Xiaomi-backed Populele taught me how to play a ukulele when a real music teacher couldn’t
- Populele is a smart ukulele by Shenzhen-based Popumusic that features an LED light-up fretboard and companion app
- Post reporter Celia Chen tries it first hand, and learns the chords to play Jay Chou’s ‘Sunny Day’ within 10 minutes
Two years ago I bought a ukulele on impulse, promising myself to master it. “How hard could it be?” I thought. The ukulele only has four strings compared to six on a regular guitar and is known for being easier for novices to pick up.
But the group classes I signed up for proved to be a brutal reality check. Very quickly, I discovered I had no basic hand-eye coordination, and even my instructor’s patient efforts failed to pay off.
“Put your third finger on the fourth string, second fret … And then your fourth finger on the first string,” he would say, taking my ukulele to demonstrate. But the moment he handed it back to me, I’d already forgotten what the chord looked like.
The height of my embarrassment came when it was time for the class to play along to a song together: I seemed the only one unable to keep up. After that, I was reluctant to attend classes and eventually dropped out completely.
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Xiaomi-backed smart ukulele teaches you how to play music within minutes