MY UKULELE JOURNEY

Music and I go way back — just never very far. Saxophone in middle school for a year, then done. High school brought an electric guitar, a few lessons, a couple of chords, and then somehow, against all odds, an entire grunge band. We burned through band names like they were going out of style — which, to be fair, grunge kind of was by then. We landed on Simply Green. The lineup had real potential: Joe on vocals, John on bass, Mike on drums, and Lincoln and I sharing lead guitar duties. Lincoln could actually play. I had a couple of chords and a lot of confidence. Eric was on… something. Keyboard, maybe? The details get fuzzy. We set up in my basement and Eric’s garage and played for absolutely no one but ourselves. We thought we were cool. We were not cool. Eventually the band dissolved, the guitar went into a corner, and I quietly filed the whole thing under “character building.”

But that wish never really went away. To actually learn. To really play. To finish something musical for once in my life.

It finally arrived on a trip to celebrate my birthday, in Hawaii. My wife, both of my sons, my older son’s girlfriend, and my daughter wandered into one of those tourist shops — the kind loaded with t-shirts, sunglasses, and little souvenirs. Tucked in among everything were a couple of soprano ukuleles on display, their boxes sitting on the shelf behind them. Something about seeing them just stopped me. I turned to my wife and asked what she thought. She didn’t hesitate: if you’re getting one, get it from a real music store.

So my youngest son and I went to Lahaina Music in Lahaina. The owner Jason was out, but his son was there — and he really knew what he was doing. He played notes on several ukuleles, patiently letting me hear each one. I kept coming back to a Hug tenor. Something about the sound just sat right with me in a way I couldn’t explain. That was the one.

Before we left, he mentioned that Jason was giving a free group lesson the next day. My wife, my youngest son, and I showed up — the rest of the family held down the rental — and found ourselves in an open hotel lobby area just outside by the pool, along with maybe twenty other people all in the same boat. Jason had brought extra ukuleles for anyone who needed one. I played my Hug tenor for the first time. My wife and son played loaners. The whole group was just people learning together, smiling, fumbling through it. I had an absolute blast. Something shifted that day, and I knew this time was going to stick.

Back home in Kirkland, WA, it did. Online courses led me to Uke Like the Pros, which changed everything. When they offered a ukulele with enrollment I already had a tenor, so I went baritone. The first time I played it I just knew — that warm, deep sound, the way it settled into my hands. That became my instrument.

A concert uke joined the family later, picked up for travel. I play all three now, still learning all three. The baritone is home.

Ukulele Forge is what it looks like to finally keep the promise you made to yourself. Here you’ll find honest documentation of the journey — the progress and the plateaus, the gear, the lessons, the small wins and the humbling moments. If you’re learning too, or you’ve been thinking about starting, come along. We’re all figuring it out.