Jake Shimabukuro's Thoughts on Beginner Ukulele
Shimabukuro Discusses His First Tenor Ukulele Lessons
Oct 30, 2009
Of the nearly 4 million You Tube visitors who viewed Jake Shimabukuro’s tenor ukulele interpretation of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, not one would describe his stellar performance as simplistic. In this clip and many others, the Hawaiian native deftly defies the long-standing stereotype that ukes are toys or beginner instruments for kids. Despite the complexity of emotion, chord voicing and tone he coaxes from his uke, it’s that simplicity that first appealed to the ukulele master and that continues to hold his affection.
Jake Shimabukuro’s First Ukulele Lessons
Many of Jake Shimabukuro’s earliest memories involve his mother’s ukulele music. When Shimabukuro was four-years-old, his mother shared her love of the instrument by giving him his first lessons. “I loved it,” he recalls. “I loved how easy the ukulele was to play. And its sound was just so soothing.”
Shimabukuro Discusses Beginner Music for Playing the Ukulele
Shimabukuro’s childhood was filled with the music of Hawaii. According to his description, traditional Hawaiian music is generally made up of two or three chord songs with simple, repeated melodies. “Growing up with that style of music was a great experience for me,” he reflects. “It allowed me to appreciate music in its most fundamental form. It’s always easy to move forward, or in a direction where things get more complex. If you’re already there though, it can be hard to move backwards. It’s hard to push yourself from playing really difficult pieces back to playing simple folk or pop tunes.”
Though Shimabukuro has learned to circumvent the ukes four-string, two-octave limitations, he honestly revels in the simplicity of the instrument and even its most basic music. He offers the example that his musical heritage could even allow him to play just a straight C major chord for 32 bars without becoming bored, whereas someone rooted in a style such as Jazz, would likely be drawn to more complex harmonies or rhythms. “For me,” he explains, “I can sincerely have fun just playing the one chord. Just a plain and simple triad—a C major chord without any extensions—without any major sevens, nines or whatever—just a straight C major chord is very beautiful. And because the instrument I play happens to be one of the simplest of all instruments—if I can’t appreciate something like that, then it would be very difficult for me to appreciate my instrument.”
Playing the Tenor Ukulele, a Beginner-Friendly and Low Maintenance Instrument
Many students are offered ukulele as an intro to guitar. After all, the uke has four strings instead of the guitar’s six, nylon strings instead of steel, and is better suited to small hands. This beginner-friendly character along with cheap plywood instruments bedecked with palm trees has lent the uke an undeserved reputation of inferiority to its six-stringed cousin.
While a tenor ukulele may look like a small guitar, the instruments actually have little in common when it comes to fingering and chord voicing. “I play very little guitar,” Shimabukuro claims. “I took a few classical guitar lessons over at the University, but the guitar just feels so foreign to me. It’s kind of like going back and forth between golf and tennis. You just kind of treat them like two different instruments.”
The ukulele was the only instrument Shimabukuro had as a child. He says most other instruments had little appeal for him. “The guitar was too bulky and the steel strings made my fingers sore,” he laughs. “Some of my friends played the violin or cello, but it always seemed like such a process, because those instruments were so expensive, and my friends had to be so careful with them.”
Ironically, the characteristics which have tainted the ukulele with mediocrity are the very things that Shimabukuro loves most. “You can take it to the beach,” he says, “and you can let your friends play it. Nothing’s going to happen to a ukulele. Those things are so strong. They’re not expensive. Now, yeah, you can get custom-built ukuleles that cost a lot more money. But even my ukuleles that I tour and record with, I still take to the beach. I think that’s the nature of the instrument. It’s so friendly, and it’s not high maintenance. That’s what I love about it.”
Shimabukuro Encourages Beginners Playing the Ukulele
Though beginner ukulele players might have a hard time believing it, speaking to Shimabukuro gives musicians the impression that he’d sit down and jam with them and enjoy even a performance of lesson 1 from Mel Bay’s tutorial. To those who find this honest love of musical basics a breath of fresh air, Shimabukuro says the sound can be moments away. “The ukulele is very simple to play,” he remarks. “I think it’s the easiest instrument to start with, because you can have absolutely no musical background, pick up the ukulele for the very first time and learn a song in fifteen minutes. That’s how easy it is, you know.”
Due in large part to Shimabukuro’s stunning and exciting example, beginner ukulele players can take pride in their instrument. There’s certainly room for growth. “It all depends on the player” he says. “If you start hearing more intricate things and you want to be more expressive on the instrument rather than just playing simple chords and melody lines, then yeah, it becomes more challenging because you have to be a little creative in trying to work around the two-octave limitation. But for the most part, if all you want to do is strum tunes and sing along or pick out simple melodies, the ukulele can bring you a lifetime of joy, happiness, and fulfillment.”
Musicians can learn more about the Ukulele Master in related articles where Shimabukuro discusses tricks for fresh chord voicing on tenor ukulele, ukulele strumming and fingerstyle technique, and his tips forplaying ukulele outside the box.
Quotes gained in conversation with Jake Shimabukuro on October 27, 2009.
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