By George, learning ukulele is fun!
THINKING back, two of the things I wish I'd learnt at school are a foreign language and a musical instrument.
Though I have managed to learn basic Japanese over the years, my musical prowess remains steadfastly poor.
But, hey, it's never too late to give it a try. And allegedly one of the easiest weapons of choice for us musically-challenged souls is that made famous by George Formby in the 1930s – the ukulele.
Encouraged by the suggestion that within an hour I could be playing a tune, I happily signed up for the first of a six-part workshop at the Customs House, South Shields.
Our guide for the day was Tom Pattison, 26, who teaches ukulele in various schools in Northumberland, as well as being a music information officer for Gateshead Library Service.
Having first picked up the four-stringed instrument six years ago while travelling around Europe in a VW camper van, the Newcastle-based musician was instantly smitten by it's feelgood Hawaiian sound and relative easiness to learn.
He soon realised it was the perfect instrument to get kids interested in music.
"It's easy enough for anyone to learn, even if you think you don't know the first thing about music," he explained.
"It's good for children too, because it's so small they can easily get their hands around it."
This is indeed one of the first things you notice about the ukulele; it does feel like a toy.
However, it's not, and has become one of the UK's most popular instruments for novice musicians to learn.
Sales have increased by about 30 per cent in the past year alone.
Apart from it being easy to play, Tom thinks there are two other factors as to why it's become so popular.
"They are cheap to buy – from 20 – and the sound of it is very mellow. It's never really going to offend the ear."
"Hopefully, by the end of the session today, people who have never played before will be able to play a few chords."
Sat in a circle, we 20 wannabe strummers had to first introduce ourselves.
Among us, it turned out there were a variety of ability levels, from absolute novices to those who'd been playing for the past few months.
"I'm Johnny and I have no experience whatsoever playing a musical instrument," I added rather sheepishly at the tail end of the line.
Not that it mattered, as Tom was the perfect teacher taking us through first the strings – G, C, E and A, as you look down – and then onto the basic chords.
These are achieved by holding the fingers on certain 'frets' (the little squares at the top of the arm).
Having strummed through the chords C and A minor, which only require one finger each, we beginners were soon stumped by F which requires two, and G which needs three.
Of the latter Tom said: "It's a great chord, but it's the hardest chord we play today."
"Once you've cracked that G, along with a C and an F, then you'll be able to play pretty much any Status Quo song."
As the session wore on, Tom thought we were doing well enough to try our first attempt at playing the chords like an orchestra – ie, together.
Though it wasn't good enough to hula to, it was mostly in tune and sounded great.
I can totally understand now why the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain is riding a wave of popularity. One ukulele sounds great, 20 in harmony sounds beautiful.
Positive as ever, Tom felt confident that give it a few more weeks, and the gang would be playing songs from the Doo Wop era – which often use the chord progression C, A minor, F and G.
Wanting to test my mettle against another complete novice, it was time for a bit of a mash up.
My opponent for this battle of the chords was Enid Richardson, a retired clerical officer from South Shields.
After achieving a sound akin to two cats garroting each other, we both admitted we probably weren't the star pupils.
Don't be put off if you don't get it straight away," he said. Enid wasn't.
Good on her.
"I enjoyed the lesson very much," she remarked.
"It's been a good laugh and made me want to learn more. I'm hoping I'll get better in the coming weeks."
The award for top learner of the day had to go to Bob Young, 67, from South Shields, a retired engineer, and married dad-of-two.
He did though, admit he'd had a bit of a head start.
"I've played the guitar since I was a boy. I've also played the mandolin for two years.
"I had an old ukulele from the wartime era that my father-in-law used to play. He gave me it when he died, and it's been in my mind to learn how to play it ever since.
"It was great today. You can watch it as much as you like on instructional videos, but you need people to show you how to play it."
Judith Cashman, a co-ordinator for the Customs House-based Find Your Talent programme, which sends out musicians to schools, was one of the brains behind these adult workshops.
"I thought it would be nice to have a ukulele orchestra with lots of children who have learnt it in school, playing alongside their grandparents who have learnt it here," she said.
"I like the ukulele because after a few weeks you can have a stab at a few tunes. It's not painful to learn like other instruments, and it's great fun."
If you interested in joining a workshop, call the Customs House on 454 1234.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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