Enjoying Life

When I first moved to Miyakojima, Japan I was in love with the culture and music (actually I still am). The traditional instrument here is the sanshin, which is a three stringed banjo type instrument. After attending several festivals and listening to a lot of Okinawan music, I joined a class and learned to play the sanshin myself.

However, after playng for a couple of years I started to notice the instruments limits. Playing was fun, but the sanshin has a very distinct sound which limits it to playing Okinawan music.

My wife, who was dancing hula, started playing the ukulele. After doing a bit of research on the web looking for different songs, I realized how broad an ukulele really is. Basically it is like a mini guitar. At first I started playing in a Hawaiian Ukulele group (and may eventually go back), but decided I wanted to learn to play more modern songs.

After a bit of searching on Youtube, I found a good video to learn the simplified version of I’m Yours by Jason Mraz on the ukulele.

The Ukulele is a lot of fun and is pretty easy to learn. I am by no means a musician, so if I can do it anyone can.

I would say that the most difficult part is finding a good ukulele for beginners. I started out with a cheap Mahalo ukulele we got from a catalogue as a gift. It didn’t make much sound, and the sound it did make was horrible. If you want to play the ukulele, then I recommend you spend a little more to get something decent. You can find decent ukuleles for sale for around $60 and can get ones that are pretty good for around $100-$150.

If you do plan to buy an ukulele, then I recommend that you try to find a place that you can check them out and play them. There are a lot of ukuleles for sale and they come in different sizes and have different sounds. Getting the wrong one (like I did) can take away from that fun.

And remember that like anything, learning an instrument is simple repetition. If you do something a lot, you will get good at it.

We onyl have so much time each day, so you should try as much as possible to spend it doing things that you like. Ideally you should spend it doing things that both improve your skills or you as a person and doing something that you like. For most people, this seems to give a greater sense of satisfaction than just sitting in front of the TV.

Trying lots of new things is a great idea and will help you find what you really like. The ones that you stay with and get good at will give you the most benefit. 

However, there are also times when we should give things up.

For example, let’s say that you decide to try and learn the piano. You purchase a book, take some lessons, and learn to play a little. However, after time goes by, you find yourself playing less and less. It’s not that you don’t like to play, but it isn’t important enough or enjoyable enough to make a priority. Unfortunately, the entire time it will be on the back of your mind that you should be playing more. As long as you keep it in your mind that you will “practice tomorrow”, that guilt will keep nagging at you. Deciding to just quit can help relieve some of that stress.

So when should you not quit?

When you enjoy it too much. You don’t care how good you get, but you sit down and play everyday anyways. Doing something because you love it is always better than doing something because you think you have to.