If You’ve Been Failing at Playing the Guitar, You Need to Try Switching to the Ukulele

If you are anything like me and have tried, struggled, picked it up, been frustrated by, and keep putting the guitar down, it’s time to try a switch of instruments.

I’ve tried to play the guitar since I was 14, my mom taught me, I took some lessons on and off and I know all the major chords A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, some minor ones Am and Em, along with a few power chords, and scales. There’s a flaw to the way I was going about learning guitar, but the real problem was: my hands were too small.

I always thought practicing was my problem, I didn’t love to practice, and didn’t much so I never got beyond a beginner at guitar. But when I picked up a ukulele on a whim at a grocery store, I could instantly play it better than I could play guitar.

Several of the chords transfer, a D shape on the guitar is a G on the uke and a C on the guitar is an Em on the uke. A couple chords only use one finger to play on the uke Am and C, so within the first few minutes you can pick up the I, V, vi, IV chord progression and be off and strumming on the ukulele.

I, V, vi, IV (in C Major) C, G, Am, F

I went about learning guitar chords in alphabetical order (for some weird reason), when in fact I should have been taking an approach with starting with the above four chords in C Major…