I'm not really a beginner on uke, have messed with ukes for about 10 years but recently starting to get serious about it, playing in a uke band and learning finger style songs on my own. Sorry in advance for the length of the question. Here it goes...
I have many years of guitar experience and know my music theory and guitar/bass guitar fret boards very well. But, for the life of me I can't learn the uke fret board or get real fluid in recognizing quickly how to make chord shapes on the uke. Instead I'm stuck in this place where I am always transposing in my head. For example, if I see an F# chord written, I will go up a fifth to C# and recall how I play a C# chord on guitar to find the fingering on the uke. If somebody asks me to play a line of notes, like C - D - E- F, I transpose up a fifth to G - A - B - C and think about where those notes are on the guitar to play them on the uke. I am getting faster at the mental transposing, but it's not becoming natural for me. Once I learn a song everything is fine, but I'm thinking about the notes and chords as if they are guitar. It would be nice to be able to play some sheet music on uke without transposing, but no can do.
So, a questions for those who have made the shift from guitar to uke: is this just the way it's going to be, or were you able to get to the place where the uke fret board and chords are instantly known (without transposing)? Did it happen naturally over time or did you do some things to make it happen? Any tips on making it happen? If I used a baritone uke all would be fine, but I don't really care for the baritone - I'm a tenor (standard C tuning) guy. Hope this makes sense, it's kind of frustrating.
I have many years of guitar experience and know my music theory and guitar/bass guitar fret boards very well. But, for the life of me I can't learn the uke fret board or get real fluid in recognizing quickly how to make chord shapes on the uke. Instead I'm stuck in this place where I am always transposing in my head. For example, if I see an F# chord written, I will go up a fifth to C# and recall how I play a C# chord on guitar to find the fingering on the uke. If somebody asks me to play a line of notes, like C - D - E- F, I transpose up a fifth to G - A - B - C and think about where those notes are on the guitar to play them on the uke. I am getting faster at the mental transposing, but it's not becoming natural for me. Once I learn a song everything is fine, but I'm thinking about the notes and chords as if they are guitar. It would be nice to be able to play some sheet music on uke without transposing, but no can do.
So, a questions for those who have made the shift from guitar to uke: is this just the way it's going to be, or were you able to get to the place where the uke fret board and chords are instantly known (without transposing)? Did it happen naturally over time or did you do some things to make it happen? Any tips on making it happen? If I used a baritone uke all would be fine, but I don't really care for the baritone - I'm a tenor (standard C tuning) guy. Hope this makes sense, it's kind of frustrating.