10 Reason It’s Easier to Learn the Guitar than the Ukulele
April 1, 2009
It’s a good job no one pays any attention to a word I say. If they did, they’d realise how often I contradict myself. I change my mind more often than I change my underpants (i.e. about once a week).
I’ve stated a few times that it’s easier for a beginner to play the ukulele rather than the guitar. But is it easier to learn the ukulele than the guitar? I thought I might run with the hypothesis that on this subject, and many others, I’m talking a whole load of fanny-rot.
It’s easier to learn the guitar than the ukulele because…
1) It’s easier to tune: The shorter scale length of the ukulele makes it decidedly tricky to get in tune. A slight tweak of tuner can send it wildly out of tune. Add to that the fact that strings take a couple of weeks to bed down and you’ve got a big problem. If even professional musicians like Amanda Palmer and Stephin Merritt can’t get their ukuleles in tune, what chance has a beginner got?
2) It’s possible to find a teacher: Google results for “guitar teacher” = 316,000. Google results for “ukulele teacher” = 1,480. The best way to learn a new instrument is sitting face to face with someone who is already an expert. It’s much easier to find those people with the guitar.
3) It’s easier to make it sound OK: Guitars naturally have a big sound which is generous to less careful playing. It takes a bit more experience to tease a good sound out of a ukulele. It’s all to easy to smother all the tone out of the poor thing.
4) You don’t have to worry about holding it: Sometimes ukeing standing up is a little like playing whilst juggling a sack of potatoes. And using a strap feels like giving in.
5) They don’t have friction tuners: The friction tuners on beginner level ukuleles are universally awful. I wonder how many people have given up on the ukulele because they couldn’t get the tuners to stick and didn’t realise you could tighten them.
6) It’s easier to find tabs and lessons online: There’s a whole lot more than there used to be. But the uke stuff still doesn’t come close to the amount (and, dare I say, quality) of guitar stuff.
7) You can buy a decent guitar in a shop: Imagine that. Walking into a shop and being able to try a wide range of instruments of playable quality and decide which one you like best. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a shop with more than one ukulele for sale. And I’ve never been in one with more than zero good ukuleles for sale.
8) No one cares what strumming pattern you use on the guitar: In my many years on the dark side, I don’t ever remember anyone discussing any strumming patterns.
9) The strings are in the right order: What the hell kind of sense does re-entrant tuning make anyway?
10) It’s physically possible to play and E chord on the guitar.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
(And, no, this isn’t an April Fools joke).
#1: Pure piffle. Tuning any stringed instrument takes practice. If practice scares you, you need to take up some other hobby. I suggest philately since the post office nearly world-wide is doomed and those little sticky bits of paper are going to soar in value.
#2: Bits of truth in there but lots of good players of both guitar and ukulele never had the benefit of a teacher.
#3: Rubbish. You can sound wretched on either instrument. Believe me on that one, I’ve spent a lot of time at open mikes. Ouch!
#4: Further piffle and for about the same reason as #1. Practice, kids!
#5: A lot of truth in that one.
#6: Since great swathes of the tunes that ukers are playing are from songs posted by guitar players I don’t see a lot of difference here. And the quality level is spotty throughout.
#7: All too true.
#8: Not only true but a major source of LOL for me.
#9: Many early instruments were in re-entrant tuning, including early iterations of guitars. The close voicing one gets with only four strings and tuned that way makes for some easy fingerings for some pretty fancy stuff.
And the E chord? Hmmm… seems somewhere I said something about practice.
There. I took you at your word that this wasn’t an April Fool’s prank. So if it actually is one, all that above pedantry serves you right. :-)
I hope you’re not suggesting we beginners should switch to the guitar because it’s too hard for us to find a teacher who can explain strumming patterns and that therefore we will never sound right :-)
We’re not that hopeless for tabs and chords with your site !
Sorry but I’ll stick to the ukulele anyway :-þ for Fluke’s sake !
I went with the uke over the guitar for two reasons:
1. I have a busted flipper and have to play lefty – the low cost and string count on the uke made me feel I could take a chance on restringing one to see how it worked out.
2. If you play the guitar, you have to be great. No one wants to hear your plucking version of Stairway on a guitar, but butcher it on a uke and everyone is smiling.
PS – The E might be hard, but all the other chords are much easier than the guitar versions.
7. I was recently in a music shop with three ukuleles! And they weren’t junk either, which surprised me. They had a nice Lanikai soprano and a low-level acoustic-electric concert. I was inexplicably excited that I’m not the only ukulele player in the area.
“And using a strap feels like giving in” HAHAHAHA! you got me with that, too funny!
well, seriously, I had so many nice (but obvious) april fools today, even if this is not meant to be one (at least it’s not untrue), it’s just funny^^
two things, i love the E chord, i have big doube jointed fingers itsmy favouorite chord haha,
also you should come to liverpool we have two shops within a few meters of one another with 2 or 3 nice ukes in each mainly ohana’s kalas and oscar schmits.
i think learning uke is good because the skills transfer so nicely, mute the E andd A string on a guitar and just transpose all chords down 5 semitones and shred that axe right up, makes people think you’re some kind of super musical prodigy
7. You’ve clearly not been to London recently, old chap! There’s an awesome shop in Spitalfields called the Duke of Uke. It sells more ukes than it does guitars.
Try the Hobgoblin Music shops- there is a fantastic one in Birmingham from which I got my Ashbury Tenor Electro-Acoustic (with Aquilas!), and that was just one of many!!
Being a white kid from the suburbs, playing the guitar was my destiny…and yet here I am playing the uke. Not that I didn’t give guitar a go, I just couldn’t stick with it. Particularly not when I found out every douchebag in my high school played one. Then I was WAY not interested.
I bar the g, c, and e strings with my thumb and play on the a with my index finger for the e chord.
Hmmmm…I moved from guitar to uke and have to say, uke’s easier.
Also, if you’re small like me you don’t look quite so ridiculous playing a uke, compared to a guitar so big that you can’t be seen behind it…
Ukes are good.
I have A LOT of trouble playing the guitar because I have really small hands, so the uke is awesome for me!
Playing guitar feels like wrestling a piece of furniture while trying to play music. I’m a big guy and guitars feel, and have always felt, bulky and unwieldy. It’s all well and good to say that we should practice, but it is easier to carry around a uke than it is to drag along something the size of a coffee table and practice when I get a chance.
Hobbit: The point is beginners don’t have any practice behind them. I still say those things take less practice on guitar than ukulele.
Armelle: Definitely stick with uke!
Donnie: *Tries to think of another chord that’s easier on guitar* Maybe D is easier. But, yeah, that’s about it.
Ryan: Three ukuleles :O
HailelSela: Honestly, it isn’t an April Fool.
cbf: Must be the Beatles influence.
Marlon: I allow most swear words on this blog. But the L-word is pushing it.
lalala: I bought my Ashbury from them. Online though.
Emily: I’m trying to decide if I’m a bigger douchebag when playing guitar or ukulele. I’m a pretty big douchbag either way. But guitar probably wins out.
Anna: That’s one way of doing it. But it makes change to and from it quite tricky.
KatieBrain: It’s looks even more strange when tiny girls play the bass. Ginger Reyes for instance.
Rennie: I have the hands of a six year old girl and, yes, it is an advantage on the ukulele.
Jon: I know what you mean. I always felt my back aching after playing electric guitar for too long. Probably to do with my bad posture.
Ah, the tyranny of the strumming pattern. Agreed, is not something I ever encountered with guitarists, except once, just after the Byrds, Mr. Tambourine Man album came out. A friend asked me just exactly how I was strumming Feel a Whole Lot Better, & darned if I could tell him (I gave him some up down mumbo jumbo, but that’s all it was, of course). How do you slow down what comes naturally to break it into a series of ups & downs? And any pattern is, of course, just a starting point, not to be rigidly adhered to, since sooner or later the pattern breaks down & nature takes its course, anyway. At a beginning stage, however, learning patterns is helpful, akin to learning scales, & once learned & embedded into a players DNA, can then come out naturally in one’s playing. And there’s absolutely no reason a song cannot be strummed many different ways.
I don’t think the wife would let me get away with owning 9 guitars!
4 – I agree the guitar is easier as it can rest in your lap without the neck sliding downward. If I play with a soprano uke resting on my leg I find I’m a little bit twisted to one side, so I tend to hold it higher.
I use a strap ( I gave in) and it frees up your fretting hand and the uke doesn’t slide downward. Without one, if you have boobs, it’s hard to hold a uke flat against your chest when your chest isn’t flat !
I have noticed that some men with big stomachs appear to rest the body of the uke on the tops of their stomach while playing.
UKULELE IS BOSS
ron: Definitely. I’m trying to write a beginner’s guide to strumming and I’m having really trouble trying to explain it. I’ve never really thought about, just did it naturally.
John: That’s a point. I don’t think I’d be able to fit so many guitars under my bed.
Tamster: The boob issue is one I give a great deal of thought to. But I wouldn’t advise having the uke flat against your chest. No matter what shape it is.
chris: No argument there.
Anyone can play guitar
All hail the beer belly!
Judas! :)
I too, love the E chord. Mostly because I feel like a true genius being able to play it after it was such a pain in the beginning.
Maybe we could have an E-chord week on uke hunt? Lots of tabs and chords of songs containing the E chord and other articles about the various ways of fingering to de-mystify it?
I actually laughed at the strum patterns for guitar.
The E chord is a b*tch :@
Brilliant. About time someone exploded the myth of the ukulele.
The way its reported, you only have to look at a ukulele and they magically play themselves. Clearly this is rubbish, and like all other instruments, it takes lots time & lots of practice.
I would say that if can play the guitar, then making the transition is a lot easier, but this is more to do with the fact that your brain has already learned how to get your hands to do two very differernt things at the same time.
So when will guitarhunt.com be online?
I feel ya on strumming patterns. I’ve worked my butt off for two months and finally just got the strumming down for Somewhere Over The Rainbow.
Never had that problem with Freebird. ;)
Overall though, I just love the little bastards!
CBF: ‘mute the E andd A string on a guitar and just transpose all chords down 5 semitones’
and open a piano and hit the strings with a pair of pliers and it’ll sound like a harpsichord!
:D
micto i’m so going into my local music shop with some pliers now ^^,
Found a rockabilly song that uses the dreaded e chord. What a joy to play!!!
Wanda Jackson’s Fujiymama Mama. It uses only A A7 D E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT_dRzioFII
I’m definitely flea bitten, but have only started jamming with others (other musicians, not other ukulists :( ) in the past few months. I always wondered why I received the weirdest stares when I brought up strum patterns…now I know it’s not just me!
as someone with abnormally tiny hands, i love the uke because i can physically play it!
Woodshed,,,,,,,
you’ve opened up a can of worms……
c chord -one finger
a minor- one finger
F variation (index finger fretting only second string first fret) one finger….
you had some good points about tuning, strumming etc., but there’s something magical about seeing someone for the first time make a decent sound on the uke and strum these aformentioned chords…….i’ve never yet seen the same thing on the guitar…..it usually makes that ‘thunking’ ‘chunking’ noise for the first several months of playing eh?
I know where your loyalties lie…..as with all the other ‘posters’ ;)
I’ve learned both instruments fairly recently and I think the points you make are fairly valid.
The main advantage I found of ukulele over guitar was the less strings, this simplifies almost all aspects of playing, makes finger picking more logical, makes chords easier to remember, and requires less left hand training.
A close second advantage of learning the uke that should not be overlooked is the community around it. Uke players tend to be much more welcoming to beginners, whereas guitar players tend to be more show-offy than anything. I find most people don’t get their first exposure to an instrument through instructors, they see someone else playing it and want to give it a go.
One thing I haven’t found in the guitar community is a guitarhunt blog :D
This site has done wonders for my uke playing – a single place for a wide variety of tabs/chords, a good balance of background context and exposure, it makes playing more interesting, and you don’t have to spend hours finding out about the quality of tabs, or picking out tabs for the electric vs acoustic vs classical because there’s a trusted tab author posting! If you know of a similar guitar site, point me to it please.
OK, Al
You got my attention. I do read your newsletter at least 3 to 4 times a week and
I enjoy every one I read. And I love UKE HUNT just like every other uke player I know. I love you man, but your pushing my buttons now. This last newsletter 10 REASONS IT’S EASIER TO LEARN the GUITAR THAN the UKULELE. It’s the truth, but so skewed you make me think you’ve went nuts.
1) It’s easier to tune: The shorter scale length of the ukulele makes it decidedly tricky to get in tune. A slight tweak of tuner can send it wildly out of tune. Add to that the fact that strings take a couple of weeks to bed down and you’ve got a big problem. If even professional musicians like Amanda Palmer and Stephin Merritt can’t get their ukuleles in tune, what chance has a beginner got?
The uke is easier to tune. Two less strings Duh. I hate one-to-one tuners, but a guitar is
not easier. Yes, Kamaka strings and other tough strings take a while to “break in”, but you can do it in a couple of hours. The process takes 4 or 5 tuning cylcles, but its worth it. The sound is brighter and happier. You don’t tear up your fingers on uke like a guitar. You should have a electronic clip-on tuner for ANY string instrument.
2) It’s possible to find a teacher: Google results for “guitar teacher” = 316,000. Google results for “ukulele teacher” = 1,480. The best way to learn a new instrument is sitting face to face with someone who is already an expert. It’s much easier to find those people with the guitar.
Yes, this is a problem for the ukulele. But you don’t have to be an expert to teach someone
ukulele chords, and some strumming, and a little phrasing. By comparison, you don’t have to be a linguist to teach basic reading and writing.
3) It’s easier to make it sound OK: Guitars naturally have a big sound which is generous to less careful playing. It takes a bit more experience to tease a good sound out of a ukulele. It’s all to easy to smother all the tone out of the poor thing.
But, the uke is brighter, plus the chords are harder to make on a guitar. Try playing a song on a guitar with just two fingers for most of the chords. Also, you have to be physically bigger to play the guitar. A three-year old can play a uke.
4) You don’t have to worry about holding it: Sometimes ukeing standing up is a little like playing whilst juggling a sack of potatoes. And using a strap feels like giving in.
Who wants to lug around a huge guitar everywhere? You want a strap digging into your neck every time you want to play a little ditty. I never heard anyone complaining about a sore back from holding a uke.
5) They don’t have friction tuners: The friction tuners on beginner level ukuleles are universally awful. I wonder how many people have given up on the ukulele because they couldn’t get the tuners to stick and didn’t realise you could tighten them.
Sucky tuners are problem no matter what your string instrument. Older violins have friction tuners too, and the world has managed to survive.
6) It’s easier to find tabs and lessons online: There’s a whole lot more than there used to be. But the uke stuff still doesn’t come close to the amount (and, dare I say, quality) of guitar stuff.
Yes, but in the last 5 years the uke sites have exploded. chordie, dominator’s site, and others.
and dare I say Uke Hunt. Give it some time. The love for uke is just really starting.
The uke is very very popular on youtube.com.
7) You can buy a decent guitar in a shop: Imagine that. Walking into a shop and being able to try a wide range of instruments of playable quality and decide which one you like best. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a shop with more than one ukulele for sale. And I’ve never been in one with more than zero good ukuleles for sale.
Yes, this is true, but a good guitar cost about $400 dollars american. A good uke can be had for under $200 dollars american. I take the extra two hundred in my pocket thank you. BTW, Guitar Center is starting to carry more ukuleles, and the quality is going up in general. Finding a good uke is not as hard as it used to be.
8) No one cares what strumming pattern you use on the guitar: In my many years on the dark side, I don’t ever remember anyone discussing any strumming patterns.
No, one cares about the strumming pattern on a guitar because the sounds is all over the place.
The classical guitarist are really the only true melody players for guitar.
9) The strings are in the right order: What the hell kind of sense does re-entrant tuning make anyway?
Ok, I will give that one. But there is such a thing as low-G uke no chord adjustment neccessary.
But the uke was designed to be a harmony instrument first, now it has evolved and it the best instrument on the planet.
10) It’s physically possible to play and E chord on the guitar.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
(And, no, this isn’t an April Fools joke).
Al, Now your really playing dirty. If you really got to play in the key of B or E. You have alternate tunings you can use. YOUR web site is one of the few that can show a uke player how to do that.
**************************
Still love ya AL. I know your playing the “Simon Cowell” part of the antagonist.
Keep Strumming, Singing, and Smiling,
Terry Truhart
co-organizer of the http://www.WindyCityUkeFest.com
“The Best Ukulele Experience in the Midwest”
tpensel@pobox.com
http://www.nuiukulele.org
312-491-9928
I play the two finger E with a half barre (4442)… all those years of playing DADGAD on the guitar! I also play it as 4447 when needed, which is much, much simpler.
I don’t know how things would have been if I’d started uke first. But since I got mine last year I’ve played guitar, ooooh, about twice?
PS I love this site.
Melissa, I play a little rockabilly on the uke. It does sound best in A but E7 sounds better than E and is EZ to play. Someday I will learn to play the E chord but I am struggling with other things just now.
I would agree with Tony re: ukulele players
they’re lovely :D
I love guitar. I bought an ukulele because I can’t afford a Martin ( I also have a pretty cheap acoustic I play sometimes). But I also just moved into a camper so I could afford to go to school, and the guitar would take up too much precious space. Besides, how could I ever be sad with a Kala pineapple-screened pineapple uke?
Great thread.
As a fingerstyle guitarist I became a ukuleliac after seeing Joe Brown’s solo on the George Harrison DVD (like many) and got a huge buzz when I realised I could manage the fingering for 99,876 of the 100,000 possible chords immediately (as opposed to about 37 on the guitar).
Then I realised if I tuned low G I could transpose lots of guitar arrangements easily to uke.
Then I realised I hated the droning ‘wannabe guitar’ sound of the low G.
Then I realised that re-entrant tuning is one of mankinds greatest inventions, and arranging for the uke could be my reason for being on this planet.
Then I wasted the best months of my life trying to find a better uke than my trusty Mahalo tenor – still haven’t.
Now I spend half my time trying to play better, and the other (definitely not better) half still trying to find a better uke than my trusty Mahalo tenor.
So, back to the point:
uke is both easier and harder than guitar, but infinitely more interesting.
Al, you are wonderful.
RadioHead: Them were the days. Back when Radiohead wrote songs. I miss them.
J-Hob: It does have its uses. A whole week of E chords… it’s a possibility.
amber: I still find it a pain. Unless there’s a good reason not to, I usually go with the three string version.
original bear: I don’t believe you. You’re a liar.
Mark: I’m not sure why guitar strums are never discussed.
Alice: Agreed!
zym and Tony: I think the guitar world is too big for a blog like this to work (the dip is too big). And there are a few good guitar blogs around. Although there’s one less since IG Blog disappeared.
QAsR: Another advantage of the ukulele: it does tend to prevent long, rambling Freebird-like solos. Or is that a disadvantage?
melissa: Wanda Jackson is the shiznit. No argument there.
mictoboy: I’ve often wanted to go at a piano with a hammer.
Allison: Don’t worry, they’re in the wrong.
Rukuleleth: We should start a small handed ukers club. With a very small secret handshake.
todd: Yes, loyalties very much with the ukulele. I thought I was sticking up for it here. Like zym says, I don’t think the reputation of the ukulele being easy to play is an entirely good thing.
zym and Tony again: There are some asshole ukulele players out there. I’ve fallen out with plenty. So either they’re assholes or, more likely, I am.
deemikay: The 4447 is one I go for regularly too.
Jon: True! If you’re playing in A, always check if E7 works.
erly: The storage issue is definitely another advantage of the uke.
Plink: I do think there are huge advantages to re-entrant tuning – even if it is inside out. But that might just be because my brain is inside out too.
Woodshed sez: “There are some asshole ukulele players out there. I’ve fallen out with plenty. So either they’re assholes or, more likely, I am.”
Having a recent run-in or two with some, I’m pretty sure it’s not you.
And I have to ring in on the subject of the ukulele’s reputation being easy to play. I think it’s easy to pick up enough to amuse yourself, and maybe some of your friends, but to learn how to *play* it takes a while.
The problem with the EZ rep is that it leads to all sorts of questions from new folk who’re all tense because they’ve had their uke for a WHOLE MONTH and can’t play like [insert some great player name here]. And some of them get right pissy when you tell them the secret of getting to Carnegie Hall.
I do have hope that I’ll learn to play really well one of these days, but I’m willing to *ahem* woodshed until I do.
I think the uke being easy to pick up and start playing is one of its best qualities. I don’t think I ever would have picked up the uke had that not been case as I had previously written myself off as being non-musical and I have since proved that isn’t the case and now derive so much pleasure from making and playing music.
I have also seen at the Monday ukearist nights how well some players have progressed from a total standing start and how much they enjoy playing and learn, it’s a real democratisation of music – the uke has the potential to draw more people into playing their own music than any other instrument ever – there’s no cost barrier to getting a playable uke and length of time need for a rank beginner with no previous musical background to be able to play something that is recognisable as a song is minimal.
Of course this isn’t to say that uke is a simple instrument, the possibilities for what you can do on a uke are almost limitless. I have little doubt there is a lifetime of learning within those four strings and 12 frets.
Woodshed, if you think you’re an asshole then the definition of an asshole has now changed to “someone who dedicates a lot of his time sharing his knowledge to help other people”.
In which case I wish there were plenty more out there :-)
While cheap friction tuners are a problem with continuously slipping out of tune, the main problem i had when i got my first ukulele was with the very small angle between too flat and too sharp. The way to solve this is to hold the peg still and turn the ukulele, using the body as a lever and making the small angle is much easier to achieve.
I found this technique on the Ukulele Cosmos forums.
Hobbit: The most annoying question I sometimes get is, “Why doesn’t my ukulele sound like that?”
John: Thanks. I think that’s the best defence of the ‘ukulele is easy’ idea.
Armelle: Believe me, I can be an asshole.
phi: Thanks for the tip.
Ukulele,,,the thinking man’s violin (and we don’t need no stinkin bow).