This week I began the process of teaching myself how to play the ukulele. The toughest part thus far was picking up the instrument itself and giving it a go. In order for me to begin the process at all, I had to get over the anxiety that accompanies failure. While I pride myself on my persistence, I also recognize that failure is a fear of mine.

 

Day 1.

I began by tuning my ukulele via a website shown to me in music class. My ukulele is tuned to the key of C because of the songs I chose to learn.

Once my ukulele was tuned I found both a video online and a website that showed me the necessary chords and strumming patterns. Having never played an instrument before, I found it difficult to wrap my head around the various finger positions that were required to make up a chord; learning an instrument is unlike anything else I have ever done before. Frustration began to creep in as time and time again my fingers would slip from the correct position, however, after much practice I feel confident enough to say I have learned the chords Am, C, and G.

 

Day 2.

Today I worked on learning the necessary strumming pattern for the first song I want to learn (DD UDU); this process all in all did not take me very long to pick up. I worked on putting the chord and strumming pattern together which was tricky at first, but again with some persistence, I was able to make it work. The same frustration I felt yesterday was no longer an issue. I feel like this is something I am entirely capable of learning with practice.

 

Day 3.

Today was the toughest day for me by far. After making great progress yesterday, I hit a wall. It has made me realize that learning an instrument is not a straight forward, A to B, process. There are times when you learn something with ease and then practice that same thing a day later and it feels like you’re starting from zero all over again. I found myself getting discouraged and thinking about all the things I couldn’t do today that were so easy just a day before; it simply comes with the territory. Despite my growing frustration, I was able to come to terms with the fact that things like these just take practice. I pushed through the irritation and continued playing; I didn’t make very much progress today, but I refused to give up anyways.

Day 4.

It still feels as though I am starting from zero. It is like my fingers know exactly what to do, but refuse to do it. Today was tough and I gave myself a break from it all. Maybe I am trying to do too much, too fast, and it’s backfiring?