if you got a ukelele ...and you can get a tune out of it ...you ain't UN musical.......!!!

Even if one just bangs it rhythmically on the head (your own head ,preferably) and sing The Marselleise*

We may not be gifted,skilled,talented ,trained,flemish,knowledgeable,virtuoso,advanced,or whatever ..yet ....but un musical....nah....we got a uke there has to be a spark of music in there ....that's why we bought it .....


*Or similar patriotic song of your choice.

I totally agree with CeeJay on this. Lawsy what am I saying!

The second time you try to play a chord, or practice anything you become a musician. Perhaps a mediochre musician but that is good enough for folk music. GEFFM. There is no such thing as a bad musician. You may never be more than a mediochre musician (that's me), but its GEFFM.

Despite some very musical folk in my family (my Dad can play a lot of instruments, and can listen to a song and just play it), I've always struggled.

I did piano/keyboard as a youngster, could read the music but only ever play basic stuff. A few years ago my brother gave me a guitar and I started learning, mostly from YouTube and other online sources. Chord sheets are an easy enough way to start, then move onto tabs and then I guess sheet music, but i'm not there yet.

Working hard at something doesn't take the fun out of it. Expecting to pick up an instrument and playing like a virtuoso is just not realistic, and it will always take hard work. That work can be lots of fun if it's something you enjoy. It took me months to be able to put songs together, and I'm still not great at it.

But you know, if you're not having any luck then getting some lessons might be a good way to get a kick start, but quite frankly, that would be a waste of money if you're not going to practice most days.

UPDATE BY THE OP--
It has been quite encouraging reading this thread as so many of you offered great advice, uplifting suggestions, and a good kick in the butt! All are needed and appreciated. So here's what's happened since I opened this thread:

1. Life went nuts! The schedule for the holidays is always crazy, but add in a funeral and some extra hospital visits, and crazy turned into .... um ... MORE crazy. But I played my uke anyway. I took 10 minutes here and there, a half-hour late at night, a few minutes in the morning. I didn't get to it EVERY day (sorry, katysax!), but more than I have been. And I've been having fun with it.

2. I received the Daily Ukulele for Christmas. Thus, the "fun" part has been added.

3. We had our first meeting of a new ukulele club! After meeting and playing there for two hours, I came home and played ANOTHER hour after that! I LOVE uke clubs!

4. As many of you pointed out, I'm never going to be Jake. But I'm not expecting to be. My whole thing was showing progress. And that's (finally!) been seen, though just a little bit. I'm getting more chords without a "struggle" though my fingers still don't like a G for some reason (and the E minor still makes me stop, but at least my stops are getting shorter). And I have yet to make a B minor without muffling at least one of the strings. BUT, I also don't have to think so much about which fingers go where, so there's progress in the memory part of my memory, as well as muscle memory.

5. Perhaps the best part is that my 17-year-old daughter is currently trying to learn a hymn on the piano (literally, as I'm tapping this computer keyboard, she's pounding on the piano keys). She's played for 9 years and plays amazing. And she's having a terrible time learning the hymn! She's going really slowly and making mistakes all over the place. But she just keeps going. It's an inspiration to me.

So, thanks everyone. I will continue to try, and continue to be frustrated. But I hope I'll continue to show progress, too. There's around 150 days till UWC VII and I just MAY be able to go up on that stage this year. Maybe.