Hello from NJ!

Hi everyone!

I'm 31 years old and I just started playing the Uke for a few months last year with a teacher, until he relocated. This kind of left me in limbo. I really struggled to teach myself via books/youtube.

I purchased a Fender Nohea Koa Tenor to start with, which I enjoyed. Recently I purchased a brand new Kamaka HF-3, which was a grail find for me.

Anyway, I've been practicing on and off, and am able to play chords decently, and strum decently. My goal is to be able to play a Steven Universe song! Most of them seem to be really tough and involve barre chords.

But doing both (playing chords while strumming) at once seems to be my handicap.

Now that I have a Kamaka I feel like I owe the instrument my time to play it well, hopefully this can be my motivation to buckle down and practice more.

Excited to be a part of the forum and learn from some experts!

Welcome to the UU Forum! Learning to play the ukulele will be a rewarding journey for you. Just keep at it. The secret is to enjoy what you are doing and be patient with yourself. It all gets easier as you go along. Best of luck!
Jan D

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome! Hope to see you at the NJ Uke Fest in August!

- FiL

Welcome from a fellow New Jerseyan

Andy

Hi and welcome to UU. Go download "Uncle Rods Bootcamp", he is a member here and it is one of the best starter courses out there. I used it a lot when starting out and it was a big help. First we crawl, then we walk then we run. Do things in their proper order and you will learn quicker. Best of luck and hang in there, before you know it you will have it all together.

Thanks everyone!

I printed out "Uncle Rods Bootcamp" and have been practicing! Very excited to get back into the swing of things!

Welcome to UU! A lot of friendly and helpful folk here. Keep practicing and having fun with the ukulele. Before you know it, those bar chords won't seem so hard to play.

Hi, Welcome! I'm new too. It's awesome that you have an instrument to inspire you. Keep at those barre chords... one day you'l be making them without even thinking about it. And strumming and chording and singing all at the same time. You can do it!