MAHALO

by Simon
(Plymouth, Devon, UK)

This is a strange one. I don't really know how and why I got into playing ukulele. There are two possible reasons: I accidentally came across a uke site while surfing guitar related websites and thought, oh! that looks interesting and checked out more about uke playing on YouTube, particularly Daniell Ate the Sandwich (she writes and sings class songs); I saw Roy Smeck play and was blown away. 2. I remember reading a Tommy Tedesco book called 'For Guitarists Only' where he makes reference to how it is a good idea 'doubling' on instruments, so. I thought, yes, I'm gonna buy one and have a go. I set my budget and found a nice beginners one made by Mahala strung with Nylgut strings.
When it came, I was well impressed with its warm tone as I prefer to use a felt plectrum. I tried to find as many uke sites as I could to get information from and started learning chords and strumming patterns. I got Curt Sheller's Book on strumming and I was away. I saw a Youtube demo of '12th Street Rag'and thought, I just got to learn that! I think I gave up guitar for about two weeks and was just practicing uke every night and weekend to get the basics going playing a few uke classics from 'Dr Uke' and some songs which are acoustic guitar based. Playing the uke is a great way to break away from your usual instrument where there are no expectations and nothing to prove to anyone; you can just have fun and personal enjoyment.