Ukulele love
on My Thai (Thailand), 06/Feb/2011 11:36, 34 days ago
In the hope of distracting myself from what promises to be a painful meeting tomorrow, I thought I would write about something else that’s occupying my thoughts a great deal at the moment: my ukulele.Let me start by saying that my musical failures go back many years.For my 15thbirthday I went to Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester and picked out a red acoustic guitar, thinking that I would instantly become the next Nick Drake (although it was some years before I’d know who he was so I guess at that point the aim was to be the next Graham Coxon. What can I say, I was young and naive!)My older brother has played the guitar for years and, being actually pretty good and self-taught, I thought that if he could do it then it really couldn’t be that difficult!My attitude to learning the guitar was similar to my recent approach to learning Thai: an initial misconception that I am a natural genius followed by a half-hearted attempt at actual learning, frustration that I’m not as clever or multi-talented as I’d like to be and the eventual admittance of defeat. Safe to say that after a week or two of painfully twanging chords and blistering fingertips, the guitar was left to gather dust downstairs – forever serving as a visual reminder of my incompetence.About a year before I came away I’d looked into buying a ukulele, for two reasons. Firstly, I thought they had a beautiful warm sound to them and, secondly, I figured 4 strings must be easier to master than 6. I fiddled about a bit with the banjolele my brother had at the time as a trial run but once again found that watching Coronation Street involved way less effort and stress.After finally moving into my apartment here in Mahachai I realised that I needed something to occupy my time. I’ve already mentioned the limited joys of Thai TV and, as great as it is, there are only so many back to back episodes ofThe SopranosI can watch on the laptop without going a little insane (case in point– on Khao San Rd’s birthday outing I was talking to someone in ‘Waste Management’. I immediately took this as code for ‘I’m in the mafia’). Anyway, after a few weeks of little to no conversation I realised that my social life wasn’t going to be making many demands on my time so a ukulele it was! I looked at it as an investment buy – I would end the year having gained at least one new skill. Besides, think of all the money I’d be saving on not going out, not drinking and not shopping! So I headed into Bangers and after a bit of trekking hither and thither found two in a music shop in Mecca. Since then I’ve found one ukulele ‘cafe’ (no tables, chairs, food, drink or people though) and one ukulele shop so looks like it’s not as hard to track them down as I made it seem at the time!I didn’t realise just how much of an investment it would have to be though and, after spending the best part of my monthly allowance on something so small, was feeling a little sick and feverish! Still, I figured the expense would be a good motivating factor and that if this whole VSO thing goes belly up (quite possibly in tomorrow’s meeting), at least I could busk for baht on the streets to get by!I’ve had my little uke about 3 months now and, despite playing pretty much every day, I still suck to a considerable degree. Now not only are my neighbours listening to incessant warbling from the bar downstairs but are subjected to my caterwauling as well! In spite of the questionable quality of the sounds produced, it’s become something of an obsession now and I’ll even try to get a few minutes in before heading out to work in the morning. At this present moment  in time there is nothing I hate more than the B chord on a ukulele!As I’ve said already, my social life in Mahachai is non-existent so I was all set to make the considerable commute into Bangkok on Wednesday for a pub quiz (10min bike ride, 1hr 45min rush hour bus ride, 30min BTS ride, overnight stay in Bang Bon and a race against time to get back into work the nextmorning). That day I found the chords for a great song I’ve been listening to recently and was totally torn; a big part of me eager to get started on it straight away. Honestly, if I could have used the ‘ukulele emergency’ excuse to get out of work early, I would have biked it home, locked thedoor and pushed through the (auditory) pain barrier until the noises started to come together and make some kind of sense. Instead I did my duty in helping our team lose the pub quiz and met actual, real life, English speaking people which, apart from poor Nicola in Bang Bon, just doesn’t happen!Tragic as I am, I then spent the following day at work looking forward to the quality uke time to come.And don’t think I’m being modest in saying my musical skills are shocking – I mean every word of it!Over the past 3 months I’ve learnt, to differing degrees, the following:·       Ring of Fire– Johnny Cash·       Creep– Radiohead·       Complicated– Avril Lavigne·       Love Me Do– The Beatles·       Werewolves of London– Warren Zevon·       I Wish That I Could See You Soon– Herman Dune·       Sentimental Heart– She and Him·       Gonna Get Along Without You Now– She and Him cover of someone I don’t knowOut of those, I think there are only two I can play without mistakes and I often wonder whether the playing of such a happy little instrument is meant to involve quite so much profanity!I live in hope that, by the end of the year, I’ll be able to hold a tune or two but failing that I’ll just carry the case around so I at least look a little cooler!I went into Bangers this weekend and, before my second social gathering in a week (or second social gathering in about 3 months to be more accurate), went to seeThe King’s Speechat the Scala. So far I’d only been to the cinema in Mecca which is plush, ostentatious and always packed. I’d heard about the Scala being an art deco, single screen theatre so decided it might have a bit more character. It looks pretty inconspicuous from the soi outside but was lovely. For the equivalent of £2 I gotmen in jackets and dickie bows taking my ticket and shining torches down the aisle to my seat and a bit more character than the average multiplex. It reminded me of the good old Roxy (RIP) in Hollinwood, although that had none of those things! Still, the old man wandering around outside shaking hiscane at unsuspecting passersby used to add a bit of character to the proceedings, at least!I’ve heard a lot about the filmBlue Valentinerecently but films tend to come out a little later here and I wasn’t sure if it was mainstream enough for Thai tastes. Luckily, the Scala shows a lot of independent films and a trailer was shown ahead of its playing next week. Not only a trailer but one featuring Ryan Gosling with a ukulele no less! So now the focus of my week will be surviving long enough to see it playing on Friday.If a uke is good enough for Ryan, then I guess I’m in good company!