Is Ukulele Easy? Yes…and no.
For as long as I’ve been playing and teaching I’ve struggled with how to answer this question. On one hand it benefits me as a teacher and business owner to say “ukulele is easy” so a larger number of people will feel welcome to learn. On the other hand that is a little misleading because it builds a false perspective on how learning should feel, or at least an incomplete one. There is a “honeymoon” phase of ukulele, when you go from knowing nothing to feeling like your skill and knowledge is growing at an exponential rate. Struggles can begin either right away or after some time. Newer players can often feel betrayed if it feels hard when they thought it was supposed to be easy. It also isn’t realistic to think that you would commit to and feel fulfilled by something that was always easy for you, right? With ukulele you can push yourself beyond your own expectations. You can push yourself endlessly further with your technique and musical expression. We need to embrace the reality that the easy and the hard exist at the same time, then we can feel benefit and feel grateful for both.
Ukulele straddles this fine line between easy and hard and both things can feel true at different times in your musical journey.
I love this instrument because it encompasses these two seemingly conflicting characteristics whole heartedly: approachability and endless possibility. There is no other instrument out there that you can pick up and, with a little guidance, be playing complete and fulfilling music in your first short session. On the other hand this instrument will take you a life time to master and is one of the most surprisingly capable tools for playing any music imaginable. Ukulele is an instrument that contains the best of both of these worlds and players should take advantage of this unique duality when learning and progressing with music.
Why Ukulele is Easy
There is a common and widespread perception of ukulele as being a very easy instrument to learn, I agree and think this has contributed to the increase of it’s popularity and reach. I won’t ever deny that this has allowed so many people to begin their journey with music. For a number of reasons, the ukulele can be a great choice for someone looking to get into playing an instrument.
-Gentle Learning
Ukulele has one of the most gentle learning curves of any instrument. The tuning allows for a few one and two finger chords that can give you enough harmony to play entire songs in a very short amount of time. Low tension strings made from flourocarbon or synthetic nylon make those first few chords a breeze to learn and allow for simple rhythms to be played with your un-calloused fingers.
-Easy Access
Finding a quality instrument these days is a relatively easy process as the number of brands and availability has increased dramatically. A decent entry level instrument is relatively low cost and easy to get so most people -can afford to purchase one (or many) for themselves when they are first starting out.
-Simple Learning Structure
In the beginning when you are learning new songs the formula can be simple. You are usually learning a simple strumming pattern and a few chords and you are on your way. It can be a quick and easy template that allows even those with little or no musical experience a chance to build a small repertoire that they can play well.
With the right guidance, even the most complicated songs can be taught in a beginner focused way. In UkeLab our Standard arrangements always include a beginner version for students just starting their journey as musicians. In a relatively small amount of time and effort almost anyone can become proficient on ukulele and begin making music for themselves. So what if you are struggling even at the outset of your learning? Here’s some strategies if you are already discovering that ukulele might not be so easy.
Strategies for New Musicians
-Slow Down
One of the most overlooked strategies for learning ukulele is to just slow down. It is so important to give our brain and our body ample time to move through unfamiliar skills and still stay connected to a consistent tempo. Most people have a tendency to rush so make sure you are breathing and moving slower than you think -whenever trying to tackle new skills.
-Practice Skills Independently
Another important thing for beginners to keep in mind is that they are learning multiple skills simultaneously. The key to learning these multi-skill combinations is that they can be broken down into individual parts. If you can focus on only one of these skills at a time then our bodies can more quickly internalize muscle memory. Maybe focus on the right hand by doing the strum pattern while muting the open strings. Or replace whole notes for the strum pattern to focus on your left hand moving through chords. Try both these strategies when you are struggling to add singing to your playing.
-Short Frequent Practice
The last strategy is to have consistency with your exposure to these new skills. Try and think about frequency over duration when it comes to practice. You will benefit so much more from short fifteen minute sessions every day than you will from one or two hour plus sessions a week. If you can create short 30 or 45 second exercises involving new skills then you can run them as breaks in the work day or while you’re waiting for the water to boil!
Why Ukulele is Hard
I think anyone who’s tried to learn ukulele inevitably discovers that learning ukulele is hard, or at least that learning ukulele is not as easy as everyone said it was. Gaining mastery of anything in life takes time and effort and ukulele is no different. To play this instrument well is a life long journey that is rich and fulfilling for those that are willing to dedicate time and energy to it. Here’s some reasons why ukulele is hard!
Combining Skills
I’ve already mentioned how ukulele can feel hard when you are combining strumming, chords, and singing simultaneously. Maybe a new chord shape feels manageable until you start strumming along with it. Sometimes it just feels impossible to get your strumming to stay consistent when you are trying to add singing along with these other skills.
Challenging Chords and Rhythms
It can be difficult to start to move beyond basic strumming to involve fingerpicking and more sophisticated right hand technique. Some people are struggling with getting their barre chords (chords that use one finger across multiple strings) to sound clear and ring out on each string. It can also feel hard to learn chords that require more fingers or are further up the fretboard.
How to Progress
Maybe you don’t know where to go to learn to play more complicated instrumental arrangements. Another hurdle can be the feeling that your learning or playing has plateaued and you are unsure of how to progress beyond where you are. Have you ever felt like every song you learn feels uninspiring or repetitive, or that you are avoiding things that you think might be hard?
Whatever it is that you struggle with, it’s important to remember that the right help and guidance can help you with getting unstuck. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to understand these struggles from a learner’s perspective. This plays a big role in shaping my teaching philosophy. I strive to present music and material with differentiation, skill isolation, and the right sequencing to help people progress in the fastest way possible. Click here if you want to learn more about our educational offerings. Here’s a few strategies to that may help out if you are further along in your musical journey.
Strategies for More Experienced Musicians
Expand Skill Set
I think the first strategy for more advanced players is to try and expand their skills as much as possilbe. I view progress with ukulele as expanding your vocabulary when it comes to right and left hand technique. That means being able to play alternate voicings for chords in a tune. It means being able to use other kinds of sounds like mutes and fingerpicking when playing rhythms on the ukulele.
Differentiated Learning
This kind of skill progress is best achieved with differentiated material. I love that music can be approached in multiple difficulties. Even the most rudimentary nursery rhyme can be arranged and played in a sophisticated and beautiful way. Simple chords can be replaced with more challenging voicings up the neck. Adding barre chords and other chord substitutions can add variety to your playing. You can learn more advanced right hand techniques like muting, fingerpicking and rolls that can make simple rhythms build into more textured and complex patterns. This is great way way to add variety to your strumming and make your playing sound more sophisticated and interesting.
Learn Solo Playing
You can also move the melody from your voice to the uke for the sophisticated style of Solo playing where we learn to juggle the rhythm, harmony, and melody all at the same time. If singing isn’t your thing then maybe the UkeLab Solo Track is right for you. Here you can find these arrangements with accompanying videos that can guide you through this challenging and rewarding approach to ukulele.
It is so important to see our growth in music as a journey. It is a life long endeavor that has a beginning but no end. Watching my own children grow has been so insightful for my teaching. When my daughter and son were first learning to walk and speak it was incredible to see a level of determination that we rarely see in our adult lives. A consistency in practice and exposure that resulted in such an accelerated rate of growth. It has also been insightful to see my eldest daughter get to an age where she begins to struggle with frustration in a way that can really impede progress and skill development.
As adult learners I think it can be so hard to learn new things because we are all incredible and competent at a number of different things in our lives. Sometimes it can be difficult to be bad at something and remember that mastery always comes at the expense of time. It can be a struggle to remain humble and be ok with not doing something well. If our journey as a musician was not fraught with these moments then it would not be worthwhile in pursuing.
One learns from books and example only that certain things can be done. Actual learning requires that you do those things. -Frank Herbert
I always try and remind my students to refrain from language like “I can’t” or “I’ll never be able to” because it diminishes the underlying truth that many things in music and ukulele will not be easy…until they are. And getting from not easy to easy requires us to expect and embrace struggle as an innate part of the process. Once we can accept this then we can be more like children in our learning. We can be less self conscious, less fixated on being perfect, and more accepting of things being hard until they aren’t.
I know that the most important thing is to have a healthy amount of empathy for this struggle. To try my best to not default to my own perspective of being further along than most in my musical journey. I believe that it is paramount as a teacher to never forget what it feels like to be a struggling student. I always try to let that guide me when creating content, material and new paths of learning.
Ukulele is easy, ukulele is hard and ukulele is all things in between. Just like music, ukulele is for all people regardless of their experience.
I love that ukulele is easy and approachable and welcoming. I love how it creates a sense in people that even without musical training or experience, they can still connect with and create music that is meaningful and fulfilling. I also love and have dedicated my professional life to the idea that ukulele is hard…that it is challenging, capable and can connect you with music in a way that is profound.
I feel passionately about meeting students wherever they are in their journey and helping them to become the best musicians that they can be. I think the best teachers should be able to expand on even the simplest song and present it in a more advanced way. At the same time they should be able to simplify a complicated tune and present in the right sequencing so it is attainable for anyone just starting out. Having something for every level of learner to challenge themselves with is something that is lacking in the world of music education, and ukulele is no exception. With UkeLab I hope that we can create a space together that is inclusive, inspirational and educational all at the same time. A space where learning is always happening and anyone who has a desire and the willingness to learn can enter and grow with ukulele.
