slinging on the old uke to show it to Kelley’s folks

I’ve had my ukulele exactly one week. I’ve just recorded my first attempt at a song. Because I’m an awkward bastard, I chose a song I’ve never sung before and don’t really know–though it has many associations.

I’ve always been able to sing okay–though currently I’m really out of practise. And for someone who’s been playing the ukulele only one week I think it’s possible I’ll end up being able to play in a way that won’t wholly embarrass everyone around me.* But I’m less sanguine about being able to do both at the same time. If you want a demonstration of this, here’s a 55-sec snippet of me trying to play the first verse of “Hallelujah.” (You might need to turn it up because I wasn’t exactly belting it out.) Recorded on my iPhone** immediately after breakfast and uploaded for public consumption twenty minutes ago before the caffeine hits my system and I recover my senses.

Enjoy.

* Not because I’m a musical savant [snort] but because the ukulele is astonishingly beginner-friendly. It invites playful engagement in a way that, say, a violin doesn’t. I mean, really, after George Formby who can take a ukulele seriously? They’re a purely fun-based lifeform.
** Using the Voice Memo app, which is fantastically simple. A practically perfect little thing. And, again, it discourages Taking Oneself Seriously, something I’ve spent entirely too much of life doing.
*** Uploaded to via a nifty service called Chirbit.