This page is an online diary dedicated to keeping a record of my progress in learning to play the ukulele. The newest entries will be at the top of the page, and the older entries, which I've transcribed here from my paper journal, will be at the bottom.
Sunday July 7, 2024
One of the first things I did once I got my new tenor ukulele was to change the strings.
The original strings were not bad, but I wanted to try low G. For reference, the standard ukulele stringing pattern is G, C, E, A, "Good cooks eat a lot" is the mnemonic device I use, with the G string being a high G, for that upbeat traditional Hawaiian style ukulele sound. The low G, on the other hand, allows the ukulele to play deeper base notes, like a regular guitar, which is what I wanted.
So I picked up some Aquila Super Nylgut low G strings. It was the first time I ever put new strings on a ukulele myself, so I consulted YouTube, and was able to get it done without any issues.
What I really like about the ukulele over a standard guitar is the smaller size and the simplicity of the four strings, but I prefer the lower base notes, and switching to low G transforms the ukulele into almost a completely different instrument. It's pretty cool. I'm actually very happy with low G, and will probably not go back.
Another change I made was in the tuning frequency.
Apparently the standard tuning for all musical instruments is to the pitch of 440 Hertz. It's a very complicated subject and I honestly don't know enough about it to make a post about it yet, but basically there's a school of thought that says that changing the pitch from 440 to 432 hertz is more harmonious, more spiritually uplifting and better for health. So, just for the sake of experiment I've tuned my tenor ukulele to 432, and honestly I think it sounds better.
Portable amplifier with sound effects.
Since my new ukulele is actually an acoustic-electric, I was really curious to find out not only if that feature actually worked, before the return period ran out, but more importantly how my ukulele would actually sound electrified. I didn't really care about sounding louder, since I live in an apartment after all, don't want to be getting any noise complaints, but what I was most interested in was playing around with the sound effects. You know making my ukulele sound like an electric guitar, I thought that would be really cool. I envisioned being able to play Johnny B Goode, like that scene in the movie Back to the Future. So I picked up a mini battery operated travel amp, the kind you plug in directly, and then connect external speakers to. It's been a lot of fun, but really, it's not quite what I expected. For the kind of stuff I envisioned being able to do with it, you know, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, progressive rock, heavy metal, stuff like that, I think I'll actually have to get a real electric guitar. But I'm still learning, so maybe something good will come of it.
New Video
Anyway, I'll do another video at some point, showcasing the new ukulele with low G strings, the 432 hertz tuning, and the electric amp with cool sound effects, but I want it to be natural, and not something contrived, so we'll just have to wait for the time to be right.
Saturday May 11, 2024
I bought a new ukulele. It's a cutaway acoustic electric tenor by Cordoba. And I absolutely love it.
The soprano has been a lot of fun and I will still probably play it from time to time, but because it's so small, and the spaces between frets so narrow, it's kind of limited what you can do with it. It's been great for strumming, but I wanted to improve my finger-picking skills, and the tenor is perfect for that. I'm going to try to play classical music and improvise some 1970s style Japanese jazz.
Pictured: Cordoba 15TM-CE Tenor Ukulele
Wednesday August 26, 2023
"My First Solo Ukulele Improv"
Comments: October 14, 2023.
I hesitated to post this. The thing is I really liked my performance here, even though the audio quality is somewhat poor, the music is good, if you're wearing good headphones, but the headset and shirt make me look kind of retarded.
That being said, I'm putting this up here as an exhibit, to show someone who normally has terrible fear of public speaking, and even though this was not originally intended to be shared, it's interesting how I started out looking like a complete dork, but as my confidence grew I became a sort of rock star.
October 6 - I've been playing for about a year and a half now, and am still just a beginner, but am happy with the progress I've made so far. When I filmed this I had no intention of sharing it. In fact, I actually forgot all about it, and just stumbled upon it a couple days ago, and was surprised at how good it was. Only bad thing is the audio is too low, you pretty much need to wear headphones and have the volume all the way up to hear it. Next time I'll get it better, will improve the audio quality, and will get rid of the dorky looking headset, and show less of my face. I'm not sure what songs these tunes are from, I guess I just made them up, although it's probably something I internalized, but have no clue what it's from, but I think it sounds pretty good, considering it was completely spontaneous and unscripted, and I did it all in one take.
I'd say it really does epitomize the concept of effortless flow. You know, in the sense that you have complete mastery of something and are having so much fun doing it that it appears effortless, even though it took a great deal of time and effort and practice to get there; but here in this moment, it's like you are riding a wave on a surfboard, just completely alive and in the moment, in a state of blissful engagement, at one with the effortless flow, and that's why it's totally fitting to post this here. So to with the tagline, experiments in self-mastery and foolishness, it's not just about words, or theoretical speculation, but it's about real world experience and trial and error application of the methods and concepts learned over time.
March 10th, 2022 to the present
"Approximately 1.5 years Later"
At this point I stopped keeping a handwritten record of my progress, but I've been playing almost everyday, and would estimate that I have somewhere between 300 and 500 hours of practice. I watched a lot of YouTube videos for ideas, but still don't know how to read music, and mostly just play by ear, whatever sounds good, often making up my own little tunes. I started making little video clips of me playing, just for myself to keep a record of my progress, but most of them are not good enough to share, because either the audio quality wasn't good enough, or the camera angle was poor, and I didn't like how I looked on camera. But in the future, I'm going to ditch the headset, which makes me look like a retard, and use a dedicated microphone instead, and also show less of my face.
Wednesday March 9, 2022
"Ukulele Day 4"
My fingertips are less sore. Am making progress on chords, and learning different strumming techniques. Played first song ever, sort of - "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley. And figured out basic single note at a time melody of the Bossa Nova classic "The Girl from Ipanema".
Tuesday March 8, 2022
"Ukulele Day 3"
Still painful, though maybe slightly less. Still working on practicing chords. Progress made today, have memorized all major chords A to G. The E Major chord is tricky. Also am slow to transition to different chords, takes awhile to line my fingers up in position without causing buzzing and dead notes.
Monday March 7, 2022
"Ukulele Day 2"
I practiced maybe an hour or two today. Fingers are still painful. Am working on learning chords - primarily A thru G major. At this stage the primary goal is to toughen up my fingertips, so I can play without pain, and memorizing chords.
Sunday March 6, 2022
"Ukulele Day 1"
I bought a ukulele and it arrived on my doorstep today. I am an absolute beginner. I never played a ukulele before until today. I did attempt to learn how to play the guitar about 15 years ago, but I didn't get too far with it. My dog at the time knocked it over and broke it, and that was the end of that.
So I'm learning to play the ukulele. I bought a Kala brand traditional soprano. This is my first day playing it. I spent maybe about an hour or two getting it set up, tuning it, and learning/practicing some chords. My fingers hurt. Very painful on the fingertips, and that's with them being nylon strings (which I didn't think would hurt at all). My old guitar was a steel string acoustic, and that was very painful to play, and is part of the reason why I quit, it just didn't seem worth it. Anyway, so it's day one.
First day Ukulele
1. Painful fingers
2. Learning basic chords
Instrument used:
Kala KA-15S Mahogany Soprano Ukulele
You can buy this Ukulele for about $65 on Amazon. It's a very nice instrument, it's affordable, sounds good, holds a tune, and is really easy to handle. Is like the perfect starter instrument. I'm very happy with it, but if I could do it over again, I think I'd go with the next size up, the concert, simply because it's just a little bit bigger, has a few extra frets that are spaced out more, which gives your fingers a little more room, and has a fuller more powerful sound, and is usually the preferred model used by professionals when performing on a stage in front of an audience. Whereas the Soprano is smaller, less expensive, and easier to travel with. Still can't go wrong with the Soprano, I've been very happy with it. Am still using the original strings, and would definitely recommend buying the Kala brand of Ukulele, it's made from good quality Mahogany wood, and is well made, despite being inexpensive, it doesn't seem low quality at all, but is a good value for the money, and I expect that I will get several years of use out of it.
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