Your story: how ukulele found you?

I had been exposed to the Uke off and on through out my childhood. There was an Uke on the shelf in my brother's bedroom (I have 3 brothers and they shared the room over the years) that I'd strum haphazardly from time to time when I was really young.

The main inspiration I got was from my brother 'Stench'. He was the most talented musician I know and he could pick up any stringed instrument and play and sing the song after listening to just a few bars. He was most talented on the electric guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, lute, and Uke. He played electric guitar in a couple bands over the years and self-recorded his own Uke CD of original songs.

My brother also built instruments. He made a 3/4 scale Gibson Flying V electric guitar and his own Uke looked a lot like the "Fluke" Uke made by Magic Fluke Co. Sadly, Stench passed away from Acute Myeloid Leukemia in July of 2008. I believe his instruments were passed down to his son, who is now also a talented musician in his own right at 14 years old.

My family lived near Honolulu for a few years (2005 – 2009) and for part of that time my brother Stench and his family also lived on the island. Stench and I would often get together to hang out. His son and my daughter are one month apart from another in age so we'd cruise the Waikiki boardwalk with our babies in their strollers to window shop the cheap tourist 'ukes or hang out at each other's houses and have sing-alongs.

A few years ago we bought our daughter a Kohala Kine'O Soprano Uke for Christmas becuase she had expressed interest in learning how to play. But after she read the instruction booklet that came with the Uke she seemed to lose interest. I don't recall ever hearing her try to play it. One day I found the Uke on the floor and almost stepped on it! So the Uke got put in it's box in my bedroom for safe keeping.

Fast forward some years to last week and I was picking up on the happy sound of the Uke sneaking it's way into my Spotify playlists. The sound of the Uke made my heart happy. So I took the Kohala out of her box, dusted her off, and started practicing finger positions for chords. She has barely left my side since then. I take her to work to noodle around on breaks. When I'm at home she's next to me on the sofa and I noodle while watching TV.

I really hope playing this instrument will 'stick' with me. I have really bad self discipline when it comes to practing though and have been trying off and on to teach myself electric bass for 25 years and only know the TAB for part of a handful of songs.

This coming Saturday I'm going to check out a local Uke group and really hope a permanent beginner will fit in!

And that's my story (so far) and I'm sticking to it!

I was enjoying being a father and began to reminisce on memories of my father and mother playing banjo and guitar by the fire side when I was a child. I thought what better than to offer the opportunity for those types of memories for my children. I started looking for a banjo to begin learning to frail and came across a banjo ukulele made by luthier Tommy George of Somerville, Tennessee. After a bit of conversation and deliberation I was the new owner of a tenor banjo uke with a 10” pot. This was toward the beginning of 2014. Within three months I had become comfortable with the frailing style right hand technique, but was yearning for a “real banjo” and purchased a 12” open back built by Tommy’s protege Christian Stanfield. The banjo uke having filled an intermediate role was put to the side and only played occasionally over the last several years.

Forward to the present, my oldest has been taking fiddle lessons for close to a year and a half. He is getting to the point where he can carry a tune and might benefit form having a little rhythm under him, but something more subtle than a steel strung banjo. So back out comes the banjo uke, and I have been keeping it in the rotation for solo enjoyment for the past few weeks as well.

Well, now I have a Pono tenor on the way, and knowing myself I’m in for a ride from here.

I was in the bathroom minding my own business when an alien from another galaxy handed me an ukulele...it went downhill from there.

In just a few hours the auction will be over and I'll know if I have won a Gold label 1950's-1960's Kamaka Ukulele. Online estate auction. Really, really good price. Steve.

I have pondered this. I can't pinpoint why or how I decided ukulele would be worth learning. I think its a few things. I love music firstly and I missed making music, I needed something to work through some trauma so one thing lead to another and now I am hooked. It may be influenced by a few videos I had seen, and also my daughter saying she was going to learn. She has since learned the C chord. My children are just not as thrilled with this instrument. I am also a minimalist at heart so the idea of a small instrument made sense. I didn't think I'd buy more than one though.

Love reading these.
My grandparents played together: the organ and pre war Gibson Mandolin Banjo. Such joy! In college my friends played guitars so I took it up, playing Arlo, John Denver, Gordon Lightfoot songs over and over. I couldn't read music but listened to the songs closely, lifting the record needle to replay and memorize, mimicking their sounds, not knowing I was playing well known chords like C7, F, G7 until much later. Talk about learning the hard way...
Stopped playing when I married without regret, until I retired and we were visited on a Thanksgiving by a couple who we hadn't seen for years. They brought out their new hobby...A uke and guitar. I happily got out the pre war Gibson Mandolin Banjo, and guitar. I remembered all the chords. We jammed the day away, taking our new band on the road to my mom's for dinner.
Their Uke was 'the camel's nose under the edge of the tent.' My husband then took me to 5 music stores in Austin, 90 minutes from us and not our familiar stomping grounds, to look for a Uke. With my limited knowledge, I chose the prettiest, a Mitchell Concert. I've attended the so fun Reno Ukefest twice, I joined the Austin Ukulele Society and played with over 100 others there, so well lead by amazing Bob Guzman and Jen.
Next came a Kentucky mandolin, a new Taylor guitar, 2 banjos and an Ovation 12 string guitar. I play in a weekly sing along at a retirement home and monthly jams. My Uke is a happy time!!

My wife went to Hawaii in 1984, and returned with a Soprano Kamaka as a gift for me. Still have it. That started the ball rolling. Now I have over 40 Ukuleles. I play every day, and never tire of learning new tunes and techniques. I love getting something different, or being surprised by good quality. I just got an Ohana 6 string, with the lower two strings doubled in octaves. What fun that is! And, I recently got a Mainland Red Cedar Concert. What a beauty, both to look at and to play! Since I've moved away from the big city, I've started doing my own setups. That's a whole other bunch of fun with the Uke. So many facets to this Ukulele thing. I mostly just play and sing for my own entertainment. But occasionally I'll go out to a coffee shop or mall area to sit and play. I love meeting people that way, and everyone seems to have a Uke story they want to share. My only disappointment is in the "music" so many young people seem to enjoy listening to. I don't know it, or understand it. So, they hear me playing stuff that's nearly 100 years old and don't know how to take it. Do you realize that "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" is 90 years old? Sheesh!

I had been wanting to learn to play for a few years. The music teacher at the school where I work was packing up the ukuleles to take them home for summer storage. I was like , “Hey can I borrow one of those for the summer?” It sat unplayed for the first month of the break. I did finally pick it up, went to YouTube, and got hooked. I watched hours of reviews and moved up from my borrowed student soprano to a KoAloha concert. Now I play/ practice everyday. I am trying to make the six month playing mark before I buy my next ukulele. I am at the three month playing mark but the UAS struggle is real.

I live in Hawaii, so you can't get away from them lol. Everyone here can at least play a few chords on a ukulele, especially since it's taught in elementary school the way they teach the recorder on the mainland. I resisted for years but eventually gave in and bought one. Found out it's fun and my guitar skills transfer nicely.

About three months ago, I stopped by our library in Key Largo to show my modified 50 watt off-grid bass/guitar amp to a fellow guitar picker who works there. Co-incidentally, that day for the first time, the Northernmost Keys Ukulele Society teacher had brought in her Kala U Bass that was gifted to her. She was having a class. I volunteered to play her Kala thru my amp powered by a 20 volt Black and Decker power tool battery. Though I was not crazy about the tone and feel of the synthetic strings on the Kala, I did well enough to earn the appreciation of the local ladies in the group. Enough for me to keep coming back...

As I approached my forties, I think I wanted to learn something new. I picked up a ukulele at a car boot sale one day, and in answer to my (now) wife's question mentioned that I'd heard it was a fun and easy instrument to learn, shrugged and put it down. I didn't give it another thought until my wife got invited to a local ukulele group's Christmas singalong (she wanted to do a charity event with them), which I enjoyed. A week or so later, and my wife gave me a ukulele for Christmas, and I've been playing along, mildly improving for two years since.

I now have three ukuleles...

I had never considered the ukulele for a moment before the day I fell in love with it.

I was asked to preach a Lenten retreat to a convent of nuns. Before they began their silent retreat, they had a dinner and played me some music at the end of it. One of the nuns in the band played a ukulele and I was so taken by the simplicity of the instrument and its beautiful tone. I had to get one. I then got a nice Lanikai off Craig's List, quickly gave it to family in my parish of little means, and upgraded.

I found that ukuleles were like my tobacco pipes. Two are enough, but once you have three, you never have enough.

For me it was going after a package. The place just happened to be a combined package delivery place and a small music store, for some reason these totally unrelated tasks combined. They had mostly guitars, tried a keyboard, and then there were the two ukes, a soprano and a concert. Tried out the soprano, liked the sound and sight, and mine it was. Who knows when I would have got one without this incident?

Walked into a pawn shop one day and they didn't have any chainsaws I liked, so I bought a guitar that caught my eye.

I didn't know how to play it, but it was 27 years old and in perfect condition. It was just beautiful.

They took my 40% off offer and threw in a padded gig bag with some new strings, a couple of harmonicas, guitar honey, and some other odds and ends inside.

I was very happy with the purchase. But was afraid of damaging the guitar. So a few days later, found an old classical Yamaha for sixty bucks that I liked the feel of and took it home.

Decided the Yamaha was too big to carry around with me during the week when I wanted to practice. And decided that four strings would be easier to learn than six. Then found out a baritone uke shared the same four high strings with a guitar, so the search was on.

Baritone ukes are scarce on the used market around here, but I found a couple of used mandolins on clearance and thought they were really cool. So I bought them. Then a couple of more guitars.

So finally, after investing six Benjamins on other stringed instruments, I found an old baritone uke made by a company I'd never heard of with mismatched strings and an old unpadded hard case for a yard sale price, and I bit. It was in pretty nice shape other than a few little dings. And it wasn't made in China, which was a big plus for me.

So I got some new strings, just yesterday, and now I'm starting to try and learn to play.

I have visions of building a bowl back uke. And possibly converting a cheap mini strat to a steel string uke for quiet practice with headphones. But so far have resisted the temptation to plop down any major cash on anything new and really nice. Might go and get a couple of spools of high test fishing line though...in anticipation of finding some more used deals that I can't walk away from, in need of new strings.

My dad bought a Silvertone baritone uke at Sears the year I was born and played hokum and swingy stuff like "FrimFram Sauce" on it. I got a guitar for my 8th birthday and have played ever since. When the old man had to go to assisted living for Alzheimer's, I strung and cleaned up the old bari and took it to him. He strummed one chord, then handed it back and said: "take it away!" About that time I was having recurring hand trouble and found that the light tension and short scale were less stressful. I also started teaching English to at-risk kids at a Charter School and kept a cheap guitar, a Casio keyboard, and some cheap sopranos in class for the kids to bang on when they finished assignments. Began buying ukes (ohana, mainland) and playing concerts and tenors. We retired to Italy a couple of years ago and I sold all the ukes but my prized loPrinzi cherry concert. My youngest daughter (29 yrs old) is keeping the tradition. She's got Pop's old bari and plays regularly.

Guitarist. Got tired of their bulk on road trips. Stumbled on a Luna concert uke at a pawn shop. $60 w/hard case. In ten minutes, I was hooked. The upward $piral continues. I currently rock a pair of Farallons. plus about 6 others, depending on what week you may ask. Love 'em all!

It was my wife's fault.
She checked out a soprano from the library, then bought a tenor ($100) from Amazon.
So, started looking for cheap fixer-uppers from eBay.
Bought a Luna baritone, fixed it up, didn't like the overly guitar sound. Gave it away, got
a super tenor. We all have ukes now!

Change in the gigs we do. For about four decades we've been mainly a Saturday nights band playing for barn dances at weddings and similar, with me playing lead on melodeon. Now the others have retired, have free time in the week, don't need the dosh and want to explore more musical avenues. We've become 'Last of the Summer Wine - with instruments'. I wanted a quieter and more versatile instrument suitable for a wider range of styles, ukulele appealed the most.