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You are my sunshine
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this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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I don't have a Ukulele, just an acoustic guitar I inherited from my grandma and another hybrid acoustic electric that I paid a decent chunk of change for... I also have two violins (don't ask why) Ukulele sounds like a good thing, I often play around with the guitars when I am bored or want to annoy my wife.
Is the finger positioning easier on a Ukulele? That's what I have the most trouble with, I don't have long fingers, so getting all the strings pressed firmly is challenging.
I'd say it's easier, already because there are less strings so the amount of fingers needed and frets to press are less. Like you can play an E minor chord with just one finger on one string. The standard tuning is like the highest 4 strings of a normal guitar. I'd say the size can make it softer on the fingers as well. Other than that it's literally just a tiny guitar. Plus you van get one for pocket change or even a decent one for less than a 100€/€. Also because it's so small you can take it literally anywhere.
It's already bought...(I have an addiction to collecting instrumenta for some reason) got a cheap starter for like $70. I am pumped for it to come in. I feel like there is a chance I could play some basic things on it after researching the chords adjustment and some tabs for certain songs. Perfect timing because my daughter just had an operation, so now she can hear sound perfectly, where before it was muffled.
At what age do you start them? She isn't 2 yet, so probably some time.
Haha perfect. Glad she can hear now. But lol yeah, maybe a little early to start.
Honestly I wouldn't know really, I think it's all kind of subjective. My nephews started expressing interest anywhere from 4-12 years old. Exposure can/will help though usually. The nephews and nieces that saw and heard me or my BIL play more got interested earlier. A ukulele is kind of automatically in an open tuning so you can just strum or pick the strings without even doing anything with the fret hand and it sounding nice can encourage them to learn more - when you can just make something that sounds nice with minimal effort it will make it easier to apporach. I didn't even teach them any chords at first. Just kind of show like, how much you can do with just going up and down one string with even just one finger can make something that sounds nice. Kids are still developing the muscles their fingers and motor functions, just like adults who don't play or use their fingers in such a way, but I think it might be even harder for kids. I can remember a hundred times I almost gave up be cause it was just too hard physically to hold the chords, especially on an oversized classical guitar for tiny child hands.
Like you can even try for yourself. You don't even need to tune the uke differently, just strum the open strings and then go up and down a basic scale on the highest pitched (E) string (on the bottom of the neck): 0-2-3-5-7-8-10-12 frets, in different variations and find a melody. You don't need to do anything with any other string, just strum the open strings along with that one string. Just as an example. From there just expand the same mentality to other strings and start using more fingers. Too much theory can kill any interest very quickly and personally I think it's such an ass-backwards way to approach music. Like learning grammar and how to write before learning to speak.
Oh I agree with basically everything you wrote. If my parents had just bought me a guitar earlier in life, instead of doing it when I was almost a teenager and pushing me into classic lessons. I hated everything about those lessons.
I am hoping my daughter will have a vastly different experience, then I had.
Sounds like she's already off to a better start even before starting then! Hope you both have fun learning and sharing the love for music.
I didn't even have a teacher, I just had a couple of books, and thought that was the only way to learn so I pushed myself to strain my hands and my head to figure it out because I really wanted to learn and it really fucked my hands up for decades leading to further and further problems with advancing. After over two decades I finally corrected my hand position and well, ergonomy and everything became so much easier. Problems I wouldn't have had if I'd had proper teaching or even a proper instrument for my tiny hands. Carpal tunnel is no fun, especially when the number one thing you want to do is play. If only someone had told me the things I know now.
So what's the correct hand positioning? I was playing it flat like a crab claw. But some youtuber teaching uke chords, says you need to rest your thumb on the neck and use your fingers to press directly down in a C shape. Would you say that's good advice? Definitely puts more pressure on the fingers.
Oh it's hard to explain through text but definitely don't hold your thumb on/over the neck. Your fret hand should be same or similar as playing guitar. Your thumb should be usually pretty much "on the spine"/middle of the neck. If that feels uncomfortable, you might be holding the guitar awkwardly/wrong. Check out how people instruct you to hold classical/Spanish guitar, because that's literally like guitar ergonomy 101.
My problems with my fret hand were mostly related to having too wide a neck for my hands which led to over stressing my fret hand, pressing too hard and having my wrist at an awkward angle. Which led to pressing even harder which led to wrist pain and overall difficulty reaching everywhere I was supposed to. Things you should take into consideration but not necessarily stress if you're just playing to chill, but I was ambitious from the get go.
The way you describe "crab claw" sounds about right, but you can check out classical/Spanish guitar + wrist + ergonomy on YouTube or something if you want to. Your wrist should be fairly straight and you definitely can't do that if you're having your thumb over the neck. As little as your nerves and tendons and shit need to stretch unnecessarily, that's the sweet spot. Look at how classical guitarists play. They have the guitar at an angle for a reason, because they're kind of going to the extremes of the mobility of the fingers and tendons etc, and even if you aren't, a more ergonomic stance is only going to do you good
E: almost forgot. It might do you good, especially for something as small as a Ukulele, to get a strap. It can be difficult to hold and fret and do all of that at the same time. A strap can make it a lot easier/automatic for the instrument to stay in a good position so as not to strain your wrists