First off, I really have no real musical experience. I had 5 years of piano lessons in grade school, but they were all from teachers that just taught songs, no theory whatsoever. After that I took a year of clarinet, bass guitar and guitar, again, no theory, no 'let's start with chords', no 'let's learn about keys', no 'practice your scales' etc. In college I taught myself the guitar for a year or so with the a book called "teach yourself the blues" and that was my introduction to theory. It's the only time I ever learned anything about keys (which I still don't totally understand), scales, chords etc, but it was all self taught, but I learned more teaching myself then I learned with all my other teachers, barring piano because I (more or less) learned how to read music from her. I was so proud of myself after working with that book when I could pick a random key (well, fret) and play the 12 bar blues based around that note.
Anyways, I struggled with guitar during that year (in college), even after a year, even after I could play a little, it still never clicked.
I keep thinking I should pick it back up, I'd love to be able to pick something up and be able to play. I don't particularly care what it is, I'm not looking to perform in front of people, I'm not looking to join a band, I'd just like to be able to play something. I'm also not looking to get real lessons, but I'm more than happy to do something online like JustinGuitar or Nars Ginley etc.
Anyways, a friend of mine (that's musically talented) also struggled with guitar since college as well (turned out she just couldn't open her hand wind enough to hit certain chords) suggested a tenor uke. I took a look at it and, physically, it looks easier. The strings are spread out further than on a guitar and it's tuned the same as the four high stings on a guitar...now that I'm looking, I think I'm thinking of a baritone Uke (DGBE). Which also means, in my educated guess, that what you learn on it would transfer to a guitar.
So, for those of you that have one, or played one, how was it to learn on it? How do you think someone with no real musical background would do with it?
Seems like I could pick one up on Amazon for less than a hundred dollars, so it's not a total loss if I hate it.
Any thoughts? I understand (really, I do) that any musical instrument takes loads of practice, but is tenor (baritone?) uke easier than guitar?