Calling all Self-Taughts

I am self taught in uke harmonica and mountain dulcimer. Never a lesson. But thank goodness for the internet and the many videos, and beginner books to buy. So, maybe I’m not self taught. I found forums like UU for different instruments invaluable. We’re not alone.

I’m now teaching myself piano. With amazing help from the many you tube videos available. This is my 3rd attempt at piano, and so far so good. This shelter in place routine has helped.

Self taught? Perhaps me thinks not, perhaps yeah. “Only da shadow know.”

The problem with being self taught is you stand the good chance of having an idiot for a teacher. I can say that being self taught for many instruments. Self taught is rewarding but admittedly the longest way around it. Most if not all technique flaws go unnoticed until well ingrained. Getting the most out of the time you have to invest can go wasted if you don't have an effective plan. In this age of online material it's doable but I advise having a trained eye check your progress from time to time.

I find the most progress I achieve is in tiny goals. Learning one small thing new or perfecting some thing that I tend to stumble on. When I play alone I perform triage on my playing, taking care to notice bits that aren't up to the rest. Those bits become my tiny practice goals. You can fix almost anything small in 10-15 minutes of concentration. If you do this everyday you will be better today than you were yesterday and for me that's the big goal.

Without tiny goals, practice becomes noddleing over tunes I know or am learning and weeks go by and I'm basically the same player I was before

If you really want to "practice" and don't have a great plan, make it a practice each time you sit down with the instrument, to have at least one tiny goal that can be achieved in 10-15 minutes of hard focus. One tiny thing to perfect and then go about what you do normally. This works for me - as they say... 'your mileage may vary'

I suppose I'm being taught by an idiot. Here's the thing though: if one has never been able to learn "conventionally" through handicap one has the privilege of DIY instruction
No one's an idiot when they're doing better on their own. No one should look down on handicapped people who get the job done their way.

There’s no question that one-on-one instruction by a teacher is the fastest and most efficient way to learn how somebody else plays the ukulele.

Swamp Yankee said:

There’s no question that one-on-one instruction by a teacher is the fastest and most efficient way to learn how somebody else plays the ukulele.

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So, if you learned from a video or book, you're not learning "the fastest and most efficient way to learn how somebody else plays the ukulele" but rather the slower and less efficient way to learn how somebody else plays ?

I guess unless you go under a rock and learn the ukulele all by yourself ... re-emerging once you've perfected you unique way of playing, you are always going to learn how somebody else plays based on your thinking?

Having had the experience of 1:1, group, and self-teach, I can say that live instruction is the quickest way to learn how to play an instrument. I'm not sure about whether 1:1 or group is best for ukulele, but live if definitely better than self-teach.

clear said:

So, if you learned from a video or book, you're not learning "the fastest and most efficient way to learn how somebody else plays the ukulele" but rather the slower and less efficient way to learn how somebody else plays ?

I guess unless you go under a rock and learn the ukulele all by yourself ... re-emerging once you've perfected you unique way of playing, you are always going to learn how somebody else plays based on your thinking?

Having had the experience of 1:1, group, and self-teach, I can say that live instruction is the quickest way to learn how to play an instrument. I'm not sure about whether 1:1 or group is best for ukulele, but live if definitely better than self-teach.

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As I’ve already indicated earlier in this thread, the only thing I’ve learned about playing a ukulele from video was how to double strum. The only thing I have learned from printed sources about playing the ukulele is from chord diagrams. And, for the first few years of my uke playing, I didn’t even use chord diagrams... in fact, I noodled out quite a few original songs by ear without knowing which chords I was playing.

I understand that instruction can be helpful, but from my own perspective, I have arrived at my own style through years of trial and error. And I’m very happy with the flexibility I’ve attained. I doubt that would have happened if I’d had a teacher telling me not to do this and not to do that. My question would always have been, why not?

Being fast and efficient is not the way I'm wired. When I hear someone spouting off about the "fastest and most efficient way", I wonder where I need to get to so quickly and efficiently. You hurry on to wherever it is you're going, I'm doing just fine coasting along and enjoying the scenery thank you.

Going back and reading my first post in this topic, I need to explain what I mean by "self-taught" in respect to myself.

I don't "read" notation, although I can tell you what a note is, based on where it sits on a treble staff. I can recognize a sharp and a flat, and know that no sharps or flats is the key of C, one sharp is G, two sharps is D, and one flat is F - I'll take a wild guess that two flats is Bb, but not gonna bet anything on it.

I play by ear - always have. We had a chord organ when I was a kid, and if I knew the melody of a song, I could pick it out. If the book showed a chord name, I could find the correct button to push for the chord.

When we got a guitar, I read the chord chart in the back, and memorized the patterns for many 1st position chords (I didn't know that was what they were called, just that they were the first ones shown, and generally the easiest.) There was a pitch pipe so I could tune it, and once it was tuned, I began to pick out melodies, all by ear. The same with a 5-string banjo.

I'd say the same with a mountain dulcimer, but I had no idea how that thing was tuned; I could pluck out melodies, however.

Uke has the same shapes as the 4 highest-pitched strings on a guitar, so the skill transferred easily. (You could say I'm not self-taught on ukulele, but I am self-taught on guitar.)

Lessons work for some us, not so much for others.

I have to agree with Swamp Yankee, though:

Swamp Yankee said:

There’s no question that one-on-one instruction by a teacher is the fastest and most efficient way to learn how somebody else plays the ukulele.

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(Emphasis mine.)

you guys are hilariously pugnacious and fight about anything.

ripock said:

you guys are hilariously pugnacious and fight about anything.

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Balderdash!

After several years of trying to play ukulele I believe that the "self taught" method is the hardest and most inefficient way to learn how to play like someone else. But also the most efficient and easiest way to learn how to play like yourself. Caution, playing like "yourself" may not be aurally pleasant to others.

kkimura said:

After several years of trying to play ukulele I believe that the "self taught" method is the hardest and most inefficient way to learn how to play like someone else. But also the most efficient and easiest way to learn how to play like yourself. Caution, playing like "yourself" may not be aurally pleasant to others.

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When I took singing lessons early on there was a woman who was right before me and I used to sit out in the hall listening to her. She sang beautifully and my teacher said she had been taking lessons for twelve years. After after a couple months he sent me on my way and I asked him why I got to go while the lady who sang so beautifully had to stay and keep taking lessons. He said it was because I was happy to sing like me and that she wasn't going to be happy until she could sing like somebody else. That has sort of stuck with me on my musical journey.

Rllink said:

When I took singing lessons early on there was a woman who was right before me and I used to sit out in the hall listening to her. She sang beautifully and my teacher said she had been taking lessons for twelve years. After after a couple months he sent me on my way and I asked him why I got to go while the lady who sang so beautifully had to stay and keep taking lessons. He said it was because I was happy to sing like me and that she wasn't going to be happy until she could sing like somebody else. That has sort of stuck with me on my musical journey.

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I hear what you're saying. I barely have enough time to be myself let alone someone else.

Bill1 said:

How many people play a C chord with one finger on the High C fret and strumming with their strumming hand. Surely you all are bored with playing like each other? You all use the same chord shapes all the time and strum the same way, where is your individual rendition of a C chord?

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Are you implying that self taught uke players only know one way to play a C chord?

C’mon... really?

My advice as a self taught...
Learn basic chords using suggested fingering — as in play an ope C with your ring or little finger.


Try playing simple 12 bar songs C, F, G7, Or
Do-woo C, Am, F or Dm,G7

Strum, strum, strum, strum
Earth Angel, Earth Angel, Will You Be Mine.....

Then realize that generally speaking, the melody is within the chord that you are playing....

So alternate between strumming and finger picking

Set up a C chord and pick/play Earth An-gel
Set up Am chord and pick/play Earth An-gel
F chord. Will You Be
G7 chord. Mine

And once you get the hang of it, you are making music.
And if you can slip into it, I can spend hours just hamming it up.

Good luck

Bill1 said:

The idea that they are going to all end up clones of the teacher is ludicrous, that only happens when the student wants to sound like the teacher or hero musician.

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Equally ludicrous, in my opinion, is the notion that one needs instruction in order to progress beyond basic proficiency as a player.

I think it’s fair to say that both points (yours and mine) have been made using hyperbole as an illustration - not as a hard and fast rules. Clearly, there are exceptions on both sides.

There are some that have had instruction and have developed their own styles and become proficient players.
There are also some players that had no instruction that have done the same.

Speaking for myself, I think the difference lies in the motivation for playing ukuleles in the first place.

In my case, my motivation is dirt simple: I love playing the ukulele. Because of that, I do it all the time. As a result, I have progressed as a player.

On the flip side is the equally valid motivation of many, maybe even most players: They want to become proficient ukulele players. Because of that they seek the fastest and most efficient route to attain their goal.

Now, to me, enjoying the process as I do, and with no destination in mind... the very notion of seeking instruction is antithetical. It would be like taking a shorter route through an industrial park to get somewhere when the reason I’m out driving the longer route along the river is because I’m enjoying the scenery.

When I get together with many other players, I'm often asked "What strumming pattern are you using?"

The answer is simple, and unqualified: "Damned if I know; whatever I'm hearing in my head."

It really is simply (in my case) that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing, and vice versa.

ksiegel said:

When I get together with many other players, I'm often asked "What strumming pattern are you using?"

The answer is simple, and unqualified: "Damned if I know; whatever I'm hearing in my head."

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This would be me too. I don't think I've ever approached a song thinking that it would sound good with x, y or z strum pattern. I just charge ahead and my right hand seems to find the way. Then there are some songs that break the strum pattern and my hand follows the words or syllables. I just try to avoid a rigid, metronome-like strum pattern that chugs on, unchanging throughout the whole song.

I think that a lot of people who play the ukulele are just having fun and playing around with it. Most people I play with are not really serious about it, they just want to get together and play some songs. And right there is the rub, the serious ukulele players vs those who just want to have a little fun.

I want to have fun seriously with ukulele.