So you want to know why you should play a Uke?
I shall be happy to give you a list of reasons!
There, now are you ready to play the uke? Good! Go play!
- Ukes are very easy to play. I started playing music on a uke. It has only four strings, virtually every chord requires less than three fingers, and there's no chords where you have to get fancy and avoid or pick certain strings like on a guitar. Plus they have tiny nylon strings so they don't need a pick and they don't hurt your fingers.
- They are small and portable. They weigh less then a couple pounds and if you get a case for one you can carry it with you anywhere, like a purse. If you're in a band you don't really have room for guitars on the bus or in the van but ukes can fit anywhere, PLUS they can go as carry-on. (IF TSA does not claim it's a bomb and burn it).
- They are cheaper than other instruments. The next cheapest is the strumstick, but that instrument is still $50 more than I paid for my high quality uke. I paid $110 for a very nice Oscar Shmidt Ukulele, with a mahogany body and rosewood fret board. I paid over $200 for an equal quality guitar. I started on a cheap, pretty much useless and fake $30 uke. It was very messily painted candy apple red and I wore it out- literally, it's unplayable now- so.... while you get what you pay for ukes are still pretty cheap to get.
- They're fun. It's impossible to dislike playing a uke. There's something cheerful about the plucky sound whether you get a baritone, concert, or soprano uke.
- Baritone ukes are tuned like the last four strings of a guitar so many chords are similar, meaning a transition later would be easy. Also, you can find many baritone ukes which are six-stringed. That means that while they still play and sound like ukes they are tuned like guitars so they don't hurt your fingers but they're still guitars. Makes for easy switching later.
- They're REAL. Yeah yeah, strumsticks like these have three strings and are supposedly "able to be played by anyone". They also come in certain varieties. G strumsticks can only play the chords G, C, D, Em, Bm, A, F, D7, Am. Yes, they can only play 9 chords. Ukes are real instruments. With the exception of a couple fancy guitar chords like Asus and its relatives, you can play anything and everything on the ukulele. To play the song American Pie you need G, C, D, Em, A7, D7, Am7, and G7. Three of those chords, to the iconic song, are not playable by a strumstick. Therefore, the uke is the easiest to play REAL instrument.
- Do you really need any more reasons? Okay fine. Ukes are COOL. Ukes are not child's instruments. We're not talking Tiny Tim and Tiptoe through the Tulips. Ukes are real. Check out the internationally famous Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuru. Ukes are a thing now and who doesn't want to be cool?
There, now are you ready to play the uke? Good! Go play!