“Work is pollution” — Bill Mollison
I’m getting better at the ukulele, without even trying.
Specifically, without the joys of the Inter Nets to distract me, I’ve done things like played the uke for fun. Without an intent to practice or get better or do anything but be happy playing with it and listening to the sounds come out, and see what happens.
And I can now switch from chord to chord (among the chords I happen to know, like G, C, D, Dm, A, F) a lot more smoothly than I could before. Enough so that I can sit there and noodle around and play a few strums on this chord, switch to that, a few strums on that chord, switch to this, and so on, and it sounds like actual music.
If I get around to recording any I’ll put it up as an mp3, but I’m almost afraid recording it will spoil the magic somehow.
Maybe it’s not magic, though.
Maybe it’s better to learn things when you don’t pollute the learning with work.
UPDATE: I’m so frustrated. For the past day or so my uke has refused to accept a tuning. It’s got the cheaper friction pegs, not the gear kind you see on a guitar, and I guess it’s the heat and humidity or something but they slip right out of tuning. I can turn it to the right tuning and let the peg go and SHOOF it turns a quarter turn and several notes out of tune. Most frustratingly of all I can sometimes get all but the last string tuned, and that one just never yields. Ah well. I hope it gets better when things dry out and/or cool off.
UPDATE 2: all is good, I noticed the little phillipshead screws embedded in the pegs that let you tighten them!
I’m sure you’re doing this, but remember to push the peg into the head while twisting.
If you’ve got one stubborn string, you could try tuning everything down to that string.
You should go read the Yirmumah stip, dude. DJ is doing a multi-part series about how to tune and play the uke! He even has instructions for playing “Ring of Fire”. :)
http://www.yirmumah.net
Huh? no, I’m not remembering to do that, cause nobody ever told me to, and I hadn’t needed to. I’ll give it a try. :)
I checked a local music shop, Meyer Music, over lunch, and they have a ton of really reasonably priced ukes with gear-type instead of peg-type tuning, so even if there is anything permanently wack with this I should be able to afford another one. Soprano, tenor, or baritone!
I also got to try strumming a mandolin, which was intoxicating, but hard on the fingers.
I also picked up a real guitar and it felt like a giant’s instrument after strumming a tiny uke!
DOH! there are little phillipshead screws in there you can use to tighten things up as much as you want.
All is good.