As some of you might have seen on my Instagram, this week I celebrated my two year ukulele-anniversary (or ukeversary). But that’s not entirely true. I bought my first ukulele about 3,5 years ago. It’s the purpleish Tiger soprano ukulele, that I still sometimes feature in my pictures (don’t really play it much these days). I bought it cause I really wanted to learn how to play but for 1,5 years I was too scared to do so.
Being a scaredy cat
I didn’t think that I would be able to learn by myself and I was too scared to take lessons, so for 1,5 years that precious little instrument was just laying around in my bedroom, collecting dust.
However, in those 1,5 years a lot of things changed in my life (this subject probably deserves its own blog entry one day) and in July 2016 I was finally brave enough to sign up for ukulele lessons.
And on September 27th 2016 I took my ukulele and went to my first lesson. I was excited but I also felt completely ridiculous.
- Picture taken right before my first ukulele lesson (for my other Instagram )
Being there and taking my ukulele out of its case I was convinced that the teacher will immediately laugh at me and this will be it. Well, he didn’t (at least not in a way that I noticed) and it was actually a really nice half hour. I learned my first chords C and Am and how to pick the intro to Hallelujah. As you might have seen on my Instagram – I’m still having some trouble with playing and picking the whole song. But that’s really just a lack of practice.
Keeping myself accountable
So, that’s how it all started. In the first year I did make some progress, but didn’t really make time for lots of practice. So my progress soon stalled and it became a bit of a pain. I didn’t want to give up playing though so halfway through my third semester I decided to find something that will make me hold accountable for practicing. Instagram did that trick for my fitness and weight loss journey (again, a subject that deserves its own blog entry one day) so I thought it might help with my ukulele practice as well.
In December 2017 I created @nikky.and.the.ukulele . My goal was to produce nice content to look at (aka lots of original pictures) and content that makes sure that I practice regularly (aka videos of me playing and singing). In the last 10 months since I started my ukulele Instagram account my skills have improved soooo much (tons of video evidence of that), I’m much more confident when it comes to playing and singing and I’ve met so many lovely people. There’s still a lot I have to learn and I can’t wait to do so. Thanks for all your support so far, it means the world to me.
xoxo Nikky
I am happy to see anyone have a go at playing the uke I have been playing my baritone for four years now and it is the best thing I have done I first picked up a uke in 1959 when I was in the army, I then went on to play guitar and had a small group in the 60s and stopped playing in 1071, I then saw a uke group playing at Christmas four years ago andand asked if I could join them and since that time I have been playing regularly. Keep It up. Pete
Thanks Pete. I am always happy to hear stories like yours – somehow ukulele finds its way back into lives and brightens them up. Keep on strumming Nikky
Nice work! I literally just got a Tenor from my kids for Father’s Day 3 months ago and am enjoying playing it (or trying to) after many years playing keyboards in various bands. I appreciate that you used the videos to hold yourself accountable, but also know it’s being enjoyed by many and sometimes I use it as a sort of lesson for me.
Thanks for doing this, nice work outta you, and I look forward to future videos from you!
Thanks so much Chris – I was not aware that people might actually use it as short lessons (the pressure is on 😂😂) but thanks for your lovely feedback, I very much appreciate it.
What a Lovely Blog this is,thank you For sharing all your efforts and Fears Learning to Play the ukulele. I Understand you so well. I Started to Play the ukulele 5 Years ago at the Age of 60 and it is the First instrument in my life. I struggled the first 3 years learning on my own and with youtube tutos since it is still difficult to find teachers and Groups in Germany. Now it is increasing and I started to Play in a Group one Year ago. SO finally Things were improving. It would be Hard to Live without my Uke again. PLS EXCUSE THE TYPING ERRORS BUT MY TABLET PREFRS GERMAN. 😁
Vielen lieben Dank – und ja, für mich ist es auch das allererste Instrument (hab nicht mal Blockflöte gelernt). Das ist dann nochmal eine größere Herausforderung. Die Angebote im Netz sind auch super zum Lernen, eine/n LehrerIn, die/der einem gegenüber sitzt und direkt drauf schaut kanns aber trotzdem nicht ersetzen.
In Österreich sind die Uke-teacher leider auch noch schwer zu finden, aber es wird mit der steigenden Popularität der Ukulele zum Glück besser. In welcher Gruppe/Stadt spielst du denn?
LG Nikky
In einer kleinen Stadt in der Nähe von Frankfurt un da kenn ich nur den ISO. Bei ihm hatte ich einige workshops gemacht