I have been playing the ukulele for 7 months. I have regularly been playing my ukulele for 7 months. If you know my habits with learning to play instruments, this should surprise you.
Do I consider myself a musician? Yes. A good musician? Not typically (vocalist, perhaps). You see, I have a terrible tendency to give up on things that I can't master quickly, especially when it comes to music. I recently came to the realization that my ability to almost always sing whatever is thrown at me correctly is not normal, and that it is a gift. I've been able to sing well my entire life...it's always just been pretty easy. I like a challenge, vocally. It's fun to learn something tricky that I can't just do right away. When I get sick, and as I get older, I realize that voices don't normally just do whatever you want them to- they need to be trained, taken care of, and refined. I now value my ability to harmonize with pretty much anything, learn a song with only hearing it once or twice, and seldom sounding pitchy. The Lord blessed me with that gift. But since I didn't really see it as a gift when I was younger, I expected to be able to master anything musically when I was younger. When I couldn't play something well right away, I would just quit. I was not a fan of practicing. I regret that I didn't stick with stuff, but it did eventually lead me to the uke.
I like to say I play a little bit of everything. I know the basic chords of guitar, I can play piano somewhat decently (but ask me to use both my hands to play different rhythms isn't going to happen), I play the bass (but I don't practice, so I'm not that great), I used to play the clarinet, and I actually was pretty good at that (since I had to practice for school). But besides singing, I couldn't do anything well.
I have liked the ukulele for a long time, and really wanted to get one for some time, but I hadn't realized how cheap they were. I thought the uke would be relatively easy to stick with, since there are only 4 strings, so my fingers wouldn't have to do as many crazy things as they do when I play guitar, and they're just so fun-it would make practicing more enjoyable. As a graduation gift to myself, I bought a cheap, red, soprano ukulele. I'm happy to tell you that today there are only a few chords that I have yet to really master! I actually stuck with the instrument! Although you do have to practice if you want to get good, anyone can play the ukulele.
Even if you just strum the strings, you're playing a chord (Am7)! Since there are only 4 strings, some of the most frequently used chords only require using one finger (C, Am) or two (F, A). I could play songs (not perfectly, mind you) the very first day I bought my uke! Because you can quickly master some of the most frequently used chords, the uke is great for people who like to give up when they can't get something to sound good right away. People at all skill levels can pick up a uke for the first time and play something that sounds like actual music, and not just terrible noise.
You do need to practice, especially if you want to learn some of the harder chords (E, B, C#m), and strumming patterns can be tricky, but just knowing that you can play a few chords really well gives you more motivation to learn even more chords. When you're getting frustrated, just play C, Am, and F (and throw in a G if you want), get your confidence back up (and be soothed by the relaxing uke music), and then try again. When I was first starting out (and even now), I could find myself playing and practicing for 3 hours without even realizing it! Your fingers get sore, but not nearly as quickly as they do when playing guitar.
I'd recommend picking up a ukulele to pretty much anyone. You can get them for $30 (mine was $40), you can learn a handful of chords right away, and you can be guaranteed to have an instrument that doesn't make you want to quit playing after a few weeks. And now that the uke is once again gaining some mainstream popularity, it's a really great time to start learning!
If I can stick with it, you can.
Good luck!
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