"Like a Ukulele . . ."

Somewhere between wanting to learn to play another instrument and listening to beautiful ukulele duets by Chad and Shelley, I got a ukulele of my very own. After tuning it with the use of a helpful tuner and printing out a chord chart to guide me, I was ready to play. And due to already having learned to read music from piano, I knew where to find every note on that lovely ukulele.

After having played for an hour a day for about two days now, I feel as though I am getting somewhere. Kind of. I mean, I'd imagined myself playing the pleasant, cheery, four-stringed sounds that make you feel vacation-relaxed for my family and friends, with somebody who can sing doing that, this whole scenario. But I haven't really figured out how to play chords yet. I'm in no rush though, just enjoying myself as I try to figure it out. I'm hoping to actually get good at this over the, well, don't think I'll be able to play it over summer so, over the autumn and winter and spring, then.

I'm actually glad the situation has improved, because here's how it really started: I got my ukulele over finals week and it sounded terrible. At first I thought it was me, but then I remembered how Chad let me play his for a little bit and it certainly didn't sound like it did now, which was worse than the sound of a cat being put in a blender, taken out and placed in a washing machine with an irate and frightened guinea pig. It was bad. I wanted to apologize to anyone who happened to pass by my room, or anyone out in our hallway forced to listen to a determined girl who didn't fully understand her ukulele insisting on playing it anyway.

So I got an idea: Perhaps it is not tuned. I kept turning the knobs the wrong way and getting mixed up so, afraid of breaking it, I found a music major who tuned it for me. But it still sounded awful. Thus, a few weeks later, I walked into Guitar Center in search of help.

"This your ukulele?" The kind, curly-haired guy asked. "What do you need?"

"Well, it sounds awful. I think it needs to be tuned."

"Do you know how to tune it?"

"Um . . .no, actually. I just got it and--"

"Well, no problem!" he said. "You can watch me tune it and listen to how it sounds, and you can buy a tuner that does it for you. Follow me."

As I followed him, I walked past a GORGEOUS Yamaha keyboard, with 88 keys and . . . got distracted. Trying to stop myself from drooling over it, I tried to focus on the ukulele situation.

"Makala?" The guy looks impressed as he takes the uke out of its box. "This is really good quality." He tunes it and begins to play. It is mesmerizing.

I am surprised it is super-good quality, since it was not as expensive as you'd think.

"It'll just probably take a little while for the strings to stretch, since they're plastic. But the tuner will turn green when it's right, so you're good to go."

"Thanks so much!" I purchased a tuner and, after another longing, lustful glance at that Yamaha full-size keyboard with a performance stand, USB capability . . . I left the store.

Now, I can play a ukulele that is fully tuned and I aspire to play as hypnotically as that one guy.

P.S. Plus, I love how portable it is. This two pound-ish instrument can go with me practically anywhere, whereas my digital piano (not a keyboard) is more cumbersome. The saying is true: "Without music, life would Bb."