Ever since I heard that I was to learn an instrument, I started to search the right instrument for me right away. When I was young, I used to learn a cumbersome Chinese traditional instrument with 21 strings, but I was forced to give up because I could not carry it with me to the USA. As a result, I wanted to choose an instrument that is portable and suitable for learning through online courses. Then I thought about ukulele, which not only perfectly meets my demands, but also sounds beautiful. I can practice it at my dorm without worrying about bothering my roommate. I pulled out my phone right away and bought one from Amazon immediately when I was still in the lecture hall. At that time, I did not know that …show more content…
The name of the course is “How to Play Hundreds of Songs With three chords.” Wow! How cool is that! The first chord, C major, was quite easy and I could do it right after him, which made me feel fulfilled. But the second one started to get hard because I couldn’t keep my palm from touching the outside string, and my fingers began to hurt too. Then I tried a few times and finally did it. But when the instructor asked me to practice till I could switch between them without thinking, everything began to go wrong. I couldn’t change the gesture of my hand and use the proper strength to press the right strings all at once. And those harsh noises I made started to make me feel annoyed. The instructor couldn’t help me at all. All I could see was had he strummed fluently on the screen with a smile on his face. He could not reach and teach my hand how to switch. He couldn’t even tell me what I was doing wrong. I could not give him any feedback and he could not give me either. There was no communication or interaction between us. He was always happy and left me to deal with the depression by myself. I felt frustrated and helpless. I was not the only one felt this way. In the book “Playing Along” by Kiri Miller, the author claims the same frustration as mine when he was learning to hold the pick: “We’re each holding a genuine three-dimensional guitar and pick, but he can’t reach through the screen to adjust my fingers-and since the lesson is part of a prerecorded curriculum, he can’t see my fumbling or offer specific feedback”(155). Fortunately, I found my way to deal with the problem. I realized that my mom had taken two guitar lessons before and she might have some helpful instruction for me. So I brought my ukulele home on the weekend. As a face-to-face teacher, she was able to point out the mistake on my gesture right away and adjusted my