Guess what!  I’m learning to play the ukulele!  Do you know what’s cooler than learning how to play the ukulele?  (Just about anything, you may say?)  Learning how to play the ukulele with help from someone on the other side. 

Do you know who just frickin’ LOVES ukuleles?  George.  (Formerly, George Harrison.  He’s sort-of dropped his last name now, he doesn’t hang on to his most recent past life identity as much as John does, as a matter of personal preference.) 

George jokes, “All those years learning to play sitar was but preparation for the ukulele!” 

The ukulele is simplicity in a string instrument, hilariously simple in comparison to the complexity of a sitar.  George’s point being that you don’t have to play a really complex instrument to gain the benefits of understanding what music has to teach us of the universe, and ourselves.

So I’m learning how to play the ukee, and George is teaching me.  How?  Glad you asked!

First, I had to tune it.  I’d attempted to learn to play guitar before, and I’d never been able to tune it by ear myself.  This time, George gave me a note in my head for each string.  I have a pretty good ear, so I hummed the note, and then found it on the string.  This progressed for all four strings, and when I was done, it sounded really nice.

Sweetie, who played bass guitar when she was in college and therefore knows to ask questions like, “What key is that in?”

“I have no idea,” I replied.  “It’s in A,” I heard in my head.  “It’s in A, does that make sense?”

“Yep!”

Later I found out that tuning the ukulele in “A” is “classical” – or this is what I derived from the faded sticker on the inside of the instrument.  “Hawaiian Ukulele, Classic A”

Neat.

Next, I started trying to find chords.  George showed me with an image on his hand on the ukee where and how my fingers should go.  It took a few minutes for me to get it, but I did.  Within 30 minutes I’d learned two chords.  A and B, he tells me.

So then I just practiced building the muscle memory in my hand for a couple of hours, watching the Simpsons and ker-plinking on my ukee.

As my left wrist began to ache I heard John’s voice, “And now you need to learn how not to hold the neck like you’re trying to kill it – it looks like you’re trying to throttle the monkey.  Choke the chicken, you know.”  And thank you for that, John!  He never misses an opportunity to crack a dirty joke, these days. 

So yes, do not hold neck of ukee as though I’m trying to death-grip masturbate like an 11 year old boy.  Thanks.

Eventually, I found a rhythm.  Just one more chord and apparently, I’ll be ready to learn a song! 

The point of this entry being:  there are so many “ascended masters” on the other side.  They continue to teach and inspire from Heaven, and they’re eager to help and be heard.  If you have a question, just say it out loud.  Address the person you want to ask.  See if something pops into your head, or on to the page in front of you if you prefer automatic writing. 

The universe is an amazing, wondrous place… and it is a circle.  All is accessible.