Skip to main content

How I Started Learning the Ukulele

Populele 2 Ukulele
I've wanted to learn to play an instrument for many years. Specifically the guitar but have never really done anything about it beyond buying one book (literally years ago), complete with DVD, teaching the electric guitar, that I've never opened.

In October of 2019 I happened upon the Populele 2 Ukulele through an email promotion from shopping site Gearbest (#notsponsored but links to the Populele 2 and Udemy are my affiliate links).

I can't say I've ever wanted to learn the Ukulele, because it seemed like a dinky little instrument, and not particularly thought of as 'cool'. However, the Populele 2 Ukulele has a fairly unique, eye catching design, in two colors (black or white) that doesn't immediately scream 'UKULELE'.

That aside what really caught my attention is the ability to link the ukulele to a dedicate phone app that teaches you to play using fun games and lights on the ukulele's fretboard showing where to place your fingers as you play. It all looked easy and I felt this could be a great way to start learning an instrument... that's kind of like a guitar, right?



As it turned out, although the phone app is supposed to work on both Android and iPhone, Google Play wouldn't even let me install it on any Android device I own despite all of them having a version of Android higher than the minimum requirement.

I was able to install the app on my partner's iPhone but that's not exactly convenient for me to keep using her phone every time I want to practice.

Fortunately the Populele 2 is actually a proper ukulele. You don't need the app or the lights on the fretboard to play it. Since it's my first ukulele I don't know how it compares to others but the build quality is good and it sounds great once you've tuned the strings. Pretty much as good as any ukulele I've heard while learning it.

I decided I was going to learn to play it anyway. I now know there are a lot of free video tutorials by various music teachers on YouTube but my first idea was to go for something more structured with one of the many ukulele courses on Udemy (a site where you can learn almost anything).

Udemy is constantly running special offers where you can purchase courses for under US$20.00. After a bit of exploring I settled on a course called The Ukulele Academy: Play Music Today!

This course by music teacher, Andrew J. Smith, caught my eye because the first item on the 'What you'll learn list' was...

Learn how to play ANY song without other tutorials.

How could I pass that up!

Andrew's course is very good. His video tutorials are great, he's very positive, encouraging, and interested in teaching you the basics of playing the ukulele. Each lesson section is short with the majority being 20 minutes or less. I committed myself to completing the course by doing one lesson every evening, just before going to bed. It took me about a month to complete all the lessons.

You could conceivably get by with the knowledge Andrew's course teaches. By the end of the course, I had learned a lot but could barely play anything that sounded like a song.

There are two reasons for that:

  1. Learning a musical instrument is like learning to swim. You can read and understand all the steps in theory but the only way to progress is by actually practicing what you've learnt.
     
  2. Andrew's course only teaches two songs that, while being great for beginners, neither are contemporary, or even that fun to play. (They're fun in that way that singing 'Happy Birthday' at your friend's birthday party is fun, nobody really wants to sing but you do anyway).
As I said, his course is great, I'd highly recommend it as a starting point, but it doesn't teach everything about playing the ukulele. I decided to dig around to see what YouTube had to offer.

Fingerpicking

After doing nothing but strumming in Andrew's course, learning how to do basic finger picking was a real change of pace and made me feel like I'd progressed just that little bit more.

Katie Denure, from One Music School, has a short video that teaches basic fingerpicking patterns that you could supposedly use for any song (I don't know enough about music to apply them to any song, so I guess?). It's a great lesson, and easy to pick up.

Katie only uses three strings in her lesson so if you wanted to go a little further Ukulele Go has a really quick lesson here that shows how you might incorporate all four strings into your fingerpick.

Percussive Ukulele

Percussive playing is when you drum on various parts of the ukulele's sound box to create a drumming sound as you strum. I haven't practiced this a whole lot but you can introduce some really interesting sounds into a song with percussion. Bernadette Teaches Music has an excellent Percussive Ukulele video for beginners that covers quite a bit in about ten minutes.

30 Day Ukulele Challenge

It was at this point I discovered Bernadette's 30 Day Ukulele challenge which I'm currently about halfway through (and taking longer than 30 days because I keep repeating large chunks of it just for the practice).

The challenge is for complete beginners who've never picked up a ukulele before, so you could conceivably start your own journey here. Bernadette is a professional music teacher and the challenge is not only free but also includes a comprehensive, printable, reference companion document (that I'm using quite a lot, so well worth downloading).

Possibly the only downside to the challenge is having to learn a few children's songs (the obligatory 'Mary had a Little Lamb' that seems to be a staple of any musical instrument course) but by about the halfway point you'll be learning John Lennon's, Imagine - and you'll be glad for having learnt the children's songs first by that point.

---o ---o--- o---

That's my ukulele journey so far. I'm not learning the ukulele for any reason other than for me. I'm not planning to perform, join a band, or anything like that. My only real goal is to be able to pick up the ukulele and play something that sounds like I know what I'm doing.

Doesn't even have to be a full song. If I can just improvise something that sounds like music I'll be happy.

There are a couple of songs I'd like to learn that I think would be fun to play including; Kermit the Frog's, Rainbow Connection (which I thought would be much easier than it is), and George Michael's, Faith (I just like the sound of the guitar in that song). Yes I know neither song was played on a Ukulele but follow the links to videos and you'll see they sound great on a ukulele.

Currently, after three and a half months, I can play bits of music, (I'm all over fingerpicking Mary had a Little Lamb), and can play a really bad version of Imagine but I'll get there. I'm practicing every second evening at the moment because my left hand fingertips get sore holding down the strings on the fret after a while.

Still, it's fun, and I do enjoy finishing my day by tinkering around on the ukulele.

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: Brand It Purple by Ashley Knoote-Parke

Ashley Knoote-Parke. Image: Facebook It seems almost redundant to review  Brand It Purple  given you probably won't find a hard copy edition without digging into the second hand market. The book's author and publisher, Ashley Knoote-Parke, seemingly, disappeared off the face of the Earth around about 2015. Which is a story in itself. However, the book is still a very informative guide and, while not specifically targeted at women, many may relate more to a book written by an experienced female entrepreneur. Brand It Purple is a personal marketing and branding guide released in 2009 by then, star on the rise author, Ashley Knoote-Parke, an English born, South African expatriate, who made Adelaide, South Australia her home. There she started her own publishing company releasing a photographic, coffee table book of South Australian sights, along with books showcasing female, then male, entrepreneurs. As well she published 'Brand It Purple'. I came across the b

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

I'm Joining the Illuminati Brotherhood By Personal Invitation of Hiltom Rothschild... Wait, What?

How special am I to have finally come of age (53 years young) and am now eligible to participate in building the world alongside other members of the Illuminati Brotherhood... Yes I've received the call by way of an email, which I'm sure is real because I had to translate it from the Dutch language and it was personally written by Hiltom Rothschild, one of the non-existent members of the Rothschild family (or perhaps deep undercover because Google has never heard of them?). A Transcript of the email below: To: etourist From: Illuminati Brotherhood  Subject: Illuminati Broederschap (Illuminati Brotherhood) I am Hiltom Rothschild, a member of the Rothschild family, one of the 13 families of the Illuminati brotherhood. I'm here to let you know that you've come of age and are eligible to participate in building the 🌎 world. It is a calling and a privilege to honor him with pride and gratitude as not everyone will ever be chosen by the LIGHT, many are called but few are ch

Are Ion Thrusters the Future of Flying Cars? Spoiler - Probably Not But... Hover Boards... Maybe?

Undefined Technologies Ion Propulsion Drone prototype 3D concept image. You may have heard of Ion engines or, more likely, Ion thrusters. NASA uses them on their spacecraft to help maintain a craft's position or to propel them through space.  Upon hearing that you might think they're big, powerful engines, but actually they are not. They work well in the vacuum of space but, once any kind of atmosphere and gravity is involved they'd be hard pressed to launch you off the ground if you strapped four of them to your lawn chair and yelled "up, up, and away!" I am no expert on Ion thrusters - they're basically magic that science has an explanation for. If you want to know the details, The Space Techie website has a layman's explanation .  Build Your Own Ion Thruster Earth based Ion Thrusters work a bit different to their  space based cousins by Ionizing the same air that we breathe to create thrust (an effect known as Ionic-wind ).  While they sound highly soph

The Awkward Amy Schumer Interview That Wasn't Her Fault

Amy has no idea who that guy is and Monique forgot to tell her. Last week comedian Amy Schumer participated in a very awkward interview with Mamamia , Columnist/Journalist/Senior Editor (sorry I'm not sure which job description is most appropriate) Monique Bowley . The interview went so badly that Monique simply had to just own it and write about just how badly it went , and podcast about it as well. Even better the whole interview was captured on video which you can watch below as a precursor to my thoughts on the aftermath.

Robot Uprising Update: Robot Waiter, Fasta Pasta, South Terrace, Adelaide CBD, South Australia

On the second evening of my partner, Enigma, and I's weekend stay in Adelaide we decided to have dinner at Fasta Pasta . Strangely enough our hotel staff, at the Alba, had not mentioned Fasta Pasta as an option for an evening meal while their restaurant is closed for refurbishment, even though it is literally next door on the corner of South Terrace and Pultney Street. You may be aware that Fasta Pasta is an upmarket Italian restaurant franchise with its beginnings in Adelaide. Currently they have 19 restaurants Australia wide (with the majority in South Australia - we even have one in Gawler, our home town). I've never had bad food at a Fasta Pasta, and their food never looks like a franchise meal. You always feel you're at a restaurant that's a little bit more quality than your typical hotel/motel meal. Maybe it's because you don't see as much pasta based meals on an Aussie pub menu. Despite the name, it's not all pasta. I went with a basic plate of fish a