Let’s Start at the Very Beginning

Hello, musical friends. For our music class this semester, I have decided to continue in my ongoing adventure of pretending to be good at the ukulele (that’s only a little bit of a joke). I picked up the ukulele about three or four years ago after falling in love with the Youtube musician dodie, her music tugged at my heartstrings and made me want to start playing music again.

I had a little background in playing music before playing the ukulele. I played the baritone, which is basically a small tuba, for two years in middle school. I also learned how to read sheet music in bass clef instead of the treble clef, because I played a brass instrument. Although looking back on my time playing in my middle school band, I was not very good. I hope for everyone’s sake that I at least have a bit more rhythm.

Pictured above are my two ukuleles. The top is a tenor/concert ukulele (I can never remember which it is) and the bottom is a baritone ukulele. The main difference between the two is the tuning of the strings.

Back to the ukulele, the very first song I learned on the ukulele was a song called down by dodie. It was difficult at first, but after a while of practicing, the chords became subconscious. I performed that song at an open mic (my first time singing in front of a crowd since I was 11 years old), and I kept returning to that event to perform more songs, both solos and duets with my friends.

For now, my goal is to work on relearning the scale and practicing a few songs before endeavouring to write my own.