I’m sure that you have seen someone play the ukulele at a party or an event before. You might think it’s a skill that takes years to master, but you couldn’t be more wrong! The ukulele’s a very fun and relatively easy instrument to play, mostly if you stick to strumming chords. Besides, it is portable and pretty affordable compared to other string instruments like the guitar. Additionally, most popular songs have easy and catchy chord and strumming patterns, which means plenty of options to choose from for beginners. Here’s a list of some songs you could start with, which, as you’ll see, are all very well known and fun to sing! Apart from being entertaining, the ukulele carries plenty of benefits associated with our life quality. Learning new skills such as playing instruments improves our daily lives in so many ways, and so here are a few of them you should know:
Better memory
Playing the ukulele is shown to improve memory as it engages both sides of the brain. Skills such as abstract reasoning and spatial-temporal reasoning, useful for academic studies, become enhanced when learning a new instrument. Therefore, you can officially say that learning how to play the ukulele makes you smarter!
Relieving stress
Music has been proven to lower cortisol, the stress hormone, by reducing our blood pressure and heart rate. But, apart from this biological reaction, its escapist nature helps us unwind from our daily problems. Learning how to play songs in the ukulele integrates this characteristic of music into a process that’s entertaining by itself, increasing dopamine levels too.
Great for songwriting
If you don’t know music but want to explore your creativity through songs, the ukulele is the perfect outlet for you! Guided by your ear and chord notation, you can create endless different chord combinations and finally put lyrics to your creations. On top of that, music notation for the ukulele is super easy to memorize, given that the instrument only has four strings. As a result, you can come up with your own tunes super fast and look like a pro simultaneously, a win-win!
Great for taking a bigger step
As I previously mentioned, the ukulele only has four strings. Therefore, practicing on a narrow neck—where the frets are—makes it easier to transition into a more complicated instrument such as the guitar. Apart from physically making your life easier, the ukulele will also help you build the basic skills and confidence to advance musically if you wish to learn theory or proper notation.
Feeling of accomplishment
Getting comfortable with the ukulele takes relatively little time, as opposed to most instruments. Learning your favorite songs or even creating your own doesn’t need a music genius, it only needs motivation! Playing the ukulele will make you feel like you learned a new skill in very little time, which is a boost of self-esteem and a new fun fact about yourself to add to your list.
After reading all the benefits of playing the ukulele, there is no excuse for not giving it a try!
Sources:
https://sonomusic.com.au/5-reasons-why-you-should-learn-a-musical-instrument/