Ukulele

Alternate Titles for this post:

• My Teenage Guitar Failure
• If a Ten Year Old Can Learn to Play the Trumpet
• Avoiding Cabin Fever in the Winter

My neighbor, Sally, is the Administrator of the Senior Center in town. We talked about the ukulele group that meets there each week.  She and her teenage son both have ukuleles and have participated with the group.  I  saw notices in the local paper periodically about the class and thought I might go have a look someday. 

I had a guitar briefly in high school.  The steel strings cut into my fingers and I could never tune the dang thing.  But now there are cheap digital tuners that clip on the headstock and if you can tell a red light from a green light, you can tune your instrument.  With only four nylon strings - a ukulele seemed easier and more comfortable than a guitar.

It was my son, though, that actually got me to the music store.  He picked up the trumpet at age ten, thanks to his music teacher at school, and has progressed in three years from "Hot Cross Buns" to performing with the high school jazz band. 

"Where will I be in three years if I start to play the ukulele now?" I wondered.